body giving a green colour and that as well by refraction as transmssiion of Rays from a luminous body gliding side-ways and smiting through the Liquor which renders it diaphanous whose texture of parts with the interstices in the fluid Menstruum causeth I say such a refraction of light as thereby represents it under the form of a green colour If into this green diaphanous Liquor Hydroph you pour a clear solution of Galls the texture of the vitriolin parts in the water will become so altered as that in lieu of a diaphanous it will become an opake Liquor so that the luminous Rays which before were refracted and transmitted will now become either reflected or so intangled in the texture of the parts as neither to make a transmission refraction or any considerable reflection of light there-from and therefore becomes opacous or black For by the addition of Galls to the aforesaid Liquor the first body whose parts were uniform and regularly transmitted and refracted the Rays of light doth now by this commixture with the Particles of Galls muster in so confus'd a posture make an extraversion of large flats some of which always fall in the rear of the Angles and junctures of others so as the transmission of light is quite intercepted and therefore what reflection is made is only so much as to be sufficient to make that representation of bodies by that colour we call black Which that it is so appears further by pouring Oyl of Vitriol Spirit of Nitre Aqua-fortis or the like corrosive Acid Spirits upon those vitriolin opacous Liquors or other bodies made black by vitriolin astringent Steins where you will presently view those Particles of the Gall which before fill'd the Pores of the Liquor and by extraverting many flats made the Liquor opacous dark and inky will now become fretted dissolv'd and the flats lessened so as the parts will again return into their former uniform posture and suffer the light by becoming clear to be transmitted as before so to become a diaphanous Liquor as at first as you may further see in our Experiments about the change of Colours in Spaw Water in our Hydrolog Chymica And that colours are nothing else but different refractions and repercussions of light from bodies according to various Angles of incidence and reflection from the different texture of the depth or superficies thereof carryed through the transparent Tunicles and Humours of the Eyes as through so many Glasses for from the natural Fabric of the Eye are artificial optical or microscopical Glasses contriv'd vibrating after a various manner the Optic Nerves so as to make that kind of sensation we call Vision That colours are I say nothing else but such I might confirm by many more instances viz. by the frequent Manuals of Dyers Tanners Painters c. in their colouring Garments Leather Wood c. by actual bodies not qualities of Vitriol Alum Argol Indico Madder Lime Oak Bark Minium Ceruss Verdigreece Spanish-white Gum Vernice ultra-Marine c. all which produce different colours not from inherent qualities in those bodies arising from a legitimate contemperature of the four Elements but represent themselves as being actual bodies I mean shew that great variety of colours by the different texture of their constitutive parts whereby light becomes so differently refracted or reflected as to be sufficient to cause that great variety of colours we see amongst bodies where we might from the aforesaid different reflections and refractions of light shew amongst the causes of those apparences we call colours what for instance white is and how made which we suppose to be no other than that texture of parts which results from many superficies flat or spherical born up at some little distances from each other by one or more of these following causes viz. 1. By Air 2. Atoms of Cold 3. Other similiar inter-woven bodies 4. Or lastly are wrought into such a texture of parts by the preparatory Vessels First by Air as is evident in Torrents great falls and other agitations of Waters in the white froth of Ale Beer or other fermenting Liquors also in the warming of Ale or Beer c. where the Particles of Water and fermentative Liquors are huft up with those of Air being thereby reduc'd into globular Bubbles the aggregation of which give us that Phaenomenon of white observable therein the like may be reckoned upon in production of white Oyntments from the concussion of Oyls c. Secondly or by Atoms of cold as is evident in the obvious Phaenomenon of Snow where from the cold Atoms woven in with and between the flats for such are the figure of its parts under this disguise of watery Particles results that colour of white as also other apparences compitible to water under the Masque of Snow Thirdly Or by other inter-weaving bodies as is evident where the texture of bodies are such as are made up of many superficies each upon other by a natural stratum super stratum born up by some other interposing parts as is evident in natural Concretions viz. Talk Alabaster Bones Horns Plumes c. In factitious viz. Luna Cornea Venice-glass pulveriz'd Ceruss Paper c. In all which the light