more apt to fly away when expos'd to the Air. And that Vitriol may probably rise in the Form of a Vapour without losing it's Qualities is evident in Sublimate which consists of Mercury chang'd by an Addition of Salt and Vitriol for some Vitriolick Parts being carry'd up in the Preparation turn Opacous upon an Affusion of Spirit of Sulphur But further to make it evident that the Particles of Iron may be considerably expanded I dropp'd four Drops of a Vitriolick Liquor made use of in Copperas-works into twelve Ounces and a half of Water and found that it so much impregnated 1500 times it's Proportion of Common Waters as to make it strong enough to turn a Tincture of Galls Purple tho' by Evaporation we found that 3 Parts of 4 of that Liquor were Water 28. What Alterations the Earthy Parts of Mineral Waters undergo by Ignition and whether they may be Vitrify'd per se as also what Colours they impart to Venice Glass if mix'd with the Powder before Fluxion 29. Of what use they are in Baking Brewing Tanning or Dying of Colours c. 30. How many ways they may be made Artificially and with what Proportion of Ingredients CHAP. XI Titles for the Natural History of Mineral-Waters consider'd as a Medicine IT may be worth Observing in order to a more Compleat Natural History of Mineral-Waters what Constitutions they agree with and in what Distempers they are Proper or Dangerous What Sensible Operations they have and whether their Effects be alter'd by Drinking them Hot or Cold at the Well or at a Distance from it Whether Exercise or the Warmth of a Bed promotes their Operation Whether they have any Occult Qualities It may likewise be requisite to observe What good Effects may succeed a due Preparation of the Body that drinks them and what Advantage it may be to drop some Strengthening Stomachick into the First Dose What Quantity is enough for the First Dose and how it must be vary'd How long they may be Drunk and whether constantly or with Intervals whether Purging sometimes may contribute to their good Effects What Regimen in the Six Non-Naturals is to be observ'd whilst they are a-taking Which are the Signs that denote the kindly Operations of them or their future ill Effects What ill Accidents attend the taking of them and how they may be Remedy'd or Prevented Whether it be proper to Purge after the Taking of them What Effects they will have by Mixing other Liquors with them or by Boiling Meat in them Whether a Salt extracted will be of Equal Effect when Diluted in Fresh Water What External Effects they will have and of what use their Sediment is when Externally apply'd What Effects they will have on Dogs if injected into their Veins or if they be kept with such for constant Drink CHAP. XII Of the Natural and Preternatural States of Bodies especially the Air. IT is the General Consent of most Men that the Determinate States of Bodies are not only first fram'd by what they call Nature but that they are likewise preserv'd in those States by the Superintendency of that Power and that whenever they lose that State they are said to be put into a Preternatural One But if we consider that such Changes proceed from Natural Causes and that those New States depend on the like Catholick Agents The Common Distinction betwixt Natural and Preternatural States ill grounded and the Establish'd Laws of Nature it will appear That the Distinction Men usually make betwixt the Natural and Preternatural States of Bodies is but ill-grounded and that Preternatural is only a Relative Term intimating that that Body hath undergone a Change either by the Operation of some unheeded or more noted Agent For Matter being altogether void of Sense and Perception and not affecting one State more than another the Changes it undergoes depend on the Alteration of it's Textures and New Position of it's Parts alter'd afresh by that Agent which such a Body was last expos'd to As a piece of Wax is put into a New Form by the last Impression made by another Body upon it without affecting one Form more than another it self Ice a Natural State in some Places And that the States of some Bodies which are said to be Preternatural as truly depend on Natural Causes and the Establish'd Laws of Nature as others is evident in Ice and Water In which Bodies the Forms of each depend upon the Effects of External Agents for tho' in these Hotter Climates Water is Esteem'd a Natural and Ice a Preternatural State of that Substance yet I am inform'd that in Siberia a Province belonging to a Russian Emperour Water is froze most part of the Year and at a small Depth from the Surface of the Earth the Soil is froze throughout where Ice is look'd upon to be the Natural and the Alterations made by a Thaw and the Influence of the External Temperature of the Air and the Sun Beams are esteem'd Preternatural States of Bodies And further tho' Butter in our Clime be sold in a consistent Form and when it is melted is look'd upon to be in a Preternatural State yet I am inform'd that amongst the Europeans it is fluid and is sold by Measure and not by Weight as here in England And it is further observ'd That several Substances as Rosin of Jalap Gum Lacca and even Aloes it self are considerablely softened in their Consistence by the Temperature of the Air and the Force of External Heat whilst they pass under the Torrid Zone so that I am told that the former of the aforemention'd Drugs was melted into a sort of Balsam whilst it continued in Africa but when it was brought to Spain it put on a Consistent Form again And tho' Aloes was soft whilst carry'd through America and those hotter Climates yet when it approach'd our Climate it presently became hard But to bring further Instances concerning the Natural and Preternatural States of Bodies I shall observe That according the Receiv'd Notion of Natural and Preternatural States it is very difficult to determine the Natural State of the Air for not to insist on the different Temperature of the Air as to Heat and Cold in different Climes It may be demanded Since Heat and Cold rarifie and expand the Air what is to be esteem'd the Natural State of it in Reference to Rarity and Density And it is no less Questionable what Place is most fit to determine it's Natural State since the State of it is not only different in several Countries but in those Places at different Times And that the Changes as to the Density or Rarity of the Air are very frequent appears by the several Degrees of the Atmosphere's Gravity evident in the Torrecellian Experiments hereafter to be deliver'd A forced State the Natural State of the Air. But further Except the States of the Air be said to be Preternatural only in a Relative Sense with respect to the State it was in
Mercury so easily the rarified Air would rather penetrate than buoy it up The Reason of Suction To shew in Opposition to Mr. Hobbs how much the Atmospherical Air is concern'd in Suction we took a Glass Bubble whose long Stem was Cylindrical and very slender and having by the help of heat expelled a good quantity of the Air contain'd in it when by immerging it in Water that Rarified Air which remained in it was condens'd the VVater was almost raised to the Top of the Pipe when this was done the Air in the Bubble being Rarified it forced out almost all the Water in the Stem only a few Drops which satisfi'd us that none of the Rarified Air had got out of the Pipe as the Depression of the Water so low assured us on the other side that the included Air was almost as much Expanded as when the Water began to ascend into the Pipe When the Air was thus Rarified we presently removed the Pipe out of the Water into the Stagant Mercury which ascended into it in a short time In which Experiment did the Mercury rise to prevent a Vacuum or did it's Ascent depend on any internal Principle of Motion or on the compression and propagated Pulsion of the Air that was expelled there would be no reason why the Mercury should not rise as high as the Water But from our Hypothesis the Reason is plain for as soon as the Cylinder of Water or Mercury together with the compress'd Air is equiponderant with the Atmosphere incumbent it rises no higer So that tho' the Air is less condens'd when the Tube is immers'd in Mercury yet the greater Weight of Mercury making a greater resistance than Water the external Air is not able to buoy it up any higher to compress the Air enclosed And this Experiment is confirm'd by the following For having expell'd a little Air out of the Bubble by heat so much Quicksilver ascended into it as fill'd a Fourth Part of the Pipe which being carefully removed so that no Mercury could run out we caused the Air in the globous part to be Rarified till almost all the Mercury was expell'd the end of the Pipe being all the while immers'd in Water as soon as the Air included began to cool the Water rose up into the Body of the Ball buoying up the Mercury before it whereit was observ'd that as the Air was more or less Rarifi'd and the Quicksilver exepll'd out of the Stem the Ascent of the Water would proportionably vary So that as the Body to be buoy'd up by the External Air varies in Weight so do the Degrees of it's Ascent Another Observation which shews that there is no Circulation of Wind such as Mr. Hobbs supposes to be the Cause of Suction is that Smoak will ascend without being in the least blown about But since Mr. Hobbs will not allow of a Vacuum but asserts that the Air makes it's Way through the close and solid Bodies I shall add that having expell'd the Air by Rarefaction out of a very thin Aeopile and stopp'd the Orifice up with Wax the External Air made such a violent Pressure on it as to thrust the Sides of it considerably inwards CHAP. VII The Cause of Attraction by Suction Attraction what SUction being look'd upon to be a sort of Attraction before I descend to a more particular Consideration of the former I shall premise something of the latter And tho' Attraction is generally taken to be a kind of Pulsion yet both of them to me seem to be but extrinsical Denominations of the same Local Motion in which if a Body mov'd precede the Movent or tends to acquire a greater Distance from it we call it Pulsion and if upon the Account of Motion the same Body either follows or tends towards the Movent it is term'd Attraction so that the difference is no Physical one but only Accidental in respect of the Line of Motion to the Movent As when a Man draws a Chain after him tho' he goes before it yet he hath some Part of his Body behind one Link which draws the rest after it and so if that Chain draws any thing after it tho' the Cause of the Attraction goes before yet there is a certain Cohesion of Parts that enables it to drag that Body after it so that Attraction evidently appears to be a Species of Pulsion and such an one as is usually term'd Trusion as when a Gardiner drives his Wheelbarrow before him without letting go his Hold. But perhaps it may be said that there are Attractions where it cannot be pretended that the Attrahent comes behind any Part of the Body attracted as in Magnetical and Electrical Attractions or as when Water rises by pumping As for the two first Instances should we allow with Modern Philosophers of screw'd Particles and other Magnetical Emissions we might say that these coming behind either the Body attracted or it 's porous Parts on it's Superficies might cause such an Effect or by procuring some Discussion of the Air that may make it thrust the moveable towards the Attracting Body But were there none of these nor any other subtil Agents that cause this Motion by a real tho' unperceiv'd Pulsion I should to distinguish these from other Attractions term them Attraction by Invisibles But as for the last Instance I suppose it will be easily granted that the ascending Rammer only makes way for the Water to rise as it is buoy'd up by External Air for from the Torrecellian Experiment it is evident that since the Terraqueous Globe is continually press'd upon by the Atmosphere if in any part that Pressure be taken off the Incumbent Atmospherical Pillar will buoy up as much of that Liquor as a Pillar of Air of such a Diameter is able to counterpoise The Truth of which is further confirm'd by observing that if the Air from about a Syringe be exhausted the Sucker may be pull'd up without elevating the Water or drawing it up after it And indeed supposing two Men by thrusting equally on each side a Door to keep it shut one might as well say that he that left off thrusting on one side was the Cause of the Doors opening as that the Water rises by the drawing up the Rammer which only gives way to the Water as buoy'd up by the External Air. Thus much being said of Attraction I shall proceed to consider The Cause of Suction as laid down by others exanun'd that Species of it call'd Suction for which several Philosophers have thought on various Causes As Nature's Abhorrency of a Vacuum which were it true Water by Suction might be rais'd to any Height but we have found by Experience that it will not be rais'd above 33 ½ Foot which Weight the Atmosphere is able to buoy up as appears from the Torrecellian Experiment And further from an Experiment elsewhere laid down where tho' Water may presently be suck'd up to the Top of a Pipe 3 Foot long yet
Minerals the Earth is stock'd with tho' some may emit Effluvia noxious to Men as well as Plants yet in that Variety there may not be a few whose Exhalations may be as friendly to him for Trees and Grass have not only been observ'd to flourish over Tin Mines in the West of England but over Veins of another kind of Mineral which was not far from the Surface of the Earth And it is observ'd that those that Work in Tin Mines usually live very long And I have not only been told that the Fumes that rise from such Mines tho' often very bituminous and of an offensive Smell yet some of them are well scented And a Friend of mine who caus'd himself to be let down in a subterraneal Cavern which was broken open by digging for a Mine not only observ'd that the Air was very pleasant to breath but likewise amongst several imperfectly form'd Minerals store of a Mineral Earth very fragrant and pleasant which Smell it in some measure retain'd when it had been expos'd to the Air for some time And I my self have observ'd in Ireland a piece of Ground to yield very good tho' short Grass in a Country justly esteem'd healthful which I attributed to some sulphureous Exhalations-from Lime-stone which have had so considerable Effects in other places that I am told that a piece of Ground in Derbyshire which lies upon Lime-stone is so warm'd by the Vapours that rise from it that Snow is much sooner Thaw'd upon it than that which lies near it on Soil which covers Free-stone To which it may be added that a Gentleman observ'd in Hungary that walking over some Ground which affords that Noble Oar call'd by the Germans Rot-gulden ertz the Air was very pleasant nor was the Air much less pleasant on that Ground which lay upon Veins of Cinnabar yet over other sorts of Mines the Air was very inoffensive Nor is it improbable that subjacent Fossiles should influence the Air since I have observ'd Mineral Earths twenty Foot deep yield a volatile saline Spirit like that of Harts-horn And that several Effluvia may impregnate the Air which are not to be discern'd by any of our Senses appears from those Magnetical Effluvia of the Earth discover'd by the Ingenious Gilbert and others which do not only steam through the Air but as I have observ'd act upon Bodies in an Instant which are contain'd in Glasses hermetically seal'd But tho' from hence it may appear that the Salubrity of the Air may be improv'd by the Effluvia of some Minerals yet it is beyond doubt that in general they render the Air Insalubrious since there are a great many more that emit bad than good ones For besides that the Air hath been observ'd in Hungary to be very offensive and prejudicial to Respiration that in the Neopolitan Grotta de Cani suddenly deprives Dogs both of Sense and Motion To which may be added the Averni in Hungary which suddenly kill those that draw in the Air infected with them Besides which there are a great many noxious Effluvia which rise from Marchasitical Minerals which we take little notice of and in places which we little suspect them to be in nevertheless they infect the Air and render it corrosive by emitting that ill condition'd Sulphur which they so much abound with that a pound distill'd in an Earthen Vessel with a good Fire besides an inflammable Sulphur which was condens'd into thin Films on the side of the Receiver yielded a strong Acid not much unlike Gas Sulphuris which was corrosive enough to dissolve Coral in the Cold. And that there is other Marchasitical or Vitriolate Matter in England besides those Stones from which the greatest part of Vitriol is obtain'd I my self am a Witness who have obtain'd a Vitriol from a Vein of Metalline Oar consisting of a black heavy Stuff without any troublesome or artificial Preparation