was unlucky enough to defeat my endeavours I was kept for want of fit Accommodations from bringing my intended tryals to an issue And now having endeavour'd by the foregoing Advertisements to prevent the having unsafe Consequences drawn from our Experiments it remains that I briefly point at three our four Corollaries that may more warily be deduc'd from them To which if I get time I may subjoyn a hint or two about further Inquiries COROLLARY I. Confirming this PARADOX That Flame may act as a Menstruum and make Coalitions with the Bodies it works on THE Experiments we have made and recited of the premeating of Flame as to some of its parts through Glass-vessels and of its working on included Metals may much confirm the Paradox I have elsewhere propos'd That Flame may be a Menstruum and work on some Bodies at the rate of being so I mean not only by making a notable Comminution and Dissipation of the parts but by a Coalition of its own particles with those of the fretted Body and thereby permanently adding Substance and Weight to them Nor is it repugnant to Flames being a Menstruum that in our experiment the Lead and Tin expos'd to it were but reduc'd to powder and not dissolv'd in the form of a Liquor and kept in that state For besides that the interpos'd Glass hinder'd the Igneous particles from getting through in plenty enough I consider that 't is not necessary that all Menstruums should be such Solvents as the objection supposes For whether it be as I have sometimes suspected that Menstruums that we think simple may be compounded of very differing parts whereof one may precipitate what is dissolved by the other or for some other Cause I have not now time to discuss Certain it is that some Menstruums corrode Metals and other Bodies without keeping dissolved all or perhaps any considerable part as may be seen if you put Tin in a certain quantity of Aqua fortis which will in a very short time reduce it almost totally to a very white substance which when dry is a kind of Calx And so by a due proportion of Oyl of Vitriol abstracted from Quicksilver by a strong fire we have divers times reduc'd the main body of the Mercury into a white powder whereof but an inconsiderable part would be dissoluble in water And such a white Calx I have had by the action of another fretting Liquor on a Body not Metalline And having thus clear'd our Paradox of the oppos'd Difficulty my haste would immediately carry me on to the next Corollary were it not that there is one Phaenomenon belonging to this place that deserves to be taken notice of For whether it be as seems probable from the vehement agitation of the permeating particles of Flame that violently tear asunder the Metalline Corpuscles or from the nature of the Igneous Menstruum which being as 't were percolated through Glass it self must be strangely minute 't is worth observing how small a proportion in point of weight of the additional adhering Body may serve to corrode a Metal in comparison of the Quantity of vulgar Menstruums that is requisite for that purpose For whereas we are oblig'd to imploy to the making the solution of crude Lead several times its weight of Spirit of Vinegar and though not so many times even of Aqua fortis 't was observ'd in our Experiment that though the Lead was increas'd but six grains in weight yet above six score of it were fretted into powder so that the Corrosive Body appear'd to be but about the twentieth part of the corroded COROLL II. Proposing a PARADOX about Calcination and Calces Another Consequence deducible from our discovery of the perviousness of Glass to Flame may be this That there is cause to question the Truth of what is generally taken for granted about Calcination and particularly of the notion that not only others but Chymists themselves have entertain'd about the Calces of Metals and Minerals For whereas 't is commonly suppos'd that in Calcination the greater part of the Body is driven away and only the Earth to which Chymists add the Fixt Salt remains behind and whereas even Mechanical Philosophers for two or three of Them have taken notice of Calcination are of opinion that much is driven away by the violence of the fire and the remaining parts by being depriv'd of their more radical and fixt moisture are turn'd into dry and brittle particles Whereas these Notions I say are entertain'd about Calcination it seems that they are not well fram'd and do not universally hold since at least they are not applicable to the Metals our Experiments were made on For it does not appear by our Tryals that any proportion worth regarding of moist and fugitive parts was expell'd in the Calcination but it does appear very plainly that by this Operation the Metals gain'd more weight than they lost so that the main body of the Metal remain'd intire and was far from being either as a Peripatetick would think Elementary Earth or a compound of Earth and Fixt Salt as Chymists commonly suppose the Calx of Lead to be From which very erroneous Hypothesis they are wont to inferr the sweet Vitriol of Lead which they call Saccharum Saturni to be but the sweet Salt of it extracted only by the Spirit of Vinegar which does indeed plentifully enough concurr to compose it Whence I conclude that the Calx of a Metal even made as they speak per se that is by fire without additament may be at least in some cases not