from the aforesaid texture of parts is so refracted and reflected as to exhibit us that apparence of white in all such bodies Or lastly are wrought into such a texture of parts by preparatory Vessels by which in Animals I mean the Lacteals and Glandules whence the whiteness of Milk and by other Analogous in Vegetables whence the milky Juyces of all sorts of Spurges Carduus Marie c. But to demonstrate further that Colour and in particular White is no other than the result of such a peculiar texture of bodies as reflects the light after such a mode competible to that apparence and that the same body undergoing no other change of any additional but barely a transposition of the parts of the active Principles therein contained was spontaneously reducible to its pristine clarity and transparency I had this following Phaenomenon represented to me in an Experiment I was then trying In which Experiment I shall forbear to name one of the constituent Liquors in as much as in the main it relates not to this place and only reckon upon the to our purpose pertinent Phaenomenon which was this I having two transparent Liquors by me one was rectified Spirit of Wine the other a Mineral Liquor upon the mixing these I had besides the gentle heat caus'd from a moderate fermentation of the Principles forthwith the apparence of a Milk-white Liquor through the whole body of the mixture which and what was very curious and remarkable to behold within a very few minutes without any extrinsic addition was spontaneously reduc'd to a transparent Liquor as limpid almost as either of the Liquors was before mixture and all this which yet adds to admiration without the least precipitation or any sort of sediment what ever I might further inlarge Hydroph
in the Air from cold Particles and from Ferments of a contrary disposition and what alterations thence happen to Animal Juyces and how perform'd Pyroph I answer That as the Air by reason of some congeneal Ferments tacking to and fro therein doth conspire not only to the awakening the Ferments of Animals and Vegetables and to the keeping them a foot and that both in order to building of bodies as well as to the pulling them down so doth the Air at other seasons contain other Particles of cold which are able to suspend the motion and action of the former that is if very intense are able to destroy the Ferments of Men and other Animals as is evident by the killing of many Men and Beasts in cold Countreys as in Russia Greenland and Norway the Frosts are sometimes so strong as that Men are sometimes brought to Inns or Markets frozen on Horse-back are found rigid and starv'd to death sitting streight up like Statues And in Vegetables it's very discernable to have them mortified by strong Frosts And as the cold Particles arrest the vital and vegetative Ferments of Animals and Vegetables so it likewise suspends the putrefactive Ferments in the resolution or taking bodies in pieces locking up those resolving Ferments hence the Carcases of any sort of Animals expos'd to the Air having a putrefaction already begun and thereby grown faetid have I say upon strong Frosts those putrid Ferments shut up and send forth no foetor or bad smell and that by reason of the cold Atoms which fix themselves in the Pores of such bodys and thereby arrest the motion of the Principles which cold Particles are no sooner extricated by change of weather but the Ferments I mean the putrefactive are let loose again and then goes on as strongly as ever Yea in thawing Winds all putrefactive Ferments grow vigorous and are carried in great and numerous swarms through the common Vehicle the Air which either smite our Nostrils very sensibly or affect our Juyces indiscernably to the producing great alterations therein How much the frost Particles penetrate any Fruits so much do they when the Frost breaks undergo a putrefaction as is obvious in Apples and other Fruits which the more they are expos'd to frost Air so much the sooner they rot and that because the active Principles are so far mortify'd through the openness of their Pores as to their natural and intestine Fermentation and so easily upon the unhinging and unrivetting the cold Atoms fall into regressive and putrefactive Fermentation Hydroph Have you Pyroph any artificial way of representing cold to us Pyroph Yes how cold may be produc'd we had an Experiment above 7 years ago which was thus Having mixed Sal Armoniac and Saturn Ore upon a Marble or in a Mortar and put them into a subliming Urinal for a peculiar purpose we then propos'd to which adding Water and shaking them together while the solution was making produc'd an intense coldness to the hand holding the Glass and washing the out-side of the Glass with water found as it was pour'd on immediately it became long fleaks of Ice which as we took off and poured more water on did the same again and again the same will Sal Armon dissolv'd per se in water do also its caput mort remaining after the sublimation thereof with Pot-ash or Salt of Tartar dissolv'd in Water And to make two cold Liquors cold to touch to heat each other to