PROPOSITION II. It is probable Prop. 2. that in divers Places some Endemical Diseases do chiefly or partly depend on subterraneal Steams UNder the Title of Endemick Diseases I not only comprize those that are solely peculiar to some Places as the Plica Polonica to Poland and the Disease in France call'd la Colique de Poictou but those that chiefly appear in particular Countries as Agues in Kent and Essex Hundreds Consumptions in England and Fluxes in Ireland But before I proceed further under this Topick it is requisite I should first Advertise that I deny not but that a great many of such Distempers may depend in a great measure on Excessive Heat or Cold or some other manifest Qualities of the Air as also bad Diet or Intemperance but the Reasons why I think they generally in a great measure likewise arise from some noxious and contagious subterraneal Effluvia are the following 1. Because frequently the Causes are not manifest and 2. Contagious Effluvia may be emitted 3. A large Tract of Land may abound with the same kind of Mineral and another piece of Land with another 4. As the Effluvia are Saline Sulphureous Antimonial Arsenical or of another Nature they may have different Effects so in Hungary some cause a difficulty of breathing But the Effluvia of the Earth do not only affect the Body by the Mediation of Respiration but being contiguous to the Skin get in at the Pores of the Body and have sensible Effects on the Internal Parts And that the Pores of the Body are capable of receiving very subtle Effluvia might be evinc'd by several Instances but it may suffice to intimate that I have so prepar'd a Mineral Substance that it would have very sensible Effects on Substances contain'd in the Bladders of dead Animals when it had no other way to get to those Substances than through the Pores of the Bladder which are not near so perspirable as other Parts of the Body not constituted to hold so subtle and penetrating a LIquor as Urine Nor need it be a less Wonder how these subterraneal Effluvia should have so sudden Effects on human Bodies and in so little time since we see in moist Weather how suddenly Lute-strings are broke and Ropes shorten'd by the Insinuation of moist Particles into their Pores And tho' those Effluvia are not so plentifully dispers'd in the Air as to enter the Pores in such Swarms yet the Mass of Humors may in time be sufficiently impregnated with those noxious Vapours to enable them to produce their Effects when suck'd into the Capillary Vessels they gradually deprave the Mass of Blood And that Effluvia from without may have considerable Effects on the Mass of Blood appears from Appensa and Periapta as also the Effects of Mercurial Plaisters and Girdles and the Effluvia of a Load-stone which caus'd a Friend of mine to be troubled with Fits of the Colick an Argument that Mineral Effluvia may cause particular Diseases To which we may add that Arsenical Appensa extoll'd by some in the Plague have produc'd the Effects of
The honble Robert Boyle THE WORKS OF THE HONOURABLE Robert Boyle Esq EPITOMIZ'D VOL. I. By RICHARD BOULTON of Brazen-Nose College in Oxford Illustrated with COPPER PLATES Consilium est universum Opus Instaurationis Philosophiae potiùs promovere in multis quam perficere in paucis Verulamius LONDON Printed for J. Phillips at the King's Arms and J. Taylor at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCIX IMPRIMATUR Liber Cui Titulus THE WORKS Of the HONOURABLE ROBERT BOYLE Esq EPITOMIZ'D By RICHARD BOULTON JOHN HOSKYNS V. P. R. S. Vecesimo Septimo Martii 1699. ERRATA IN the Preface pag. 2. lin 13. read less entertaining Digressions P. 64. for dissolve into Crystals read dissolve shoot into Crystals P. 433. l. 7. read which would not have been done were c. P. 436. l. 1. read in our Third Plate In the Table under the Letter T. l. 2. dele their TO THE Right Honourable JOHN Lord SOMMERS BARON of Evesham Lord High Chancellor of England AND President of the ROYAL SOCIETY And to The Honourable Sir JOHN HOSKYNS Vice-President Together with the Council and Fellows Of the said SOCIETY INSTITUTED For the Advancement of Natural Knowledge This VOLUME Intitul'd an EPITOMY OF Mr. BOYLE's WORKS Is humbly Dedicated by RICHARD BOVLTON TO THE Right Reverend Father in GOD NICOLAS Lord BISHOP of CHESTER My LORD THAT I presume to lay a Book before Your Lordship which bears so mean a Name as mine in the Title-Page might want a better Apology than I could make were there not likewise the Illustrious Name of that justly esteem'd and most Famous Author the Honourable Mr. Boyle before it For were the following Sheets entirely the Products of my weak Endeavors only I should think it no small Piece of Vanity to hope for Your Lordship's Notice and much more to expect your Patronage But since the Honourable Author's Works have sufficiently recommended themselves to the Learned World and more especially to those that are most Eminent for Learning themselves He cannot but already amongst Those have deserved Your good Esteem and therefore should I endeavour an Encomium of so Great a Man by way of Apology for my present Presumption I should but let Your Lordship see that all I can say of so Eminent a Person would come far short of the Esteem You have for him already Not that I can pretend to know Your Lordship's Sentiments in any Particular any further than I may presume to guess by the Notion I have of Your Lordship's Esteem for Learning and Learned Men. But tho' the Name of Mr. Boyle may be sufficient to recommend the Honourable Author's Works to Your Lordship and the rest of the Learned World yet if Your Lordship will be pleased to condescend to Patronize Your most Humble and Obedient Servant who hath the good Fortune to Conduct them into the World and to extract those purer Streams of Knowledg which are separated from the less discerning Part of Mankind by polite Apologies and Florid Complimental Digressions It will be the greater Happiness that I have the Honour to be Just to the Author and Serviceable to the World But much more that I have at the same time so Favourable an Opportunity of expressing my Gratitude for the Favours which Your Lordship hath already been pleased to bestow on me Favours which are much more valuable because Your Lordship's and which carry with them a double Obligation of Gratitude the One to Your Lordship and the Other to my good Friend and Worthy Patron Dr. Robert Angell to whom I am infinitely Obliged for Your Lordship's Favour and for being first made known to Your Lordship But it will not be the only Happiness to me that Your Lordship is pleased to Patronize my present Undertaking but it may in a great Measure Contribute to their Candid Acceptance by the World who will put a higher Value upon them for Your Lordship 's Favourable Approbation Indeed were it Generally receiv'd and agreed on what some People hold viz. That Philosophy is prejudicial to Religion I should have more Reason to beg Your Lordship's Pardon than Your Patronage since it must be in Vain to hope that One who promotes the Latter by Instructive Doctrin and what is more an Examplary Life to be imitated but not parallell'd should encourage any thing that may be of Disservice to that But I need not tell Your Lordship that the Honourable Author hath made it appear That we may search into Efficient Causes without denying the. All-Wise Author of Created Beings his just Attributes For whoever diligently searches into Efficient Causes cannot but discern the Necessity of an Omnipotent Creator who first establish'd the Laws of Nature and gave them their due Limits and our Author having made it evident that Efficients themselves direct us to Final Causes and confequently rather dispose and incline a Man than hinder him from being a Good Christian your Lordship needs no other Inducements to promote it And indeed were I not satisfy'd that Philosophy if rightly made use of by the Effects it hath upon my Self did not enable Me the more to discern the Shortness of the Utmost Attainments of Finite Capacities and to adore what I cannot comprehend I should be so far from desiring Your Lordship's Patronage that I should be ready to oppose it my self to the utmost of my Weak Endeavours And were it not too soon to make Your Lordship Promises before I have qualify'd my Self to write any thing of my own worth Your Lordship's Notice I should not be backwards to say That I may in a few Years shew that it will afford us no small Light in explaining the Mosaick Creation in directing us to frame some faint Ideas of the Methods by which the Omnipotent Fiat brought the World to what it now is and to prove the Works of the Omnipotent Creator as Historically deliver'd by Moses consonant with Philosophy But I am afraid that endeavouring to make an Apology for this Dedication I ought to make another for having been too tedious already since Your Lordship 's own Judgment will satisfie You of the Usefulness of Philosophy and since that Consideration is enough to induce You to encourage it Yet I cannot perswade My self so soon to pass by this Opportunity of expressing my Gratitude to Your Lordship nor can I forbear reflecting on my own Happiness under Your Lordship's Patronage For as no one better understands how to encourage the Endeavours of those that make Improvements in Knowledge their Aim than those that are most intimately acquainted with it and than Your Lordship So it is an equal Happiness to be under the Protection and Favourable Eye of a Patron so desirable Neither is it any Vain Opinion I have of my own Merit that makes me think my self Happy under such a Patron but rather the Sense of my own Weakness for could I perswade my self that I deserv'd Your Lordship's Favour or the Favour of some Others both eminent and Learned to whom I am
oblig'd I must be very vain indeed But notwithstanding the Sense I have of my own Weakness Your Lordship's Favour will encourage me to improve the small Talent I have since in the Search of Truth Est aliquid prodire tenus si non datur ultra But My LORD the World who are wont to find in Dedications the Characters of their Patrons may wonder that I have declin'd the Usual Method since any one that knows Your Lordship cannot want Materials for a Character that might be of Use to the World in setting them a Good Pattern to imitate Yet since Your Lordship's Character would be drawn amiss by so mean a Pen as Mine I would rather be thought out of the Common Road than mistaken in it since any Body that knows what Character belongs to a Truly Apostolical Bishop is not unacquainted with Your Lordship's Therefore since no Encomiums can add to that which can only be augmented by a Continuance of Your Life the Fear of Mis-representing is the Reason I decline it But not to take up too many of Your Lordship's pretious Minutes which are always Imploy'd in doing Good and promoting Christianity in it's Original Stream that Your Lordship may live long for the Honour of the Church and the Good of those that are under Your Care is not only the Wishes of â—hose that think themselves happy under the â—nspection of Your Lordship but more particularly of My LORD Your LORDSHIP 's Most Dutiful and Most Obedient Servant RICHARD BOULTON Plate the Second Fig 1 pag. 407 Fig 2 pag 〈◊〉 Fig 6 pag 432 Fig 3 pag 416 Fig 4 pag. 410. Fig 5. pag 420 Plate the Third pag 435. Plate the fourth pag 435 Plate 5. Fig 1. pag. 438 Fig 3. pag. 454 Fig 2 pag. 452. Fig 4. p. 459 Plate 6. Fig 1 pag. 443 Fig 3 pag. 445 Fig 2. pag. 443. Fig 4. pag. 447 Plate 7. Fig 4. p 470 Fig 2 pag 4â—â— Fig 3 pag. 470 Fig 1. pag. 456. Plate 8. Fig 3 pag. 474 Fig 4 pag. 〈◊〉 Fig 5. pag. 475 Fig 7. p 477 Fig 8. p 477. Fig 6 pag. 476 Fig 〈◊〉 pag. 4â—â— Fig 2 p â—â—4 THE WORKS Of the HONOURABLE ROBERT BOYLE Esq EPITOMIZED BOOK I. CHAP. I. Considerations and Experiments concerning the Origin of Forms and Qualities The Division of this Chapter THAT before I descend to a more particular Consideration of the Doctrin of Forms and Qualities I may premise some General Apprehensions of the Doctrin to be collated with and to be either confirm'd or disprov'd by what follows of Particular Forms and Qualities I will at the Entrance give you a short Account of our Hypothesis compriz'd in the Eight following Particulars We teach then but without peremptorily asserting it Matter Defined I. That the Matter of all Natural Bodies is the same Namely a Substance Extended Divisible and Impenetrable Motion the Catholick Agent of the Universe II. That since there could be no change in Matter if all its Parts were perpetually at rest amongst themselves to discriminate the Catholick Matter of the Universe into a Variety of Natural Bodies it must have Motion in some or all its Parts which Motion must be variously determined And though it is manifest to Sense That there is Local Motion in Matter yet Motion is not congenite to Matter nor coeval with it Local Motion being not included in the Nature of Matter which is as much Matter when at rest as in Motion And though it be hotly disputed How Matter came by that Motion by those who acknowledge not an Author of the Universe yet since a Man is not the worse Naturalist for not being an Atheist we allow that the Origin of Motion in Matter is from GOD and that since it is unfit to be believ'd that Matter in Motion left to it self should casually constitute this Beautiful and Orderly World Guided by GOD in the Creation of Things it is not amiss to think That the Wise Author of Things guided the first Motions of the small Parts of Matters so that they might convene after a Manner requisite to compose the World and especially did contrive those Curious and Elaborate Engins the Bodies of Living Animals enduing most of them with a Power of propagating their Species But to pass by such Notions I shall proceed to what remains requisite to explicate the Origin of Forms and Qualities as soon as I have taken Notice That Local Motion seems to be indeed the Principal amongst Second Causes and the Grand Agent of all that happens in Nature Bulk Figure Rest Situation and Texture being the Effects of Motion or the Conditions and Requisites which Modifie the Operation as in a Watch or Key it is Motion that makes all the other Requisites useful Motion Size and Shape three Primary Affections of Matter III. That Matter being Naturally by a variously determined Motion divided into Parts each of those Parts must needs have a peculiar Size and Shape So that there are three Essential Properties or Primary Affections of the Parts of Matter Magnitude Shape and either Rest or Motion the two first of which may be call'd Inseparable Accidents Inseparable because Bodies extended and finite cannot be devoid of a Determinate Shape Accidents because that whether Physical Agents may have a Power to alter the Shapes or subdivide Bodies or not yet mentally they may do both without destroying the Essence of that Matter Whether there be in Bodies Qualities and Accidents distinct Entities from them Whether these Accidents may be call'd the Modes or Primary Affections of Bodies to distinguish them from those more compound Qualities as Colours Tastes and Odours or the Conjuncts of the smallest Parts of Matter I shall not now determine only one thing which is taught by the Modern Schools concerning Accidents Namely That there are in Natural Bodies Real Qualities and other Real Accidents which are no Modes of Matter but Entities distinct from it and which may exist separate from all Matter To clear this Point we must take Notice That Accident is used in two several Senses for sometimes it is opposed to the fourth Predicable Property and is defined That which may be Present or Absent without the Destruction of the Subject as a Man may be sick or well yet a Man And this is call'd Accidens Praedicabile to distinguish it from what they call Accidens Praedicamentale which is opposed to Substance and as Substance is commonly defined to be a thing that subsists of it self and is the Subject of Accidents so Accident is said to be Id cujus esse est inesse And therefore Aristotle who usually calls Substances 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Entities calls Accidents 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Entities of Entities these needing a Subject of Inhaesion And we are likewise to take Notice That according to them That is said to be in a Subject which hath these three Conditions That however it 1 be in another thing 2 is not in it as a