the Caput mortuum or Terra damnata but a Magistery of it For in the sense of the most intelligible of the Chymical Writers that is properly a Magistery wherein the Principles are not separated but the bulk of the Body being preserved it acquires a new and convenient form by the addition of the Menstruum or Solvent imployed about the preparation And not here to borrow any Argument from my Notes about particular Qualities you may guess how true it is that the greatest part of the Body or all the radical moisture is expell'd in Calcination which therefore turns the Metal into an arid unfusible powder by this That I have several times from Calx of Lead reduc'd corporal Lead And I remember that having taken what I guess'd to be but about a third or fourth part of the Calx of Lead produc'd by the third Experiment I found by a tryal purposely devis'd that without any Flux-powder or any additament but meerly by the application of the Flame of highly Rectified Spirit of Wine there could in a short time be obtain'd a considerable proportion of malleable Lead whereof the part I had the Curiosity to examine was true malleable Lead so little was the arid powder whence this was reduc'd depriv'd by the foregoing Calcination of the suppo'sd radical moisture requisite to a Metal The Consideration of what may be drawn from this Reduction in reference to the Doctrine of Qualities
belongs not to this place COROLL III. One use among the rest we may make by way of Corollary of the foregoing Discovery which is in reference to a Controversie warmly agitated among the Corpuscular Philosophers themselves For some of them that follow the Epicurean or Atomical Hypothesis think that when Bodies are expos'd in close vessels to the fire though the Igneous Corpuscles do not stay with the Bodies they invade yet they really get through the Pores of the interpos'd Vessels and permeate the included Bodies in their passage upwards whereas others especially favourers of the Cartesian Doctrine will not allow the Atomists Igneous Corpuscles which they take to be but vehemently agitated particles of Terrestrial matter to penetrate such minute pores as those of Glass but do suppose the operation of the fire to be perform'd by the vehement agitation made of the small parts of the Glass and by them propagated to the included Bodies whose particles by this violent Commotion are notably alter'd and receive new Textures or other modifications But our Experiments inform us that though neither of the two Opinions seems fit to be despised yet neither seems to have hit the very mark though the Epicurean Hypothesis comprize somewhat more of the Truth than the other For though it be not improbable that the brisk agitation communicated by the small parts of the Glass to those of the Body contain'd in it may contribute much to the effect of the fire and though by the small increment of weight we found in our expos'd Metal 't is very likely that far the greater part of the Flame was excluded by the close Texture of the Glass yet on the other side 't is plain that Igneous particles were trajected through the Glass which agrees with the Epicureans and they on the other side mistook in thinking that they did but pass through and divide and agitate the included Bodies to which nevertheless our Experiments shew that enough of them to be manifestly ponderable did permanently adhere Whether these Igneous Corpuscles do stick after the like manner to the parts of meat drest by the help of the fire and especially roast-meat which is more immediately expos'd to the action of the fire may be a question which I shall now leave undiscuss'd because I think it difficult to be determin'd though otherwise it seems worthy to be consider'd in regard it may concern mens Health to know whether the Coction of meat be made by the fire only as 't is a very hot body or whether it permanently communicates any thing of its substance to the meat expos'd to it In which last case it may be suspected that not only the degree and manner of application of a fire but the nature of its fuel may be fit to be consider'd COROLL IV. The Experiments above recited give us this further Information That Bodies very spirituous fugitive and minute may by being associated with congruous particles though of quite another nature so change their former Qualities as to be arrested by a solid and ponderous Body to that degree as not to be driven away from it by a fire intense enough to melt and calcine Metals For the foregoing Tryals taking in what I lately deliver'd of the lessen'd specifick Gravity of calcin'd Lead seems plainly enough to discover that even the agitated parts of flame minute enough to pass through the pores of Glass it self were as 't were entangled among the metalline particles of Tin and Lead and thereby brought to be fixt enough to endure the Heat that kept those Metals in fusion and little by little reduc'd them into calces Which is a Phaenomenon that one would not easily look for especially considering how simple a Texture that of Lead or Tin may be suppos'd to be in comparison of the more elaborate structures of very many other Bodies And this Phaenomenon which shews us what light and fugitive particles of matter may permanently concurr to the Composition of Bodies ponderous and fixt enough may perchance afford useful hints to the Speculative