evince the reason of the contrary quality viz. heat we have put Oyl of Vitriol to water which being mixed by shaking immediately contracts a greater heat than can be suffered by the hand that holds the Glass and from the same cause one may easily cause Ice it self to cause heat to another cold Liquor by proceeding as before with Ice put in Oyl of Vitriol as the worthy Experimentator Mr. Boyle tells us in his last Tract Hydroph How do you Pyroph suppose the freezing of Water to be resolv'd or thaw'd what becomes of those Atoms of cold when a Frost is over and what further Observations do you make of those Ferments in the Air upon thawing seasons and sometimes in other weather Pyroph To which I answer Hydroph That as the Atoms of cold are brought to us through the Air by certain peculiar winds which in their motion meeting with capable viz. liquid watery bodys becomes coagulated therewith into that rigid body we call Ice so there are other Atoms of heat which are brought at other seasons through the same Vehicle of Air by different although to that purpose peculiar winds which in their motion meeting with those of cold either in the Air or coagulated in watry bodies resolve mortifie I mean alter their texture and dint them so as either altering their texture whereby they for a while swell and flow together with the water whence upon thaws Rivers for a time grow bigger till they can extricate themselves from the moist and warm Particles they are involv'd in and by other winds are carryed into other places to perform the same offices or else do as some sorts of Salts do to others of a different texture viz. one to mortifie to use a Chymical term dint and change another until there result a neutrum or third thing different from either of the two Besides which we are to consider Hydroph that these mutually acting and working upon each other beget new shapes amongst themselves and many times prove subtile penetrating Ferments which being carryed in the belly of the wind insinuate into fermentative Liquors and set them freshly a working which we see frequently happen in thawing winds that both Ale and Beer often ferment anew yea Wines too especially about the time of Vintage when those fermentative Particles are arrested and determin'd by vinous Atoms which at that season take wing and float in the Air. The same also may cause strange and different fermentations in the blood and other Juyces of our bodies the efficient sometimes of Feavers and other Endemical yea Epidemical Diseases and that these winds and changes of Air thereby have an odd influence upon the fluid Juyces of our bodies is apparent in that vulgar yet true Proverb that some carry Almanacks in their bones can discern the changes of weather before hand which as we apprehend can be from no other cause than that the minute Particles of heat cold or moisture or combinations thereof carryed by different winds in the Vehicle of the Air from whence all varieties of weather do certainly follow which I say at first or aforehand mustring in an invisible manner in the Air become Ferments which rouse up old Aches Pains Asthma's Heaviness weakness of the Joynts and other Symptoms vulgarly ascribable to the Scurvey and and that many times before the weather be discernably chang'd because these otherwise indiscernable alterations of weather are prefigured and transacted before hand in the Air. Whence many times as may be obvious to a curious eye proceed
mechanical Agents included in all those bodys vulgarly call'd Seeds wrapt up I said in small raiments of matter not but that these Principles themselves are also material and are at the long run reducible into Water the material Principle of all Concretes but with this difference that they are pure subtile parts entangled in more gross adapted for motion or that collision we suppose indispensibly necessary in the Fabric of all such Bodys By Ferments here we mean the fore-said Principles being seminal sparks hidden in matter which are other requisites duly concurring actually put into motion or set into a natural and genuine collision These Principles in the progressive motion of their collision yea and in the whole round of their operation becoming thereby actual Ferments give according to their various stades the different Phaenomena of the same body so that all the apperances are measur'd forth according to the progress or regress of the aforesaid Principles Thus Vegetation as to Plants is nothing else as we else-where in our Zymolog Physic and Tentamen further say but a slow pac'd motion or gentle collision of the aforesaid Principles consisting in an intestin strugling thereof Thus for instance in the production of a Vegetable Seed-bearing Plant as suppose of Rosemary Marjoram Time c. where we have nothing but the minute Seed with the intrinsic Principles which are the connate plastic Faber seated in the Center thereof and what it can determine matter into Now when this Seed being put into a due capacitated Matrix or Earth begins by the fructifying nitrous Salt in the Earth or Air or both together with the concurrance of