Substantial Forms being examined I shall briefly consider the Physical Arguments usually alledged for the proof of them The first is the Spontaneous cooling of hot Water an Action usually attributed to the Power of the Substantial Form which might be plausible were it not otherwise to be explained for Bodies esteem'd cold having their Parts in a less Agitation than the Natural Juices about the Sensory cause that Sensation but when the Parts of that Water by the heat of the Fire are put into a Violent Motion stronger than that of the Parts of Matter about our Sensory it becomes hot which hot Water being removed from the Fire and the Agitation of its Parts being diminished it returns to its just Temperature To effect which a Substantial Form is no more requisite than when a Ship is put into a violent Motion in a Storm there is required a Substantial Form to stop its Motion upon the ceasing of that Storm And in opposition to Substantial Forms it may be likewise considered that Water in upper Rooms in hot Climates will be kept warm and in Nova Zembla in the Form of Ice meerly by the Temper of the Air in spite of the Substantial Form Another Argument urged is that Matter being indifferent to all Accidents it wants a substantial Form to link the Accidents requisite to every Particular Body together To which it is answered that the World being now made and constituted the Phaenomena of Nature depend on one part of Matter acting on another so that especially fluid Bodies frequently change their States being altered by the several Seasons of the Year and Temperature of the Air which is evident from the different Effects it hath on Weather-Glasses So that the Accidents observable in most Bodies depend on Agents and Efficient Causes which produce in Matter what in the Precedent Chapter we call an Essential Form And there is no need of a Substantial Form to keep those Accidents together since they will continue in the same state till some other Agent works on them which is strong enough to destroy and change the Texture and Form of that Matter which Agent the assistance of a Substantial Form being not able to resist the Body in spite of the Peripatetick Doctrin must be chang'd an instance of which we have in Lead which tho' when melted it returns to it's pristine state upon cooling if it be long continued upon a Violent Fire will be turned into a reddish brittle Glass and lose all its former Qualities and retains those new acquired ones till some powerful Extrinsick Agent cause a fresh Change On the contrary Oranges Tamarinds Senna and several other Bodies retain the same Qualities when gathered and removed from the Soul of the Tree and without the influence of its Form which they had before whilst growing And the colour of Snow soon perisheth notwithstanding its Substantial Form its Texture being altered by a Dissolution The Parts of a Body may adhere without the help of a Substantial Form But there is still another Argument generally alledged in favour of Substantial Forms which is that without them the various changes observable in Bodies and the adhering of several Parts of Matter united into one Totum would be unaccountable As to the first Part of this Argument it is easily answered since Local Motion variously determined is able to effect considerable and various Changes in Bodies an Instance of which besides what hath been said in the first and the preceding part of this Chapter we have in Tallow which by the Mechanical Effects of Fire exchanges Heat for Coldness Fludity for Firmness and instead of Whiteness puts on Transparency And besides the Changes which are caused by the Action of one single Quality in an Agent as Heat the Operations of Bodies proceeding from the Texture of the whole are various as appears by Factitious Vitriol which is made of Iron and a Corrosive Menstruum yet hath all the Qualities of Natural Vitriol And as to the Second Part of the Argument viz. That the Parts of a Body could not be united into one without a Sustantial Form I answer That a Connexion of Parts conveniently figured is sufficient as when a Pear is grafted on a White-thorn or a Plum is inoculated on an Apricock there is a Union of Two different Forms meerly by a Connexion of the Parts of Matter and the Parts grafted or inoculated receive Nourishment as naturally as if they were supposed to be joined by a Substantial Form to a Stock of the same Form and Texture with themselves Another Instance of Union by a Connexion of certain figured Parts we have in Glass where the Particles of Sand are linked together with the Saline ones by the help of Colliquation and the violent Action of the Fire But to conclude I am not ignorant that it is alledged in favour of Substantial Forms that they render Natural Philosophy much more perfect and that it would be very imperfect without them which comes to no more than that if we must not explain things difficult by things unknown we must be imperfect where I think the Imperfection is not at all remedied for should it be ask'd why Jet attracts Straws or why Rhabarb is a Cholagogue and the Answer should be by reason of their Substantial Forms it would be all one as to say by I know not what because those Forms are unknown Being therefore in things purely appertaining to Natural Philosophy unwilling to believe what is not intelligible I shall leave the Doctrin of Substantial Forms to those that have clearer Heads than my self and shall rather proceed upon Intelligible Principles The Form of a Body is its Essential Modification I shall therefore briefly intimate what hath been delivered before concerning our Notion of Forms viz. That the Form of a Body is its Essential Modification and tho' Matter at the first Beginning of things had both Form and Motion from the wise Creator of things yet now the various Forms of Bodies depend on the Effects of Local Motion which divides and variously transposes and so alters both the Textures and Forms of Natural Bodies tho' I say at the Creation the Parts of Matter were guided by a Supream Power so as to convene into an orderly and well contrived Fabrick CHAP. IV. Considerations concerning Subordinate Forms as they are usually held by several Learned Modern Philosophers IT is usually held by several Modern Philosophers That besides the Specifick Form of a Body The Notions of Modern Philosophers concerning Subordinate Forms there are several Subordinate Forms in Determinate Parts of it subservient to that which is the Common Form of the whole Substance and which upon the Dissolution of a Body become Specifick Forms themselves the Specifick Form which presided over them before being destroy'd As when in a Living Animal the Soul which is the Specifick Form of that Animal Body is separated from it the Forms which were before lodg'd in every Part as subordinate
that the compact Texture of Glass may depend on a like Juxta-position of Parts since the Particles of Fire in the making of it may so divide the Parts of the Ingredients as to render them subtile enough for so strict and close a Union as is requisite to exclude Air from betwixt them for it is not only obvious That Air cannot penetrate the Pores of it when heated in Distillation but in blowing of Glasses where it hath not the least Vent through the Pores of it tho' impell'd with Force yet its Pores are fine enough to give way to the Beams of Light and Heat and likewise to the fine Effluvia of a Loadstone without damaging the Texture of it in the least nor would it be more absurd to conceive that the Parts of Salt-petre or Ice were after the like manner joyn'd together by a Juxta-position But to return to the Place from whence we have made this short Digression tho' from hence it appears that the Spring of the Air may contribute to the Cohesion of the Parts of Solids yet it is not altogether necessary since the same may be accounted for by the Air consider'd barely as a Weight for the Air being a fluid Body and pressing by its Gravity towards the Centre it must needs diffuse it self every way when resisted by the Surface of the Earth and consequently expand it self orbicularly by which means the whole Pillar of Air incumbent on it being virtually incumbent on the lower Superficies of the Glass whatever separates one from the other must out-balance that Pressure of the Air otherwise there being no Air betwixt the two Glasses they must needs stick together but it is not necessary that the contiguous Superficies of these two Glasses should be equal to the Horizon since if they be perpendicular the Sides of the Glasses have a collateral Pressure from the Pillars of Air pressing against them and consequently the Difficulty must be as great to separate them But to try more exactly How much the Pressure of the Air is concern'd in the former Experiments we took two polish'd Marbles as smooth as we could get and fastned Wires to the uppermost so that the lowest could not slide off the other Horizontally but if any way must fall Perpendicularly which Caution being observ'd we found the one would not only draw up the other but a Pair of Scales fixed to it with 16 Ounces of Troy Weight and to make the Experiment more compleat we found That when the Surfaces of the Stones were wet with pure Spirit of Wine the Air being by that Means kept from insinuating it self betwixt the Stones the uppermost would not only draw up the other with a pair of Scales but an hundred and sometimes a hundred and thirty Ounces of Troy Weight tho' the Diameter of the Stones exceeded not an Inch and two Thirds But having repeated the Experiment with Oyl of sweet Almonds instead of Spirit of Wine we found that it took up above four hundred Ounces Troy Weight And that it may not be suspected That this Difference proceeds from the more clammy Parts of the Oyl which caus'd the Stones to adhere more closely I shall add That the contiguous Surfaces being held perpendicular tho' they would easily slide off each other when moisten'd with Oyl yet would they not slip down when moistned with Spirit of Wine without an additional Weight joyn'd to one of them the Protuberances of one perhaps being fastned in the Pores of the other But to shew That the Adhesion of these polish'd Marbles is proportionably greater as the Diameter of them is larger and consequently as they are press'd together by a larger Pillar of Air I repeated the same Experiment with Spirit of Wine and took up about four hundred and seventy Ounces but when I made use of Oyl of Almonds the Weight rais'd was much more considerable being a Thousand three hundred and forty four Ounces of Troy Weight besides at the same time the Marbles were observ'd to stick close together And here again lest it should be suspected that the Oyl made the Adhesion more close I shall relate this Observation viz. That tho' it requir'd so great a Weight to separate these Stones when their contiguous Surfaces were in an Horizontal Line yet would they easily slide one upon another not unlike the contiguous Glasses before mention'd and for the same Reasons and if they were the least inclin'd either this way or that their own Weight was sufficient to separate them From whence it appears how much the Air may be concern'd in compressing the Particles of solid Bodies together And lest it should be further objected That the Cohesion of these Stones rather proceeds from Nature's Abhorrency of a Vacuum than the Cause assign'd by us I shall add these Considerations First That if it were so the same Reason would hold when a much more considerable Weight is fastned to the lower Marble yet we see that then notwithstanding Nature's Abhorrency of a Vacuum they presently part Secondly That the Pressure of the Air is sufficient to account for it Which to make it more plausible I shall add that tho' the Stone were fastned to the Ground yet it would require as much Force to separate the Uppermost from it in a Perpendicular Line as to lift up a weight aequiponderant with the Stone and the Pillar of Air incumbent on it since there is neither Air nor any other Body betwixt the two Stones to help to raise the Lower up and in part to sustain the weight of the incumbent Atmosphaere and therefore it needs not seem strange that when the lower Marble and the weight affixed to it is not sufficient to ballance the weight of the Atmosphaere it should rise along with the Uppermost when drawn up rather than be separated from it since it is usual for two Bodies when joyned together to move the same way if they be not separated by Weights or some other Force which is observable in trying of Load-stones for if the Load-stone be able to raise a Body more ponderous than it self the Knife will as soon raise the Load-stone as the Load-stone will lift up the Knife To Illustrate what hath been said I shall add an Experiment registred amongst my Adversaria which is this viz. Having immerged a Glass Syphon with a Brass Valve cemented on one end almost half a Yard in a tall Cucurbite till it touched the Bottom I filled it with Water till the Superficies of the Water in it was equal to that in the Cucurbite which being done I took a pair of Scales putting an Ounce weight into one Scale and fixing a String to the other one end of the String being likewise fastned to the Valve fixed to the bottom of the Glass Tube where it was to be observed that by that single Ounce I was able to open the Valve whereas when the Water was poured out of the Pipe and it was immersed again the Valve would not be open'd
think that there is not since it hath been discover'd in Bodies which are usually esteem'd most Quiescent CHAP. XV. Of the great Effects of even Languid and unheeded Local Motion THO' several Mathematicians as well as Philosophers Several Phaenomena arising from unheeded Causes Comprized under the following Propositions have exercis'd their Industry in limiting the Laws of Motion yet since several Qualities usually esteem'd occult may arise from a faint and unheeded Motion of the Parts of those Bodies to which they are attributed I shall consider the Extent of local Motion a little further But before I proceed to consider the particular Effects of languid and unheeded Motion I shall first premise in general what I have elsewhere upon another Occasion intimated viz. That we are not to consider Bodies barely as so many Portions of Matter endow'd with particular Powers but as Bodies whose Particles are variously figur'd and modify'd after a peculiar Manner so as to act or to be acted on by those Bodies which are about them yet not wholly to derive their Effects to the Influence of external Agents but in a great Measure from the mutual Action of one Part of Matter upon another But there are several other Circumstances of local Motion besides what we have taken notice which are not to be discern'd and therefore I would not be thought wholly to attribute the Phaenomena of a Body to Motion only but to a Concurrence of several other Causes but to avoid tedious Preambles I shall take notice that the Reasons why some Men slight or overlook the strange Effects of languid Motion may be compriz'd under the following Heads I. Prop. I. Men are wont to overlook the great Efficacy of Celerity in Bodies which are very small And especially if the Space which they move through be but small What strange Effects may be deriv'd from rapid tho' undiscerned Motion we have a convincing Instance in Bullets which by reason of their swift Motion are able to effect more than those battering Engines of the Ancients which were of a vaste Bulk in comparison of Bullets which are shot out of the largest Canons To this I might add several other Instances but I shall rather proceed to alledge in favour of the second Part of the Proposition that I have often observ'd That the Particles of Iron which fly off Iron Rods when they are turn'd affected my Hand with a sensible Heat if held at a small Distance and it is likewise observ'd by those who work in Brass That the Particles which fly off upon turning affect their Eyes as well as other Parts with an offensive Heat so that an experienc'd Workman shew'd me a Blister upon his Hand which was rais'd by the intense Heat of Particles of Brass thrown off by a rough Tool And I am further inform'd That in turning of great Guns the Parts which fly off are so hot as to burn the Fingers of those who offer'd to take them up Amongst which Observations it is to be noted That Brass acquires a much greater Heat in turning than Iron And to these Observations I shall add That not only the Parts of Metals but Wood will become in some Measure warm by being put into a rapid Motion by the Force of the Turners Engines from which Instances it appears how considerable are the Effects of a rapid tho' a short Motion And we have Instances of this kind no less remarkable in Vegetables where a good Cane by being struck with a Piece of Flint emits Sparks not unlike Flint in a Moment of Time and the like succeeds if Loaf-sugar be dexterously scrap'd so as to put its Parts into a brisk Agitation But what is most worthy to be observ'd in Flint is That it's Parts being put into a brisk Motion by another Piece of Flint will not only assume the Form of Fire but as the Ingenious Mr. Hooke hath observ'd will be vitrify'd tho' in Glass-houses both an intense Heat and an Addition of some Borillia are requisite to bring Sand or Flint to Fusion and to vitrify them And that this Vitrification is made of the Portions of the Flint put into a brisk Motion I am induc'd to believe because one Piece of Flint will strike Fire upon another without