especially if this strict Combination of spirituous and fugitive substance with such as being gross or unwieldy are less fit than organiz'd matter to entangle or detain them be applied as it may be with advantage to those aggregates of spirituous Corpuscles and organical Parts that make up the Bodies of Plants and Animals And this hint may suggest a main Inference to be drawn from the Operations of the Sun-beams on appropriated subjects supposing it to prove like that of flame on Tin and Lead And now having dispatch'd our COROLLARIES we might here inquire Whether all the particles of Fire and Flame that are subtile and agitated enough to penetrate Glass and fasten themselves to included Bodies be reduc'd by Ignition to the same nature or else retain somewhat of their proper Qualities Which Inquiry I have some cause not to think so undeterminable as at first blush it may appear For one of the ways that may be propos'd for this Examen is already intimated at the close of the third Experiment which shews that we may compare the specifick Gravity of the Calces of the same Metal made in Glasses by the operation of Flames whose fuels are of very differing Natures And I said one of the ways because 't is not the only way I could name and have partly tryed But though I might say more concerning Expedients of this kind and could perhaps propound other Inquiries that may reasonably enough be grounded upon the hitherto recited Phaenomena and those of some other like tryals yet I must not unseasonably forget that the pursuit of such Disquisitions would lead me much farther than I have now the leisure to follow it ERRATA Pag. 44. l. 19. r. some Metals work pag. 1. in the Discourse about the Determinate Nature of Effluviums add the name of the Author viz. By the Honorable ROBERT BOYLE FINIS The Printer to the Reader IT hath been thought it might be the Interest of the Reader especially Foreiners to be advertised That these Essays are already Translating into Latin and beginning also to be printed in that Language which that it may duly be done both as to this and the Author 's other Writings to be publisht for the future the greater care will be taken here because it hath been several times found both at home and elsewhere that the Versions made of them abroad and not in the place where in case of any difficulty the Author may be consulted with by the Latin Interpreters are often very defective and not seldom injurious to the sense he hath deliver'd them in Which being consider'd by those that desire to know the genuine sense of the Author 't is presumed they will rather choose those Versions which are made by persons that have that advantage of comsulting him in any case of doubt than such as shall mis-inform them notwithstanding the pretence of a cheaper rate of the Book Which being thus advertised
did not answer expectation the Hermetically seal'd Glasses being unluckily broken and the Precipitation in the others proceeding so slowly that I was by a remove oblig'd to leave the tryal imperfect only I was encouraged in case of a future opportunity to renew it another time by finding that most of the Glasses though tall and stop'd with fit Corks afforded some very fair Precipitate but not enough to answer my Design Tryals of the Fourth sort MOst of the Experiments hitherto recited having been made as it were upon the by with others whose exigencies 't was fit these should comply with very few of the expos'd Bodies were kept in the Cupelling-fire above two hours or thereabouts Upon which account I thought fit to try how much some Bodies that had been already expos'd to the Fire would gain in weight by being again expos'd to it especially considering that most calcinable Bodies for I affirm it not of all which yield rather calces than ashes by being without additament reduc'd in the Fire to fine powder seem'd to be by that Operation open'd or as a Chymist would speak unlock'd and therefore probably capable of being further wrought upon and increas'd in weight by such a Menstruum as I suppos'd Flame and igneous Exhalations to be And about this Conjecture I shall subjoyn the ensuing Tryals EXPER. XIX One Ounce of Calx of Tin that had been made per se for an Experiment in our own Laboratory being put in a new Cupel and kept under the Muffler for about two hours was taken out hot and put into the Scales where the powder appear'd to have gain'd in weight one Drachm and thirty-five Grains by the operation of the Fire which made it also look much whiter than it did before as appeared by comparing it with some of the Calx that had not been exposed to the second Fire No part of the Puttie was as we could perceive melted by the vehemence of the Fire much less reduc'd into Metal EXPER. XX. Out of a parcel of filings of Steel that had been before expos'd to the fire and had its weight thereby increas'd some Grains not Scruples we took an Ounce and having expos'd it at the same time with the Calx of Tin and for the same time kept it in the Fire we took it out at the two hours end and found the weight to be increas'd two Drachms and two and twenty Grains The filings were very hard bak'd together and the Lump being broken looked almost like Iron EXPER. XXI The following Experiment though it may seem in one regard but a Continuation of the XV th yet it has in this something peculiar from all the