an aetherial matter c. requisite to the setting all Vegitable Springs into motion to open it self the Principles or hidden mechanical Agents or that seminal embryonative spark lock'd up in the visible Grain or Seed become an actual Ferment whereby Matter which is always mov'd at the beck of those implanted Principles and is thereby sub-divided into minute parts enters the Pores and Streiners thereof with such adaptation of Particles proportionable thereto which becomes thereby extended and is by the fore-said actual Ferment proper to that Seed wrought into such a texture of parts or specifical form singly peculiar to that Plant where the shape colour sapour odour and other specifical indowments are determin'd by the seminal Principles set into a fermental motion and are the results of Matter formally extended thereby For that a Plant should constantly and more forcibly during the time of the vigour of its natural Ferment breath forth so strong an apporrhoea or odour as to be able to smite our senses therewith as if 20 yea 100 could as sometimes they may stand within the Orb of its activity might all be sensible thereof is I say a demonstrable Argument of the extensibility of Matter and subtile Emanation of subtiliz'd or volatiz'd Parts even in the Fabric of that Plant carried off by the quick actions of the aforesaid Ferment which is yet further discoverable either by the reverse motion of the foresaid Principles of the Plant whereby the same ferment in its Retrograde motion becomes putredinous causing in some Plants but especially in Animals a fetidness whereby also happens a Metastasis into an Insect from causes aforesaid or by force of fire into a fume of 100 yea 1000 fold larger compass than the body it self was which fume although extending so large a space is yet so gross as to make it self the object of our senses Thus you see Hydroph how the same Principles which lay dormant in the seed while in the Garner where they are pois'd in equilibrio and remain alone so long uncapable of fructifying or multiplying how I say in order to the awakening these Principles and putting them into a fermental motion there are some concurring requisites duly to be considered viz. that it should be cast into a peculiar Soil or Ground as its proper Matrix which is the Matrix of the Husk as the Husk is of the true Seed where the Leffas Terrae or juice of the Earth being imbued with so much nitrous Salt as is sufficient softens the Husk and makes it swell whose compage being loos'd the Air with its other necessarily concurring to the exciting the Principles in every vegetable Production getting entrance awakes or puts the implanted Embrio-Principles into motion thereby rendring them fermental whence the noble Seed shut up in an obscure point ariseth whose mechanical Principles necessary to the building all Bodies are I say call'd forth to act break the Prison-doors and in their mutual wrestlings cause that grand Phaenomenon of Nature we call Vegetation where Water by the manuduction of Seeds or seminal Principles becomes determined into fibrous off-shoots those being hollow carry along more of the succulent juyces which as it flows in those Pipes upon its access more Fibers Sap-vessels and others whether as Veins Arteries c. analogous to Animals we refer to the particular disquisitions of the worthy Malpighius our Countryman Dr. Grew are produced while the formerly made Vessels by access of Air or being long expos'd thereto become condensed or hardned into stalks wood c. and so is wrought on by the weavings of the foresaid seminal Principles till the whole Plant or Tree put on its intire form of Root Stalk Bole Bark Branch Fruit or Flower Besides which weavings coagulations and condensations of water into vegetable concretions from causes aforesaid it s moreover if I mistake not Hydroph as easie and as daily perform'd for Nature from the power of seminal ferments set a work in Vegetation and after continued by allowing due requisites or ferments congenial to turn I say Water into Wine as it is for the same by the winding off of those ferments in a natural circulation to reduce Wine into Water both equally and daily perform'd by the same seminal Principles differently and in their circular motion considered yea and to turn also Water into all manner of potable or fermentable liquors by the mediation of the foresaid Principles once broke off from Vegetation and kept afoot by the melting of the Grain then dissolved in Water and after by a ferment connatural set into a fermentative motion as it is for the same potable Liquors at the long run of their ferments insensibly winding off to be reduc'd into Water again and so on in a constant round of action and circulation of motion in the upholding the great vicissitude and interchange of things So that these Principles in their gentle collisions are not only the cause of Vegetation in all manner of Plants and Trees and the various apparences thereto belonging both of generation and corruption weavings and unweavings of Bodies by the winding on and off of the Principles but also put into new and different collisions or higher fermentations become the Patrons of all potable Liquors and yet higher become the efficients of heat and that either remiss or intense yea so