the Assistance of a Piece of Steel and Fire may not only be struck out of Flint but Bodies much harder as Diamonds which when grated on in a Mill have their Parts put into such a Motion as to constitute Flame though the most intense Degree of Heat will not dissolve them and even the Parts of fluid Bodies if put into a brisk Motion may have considerable Effects upon solid Bodies for whether the Beams of the Sun consist of Particles which flow in direct Physical Lines from the Sun or are only contiguous Matter as the Cartesians think put into a successive Motion yet it is enough to countenance what is here deliver'd that that Matter thrown into a Focus will melt Lead Tin or foliated Silver and Gold and in a little time set green Wood on Fire And how the small Parts of fluid Bodies will affect consistent and solid ones will be further evident from Instances alledg'd under the fourth Head The Effects of Lightning What I shall further offer here is the Strange Effects of Lightning which as several Histories c. testify by the Motion and Minuteness of its Parts hath melted Metals in a Moment Nor are the Effects of the Air in a Wind-gun upon a Bullet less to be admir'd it's Parts upon the Account of their Springyness being put into a violent Motion for when the Air is permitted to expand by affecting the Bullet no longer than whilst it passes through the Barrel of the Gun the Bullet acquires such a Degree of Motion as upon it's being shot against a Plate of Metal to be press'd into the Shape of an Hemisphere and the Particles of the Bullet will be put into so considerable a Degree of Motion by striking against the Plate that I could scarce hold it betwixt my Fingers II. We are inclin'd to think Prop. II. That the insensible Motion of so soft Bodies as Fluids can scarce have any sensible Operation on solid Bodies By the Motion of fluid Bodies I would be understood to mean not that which may be discover'd by the Eye or Touch but the unperciev'd Motion of their insensible Parts of the Effects of which I might alledge several Instances from the Operations of Sounds upon solid Bodies for upon the Discharge of great Guns the Sound of their Explosion is not only heard a great way but the expanding Gunpowder gives such a Motion to the Air as to enable it to break Glass Windows at a considerable distance And tho' to this it may be objected That since the Cannon stands on the same Piece of Ground with the Houses whose Windows are so broke the Effect may proceed from a tremulous Motion continu'd by the Soyl it stands on yet the
Agents in Animal Bodies and the Effects of those invisible Spirits which move through the Nerves which by such weighty Masses of Matter as the Bodies of some Animals are violently mov'd up and down To which may be added that by the bare insinuation of Moisture into the Pores of a Rope it may be so contracted as to raise above sixty pound weight above the place those Weights were suspended at in dry Weather And tho' Metals will endure the Heat of a Red-hot Crucible yet may they easily be melred with the Flame of a Candle if the Heat and Activity of it be promoted by a Blow-Pipe And how much more able the Parts of an Agent are to operate upon a Body when they are intimately mix'd with that they are to work upon than Superficially appears from Tartar which is much sooner calcin'd if Nitre be so mix'd with it that upon Deflagration the Flame may be commix'd with all it's Parts than if it only acts immediately on the Outside The Effects of a Lead-stone upon Filigns of Iron But to alledge Instances which will be of more Force tho' the Effluvia of a Load-stone be very minute and the Body of Iron or Steel very solid yet I have seen a Magnet whose Effluvia were so powerful as to attract and sustain fifty times the weight of the Stone it self And to make it appear how probably the Effluvia of a Magnet may change the Texture of solid Steel and by that means endow it with those Qualities which Iron usually derives from it I plac'd Filings of Steel upon a piece of Paper holding under it the Pole of a vigorous Load-stone by the Effluvia of which the Filings were presently so rang'd as to representseveral Needles or Pikes made up of Particles of Iron sticking one upon another and these might be mov'd up and down by removing the Load-stone from one place to another but as soon as the Load-stone was remov'd from that place to such a Distance that it 's Subtle Emanations had no longer any Influence upon the Powder the Parts of it presently lost that order and fell into a confus'd Heap as before that Loadstone was apply'd Again tho' the Particles of Water be so small as to be Invisible and their Motion very weak yet is it so powerful that upon Freezing the Expansion of the Frigorifick Parts are strong enough to break Bottles not only of Glass but Metal and the Expansion oftentimes is so violent as to exceed the Force of any other Body in expanding except Gun-powder that I know of CHAP. XVI Of the Propagable Nature of Motion IV. It is usually not sufficiently taken Notice of Prop. VI. how Local Motion may be propagated through several Mediums and even Solid Bodies IT is usually thought because some Bodies when they strike against Solid ones commonly fly back That the Impulse of that Body is not able to put the other into Motion but that the Parts of a Solid may be put into Motion and that that Motion may be propagated through such Consistent Substances is evident if we strike a piece of Timber slightly upon one End For by that means the Motion caus'd by that Impression will be carry'd on to the other And I have by Experience found that having drawn the Point of a Pin upon the Brim of an Hemispherical Vessel which was made of Bell-Metal which is much harder than Steel I found it from a very slight Impression to produce such a lasting Sound as was an Argument that the Parts of the Metal were not only put into such a Vibrating Motion as to communicate it to the Air but to continue it successively round the Brim of the Vessel till the Sound ceas'd And the like Propagation of Sounds I found to succeed tho' the Point of a Pin were but struck upon that Vessel which was seven Inches in Diameter And indeed the Propagable Motion of Solids when they are acted on by Fluids is not less remarkable since the Parts of a Bar of Iron or Glass may be put into such a Motion by Heat as to have it continu'd to some Distance from the place where the Fire first work'd upon them tho' it be capable of being propagated much further in the former of the two which shews how much the Textures of Bodies dispose them to be differently work'd upon by the same Agent and how much a Convenient Texture disposes them to be work'd upon at all And it may be further observ'd That it is look'd upon as a Sign of the firm Connection of a House that upon the Clapping of a Door the whole shakes and it is likewise an Argument of the Communicableness of Motion whether it depends on the mutual Contact of the Door and the Posts it shuts against or upon the Impression made upon the included Air by the Door for the former shews how a Solid may propagate Motion amongst Solids and the Latter how it may give Motion to a Fluid and Vice versâ But further it is asserted by Seneca that upon the Explosion of those Subterraneali Exhalations which are the Causes of Earth-quakes the Tremulous Motion of the Earth is continu'd above two hundred Miles And Josephus Acosta witnesseth That it hath been continu'd for three hundred Leagues in the Kingdom of Peru And Learned Writers in the beginning of our Age 1601 witness that the Motion of the Earth was so violent as to shake most part of Europe being propagated through most part of Asia Hungary Germany Italy and France And I have frequently observ'd That the House I have been in hath sensibly shook by the Tremulous Motion of the Earth it stood upon propagated from some Coach or Cart which mov'd at some distance upon the Ground and some observing Scouts say That by the Motion of the Earth they can discover the Approach of a Troop of Horse at a good Distance And to conclude this Member of our Discourse if such Disproportionate Causes can produce such Effects in Inorganical Bodies well may they in those that are Organical where there is only wanting a small Cause to call in the Assistance and to determine the Cooperation of others as the Tickling of a Feather in the Nose by Determining the Tendency of the Spirits Causes Sneezing And I remember being once held with such a Distemper as depriv'd me of the use of my Hands If in the Summer a Hair were but blown upon my Face and continued there long it would put me into Convulsions and cause me to faint Motion may be propagated through different Mediums But to determine another Member of this Proposition viz. Whether Motion may be propagated thro' several Mediums or terminates at the utmost Limits of the Medium it was begun in I shall offer the following Experiment viz. I caus'd a Glass-Receiver to be blown with a Button upon that part of the Internal Superficies which was uppermost and suspending a Watch by a Chain which was fix'd to a Soft Body fasten'd upon
and cool in another tho' cold Water dropp'd upon the hot Glass will crack it yet it will not have the same Effect on the Cool part of the Glass From which and the rest of the Experiments contain'd in this Capter it is apparent that the Parts of Solids are not so much in a state of Rest as of Tension and Compression To confirm which I shall add That an Experienc'd Artist shew'd me a Lump of Matter consisting of a great many Agats lodg'd in a Cement much harder than ordinary Stones which Agats he affirm'd would sometimes when taken out of the Cement endeavour to expand themselves so powerfully as to fly in pieces in a little time after VIII The Reasons why Languid Local Motion Prop. VIII and it's Effects are so much overlook'd is because we are too apt to take notice only of the Visible Impressions of one Body against anowithout observing the Intestin Motions of Minute Parts To prove this Proposition I shall offer the following Experiments And First Having turn'd a Key in a Brass stop Cock a considerable time till the Metal by frequent Attritions became hot I observ'd it at the last so to swell as to stick fast like a Wedge so that it could not be mov'd till the Metal was again cool And an Experienc'd Workman hath inform'd me that in making such Instruments before the Key could rightly be adapted to the Cavity it was to fit he was forc'd to cool it several times in Water to take down the Expansion effected by the Heat To this Experiment it may be added That the Parts of a Drinking-Glass will be put into Motion by drawing One's Finger round the Brim and that so violent as to toss several Drops of the Water contain'd in it a considerable height into the Air and a Drinking-Glass Artificially cut by a spiral Line being dextrously inverted and shaken will have its Parts so manifestly vibrated up and down as to acquire a quarter of an Inch in Length without any evident injury to the Glass And it hath been observ'd by one who made use of harden'd Steel Instruments to turn Iron and shake off the Protuberances of that Metal that in a little time it would acquire such a Heat and so lose it's Temper as to look blue or yellowish if it was not timely dipt in a convenient Liquor to keep it cool To this I shall add That having two or three times bent a Bar of Tin in my Hands backwards and forwards I found upon the Breaking of it that the internal parts had acquir'd a considerable degree of Heat From which Experiment it appears that Attrition of Parts without a manifest Percussion is able to cause a sensible Heat and that not only hard but soft Bodies may do so too I shall add the following Experiments to evince which is that an Artist having only rubb'd Optick-Glasses with Putree upon a piece of Leather to polish them told me that they acquir'd such a degree of Heat as sometimes to crack tho' I am not unapt to think that such an Effect might as well be attributed to a peculiar Motion of the Parts of Glass which were too violent since from the aforemention'd Vibration of the Parts of a Drinking-Glass it appears That they may be put into a considerable degree of Motion without Heat And that by a very easy Friction such Bodies may acquire a Tremulous Motion appears from the following Experiment viz. having suffer'd melted Brimstone to cool in a Vessel whose Cavity was concave I rubb'd the convex Superficies of the Brimstone upon a Cushion for some time and found by applying my Ear to it that the Parts of the Brimstone were put into such a Vibrating Motion as to continue a crackling Noise for some time after the Friction was discontinu'd To which I shall add That having rubb'd two Stones taken out of the Bladder together I found them to yield a strong Urinous Smell And not only Sulphur will emit Sulphureous Steams by rubbing it upon Cloth but Diamonds themselves will acquire a considerable degree of Electricity and I have one by me which if rubb'd will appear Luminous in the Dark And that it may further appear that a peculiar Modification of Motion may contribute to the various Effects produc'd by it I shall observe That those Stones which Italian Glass-men make use of afford Sparks of Fire by Collision but if moderately rubb'd together they emit faetid Exhalations from whence probably proceed those offensive Steams emitted by Glass and what is most remarkable and to our purpose is tho' Glass when Red-hot emits no such Effluvia yet if two pieces be dexterously rubb'd together they will send forth Steams copious enough and faetid And to shew how brisk the Motions of the Parts of inorganical Bodies are and how soon they communicate Motion to one another we need but consider how the Tremulous Motion of a Bell is continu'd successively round it and how all that time it communicates that Motion to the Air about it for that the Parts of it are so successively kept in Motion appears from that Trembling Motion which may be perceiv'd by one's Finger And it is further confirm'd because a Solution of the Continuity much deadens and causes the Sound to be much shorter And that the Air receives its Undulating Motion from the Impress of the Bell all that time appears if One's Finger or some other Body be apply'd to it which stops that Tremulous Motion And that the Motions in the Parts of the Bell are very brisk is evinc'd from what is generally affirm'd viz. That if a String be ty'd about a Bell so as to check the Tremulous Motion upon the striking of the Clapper it would break some Parts being more agitated than others so that the Disproportionate Motion compar'd with the Motion of the other Parts surmounting their Cohesion they must consequently fly asunder And As a further Argument that the Parts of the Bell are so agitated I put Filings of Steel and Drops of Water into a Hand-Bell and observed That upon the Impulse of a Key the Water shiver'd and the Filings had likewise such a Motion given to their Parts as enabled them to dance up and down But to put an end to these Observations I shall only intimate That from what hath been said it may appear what considerable Effects may be caus'd by the Unheeded Motions of Invisible Parts of Matter which are wont to be ascribed to other less Intelligible Causes CHAP. XVII A Supplement to the former Chapter of the Great Effects of Languid and Unheeded Local Motion TO illustrate what hath been deliver'd in the former Chapter I shall add the following Observations And First That the Motion of the Air may act on Bodies duly predispos'd at a great Distance appears from what the Learned Borellus De vi Percussionis Prop. CXI relates viz. That being at Tauromenium in Sicily about thirty Miles from Mount Aetna when it first broke out it was observable