foregoing that not only it affords an instance of the increase of Weight obtain'd by a Metal at the second time of its being expos'd to the fire but shews also that such an increment may be had though this second ignition be made in close Vessels Some of the Copper mention'd in Experim XV. being accidentally lost one Ounce and four Drachms of what remain'd was included betwixt two Crucibles and expos'd to a strong fire for two hours and suffer'd to continue there till the fire went out When it was taken out it appear'd to have gain'd ten Grains in weight and to have upon the superficial parts of the Plates as we observ'd divers dark colour'd flakes some of which stuck to the Metal but more upon handling it fell off And here I shall conclude One of the Two Parts of our designed Treatise For though I remember that these were not all the Tryals that were made and set down upon the Subject hitherto treated of yet these are the chief that having escaped the mischances which befel some others I can meet with among my promiscuous Memorials whose number when I drew them together I could scarce increase having by all these and other Tryals of differing kinds wasted my Cupels and commodious Glasses where I could not well repair my loss Whether I should have been able by Reduction specifick Gravity or any other of the ways which I had in my thoughts to make any discovery of the Nature of the Substance that made the Increment of Weight in our Ignited Bodies the want as well of leisure as of accommodations requisite to go through with so difficult a task keeps me from pretending to know But these three things I hope I may have gained by what has been deliver'd The First That we shall henceforth see cause to proceed more warily in the Experiments we make with Metals in the Fire especially by Cupellation The next That it will justifie and perhaps procure an easier assent to some passages in my other Writings that have Relation to the Substance what-ever it be that we are speaking of And the third which is the principal That it will probably excite you and your inquisitive Friends to exercise their sagacious Curiosity in discovering what kind of Substance that is which though hitherto overseen by Philosophers themselves and being a Fluid far more subtile than visible Liquors and able to pierce into the Compact and Solid Bodies of Metals can yet add something to them that has no despicable Weight upon the Ballance and is able for a considerable time to continue fixt in the Fire Additional Experiments ABOUT ARRESTING and WEIGHING OF Igneous Corpuscles EXperiments to discover the Increase in Weight of Bodies though inclos'd in Glasses being those that I considered as likeliest to answer what I design'd in the hitherto prosecuted Attempt and finding the seventeenth Experiment as well as the next try'd upon Mercury to be very slow and its performance not to be very great I began to call to mind what many years ago Experience had shewn me possible to be perform'd as to the managing Glass-vessels even without coating them in a naked Fire provided a wary person were constantly employ'd to watch them And supposing hereupon that in no longer time than a Laborant might without being tir'd hold out to attend a Glass a Metal expos'd in it to a naked fire might afford us a much more prosperous tryal than that lately referr'd to I afterwards resolv'd when I should be able to procure some Glasses conveniently shap'd to prosecute my Design in pursuance of which though I had not any Furnaces fitted for my purpose I directed a Laborant to make the following Tryals EXPER. I. We took eight Ounces Troy weight of Block-Tin which being cut into bits was put into a good round Vial with a long neck and then warily held over quick Coals without touching them till it was melted after which it was kept almost continually shaken to promote the Calcination near an hour the Metal being all the while in fusion and the Glass kept at some distance from the throughly kindled Coals The most part of this time the orifice of the Vial was cover'd with a Cap of Paper which sometimes fell off by moving the Glass to keep the Air and Steams of the Coals
upon EXPER. III. For confirmation of the former tryal wherein we had imployed the Spiritus ardens of Sugar we made the like experiment with highly Rectified Spirit of Wine only substituting an ounce of Lead instead of one of Tin The event in short was this that after the Metal had been for two hours or better kept in the flame the seal'd neck of the Retort being broken off the external Air rush'd in with a noise which shew'd the Vessel to have been very tight and we found pretty store of the Lead for 't was above seven scruples turn'd into a grayish Calx which together with the rest of the Metal being weigh'd again there was very near if not full six grains of increase of weight acquir'd by the Operation 1. N. B. The Lump of Lead that remain'd after the newly recited Operation being separated from the Calx was weighed and cut in pieces that it might be put into a fresh Retort wherein it was again expos'd to the flame of Spirit of Wine that I might satisfie my self whether probably the whole Body of the Lead might not by repeated Operations or perhaps by one continued long enough be reduc'd to Calx And though after the Retort whose neck had been drawn out had been kept in the