subjectum inhaesionis but as actual Bodies how minute soever are capable enough to smite our subtile Organs and affect our Senses set on work by Winds from different quarters which are the Clavigeri tempestatum in order to the mutation of weather For although these float in the Air and are not seen excepting that of Moisture gathered together in a Mist Fog or Cloud yet that they are perceptible enough to our Senses is evident amongst the rest from the minute Particles of Cold which float in the Air from Northern Winds and are of such Shape or Size as they not only pierce our Skins and moderately shut the Pores thereof thereby invigorate the Ferments whence our Appetites to Food are stronger and the Digestions the better perform'd in Frost than in warm Weather And in colder Countries and Climates than in hot but in cold raw Weather the Pores those small Portals of the Body stand a char if I may so say whereby the alterations in the Air have the easier access into our Juices to procure the like in them whence we observe in such Weather people generally take more cold and are more prone to Diseases as well Acute as Chronical than at other Seasons Which Frost Air if it be very sharp congeals the fluid humours of our Bodies forceing the Spirits to a retreat unless oppos'd by a warmth from exercise or Spirits of good Liquor yea the same cold Particles meeting with Water doth so fill the Pores thereof that from a fluid they by their interposition make it become for a time a kind of solid Body which when the winds change and are carried in different Percledi of the Air as breathing suppose from the South or West South-East or South-West points the Particles of Heat and Moisture muster in the Air and mortifie dint or resolve the cold Particles For it 's very probable that the congealing of Water into Ice by Cold is nothing else but the congelation of the Atoms which in one Sense we admit of Cold rivetting themselves fast in the Pores of the Body of Water in as much as these floating in the Air either brought to us by those Winds which blow over the Northern Frozen Seas which in their resolution may extricate themselves from their former combinations being carried by the fanning of the Wind from that quarter or from what other causes soever meeting with liquid Bodies by their piercing nature insinuate themselves into the Texture thereof and as they weave themselves in they put a stop to the motion or fluidity of those liquids unless preserv'd by some active nimble spirituous parts and from a fluid make them become as we said a sort of solid Bodies which as they fill some Pores of Water so they cause some other parts of Water to constringe or concenter themselves whence is one reason why in Frosty Seasons Rivers that are otherwise high by late falls of Rain are upon Frosty Winds shrunk up and Water in Vessels expos'd to the Air are sensibly contracted or lessened Wherefore all Bodies whose Texture consists most what of liquid parts if they contain so many of those aforesaid nimble spirituous fermentative Particles by the briskness of whose motion the liquids are kept fluid then are they secured so long as kept either circulating in their own or defended by close Vessels from the injury of the cold undergo no coagulation therefrom nor are altered thereby Thus the Blood and liquid Juices in the Body of Man or other Animals as long as they are invigorated with Spirituous Saline and Sulphureous parts which keep them constantly in a circulating Motion so long are safe from the injury of cold so all Fermented Liquors whether Wines Sider Perry Ale Beer c. while the Ferments are active with Spirituous parts interwoven in the whole Texture thereof and kept in close Vessels so long are not apt to be surpriz'd by cold or to be congeal'd thereby into Ice unless through the excessiveness of Cold and perhaps carelesness in stopping up Vessels Wines or other Fermented Liquors become Frozen as sometimes happens upon very long Voiages into cold Climates witness that of Fishing for Whales by some Hollanders in the Northern-Seas their Wines otherwise generous enough were by extremity of cold Frozen the Hoops being taken off and the VVines uncask'd they were found congeal'd into Ice and stood in the form of the Vessels they were put in which Ice they perforated with Augers and found about the Center of the Ice a little Liquor of an Amethyst Colour which was the pure Balsamick Spirits of Wine concentred and therefore incapable of being congeal'd by cold all the rest of the Body of Ice being dissolv'd by Heat was an insipid Phlegm or mere VVater of VVine into which if a little of the true Fiery Spirits was pour'd made it like VVine after which manner they drank it And in our late intense Frost December last the Particles of Cold were so copious and piercing as it froze Beer and Ale in Cakes Sherry Sack in Bottles and a Lixivium of Vegetable Salts I had by me yea a pretty