that the Houses in that Town apparently shook especially those which were most directly situated towards the Gap which as that Author observes must needs proceed from the Impression of the Air upon the Houses for had it been the Effect of a Tremulous Motion in the Ground all the Houses would have shook alike which was otherwise To prove that Motion may be propagated through different Mediums besides what hath been before deliver'd I shall add That the Eloquent Famianus Strada De Bello Belg. Dec. 2. lib. 6. vel 7. says That a very Stupendious Work being rais'd by the Prince of Parma to prevent the City of Antwerp from being reliev'd by the River Scheld an Engineer contriv'd to blow it up tho' with Success not a little Tragical by a Boat fraught with Gun-powder c. for it rais'd such a Commotion that the Earth shook to the Distance of 36 English Miles and the deep River was so agitated as first to discover it's Bottom and afterwards to overswell the Banks the Castle together with Men Cannons c. being violently toss'd into the Air together with a vast number of other Accidents horrid and dreadful And to illustrate further what hath been deliver'd in the foregoing Chapter concerning the Effects of Musick on Bodies duly dispos'd to be work'd on by it I shall add that an Experienc'd Traveller told me That in the East Indies he saw Tame Serpents which would raise themselves erect in the Air except 3 or 4 Inches of their Tails which they rested upon And he added That upon the Playing of some Parts of the Tune they would be put into very brisk and surprising Motions whereas when another Part of it was a-playing they seem'd to be half a sleep and dissolv'd in Pleasure Another Instance which shews how much the Peculiar Textures of Bodies contribute to their Effects is publish'd by the Learned Marhofius who relates That Nicolaus Petterus had found out a Note which being loud and lasting would without visibly touching the Vessel cause a Glass-Romer to tremble and burst but if the Note were rais'd either too high or depress'd too low it would have no such Effect A further Instance of the Efficacy of Languid Motion is That I once obtain'd several pieces of Glass the Textures of which were so peculiar that if the internal Superficies were gently scratch'd obliquely with a Pin they would fly in pieces tho' 6 or 7 times thicker than common Drinking-glasses To shew how much Motion even in Solid Bodies may be promoted by the Strokes of very weak Agents I shall here relate that several Urinals whose Parts were of a peculiar Texture being rubb'd with Sand and Water had their Parts put into such a Degree of Motion as in a little time after to break without any Cause to be observ'd except that precedent Attrition of Sand. To make it evident that the Parts of Solid Bodies which seem to be at Rest may have very powerful Effects I shall add the following Observations First That I have been inform'd by a Famous Jeweller That when he ground Rubies or Saphires or other Precious Stones upon a Mill their Parts would acquire such a degree of Heat as to afford Light like Fire the Light flowing from each being of the same Colour with the Gem it came from And I am likewise inform'd by another that when they have acquir'd a certain degree of Heat the Edges would gape and if the Motion of the Mill was continu'd the Gems would fly in pieces but if it was stopp'd the cold Gem would be whole and entire To this Observation it will not be amiss to add That I once plac'd a Bottle to which was adapted a Glass-stopple in my Window and about a twelve Month after as I was sitting in the Room the Top of the Stopple flew off of its own accord leaving the other Part fast in the Glass but the Parts of Solid Glass will not only fly in pieces of their own accord but I have been inform'd that sometimes in the East-Indies Diamonds themselves are observ'd to burst asunder without the Impression of any Visible Agent THE WORKS Of the HONOURABLE ROBERT BOYLE Esq EPITOMIZED BOOK II. CHAP. I. Of the Systematical or Cosmical Qualities of Things Qualities proceeding partly from the Influence of outward Agents as well as the Primary Affections of Matter CONSIDERING that the Particular Qualities of Bodies depend on a certain Relation which they have one towards another by which they are adapted to Act or to be Acted on I the rather chuse to call the Qualities consider'd in this Chapter Systematical or Cosmical Qualities they not being the Effects of those primary Affections of Bodies consider'd barely as such viz. Motion Size and Shape but of Bodies so diversify'd by those primary Affections Acting mutually on one another As Quicksilver is endew'd with a Power to dissolve both Silver and Gold and an Aptitude to be dissolv'd in Aqua fortis So that I would not be understood to mean by Cosmical Qualities such as may be attributed to the mutual Actions and Passions of Bodies plac'd in some imaginary Spaces beyond the World but plac'd in the Universe as now Constituted with a vast Variety of Bodies about them This I have already hinted in the foregoing Chapters of Forms and Qualities and therefore my design in this Chapter is to consider what Qualities a Body may Aquire by the Impressions or Influence of Agents whose Effects are unknown or not taken notice of And though all these Phaenomena which are usually attributed to the Laws of Nature might properly be considered in a Chapter that bears this Title yet since those Agents most concerned in the Effecting of these Phaenomena are either the Stars the subterraneal Parts or the Aether and Atmosphaere we live in I shall wave those and only here consider what is requisite to prove that there are such real Qualities depending on unheeded Agents and the Ordinary Course of Nature Our Notion of Cosmical Qualities grounded on the three following Propositions but before I proceed I shall briefly intimate that our Notion of Cosmical Qualities is grounded upon these three Propositions 1. That some Bodies are altogether inactive till they are acted on and that others are put into Action chiefly by the Influence of these Catholick and unheeded Agents 2. That there are several Bodies which when put into Action are subtle enough to insinuate themselves into the Pores of other Bodies which they are by the Established Laws of Nature forced to act on 3. That an Alteration of the Mechanical Texture of the Body is enough to dispose it or render it unapt to be worked on by those unheeded Agents And these three Propositions I shall endeavour to make out by the following Phaenomena and Experiments To begin then with the first Proposition viz. That some Bodies are altogether inactive till they are acted on and that others are put into Action Proposition the first chiefly by the
disposed to influence the superficial Region of the Earth than the hot one which lyes under it appears from Reason it self and may be further confirmed by observing that even Water in freezing losâ—â— it's Fluidity and puts on the Form of Ice first in those Parts which are most contiguous to the Air and subject to the Influence of External Cold And it is observed not only in England but also in Russia that if Wine or Beer be kept in a Cellar well roofed over and about twelve foot deep it may be preserved from freezing notwithstanding the Violence of external Cold where it is to be observed that the Warmth of those Vaults does not only depend on the Exclusion of External Air but also on the Steams of those fermenting Liquors together with some subterraneal Steams which are gathered there and hindred from flying away PROPOSITION II. Prop. II. But to proceed to the Second Proposition which may be comprized in the two following Members As first Member the first That the Temper of the Second Region of the Earth seems to be colder than that above or that below it This is both confirmed by Observations already cited and also by Reason by the latter because the Earth being a Body compounded of Parts less agitated than those about our Sensory they must consequently cause a Sensation of Cold Why the Middle Region is coldest and why that Region should have it's Parts less agitated than those about it is plain because it lyes remoter both from the Influence of External as well as Subterraneal Heat But here it is to be noted That though I say the middle Region is coldest yet I would only be understood to mean a comparative Coldness for I by no means think that Region to be possessed with the most intense Degrees of Coldness since neither Ice or Snow have been ever observed to be found in it And though it be comparatively colder than those Regions about it yet that it is not the coldest may be hence argued because it is observed in the Summer that the Exhalations which steam from the middle Region are sensibly warm at the Orifice of the Grove which they could not be were the middle Region through which they passed extreamly cold The second Member of the second Proposition But to pass to the second Member of this second Proposition It is observed That in several Places which may be referred to this middle Region the Temperature of the Air is different at the same Seasons of the Year Which is evident both from Reason and Experience And first from Experience it hath been learnt by those who have often been in those Hungarian Mines as well as some here in England And indeed if we consider the different Heat in different Climates but more peculiarly the Difference in Soils it will not be less consonant to Reason for the Soil may be more or less porous and compact The different Temper of Subterraneal Regions may be varied by the Soyl. and may have different Substances mixed with it or run through it which may alter the Temper of it for there is not always that Regular Order in Nature which is in our Thoughts of her since Salts Marchasites and Minerals are dispersed through the middle as well as the lower Regions of the Earth and may by impregnating those Fluids which run through the Earth cause different Refrigerating Effluvia to affect various Parts of the same Region as if in one Place it be impregnated with Nitre and in another with Marchasitical Earth the Coldness of the former must render that Part of the Region the colder of the two Besides the Temper of them may differ upon the account of the Soil it self which varies according to the several Degrees of it's Maturity so that for these Reasons the Temper of Effluvia may be different in the same Place at one time from what they are at another in the same Place not to mention those Differences which it may undergo by several other Accidents and the Subterraneal Effluvia which ascend more or less from the lower Regions And before I leave this Proposition it may be necessary to advertise That the different Degrees of Heat or Cold in the several Regions of the Earth are not easily discover'd by those Thermoscopes which are usually made use of to distinguish such Differences because the Pillar of Air which presses upon the Liquor may differ in it's Pressure according to the Length of it it being longer and consequently heavier the lower it descends But to pass to the Third Region compriz'd in the following Proposition Prop. III. viz. That the Temper of the Third Region is warm which Warmth varies in several places That it is Warm and that that Heat varies in several places I think is sufficiently attested by the several Persons that have gone down into those Mines but as for the Causes of it those are not so easily discover'd for I am not a little inclin'd to suspect That considering the Closeness of those Cavities in which they work the Effluviums of their own Bodies and of the Metal they work in may in some measure contribute to it The effects of Subterraneal Fires But to pass by this Suspicion I shall rather briefly intimate That I conceive the Earth to be stocked with store of Subterraneal Fires and that several Calorifick Qualities being carry'd up through Clefts and Veins in the Earth cause a Sensible Heat to be diffus'd through the whole And that there are such Steams appears manifestly from those Damps which are often observ'd in Groves not only in England but Germany Bohemia Hungary c. which are sometimes so Bituminous and Sulphureous in Smell as to be apt to take actual Fire But one thing I must intimate here which is That tho' I am induc'd to believe for some Reasons this Argument valid yet I am not without a Suspicion that notwithstanding the Aptness which these Exhalations have to take Flame yet even several cold Steams may rise from the lower Parts of the Earth which may acquire Heat in the Upper Regions for we see that several Substances which are apt enough to take Flame have not the least sensible Heat in their Parts before nay are so far from that that Salt-Petre which is so apt to flame will by being dissolv'd in Water add a considerable Degree of Coldness to it And the like may be observ'd in Spirit of Wine whose Spirit tho' easily inflammable affects not the Touch with the least Heat if rais'd in the Form of a Vapor But that which inclines me to be of the Opinion just now mention'd is That not only Morinus but several others have observ'd the Exhalations of Mines considerably hot in Summer time And the Experienc'd Agricola hath oserv'd That the Mineral Steams which pervade the Earth are so powerful as not to permit a Hore-frost to lie upon the Ground which they lie under and the like hath been
the Cylinder and a Succession from without being prevented the Cavity of the Cylinder must be emptied of Air so that the Turn-cock beng turn'd so as to afford a Passage betwixt the Receiver and Cylinder Part of the Air before lodg'd in the Receiver will be drawn down into the Cylinder which by turning back the Key The Method of Managing the Pump being prevented from flying back into the Receiver may by opening the Valve and winding up the Sucker be forc'd into the open Air and so by reiterated Exsuctions of the Air out of the Receiver and Expulsions of it again out of the Cylinder it may be exhausted as the Nature of the Experiment requires Having thus given your Lordship a Description of the Engine and Cautions for the Prevention of the Ingress of Air necessary in some more curious Experiment I shall in short acquaint your Lordship That the Experiments I proceed to entertain your Lordship with are such as require not such Exactness in the forementioned Cautions provided the Pump be well plied and the Crannies not considerable EXPERIMENT I. The Manner of Pumping out the Air. A Digression concerning the Spring and Elasticity of the Air in Order to a more clear Apprehension of subsequent Experiments FROM what hath been deliver'd it appears that the Sucker being wound up and upon stopping the Valve and turning the Key drawn down again the Air will be equally expanded both in the Receiver and Sucker and upon returning the Key and opening the Valve near a Cylinder full of Air will be expell'd but the Receiver by reiterated Excursions being more and more exhausted less proportionably is forc'd out so that at the last before you need to open the Valve the Sucker will rise almost to the Top of the Cylinder and if when it is so exhausted you let go the Pump and the Valve be stop'd the Sucker meerly by the Force of external Air overpowering that more rarify'd Air within will be forc'd up to the Top of the Cylinder where we may observe That as the Sucker is press'd higher by external Air so it is an Argument of the Receiver's being more or less exhausted the Air in the Sucker being accordingly more or less able to resist the external as it varies in Quantity We may observe also That whilst the Receiver retains any considerable Quantity of Air there is a brisk Noise upon turning the Key A Springiness in the Air. But to render these Experiments more intellible I shall take Notice to your Lordship of a Notion which may explicate them which is That the Air consists of certain springy Particles which being bent and press'd together by incumbent Bodies always endeavour to remove that Pressure and to dilate themselves which Notion may be confirmed by considering that the Air consisting of Parts incumbent on one another the uppermost by their weight must needs compress the lower which compressed Parts must consequently have a Power of self-Dilation So when a Fleece of Wool compressed upon the Removal of that Pressure again expands it self the Springiness of the Air may likewise be explicated by supposing with the Ingenious Des Cartes that the Air is a Congeries of flexible Particles of various sizes and very irregular Figures raised by the Heat of the Sun and swimming in that Matter which encompasses the Earth which being by that Aether that floats about them kept separate and in a violent Agitation acquire that Springiness which they would lose in some measure by being compressed By both these ways the Springiness of the Air may be explained yet by which with most Reason I shall not now dispute being not so much concerned about the adequate Cause of that Springiness as to manifest that it hath a Springiness in order to shew the Effects of it for I am not satisfyed whether either so far explains it's Nature as to make it intelligible But in opposition to this Notion it may be alledged that tho it were granted that the Air is made up of springy Particles yet it would only account for the Expansion and the Dilatation of the Springs of the Air when apparently compressed in Wind Guns and other Pneumatical Engines whereas from these Experiments it does not appear that there was any Compression before the Air was included in those Guns To remove this Difficulty there are several Experiments which prove that our Atmosphere is not light but heavy in respect of some Bodies one of which I shall mention here which is this that a Lamb's Bladder dryed whose Cavity contain'd two thirds of a Pint being press'd together and counterpoised in a very nice Balance and being prick'd upon the avolition of the Air contain'd in it lost a Grain and an eighth Part of what it weigh'd before from whence if we may conceive that it hath weight it follows that a Column of Air of many Miles high leaning on those below is enough to compress and bend their Springs as when Wool is heaped to a considerable height that which lyes under is compressed by that which lyes upon it and if upon a Parcel of Air so large a Quantity lyes no wonder that upon the Removal of that Pressure it powerfully expands As for the Objection that Water varies not in it's Weight in the lower from the upper Part it may be answered that the difference betwixt Air and Water is very considerable the last not being capable of Compression whereas Air is To which may be added the Experiment tryed by Monsieur Pascal the Son at the foot the midle and top of that high Mountain in Avergne called Le Puy de Domme Why Mercury is suspended higher at the bottom than the top of a Hill where the Mercury subsided above three Inches more at the Top than the bottom the Reason of which is that the Air less vigorously pressed against the Quicksilver at the Top and so was less capable of bearing it up And if it be objected against what hath been proposed that if it were so compressed it would not be so ready to yield to the slight Force of Flyes and even Feathers it may be answered that as a Piece of Wool squeezed together makes a manifest Resistance to the Pressure of the Hand so the Air does to those Bodies tho it's Resistance is not strong enough to overpower their Motion the Parts of it being in a continual Disposition to yield to solid Bodies upon the Account of it's Fluidity and the perpetual Motion of it's Parts occasioned by their continual Endeavours to expand and unfold themselves EXPERIMENT II. Of the Pressure of the Air against the Sides of the Bodies it encompasses The Pressure of the Air included within an Ambient Body explain'd The Air presses upon the sides of Bodies it encompasses IF when the Air is almost drawn out of the Receiver one endeavours to lift up the Brass Key which is plac'd in the middle of the Brass Cover it will be as difficult to raise it as