flame for about two hours it was by the negligence of a Foot-boy unluckily broken and some of the Calx lost yet we made a shift to save about five grains of it whose colour was yellowish which was enough to make it likely that if we had had conveniency to pursue the Operation to the utmost the whole Metal might have been calcin'd by the action of the flaming Spirit 2. N. B. And lest you should be induc'd by some Chymical conceits to imagine that the particles that once belong'd to flame did make more than a Coalition with those of the Lead and by a perfect Union were Really transmuted into the Metal whose weight they increas'd I shall add that according to a Method elsewhere deliver'd I examin'd the seven scruples of Calx mention'd to have been made in the third Experiment by weighing them in Air and Water and thereby found as I expected that though the absolute Gravity of the Metal had been increas'd by the particles of Flame that stuck fast to it yet this Aggregate of Lead and extinguish'd Flame had lost much of its specifick Gravity For whereas Lead is wont to be to Water of the same bulk as about eleven and a half to one this subtil Calx of Lead was to Water of the same bulk little if at all more than as nine to one These are not the only Experiments I made of the Operation of meer Flame upon Bodies inclos'd in Glasses but these I suppose are sufficient to allow me to comply with my present haste and yet make good the Title prefixt to this Paper For whence can this increase of absolute weight for I speak not of specifick Gravity observ'd by us in the Metals expos'd to the mere flame be deduc'd but from some ponderable parts of that Flame And how could those parts invade those of the Metal inclos'd in a Glass otherwise than by passing through the pores of that Glass But because I judge it unphilosophical either to more careful that what one writes should appear strange than be true or to be forward to advance the repute of Strangeness to the prejudice of the Interest of Truth though it be perhaps but a remote one or a collateral one I shall deal so impartially as to subjoyn on this occasion two or three short Intimations that may prove both seasonable for Caution in reference to the Porousness of Glass and give a hint or two in relation to other Things I do not then by the foregoing Experiments pretend to make out the Porosity of Glass any farther than is exprest in the Title of this Paper namely in reference to some of the Ponderable parts of Flame For otherwise I am not at all of their mind that think Glass is easily penetrable either as many do by Chymical Liquors or as some by Quicksilver or as others at least by our Air Those opinions not agreeing with the Experiments I made purposely to examine them as you may find in another Paper Again if we compare the Increase we observe to be made in the Weight of the Bodies that we expose to the naked Fire and those of the same or the like kinds that we included in Glasses or so much as in Crucibles it may be worth considering Whether this difference in acquir'd weight may not give cause to suspect that the Corpuscles whereof Fire and Flame consists are not all of the same size and equally agitated but that the interpos'd Vessel keeps out the grosser Particles like a kind of Strainer though it gives passage to the minutest and most active I offer it also to Consideration Whether this perviousness of Glass even to the minute particles that pervade it and their adhesion to the Metal they work on does necessarily imply Pores constantly great enough to transmit such Corpuscles or Whether it may not be said that Glass is generally of a closer Texture than when in our Experiments the pores are open'd by the vehement Heat of the flame that beats upon it and in that state may let pass Corpuscles too big to permeate Glass in its ordinary state and that this penetration is much assisted by the vehement agitation of the Igneous parts which by the rapidness of their motion both force themselves a passage through the narrow pores of the Glass and pierce deep enough into those of the included Body to stick fast there as hail-shot thrown with ones hand against a board will pass off from it but being shot out of a Gun will pierce it and lodge themselves in it And I know a Menstruum that does not work upon a certain Metal whilst the liquor is cold or but faintly heated and yet by intending the Heat would be made to turn it into a powder or Calx for it does not properly dissolve it Perhaps it may not be amiss to add on this occasion that though Glass be generally acknowledged to have far smaller pores than any other matter wont to be implyed to make vessels that are to be expos'd to the fire yet till I be farther satisfy'd I shall forbear both to determine whether the rectitude that some Philosophers suppose in the pores of Glass as 't is a transparent body or rather in their ranks or rows may facilitate the Perviousness we above observ'd in Glass and to conclude from the foregoing Experiments that ponderable parts of Flame will be able as well to pass through the pores of Metalline vessels as those of Glass For though with a silver vessel made merely of plate without Soder I made two or three Tryals of which you may command an account in order to the resolving of these doubts yet by an accident which though it were not a surprizing one