smart Spirit of Vitriol standing in a Bottle in a VVindow was as far as I could discern totally Frozen up and in York-shire in some places it froze the moisture in peoples Nostrils into Icicles that with their finger as an Eye-witness told me they pull'd out pieces of Ice So all Volatile Spirits whether Vinous Vrinous or Oleaginous are being kept in close Vessels capable of defending themselves from being congeal'd by cold For neither Spirits of VVine or Volatile Spirits of Blood Vrin Soot Harts-horn c. nor distill'd therefore call'd Chymical-Oyls as of Turpentine Cinamon Cloves Rosemary Sage Wormwood c. are I say none of them apt to be Frozen by Cold but can defend themselves by their nimble active spirituous parts from the injury thereof in like manner all Mineral acid Spirits as of Vitriol except as aforesaid Alom Nitre Salt c. can if kept in close Vessels preserve themselves from damage by cold so also Lixiviums made of the fixt Salts of Tartar or other Vegetables But those Liquids that are destitute of saline sulphurous or other fermenting Particles are of themselves capable of admitting the ingress of cold Atoms so as to suffer some Vacuolums to be fill'd and other parts to be constring'd into a solid form of the congeal'd body of Ice and all this by the medium of Air which is the vehicle of these cold Atoms SECT XII Hydroph BUt we say Pyroph that cold is an active Quality which doth congregare homogenea heterogenea and as such doth condense congeal Water into Ice Pyroph Those qualities Hydroph together with the quaternary of Elements which you look upon as Principles of mixt bodies and from whose combinations you would solve the different apparences thereof I have told you and I think partly demonstrated as such not to be in rerum natura Hydroph But what different impressions Pyroph are made
the sudden and unexpected alterations of Symptoms in diseased and crasie bodies which so much puzzle Physitians to know whence such sudden changes contrary to their expectation should happen how well do things succeed even according to their desire and sometimes beyond their expectation at some peculiar juncture of time attributed by Astrologers to I know not what configuration of the Planets and on the other hand how cross and thwarting to their hopes things happen at other seasons and all this many times from various excited Ferments in the Air which work differently upon bodies according to variety of constitutions disposition of the Ferments and modification of other parts So also from other alterations in the Air by some winds a verminous ferment is excited as we see in the Spring time when the winds breath long from the East that many Caterpillers and other Insects are produc'd upon Trees and Plants and many times putredinous animated Ferments are brought with winds from cadaverous bodies which floating in the Air prove seminaries to contagious and verminous Diseases whence the great Plague at Milan at which time as Cardan reports the Air was filled yea the very dust of the Earth animated with those contagious Vermicles so that in the Air often lurk secret Ferments which may both produce different symptoms in the same disease as also be the cause of many Epidemical Diseases whose Character I mean of Exotick Ferments may for some time be in the Air before they settle upon Bodies so as to cause a general discomposure And from the same cause very probably it is that Animals which are frequently abroad in the Air have a foresight or presensation of the alterations of Weather whence the ground of Auguration amongst the Ancients for their Bodies being always exposed to change of Air in the variety of weather become thereby in their Texture of parts more capable of being affected with the least changes of Air in which are always the forerunners of certain alterations of weather by the foresaid congress of the minute Particles of Heat Cold Moisture and what else which give being by different Winds from diverse quarters to changes of weather Thus Cranes are observed by some Naturalists that when they fly softly and silently do presage fair weather but when they hasten make a great noise and fly in a disturbed order do predict Storms so likewise Storks and Wild-Geese as Wolfangius tells us in his Historia animalium Sacra and therefore Storks and Cranes before the coming of Winter take wing and fly in Troops in a triangular form into hotter Countries witness from Thracia into Egypt and from Cilicia into Persia not to say what is reported that when they fly near Mount Taurus where store of Eagles are they each take a stone in their Bill to prevent any noise lest the Eagles should seise upon them Not unlike to which the learned Wormius in his Museum relates somewhat wonderful concerning a sort of Bird frequent in Norway upon which change of weather has aforehand strange influence his words are as followeth Museum Norm p. 304. Aliud genus saith he Norvegiae Islandis frequens est è Mergorum vel potius Colymborum genere Nidum prope aquas it a struit ut cum necessitas flagitat in eas se celeriter praecipitare potest sed nidum repetitura