in common Experiments yet the Load-Stone sustain'd it's Weight almost as firmly as before the Pump was ply'd and the Reason why it was not altogether was the thinness of the Medium since the Weight suspended must be heavier when the Air which was nearer proportion'd to their Weight was exhausted FINIS ADVERTISEMENT THE Number of Sheets contain'd in this Volume amounting to what the Booksellers think fit to answer the Price put upon it And also to make the succeeding Volume Proportionable the next Volume begins with a Continuation of what our Author further delivers concerning the Air. The TABLE A. ACCIDENTS no distinct Entities Pag. 3. Secondary Affections of Matter what Pag. 8. The Effects of Natural Agents how diversify'd Pag. 10,21 Considerations in order to the Doctrin of Alteration Pag. 13 14. Alteration what Pag. 15 16. Products of Art the Effects of Nature Pag. 59. An Acid may be turned into an Alkaly Pag. 90. The Air 's Spring and Weight proved Pag. 166 167 311 317. from thence to the End of this Volume Objections raised by Franciscus Linus answered Pag. 393. The Actions of some Bodies depend on the Catholick Laws of the Vniverse 241. and the Established Laws of Nature Pag. 242. The Temper of the Air in Subterraneal Groves Pag. 256. The Air inclosed in the Receiver acts by Virtue of it's Spring Pag. 315. What Weight is requisite to draw the Sucker down Ibid. The Air 's Expansion in a Lamb's Bladder Pag. 317. The Force of it Pag. 318 371 451. It 's Expansion measured Pag. 319 320 409. Whether Air be a Primogeneal Body Pag. 341. The Air 's Gravity and Expansion under Water Pag. 351. The weight of the Atmosphere considered Pag. 360. Why Air is indisposed to pass through Pores which Water will Pag. 370. Proportion betwixt the weight of the Air and Water Pag. 372. beewixt it and Mercury Pag. 374. The Height of the Atmosphere considered Pag. 372. The Tunicular Hypothesis examined Pag. 398. A Table of the Air 's Condensation Pag. 411. of it's Rarefaction Pag. 413. Why Air condensed by Cold does not raise Mercury equally as when condensed by Pressure Pag. 415. Why Animals die in the Exhausted Receiver Pag. 430. The Air 's Pressure on Bodies contained in it Pag. 431. The weight of a Pillar of Air of a Determinate Size Pag. 480. The Air 's Pressure sensible to the Touch Pag. 461. B. A Bitter Substance may become sower Pag. 96. The Expansive Force of steeped Beans Pag. 243 244. A Bubble broke in the exhausted Receiver Pag. 450. A Bladder broke by the Air 's Expansion Pag. 449. A Portable Barometer Pag. 465 C. Colours no Inherent Qualities Pag. 9. Considerations in order to the Doctrin of Corruption Pag. 13 14. Corruption what Pag. 15. Similar Colours no Arguments of Similar Substances adequately Pag. 24 25. The Chymists Doctrin refuted Pag. 100 112. Motion in the Parts of Consistent Bodies Pag. 144. Colours exhibited by Reflection Pag. 151 153. Camphire dissolved in Oyl of Vitriol Pag. 188. A Concrete the Result of a Mixture of Spirit of Wine and a Solution of Coral Pag. 196 197. The different Temper of Climates Pag. 252. Observations concerning Coral Pag. 272. Of the Flame of a Candle in the Exhausted Receiver Pag. 323. Concerning Live Coals c. Ibid. Corrosives their Effects Pag. 390. Cupping Glasses how they operate Pag. 474. D. Motion in the Parts of Diamonds Pag. 205 206. E. Eggs how Hatched Pag. 73. A strange sort of Earth Pag. 196. The Temperature of the Regions of the Earth Pag. 256. of the First Pag. 257. of the Second Pag. 259. of the Third Pag. 261. Why the Middle Region is coldest Pag. 259. The Pneumatick Engin described Pag. 307. The Method of managing it Pag. 310. Elasticity explained Pag. 418. The Pneumatick Engin made use of in the First continuation described Pag. 435. F. Forms what Pag. 11. Their Effects whence Pag. 12. The Doctrin of Substantial Forms considered Pag. 29. Forms not reduced out of the Power of Matter Pag. 30. The Aristotelian Doctrin of Forms contrary to Reason Pag. 31. Their Arguments considered Pag. 32 33. Substantial Forms no Causes of Adhesion Pag. 34 35. A Compound Form what Pag. 36 41. The Doctrin of Subordinate Forms considered Pag. 37. Subordinate Forms proved Pag. 38. A Compound Form what Pag. 39. Specifick Forms considered Pag. 40. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hard to be distinguished amongst the Forms of Natural Bodies Pag. 41 50. How distinguished Pag. 51 55. Subordinate Forms act how Pag. 42 43. Subordinate Forms in Inanimate Bodies Pag. 49 52. A Superadded Form it's Effects Pag. 53. Concurrent and Subordinate Forms how distinguished Pag. 56. Subordinate Forms not necessary to Discriminate Bodies Pag. 67. Fluidity it 's Definition Pag. 115. What is requisite to render Bodies Fluid Pag. 116 119 120 121 193 434. All Bodies not equally inclined to Fluidity Pag. 117 118. What the Motion of the Parts of Fluids depends on Pag. 124. The Superficial Figures of Fluids Pag. 142. of a Nitrous Liquor Pag. 146. of Water Ibid. of Oyl of Turpentine Pag. 147 151. of a Solution of Tartar Ibid. of Oyl of Cloves Ibid. of Quick-silver Pag. 148. of a Nitrous Liquor and Spirit of Wine Pag. 150. of Oyl of Aniseeds Pag. 153. of Water included in Oyl Pag. 155. of Oyl of Turpentine upon Cloves Ibid. of Oyl of Aniseeds coagulated Pag. 155. of several other Mixtures Pag. 156 157. A Fluid turned Solid Pag. 180. Fluids not divisible into Fluid Parts as Quantity into Quantity Pag. 183. Subterraneal Fires their Effects Pag. 262. Filtration it 's Cause Pag. 365. G. Considerations in order to the Doctrin of Generation Pag. 13 14. Generation what Pag. 15. Gun-powder it's Ingredients Pag. 67 Phaenomena afforded by a Gummy Substance in Vacuo Boyliano Pag. 154. Solidity of Glass depends on a Juxta-position of Parts Pag. 162. The Parts of Glass in Motion Pag. 207 208 209. What Figured Glasses best resist the Pressure of the Air Pag. 320 321. Gun-powder exploded in Vacuo Boyliano c. Pag. 328. Glass Plates broke in the Exhausted Receiver Pag. 448. Flat Glasses broke in the Exhausted Receiver Pag. 447. H. Heat no Inherent Quality Pag. 9. Heat what Ibid. Humidity a Relative Quality Pag. 125. Heat unusual in Mines whence Pag. 263. Heat produced by Attrition Pag. 445. I. Juxta-position of Parts not the only cause of Cohesion Pag. 160. Juxta-position of Parts promoted by the Air 's Spring Pag. 161. proved by the Cohesion of Polish'd Glasses Pag. 163. by the Cohesion of Polished Marbles Pag. 164 165 166. The Interposition of Minute Parts may turn a Liquor into a Solid Pag. 178. Observations of Indurated Bodies Pag. 191. of the Bone of a Deer's Hart Pag. 192. The Effects of a Bar of Iron held to a Mariner's Compass in a Perpendicular posture Pag. 202. Iron how it acquires Magnetical Virtues Pag. 246. L. The Motion of the Parts of Liquids variously determined Pag. 126 127 128 140. proved
to be slighted or suddenly laid aside since several Accidents may intervene in the Air on which those may depend As we know tho' Tides generally Ebb and Flow so as to answer the Theory given of them yet by fierce Winds and great Land-Floods the regular Course of them hath often been alter'd CHAP. XVIII A new Experiment and other Instances of the Efficacy of the Air 's Moisture The Efficacy of the Air 's Moisture THAT the Moisture of the Air hath had considerable Effects on Subjects far less tender and curiously contriv'd than Men's Bodies will appear from what follows and that the Moisture of the Air hath a considerable Influence and usually a bad one may well be argu'd from the Effects we have taken notice of on several Parts of Animals and that the Skins of Animals are sufficiently prepar'd to receive such Effluviums appears from what I have before observ'd viz. That Sheep's Leather being made use of for a Hygroscope plentifully imbib'd the Moisture of the Air and even Bladders which by Nature are made impervious to Urine are so dispos'd to imbibe the Moisture of the Air that the membranous Part put into a Pair of Scales and counterpois'd makes a good Hygroscope and not only these but Lute-strings which are made of the twisted Guts of Animals and even Bones the most solid Parts of Human Bodies will so far imbibe the Moisture of the Air as to swell considerably Nor are Animal Bodies alone capable of having their Pores penetrated by the Moisture of the Air but it insinuates it self into inanimate Bodies and swells the solid Parts of Wood and even Polish'd Marbles are observ'd to be so plentifully stock'd with moist Vapours as evidently to sweat nay even the Air it self is not without Vapours and moist Parts dispers'd through it in the Heat of Summer which will appear from the following Experiment Having fill'd a Bottle with Water and four Ounces of Sal Armon we counterpois'd it in a Pair of Scales and in an Hours time so many moist Particles in the Air were condens'd by this frigorifick Mixture that they first appear'd in the form of a Dew on the outside of the Glass and then ran down the sides of the Vessel till that Scale preponderated and weigh'd a Drachm more than the other But to proceed to Instances which shew the Force and Efficacy of moist Vapours when they penetrate solid Bodies It is no weak Argument of their Efficacy that we observe that by the powerful Insinuation of Moisture the Strings of Musical Instruments are swollen and broken nor is it in considerable that Doors and Door-Cases are so swollen in Rainy Weather as to open and shut with a great deal of uneasiness Marchasites burst by the Air 's Moisture Besides which Instances I have observ'd a Piece of Wood to encrease considerably in it's Weight in rainy Weather And I am told it is usual for musical Instruments to grow out of Tune not only the Wooden but the Metalline Pipes of Organs being apt to swell in wet Weather And not only by the help of Rain but the Moisture of the Air Marchasites have been swollen and burst asunder which I am apter to believe because I have observ'd Vitriolate Efflorescences upon the Surfaces of shining Marchasites caus'd by the Action of external Moisture on them and the Moisture of the Air hath so powerfully penetrated some Marchasitical Substances that they have burst asunder whereupon it appear'd that a greater Quantity of Vitriol was generated within their Substances than without To conclude what I have to say on this Subject I shall add the following Experiment to assist a Virtuoso to make an Estimate in known Measures of the mechanical Force of the Aerial Moisture I caus'd a Rope about 22 Yards long to be fasten'd at a convenient Height to an immoveable Body and then having fix'd a Pully to another stable Body about 18 Yards distant from the former the Rope lying upon the Pully was betwixt both almost in an horizontal Posture but to that End of the Rope which hung down from the Pully towards the Ground was fix'd a Weight of 50 Pound and to the upper Part of that an Index which being plac'd horizontally pointed to a Board which was divided into Inches and parts of Inches that we might discover the better the Ascent and Descent of it upon changes of Weather When the Weight had stretch'd the Rope as much as it could I observ'd that in one rainy Night the Weight was rais'd five Inches but the next Day proving a dry Day it was depress'd lower than before But a heavier Weight being made use of instead of the former June 4th in an hour and quarter the hundred Weight was rais'd ¼ of an Inch. The Sky being cloudy but without Rain June 6th In the Night which was cloudy it was rais'd about 3 Inches and an hour after that Observation was made it rose half an Inch more From whence it appears that the Force of the Air 's Moisture is considerable since the Rope that by it's Assistance rais'd the Weight was but about the third Part of an Inch Diameter being 3 10 and 4 decimal Parts of 1 10. CHAP XIX Of some unheeded Causes of the Insalubrity and Salubrity of the Air c. The Insalubrity and salubrity of the Air depends on subterraneal Vapours AMongst the several Causes on which the Salubrity and Insalubrity of the Air depend subterraneal Effluvia are in Effect most considerable which differ not only according to their respective Natures but according to Place and Time according to Place as they ascend from the superficial or deeper Parts of the Terraqueous Globe according to Time such as ascend daily and may be term'd ordinary Emissions or only at distant times the latter of which may be term'd periodical and sometimes fortuitous or irregular But notwithstanding the Vapours which rise from the Earth may be distinguish'd by these Distinctions yet since Nature offers her Phaenomena not so distinct but confusedly and together I shall sometimes consider the Terraqueous Steams in the more general Notion with reference to each of the Members of this Distinction But that I may deliver what I have to say more distinctly I shall lay it down in the following Propositions Proceed under the following Propositions having first observ'd that the Insalubrity of Marish and the Salubrity of Sandy Grounds may depend on some Effluvia which act not meerly or principally as they are Moist or Dry. PROPOSITION I. THE first Proposition is Prop. 1. That it seems probable that in divers places the Salubrity or Insalubrity of the Air considered in general may be in good part due to subterraneal Expirations especially to those I call'd ordinary Emissions Which may contribute to the preserving of Health either by promoting Respiration or by correcting noxious Particles in the Air and checking morbifick Ferments And indeed if we consider what a great variety of Bodies besides