infixo terrae rostro se suspendit donec corpus sublevaverit ac petitum obtinuerit nidum ubi imbres largiores imminere peculiari naturae instinctu persentiscit pullis ac nido suo ab inundatione metuens querulo sono aerem verberat è contra cum coeli serenitatem clementiam praesagierit laetis acclamationibus alio gratiori sono pullisapplaudit unde de futura tempestate certi accolae vocem Hui audientes exclamare solent Norvegi SECT XIII Hydroph WHat think you Pyroph of the drying quality which we define qualitas patibilis quae suo facile alieno autem termino difficulter clauditur Is not this competible to the Earth primarily and to the Air secundarily and to other Bodies as they admit of the combination of this with other qualities in the composition thereof Pyroph I think Hydroph and perhaps may make good that what you call a drying quality is no more a quality than its opposite moisture and that as moisture is no quality primarily of the Air nor secondarily of other Bodies in their Composition so neither is driness as a quality either peculiar to the Earth or to Compound Bodies For in that a Body is said to be dry is in as much as the parts which constitute it are of another Texture than liquid and are so woven together as to have few at least as discernable fluid parts And those dry Bodies are either naturally such as for instance some sorts of Stones and some Calces of calcin'd Bodies which by no force of Fire are ever reducible into any liquid form or else such Bodies as while kept from force of Fire are accounted dry of which are all Metals Minerals Metalline and Mineral Ore so me Stones as Peables Flints Sand Ashes of burnt or calcin'd Bodies all which by stress of Fire may be made to melt and become fluid some per se as the Metals and some Minerals others by addition of Salts as some Minerals also Mineral and Metalline Ore Pebbles Flint Sand c. by the addition of Salt of Kelp Tartar or other calcin'd Vegetables melt into transparent Glass Thus the Calx of Metals fretted by Acids and thereby reduc'd after Evaporation in minima viz. into their impapable Alcolizate pouders are seemingly dry yet these very subtile Crocus's of Metals witness that of Copper dissolv'd into and incorporated in that Body we call Verdigreece by the help of the sour Juice of Grapes or in that which remains after the Vintage if that be dry'd and beat to a most subtile pouder which by the motion of a Pestle or the like presently by the minuteness of its parts fly up and doth ferire nares as also that of natural Vitriol do I say both by stress of Fire arise in a considerable white fume and condense into a plenty of liquid Spirits as is evident in the Spirit of Verdigreeee of Vitriol and so most of other Bodies which being divided into their Minima so as to appear in a dry Sapless form may yet by distillation be turn'd mostwhat into liquids or by reduction into their Sulphurs or Mercuries if Metalline Bodies be furtherconvertible into the fluid Texture of parts VVherefore seeing dryness is no other than such a Texture of parts in the construction of Bodies as renders the Concrete not easily fluid nor apt to flow together when the constitutive parts are rather continuous than contiguous therefore must this dry quality as well as the rest of the same fraternity ipso facto forfeit its supposed Essence of a quality and lose its repute of a nothing for so I esteem it or little better while under
the notion of a quality Hence those degrees of qualities which Hydroph you in your Philosophy and Medicks are apt to ascribe Concretes to are no more to be taken notice of than the qualities themselves so that all your Solutions of apparences by your supposed degrees of the Primary qualities will what is said being premis'd of their own accord fall to nothing Hence for instance Iron which you in your Scarb. Spaw repute to be of the third degree of driness is no more to be taken notice of as to a Philosophical Solution of the Essence of that Concrete than if you had said it had been in the third degree of nothing for both are alike unintelligible of which more particularly in our Hydrological Essays Hydroph Well Pyroph I might justly reply to you as formerly we in the Disputations of the Schools us'd to accost the Cartesians viz. Contra principia negantem non est disputandum These are new conceits which we that are grown old in the Philosophy of Aristotle and his followers are not at leisure to take notice of But what will you make Pyroph of the second qualities viz. those we call Density Rarity Gravity Levity Hardness Softness Thickness Thinness Aridity Lubricity Clamminess Friableness Asperity and Smoothness Are not these necessarily to be reputed Qualities by which we arrive to some knowledge of the nature of the Bodies they are found in Pyroph As to which query Hydroph concerning the second qualities I answer that as the first qualities are not in rerum natura as such so neither are the second for sublata causa tollitur effectus But the first are the supposed cause of the second which being by reasons aforesaid deducted out of the Catalogue of Entities nothing of the second qualities as such can remain For that that Texture of parts which makes Bodies appear to our Senses dense or rare heavy or light hard or soft rugged or smooth c. should be reputed Secondary depending upon the quaternary of the first qualities Heat Cold Driness and Moisture is I say as indemonstrable as unintelligible for all these as far as I apprehend depend meerly upon the different Texture of the constitutive parts of Bodies whereby they variously affect our Senses yea and many of them competible to the same Body as its parts are variously agitated by fire Ferments Sal s or Solvents whereby the same Body so differently acted and its parts transpos'd may very changeably affect our Senses after so many different manners as may make up all or most of those you call second qualities Hydroph Is not rarity a second quality arising chiefly from Heat having its parts extenuated as Herbs Pruinae Clouds And is not Density another from Cold having its parts bound up and solidly adhering to each other as Glass Stone Iron and the rest of the Metals And further is not Levity a quality arising from Heat making things capable of moving upwards and Gravity a quality from Cold which makes things move downwards towards a Center Pyroph I answer Hydroph that in what you term Rarity I see no necessity of giving the name of a second quality arising from the Primary Heat but that it is only such a Texture of parts in the composition of some Bodies as makes them appear thin and as it were finely woven being a rare Texture of parts with many Streiners Porosities or vacuolums interspers'd according to whose Fabrick of parts our Senses are generally affected so as they fall under such and such distinct perception thereof Thus Air is a rare Body in as much as its parts are of a fine thin tenuious plyable Texture as aforesaid And as Rarity so Density is no quality being no other than such a Body whose parts are closely set together with few Porosities thus Stone Glass Mealline and Mineral-Bodies are such whose constitutive parts are closely bound up and fast rivetted together and therefore no need of ascribing its original to cold As for Levity it is peculiar to such Bodies whose Texture is rare and finely woven and so the sequel of that we call Rarity Also Gravity is the contrary being the necessary product of such Bodies whose parts are closely put together I mean of those which are compact and dense Bodies And as to the rest of second qualities as Hardness Softness Thickness Thinness c. all which I say are but different Modifications of the parts of Bodies whereby they variously affect our Senses having the same way of solution as those I have already spoken of therefore shall forbear Now that these Hydroph are neither the Indexes nor the Products of the Quaternary of first qualities and consequently not to be reckoned as such in the Category of qualities is evident in that one and the same Body by a Metastasis of its parts by Fire Salts or Solvents may undergo all or most of those you call second and perhaps first qualities too so that to which of these the Essence of that Body should be attributed would prove a query too difficult for most of your Philosophy grounded upon these qualities to resolve Thus for instance suppose we take Antimony into our consideration which in its Minâ—ra is a stony dense heavy hard friable Body this being melted by Fire and thereby separated from its petrifique gritty and sabulous parts gives us that Body of Antimony usually fold in the Shops which still retains all the aforesaid properties which are the natural sequels of its present Texture of parts But suppose this by fire be forc'd in Fumes into Flowers adhering to the sides of Pots Ovens or other large receivers give a rare light soft and impalpable Body with a white colour which fluxed by further addition of Fire becomes a dense heavy hard friable but diaphanous Body called the Vitrum or Glass of Antimony where by the Vitrification of its parts it emulates that other product of the Fire made from Ashes and Sand flux'd together Concerning the reasons and causes of Vitrification in general and particular we discourse in our Tentamen Physiologic and Litholog Physica This glass prepared as aforesaid will by further addition of Fire and Salts become Metalline melt and run into a Regulus which melts and flows like Lead or Quick-silver call'd by Chymists the coagulated Mercury of Antimony is dense hard heavy and opacous which again may be sublim'd into Flowers out of which Flowers may a current Mercury begot by boyling with Salt of Tartar c. as is mention'd in Volum 4. Theat Chym. Nova disquisit de Helia Artista Also Antimony by addition of Salts with the help of Fire produceth that Mass we call hepar Antimonii which makes the frequently us'd Emetick Wine upon which dissolv'd in Water if distill'd Vinegar be poured it makes a speedy separation of a Red and Yellow Sulphur with a Fetid Sulphureous smell very like the Water of the Sulphur-Well at Knarsborough in York-shire But if in lieu of Vinegar more Salts be added and it be further