Stars yet the vanity of Judiciary Astrology having been so plainly detected by several Learned Men I shall here only observe that it is much more unlikely that particular Towns should alone be Influenced by such than by Effluviums from Bodies near the Surface of the Earth where those Places stand and that which renders it much more probable is that I have frequently known Diseases very Fatal to happen suddenly in some places where the first Contagion hath been accompanied with a very troublesome Fog That sudden and violent Heats may be produc'd by a Mixture of Subterraneal Bodies not only appears from Oil of Vitrol pour'd upon Iron Spirit of Nitre upon Butter of Antimony Filings of Copper Tin or crude Antimony But from Oil of Vitriol poured upon Powdered Marchasites which was accompanied with very strong Scented Fumes To which I shall add that even Sulphur hath to my knowledge had considerable effects on Marchasites And I have been told by a German Chymist that in Germany Marchasites which were found there would grow hot if long immers'd in pure Water And if we consider upon how many Accidents the Course of Subterraneal Waters may be turned it will be easily evident upon that Account considerable Degrees of Heat may succeed for if a convenient quantity of Filings of Steel be mixed with Powder of Sulphur and that Mixture be moistened with Water it presently grows very hot and emits Fumes copiously like Slak'd-Lime And I have been inform'd by several who frequent Mines that Damps which are made up of Subterraneal Effluviums are not only very irregular in Reference to their Distance but also their Duration and have very ill effects on those that come within the reach of them and if such pernicious Fumes are to be discover'd so near the Surface of the Earth well may they affect those that Inhabit on the Soil near which such Effluvia rise I say near which because tho' they do not immediately rise in the very Towns they infect and are carried thither by the Motion of the Air yet in a large Tract of Land they may be so dispersed as to have no considerable Effects But it is not requisite always that those Effluvia which cause Distempers should be noxious at their first Rise from the Earth since Mineral Fumes may acquire new Qualities by associating with particular Particles in the Air and may by that means be disposed to act upon particular Parts of the Body and to cause a determinate Disease So tho' neither Spirit of Nitre nor Sal Armoniack alone can Dissolve Gold yet Aq. Regia which is a Composition of both will but hath no such effect on Silver Diamond 's or Rubies As for the Reason why Epidemick Distempers affect some and let others go free it may not only be accounted for by the peculiar Dispositions of those Bodies but also by considering that the Effluvia which rise from the Earth may be so imperfectly mixed with the Air as to fall upon one Body and not another so I have observed several Leaves on a Tree blasted with a Wind which blew at that Corner of the Ground yet others on the same piece of Ground were untouch'd nay the very Leaves of that were not all blasted on that side which the Wind blew so that I suspected some Arsenical Vapours being mixed with the Air cast upon them were like Hail shot from a Gun and scattered in it's Flight And on a Cause not much unlike this may depend the Effects of some Winds which cause Blasts on the Faces of some People yet let others go free as I remember I was Riding once in the Wind which tho' it disaffected not me yet my Man who Rid after me scaped it not In favour of our Hypothesis already laid down I shall add that the short duration of some Distempers as well as their Progressive Motion from one Town to another are Arguments either that these Vapours rise all at once and are dispersed or the Subterraneal Commotion that causes them passes on from one Part of the Earth subjacent to another Nor is it less Consonant to our Hypothesis that the short duration of some Distempers may depend on a successive rise of Effluvia since when those of one kind cease to be emitted and another kind succeeds the latter may check the former by precipitating them or uniting into Quid Tertium less prejudicial to all Animal Bodies So by an ascociation of new Particles with those Pestilential Effluvia which cause an Annual Plague in Grand Cairo it suddenly stops and those already infected dye not if the Air be sufficiently impregnated before as a late Writer of Voyages into Aegypt testifies in these Words The Drops or Dew purifies the Air for as soon as it falls the Plague ceases to be Mortal none dyes of it The Air is wholesome all Distempers cease and if any person grows sick he never dyes c. I have been told that about the Tin Mines in Devonshire not only the Grass and Fern but the Trees will be suddenly blasted by the powerful Effluvia which suddenly rise over a considerable compass of Ground Having said thus much of Epidemical Distempers it perhaps may be Expected that I should say something of the Plague and it's Origin which I must own my self at a loss in for tho' I think it rather seemingly Pious than really so to ascribe such things to a Supernatural Power which may be accounted for by Natural ones yet I deny not but that some may arise from a Supernatural Origin But what ever may be the first Origin of Plagues I am inclined to think that the Propagation of them depends on a Malignant Disposition in the Air arising from some Subterraneal Effluvia for these Reasons First because the Malevolent Aspects of the Planets seem too Remote and Indeterminate to act on a particular place Besides according to the vulgar Hypotheses the Plague ought to rage most where it very seldom happens For Leo Africanus informs us that in Numidia tho' raging hot it happens but once in an hundred Years and Purchas in his Pilgrimage Lib. 6. Cap. 13. tells us it is not known at all in the Land of Negro and seldom in Japan or New-England and in the East-Indies China Tunquin and Cochinchinâ— it is never heard of Whereas the Country of China contains more Inhabitants than all the Nations of Europe and were the Plague a Punishment inflicted for the sins of Men certainly in Countries so large and savage they might expect it from Divine Justice as often as we But perhaps it may be said that these Histories as much Press our Hypothesis as those others alledged by Physitians But if we consider that I confess it difficult to determine the Original cause the other part of my Hypothesis is not at all shaken since it could not be denyed but that noxious Effluvia would be able to propagate the Plague there were there an Original cause to set those secondary causes on work
But for as much as from our Hypothesis it appears that the Original Cause of the Plague is not always so abstruse but sometimes begun as well as propagated by those noxious Effluvia without the Concurrence of any other Cause it may be requisite to take Notice that in China and those Countries where the Plague is unknown we may presume such noxious Steams are not emitted for tho' Sulphur is usually found in many Countries where Metalline Veins are frequent yet I never heard that in those Mines an Ounce of Native Sulphur was ever found Besides tho' there may be Minerals in a Country which may emit noxious Vapours yet the Mines from whence they come may by so deep in the Earth that they may not be able to infect the Atmosphere powerfully enough to cause a Pestilence tho' promoted in making their Way by some violent Earth-quake when upon a fall of some weighty Mass of Earth in Subterraneal Caverns a trembling Motion is communicatted to the Earth about it and propagated more or less proportionable to the first Cause for which Reasons noxious Effluvia being sometimes emitted which could not otherwise make their own way probably the Plague happens in Africa once in 30 or 100 Years periodically And a French Historian takes notice of a Disease in France not much unlike the Colick which for a long time return'd every 10th Year And Platerus Lib. 2. P. M. 303. Relates that the Plague at Brasil successively return'd every 10 Years for 70 Years together But further tho' in the East-Indies such Vapours should arise which would of themselves be pernicious yet others may rise which tho' noxious likewise may by combining with them form a Third Substance innocent enough So Corrosive Sublimate when combined with Crude Mercury becomes so useful and innocent a Medicine as Mercurius Dulcis Besides what hath been said another Reason why some Countries are free from the Plague may be some peculiar disposition in the Air to resist the Effects of noxious Exhalations as when the River Nile Increases and Over-flows the Plague in Aegypt ceases And the Soil in some Countries is of such a Temper as to impregnate the Air so that it suffers not poysonous Creatures to live in it A Second Reason why I think the Plague is propagated by Subterraneal Effluvia is because it happens sometimes when no Distemper is perceivable in the Air which seems able to produce such an Effect yet when the Aspects of the Stars have been threatning enough and the Air very intemperate no Plague hath followed as when Fernelius Writ his Observations De abditis rerum Causis Lib. 2. Chap. 13. It was immoderately hot but very Healthful and the same further tells us that the Plague hath sometimes began in Winter and gone off in Summer And Johannes Morellus that a Temperate and Healthful Spring which succeeded a Winter in which the North-wind Reign'd brought in the Plague tho' at the same time the North-wind continued serene and clear And the Constitution of the Air before the Plague in 1665 was not much unlike it Whence it is evident that the Plague depends not on manifest Qualities of the Air but is rather caused by Subterraneal Effluvia which float in it and which are drawn in by Respiration and that Poisonous Exhalations have rose from the Earth and infected the Air with a Pestilential Disposition Monsieur de Meszeray in the Life of Philip de Valoris and Diemerbroeck de Peste Lib. 1. Chap. 8. testifie And tho' there is a manifest difference in Pestilential Distempers in several Countries and at different times yet it is easily accounted for by our Hypothesis since the Minerals from whence those Vapours rise may be varied by new Combinations and the Influence of Subterraneal Fires and Menstruums as well as in the open Air by which they may be enabled to produce Symptoms more violent than in ordinary Distempers so that Hippocrates might well acknowledge in Distempers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something above the ordinary Course of Nature The ill Effects of Mineral firmer As for the Natures of those Exhalations tho' they are hard to be known yet by the Effects and Symptoms of some Plagues and of Yellow Red and White Orpiment we may suspect them to flow from that Mineral Substance but tho' I believe some Plagues may arise from such Causes yet since the Earth abounds with several Minerals which we are not acquainted with we cannot deny but by the combinations of such there may result Substances which yeild Effluviums hurtful enough to human Bodies so by adding Common Salt to Orpiment they prepare White Arsnick which by the Mixture of Salt of it self innocent becomes more pernicious causing violent Symptoms which I have taken off by Oil of Sweet Almonds and something made of Limons And Sandarach as well as Native Arsnick seem to be little else than Red and White Orpiment the Effects of which are taken Notice of by Sennertus M. P. E. vid. Page 66. on a Painter whose Face was swell'd together with Fainting Fits upon opening a Box where Orpiment had been kept some time And White Arsnick hath had very fatal Effects when externally worn in Amulets sometimes causing burning Fevers Anxieties about the Heart inflammations exulcerations of the Breasts Black Pustles as if made with a Caustick weakness and Fainting and sometimes sudden Death which Symptoms have been cured by the same Antidotes that the Plague is And that Subterraneal Mineral Effluvia are able to effect very strange things appears from what Kircherus observes Scil. That in the Kingdom of Naples 1660 there were several Stains observ'd on Linnen Clothes much resembling Crosses that poysonous Matter which was the Cause of them being spread along the Threds which cross'd one another at right Angles These Stains would wash out with Soap and Water but their duration was very unequal some of them contrinuing ten and others fifteen days Antidotes against the ill Effects of the Plague And tho' it be impossible to discover the Natures of all noxious Effluvia yet undoubtedly a great many may and Antidotes thought on to destroy their ill Effects In the great Plague of London when upon a subsidence of the Pestilential Humors the Patients usually dyed the following Plaster apply'd to the Tumors of several prevented them from falling and either burst or made them fit to open and so saved the Lives of many Emplastrum attractivum Pestilentiale nostrum ℞ Gum. sagapen Ammon Galban an ℥ iij. Terebinth Lact. Cerae Virginis an ℥ iiijss Magnet Arsenicalis subt pulv ℥ ij Rad. Aron pulv ℥ j Gummi depurentur cum Acet Scyllit ad consistentiam Emplastri coquantur postea ponderentur deinde cum rebus aliis F. Empl. S. A. Hoc Emplastro Carbunculus obducatur quod paucis horis Venenum extrahit Praeparatio Magnet Arsenicalis anteà dicti ℞ Arsen Chrystallin Sulphuris Vitri Antimonii Crudi an Haec tria in mortario ferreo pulverisentur In Vase
the open Air And it is related by a Noble Man of this Country that an Oak being dug out of a Rock of Salt was so hard that Iron Tools could scarce work upon it yet in three or four Days being expos'd to the Air it was rotten And it hath been observ'd by several that the Air hath such an Influence on Diaphoretick Antimony that if it be long expos'd to it it becomes Emetick From which Observations and what I have before laid down concerning Quick-Lime the Air seems to be a Substance capable of being assimilated by every Body The Air seems to consist of all sorts of seminal Principles or that it consists of all sorts of seminal Corpuscles so that any Body may find a Substance there analogous to it and fit to make up a part of the same Body But without any further notice of this odd Surmise I shall subjoyn the following Phaenomena to favour my Suspicion The first is That tho' the Juice of the Fruit of the Tree Junipa which the Indians use to black their Faces to make them more formidable to their Enemies gives such a Tincture that it cannot be wash'd out with Soap yet the Air abounds with Particles of such a Nature that it disappears in ten Days time tho' I suspect that it in a great measure depends on the continual Excretion of Sweat through the Pores of the Skin Damasco Sâ—… 〈…〉 And I am inform'd that Instruments made of Damasco Steel tho' when first made they excel not or scarce equal those of commo◠〈◊〉 yet when kept in the Air two 〈…〉 they answer Expectation and aâ—… 〈…〉 prov'd And I have observ'd that 〈…〉 â—…e Body which would not be dissolv'd in a strong Menstruum nor lose it's Colour by Fusion would presently be turn'd black if expos'd to the Air. Remarkable Changes of Colours It is observ'd in Blood concreted that the black internal Parts being expos'd to the Contact of the Air become florid and I have prepar'd a factitious Concrete which if kept to the Fire or secluded from the Air would be of a red Colour yet in a quarter of an hour being expos'd to the Air it would turn almost black To which I shall add that an inquisitive Person prepar'd a Medicine of a vegetable and Animal Substance which at that time of the Year would be coagulated in a Viol like Oyl of Aniseeds but if unstopp'd and expos'd to the Air it would presently dissolve again and recoagulate when stopp'd up again The Consideration of which Experiments may tell us that the Air by being communicated to the Blood by Respiration may have Effects not inconsiderable upon it in carrying off it's fuliginous Recrements To what hath hitherto been deliver'd in favour of our Suspicion it may be added That there are Anonymous Substances and Qualities in the Air To countenance which I shall take notice of those various and odd Diseases incident both to Men and Beasts which prove Mortal to a particular Species of Animals and in particular Places which depend on some unknown subterraneal Vapours To which I shall subjoyn that Fernelius mentions a Plague which affected no Animals but Cats Dionysius Halicarnassus takes notice of one that only affected Maids whereas that which raged in the time of Gentilis seiz'd none but Lusty Men And Bolerus gives us an Account of another which only affected the younger sort of People Cardan speaks of a Plague at Brasil which only affected the Switzers and neither the Italians French or Germans and Johannes Vtenhovius gives an Account of a cruel Plague at Copenhagen which only raged amongst the Danes As for the Cause of these Diseases tho I think they are chiefly to be ascrib'd to subterraneal Effluviums yet I deny not but that the Particular Constitutions of Men are concern'd in them nor do I think the Distempers already mention'd alone depend on such Steams as rise from the Earth but the Sudor Anglicus in the 15th Century the Scurvy and the Morbus Hungaricus the Lues Moraviae Novus Morbus Luneburgensis and some others in the last Century Considerations drawn from what hath been said And now if from what hath been said our Suspicions concerning Subterraneal and Sydereal Steams may seem not ill grounded they may lead us to consider the following Particulars 1. Whether those Effects which are sometimes thought to depend on the immediate Wrath of God and the Intercourse of Angels may not arise from these Steams whose Qualities are probably heteroclite and unknown since we see that there are several Steams dispers'd through the Atmosphere which cause it to raise Mercury in a Baroscope which could be no otherwise discover'd but by the Effects they have on the Air made evident by that Instrument And this Consideration hath sometimes made me suspect that even the Sun-Beams may cause a manifest Gravity in the Atmosphere besides that which they do by virtue of their Heat and it may be worth Enquiry whether some Spots in the Sun upon their Dissolution may not be dispers'd through and cause some considerable Effects in our Atmosphere at least in it's Gravity 2. It will not seem improbable that some Bodies have peculiar Dispositions to be associated with those Exotick Principles which arise from subterraneal Parts or are transmitted from the Planets Upon which Dispositions or the contrary what we call Sympathy and Antipathy depend By Virtue of such Dispositions a Burning-Glass refracts the Sun-Beams and the Sun-Beams impart a Lucidness to the Bolonian Stone And that the Steams of subterraneal Bodies will act on some Bodies and not on others we have given sufficient Proof 3. The third thing which may be suggested by what we have deliver'd is whether there may not be Receptacles or Attractives of Syderial and other Exotick Effluviums that wander up and down the Air such as are Magnets by which I mean not such a Body that can attract foreign Effluvia but such a one as can detain them when by virtue of their various Motions they happen to come near such a Magnet Just as Oyl of Tartar per Deliquium draws to it aqueous Vapours and embodies with them when they chance in their Passage through the Air to come near it But a greater resemblance of the Magnet may be allow'd to some Bodies than what is here mention'd for such a Magnet may not only by a Juxta-Position or Contact detain the Effluviums that would glide along it but also arrest those subtle Parts of Matter by a kind of precipitating Quality and so it may fetch in some Effluvia which would otherwise pass by it On which occasion I remember that in some Cases I have been able to give some Bodies Electrical Qualities without exciting them by rubbing c. CHAP. XXI Some Additional Experiments relating to Suspicions about the Hidden Qualities of the Air. EXPERIMENT I. Experiments relating to occult Qualities of the Air. HAving pour'd Water upon the Calx of Dantzick Vitriol part of it soon
after it was sufficiently impregnated with the Vitriol remaining in the Calx was filtred and gently abstracted and yeilded several Grains of a Salt of Vitriol not much different from that which had been calcined Another Portion of Water was left in the Air six Weeks upon the calcined Vitriol in a wide mouth'd Glass and then being abstracted as the former it yeilded a Salt much like Salt-Petre and different from the former And Colcothar which had lain several Months in the Air free from Rain being turn'd into a Lixivium yeilded a Salt much whiter than Vitriol and of a different Figure From whence it appears that the Air hath considerable Force in varying Salts obtainable from calcin'd Vitriol EXPERIMENT II. DUlcifi'd Colcothar of Venereal Vitriol being expos'd to the Air in January and February increas'd in Weight 4 ¼ Grains EXPERIMENT III. THE 12th of March Eight Ounces of Outlandish Vitriol calcin'd to a Redness being put into a broad and flat Metalline Vessel and into another Vessel smaller than the other we put 2 Ounces of Colcothar so that the Superficies of the latter was larger in respect of it's Quantity than the Superficies of the other June 25. We weigh'd these Powders and found that the 8 Ounces had gain'd a Drachm and 16 Grains and the 2 Ounces had gain'd as much within a Grain Then the Powders being put into the same Vessels August the 4th the smaller Quantity weigh'd 26 Grains more than it did in June Whence it appears that different Circumstances cause notable Disparities in the Increase of Weight EXPERIMENT IV. TWO Ounces of small Lumps of Marchasites which were partly shining and partly darkish and seem'd well dispos'd to yeild Vitriol were kept in a pure Air and gain'd 12 Grains in Weight in seven Weeks EXPERIMENT V. SPIRIT of Salt being put upon Filings of Copper and kept in a moderate Heat when it had acquir'd a thick and muddy Colour we decanted it into a clean Glass with a wide Mouth and left it a competent time expos'd to the Air till it had acquir'd a fair Green yet nothing was precipitated to the Bottom to make it clear EXPERIMENT VI. I Once Observ'd that the Fumes of a sharp Liquor acted more powerfully on a certain Metal held in the Air than the Menstruum from whence those Fumes rose would do it self And it is observ'd in some Mines in Hungary that the Fumes render those Ladders soonest unserviceable which were nearest the Top of the Grove where there is a more free access of Air. EXPERIMENT VII A Soft Chymical Substance which would smoak in the open Air being conveigh'd into our Pneumatick Engin in a Viol when the Air was exhausted ceased to smoak and by continuing there some time would not smoak again when it was re-expos'd to the Air till the fresh Air had blown upon it some time This Preparation being kept in the Vessel it was prepar'd in six Weeks would cease to smoak when the Vessel was but cover'd with a piece of Paper and another remarkable thing was that when it was contain'd some time in a Receiver close Luted it would soon so glut the Air with it's Steams as not to be able to smoak longer CHAP. XXII Of the Celestial and Aerial Magnets IT would be of great Use in discovering the Nature of the Air and it's Correspondency with Subterraneal and Celestial Regions could we Of Celestial Magnets ctc. by Experiment make any progress in preparing such artificial Magnets as would imbibe the Exotick Parts of the Air. Nor will it be lost Labour to expose several Mineral and other Substances to the Air and to enquire what it is that gives them the additional Weight they receive by it and with what Qualities that Substance is endew'd for if such Experiments could be try'd with good Magnets at several times and in several places we might by them learn what Effluviums the Air then and in those places abounded with nor might it be of small Importance in discovering a correspondency betwixt the Terrestrial and some Etherial Globes of the World Amongst other things which make me hope that Equiries of this Nature may not be altogether unsuccessful I shall only intimate that Notable Operation the Air hath upon Vitriol diversified by circumstances after Fire could work no further on it For Zwelser speaking of a Chymical Preparation of Vitrol Viz. Colcothar says that the Salt it yeilds when long kept is imbibed into it from the Air. For says he when it hath been exposed to the Air Sal praebet quandoque candidum quandoque purpureum aspectu pulcherrimum quod aliquando in Copia acquisivi penes me asservo quandoque etiam Nitrosum And an ingenious Person told me that he likewise had obtained several sorts of Salts from Colcothar and at the last when it had been kept a long time a pretty quantity of true running Mercury Besides what hath been already said concerning Colcothar I shall propose two or three Inquiries to any Virtuoso that would assist in these Tryals And first it will be convenient to note the Nature of the Soil the Temperature of the Air the Month of the Year the Winds the weight of the Atmosphere and if any the Spots of the Sun the Moon 's Age and her place in the Zodiack as well as the principal Aspects of the Stars and Planets since we cannot deny tho' not positively assert that these Bodies are concern'd in the production of those Salts which Colcothar yields This nevertheless we know that tho' those Bodies which move about us should have no considerable effect on what is done in our Atmosphere yet it at different times and Places abounds with various subterraneal Steams and several Phaenomena appear in it which are irregular and tho' some are regular enough yet are they as to their Causes unknown as those Thermae Piperinae in Germany which begin and cease to flow at certain times And Johannes de Laet tells us that in the Mexican Province Xilolepec there is a Fountain which successively flows and ceases to flow for four Years together and in the time of it's flowing it 's observ'd that it flows much more plentifully in dry than Rainy Weather Secondly I would recommend the following Observations viz. What kind of Vitriol the Colcothar is made of Martial Hungarian or Roman Vitriol what degree of Calcination is made use of and how far the Calcin'd Matter is freed from it's Salt by Water For I have observ'd a Saltless Colcother expos'd to the Air several Months without the least increase of Weight which probably might depend on some Peculiarity of the Air where the Experiment was try'd since in other Places the success hath been the contrary But Thirdly Besides several sorts of Vitriols it may not be amiss to try these Experiments with several Preparations of them for I once made a Solution of Copper with Sublimate and Spirit of Salt which expos'd to the Air was green tho' before it was not of that
whilst it was stirred about the Spirit of Wine in the Weather-glass gradually subsided EXPERIMENT IV. Another immersed in Spirit of Roch Allom c. Having poured as much rectify'd Spirit of Roch Allom into a wide mouth'd Glass as was sufficient to cover the globulous part of a Thermoscope when the Spirit of Wine was equally cooled with the Air about it we poured into it a volatil Salt obtain'd by Sublimation from Sal-Armoniack and a fixt Alcali and tho' upon the joint Action of these two Bodies a considerable Noise was raised with Bubbles and Froth yet the Spirit of Wine began to subside and continued to do so 'till the Spirit of Allom was wholly glutted with the volatil Salt the whole Descent being the length of an Inch. From this Experiment and the foregoing it appears That when Alcalies and Acids produce Heat upon a mutual Conflict which ensues their Mixture they have not that Effect precisely consider'd as such since it is evident that an urinous Salt mixed with an acid Spirit viz. of Roch Allom produces Coldness and not a true Effervescence EXPERIMENT V. A Thermoscope in a Mixture of Oil of Vitriol and Sal Armon One part of Oyl of Vitriol being shaken together with twelve parts of Water the Mixture acquir'd a little Warmth but when it was cool being poured into a wide-mouth'd Glass and a Thermometer immersed in it when the Liquor in the Thermoscope was equally cool with the external we poured in a sufficient quantity of Sal-Armoniack to glut the Acid The effect of which Mixture was that upon a cold Ebullition the Spirit of Wine descended an Inch. EXPERIMENT VI. Heat produced by a Mixture of Salt-peter and Oyl of Vitriol Tho' Salt-Peter usually produces a Coldness in Liquors yet eight Ounces of it being mixed with six of Oil of Vitriol the Mixture acquired a considerable degree of Heat emitting Fumes copiously EXPERIMENT VII The effect of Gun-powder mixed with Water Though Gun-powder be a Body so inflammable yet it evidently imparts a Coldness if mixed with Water If a small quantity of Oil of Vitriol be mixed with the Salt formerly made use of before the Oil hath been mixed with Water it acquires a considerable degree of Coldness A Digression about Potential Coldness Potential Coldness Mechanically explained Potential Coldness is usually looked upon to be a Quality so absolute as not to be explicable without the Doctrine of Substantial Forms But it will easily appear That it may without any great difficulty be clearly explained by Mechanick Principles if we consider that the Figure Shape and Texture of Bodies may be so contrived as to lessen the usual and natural Agitation of Humors about our Sensory and consequently the Perception of this Imminution may cause such a Sensation as is usually term'd Potential Coldness which account being allowed it will follow That Potential Coldness is only a relative Quality depending on the dispersion of the Agents through the Bodies to be cooled by them According to which Notion the cold Fitts in Agues may easily be conceived to arise from an Intermixture of the Parts of some clammy Matter which before a Dissolution were unable to cause any considerable Effect in the Mass of Blood but presently after being mixed with the Blood produce such a change in the Motion of its Parts as affects the Sensory with such a Sensation as is usually esteemed Potential Coldness which Sensation may not only be so produced in Agues but by a like Cause in other Distempers and in several Parts of the Body as in Hypochondriack and Hysterical Cases To render which Account more probable I shall subjoyn That I have learnt by the Effects of Poysons that the small Parts of them being interpersed through the Parts of Humors previously disposed may cause a notable Refrigeration And I my self have prepar'd a penetrating Chymical Liquor a Drop of which being given to an Animal would cast him into a seeming Sleep and a little larger Quantity being by Mischance applyed to an akeing Tooth gave the Person a sort of trembling and almost an universal Refrigeration And that Coldness may be produced by the Mixture of some subtile Parts of Matter with the Mass of Blood appears from the following Histories Famulum habui says Benivenius Cap. 56. Abditorum apud Schenk Lib. 7. de Venen Obs 24. qui a Scorpione ictus tam subito ac tam frigido Sudore toto Corpore perfusus est ut algentissima Nive atque Glacie sese opprimi quereretur verum cum algenti illi solam Theriacam ex Vino potentiore exhibuissem illico curatus est And to this I shall add another related by Amatus Lusitanus Cent. 6. Obs Vir qui a Scorpione in Manus digito punctus fuit multum dolebat refrigeratus totus contremebat per Corpus dolores Cute tota quasi aut puncta formicantes patiebatur c. What Refrigeration depends on Whether such Refrigeration depends on a sort of Coagulation of the minute Parts of the Blood or whether it may be produced by a different Determination of the motion of the Parts of those Liquors as to the Lines they move in I shall not now examine but shall rather offer it to be considered since the internal Constitutions of several Parts of the Body are different from each other and since the Size and Textures of several Agents are also various whether they may not upon that account have different Effects upon distinct Parts of the Body for all the Qualities of such Agents do not wholly depend on the Action of the Corpuscles of the Medicine only but depend on some adventitious Qualities which they acquire by being mixed with particular Humors and which they may dispose to be more or less worked upon by the other Efficients of Heat or Cold. And these Conjectures may not be render'd a little probable by observing That tho' Spirit of Wine inwardly taken causes Heat yet externally it abates the Heat of inflamed Parts but hath different Effects on a tender Eye And though internally five Grains of Camphire may diffuse Heat through the whole Body yet externally it is used in refrigerating Medicines How far these Observations may be of Service in determining whether Camphire c. be hot or cold I shall leave to Physicians to consider and shall here only offer in Proof That Potential Coldness is only a relative Quality the following particulars viz. That from the VI. and VII Experiments it appears that according to the Dispositions of Bodies to be worked on the Agent may have different Qualities As Fumes of Lead may coagulate Mercury tho' it hath not a like Effect on other Liquors And further although Sal-Armoniack and Nitre be when separate cool and tho' the latter melted in a Crucible takes not Fire of it self yet upon an addition of Sal-Armoniack it flashes vehemently But I shall leave this Digression and proceed to Experiments about Cold. EXPERIMENT VIII Oyl of
those of the Water into motion induces a sensation of Cold and consequently there seems to be a privation of that motion which before caused Heat The second Argument Another Argument alledged for the positive Nature of Cold is this from Gassendus Cùm per hyemem immittimus manum in labentis fluminis Aquam quod frigus in ea sentitur non potest dici mera privatio aliudque prorsus esse apparet sentiri aquam frigidam sentiri non calidam Et fac eandem aquam gelari sentietur haud dubie frigidior an dices boc esse nihil aliud quam minus calidam sentiri Atqui calida jam antea non erat quomodo ergò potuit minus calida effici To which it is answer'd That our Sensories may mis-inform us as when a Stick is partly immersed in Water should we judge of it by what appears to our Senses we should conclude it broke but our Reason rectifying the Error of our Senses we are satisfied it is not Besides Sensations may depend on alterations in the internal Parts as well as on the impressions of outward Objects as in Hunger Thirst Coldness in Agues and Titilation upon venereal Thoughts besides which Argument that urged against the former Objection may be offer'd against this And since Water is not so cold as Ice it may in a Philosophical Sense be said to be comparitively warmer and tho' in respect of the Humours of our Body it be cold yet by the same reason we might conclude warm Water cold when the Hand is removed out of hot Water into it A third But in favour of the positive nature of Cold it is further offer'd that Cold is sometimes introduced into Bodies not hot before To which it is answer'd That since Fluidity consists in an agitation of the insensible Parts of a Body and Heat in a tumultuary one those Bodies into which Cold is introduced by Congelation differ whilst they are fluid only in degrees of motion from Heat and even when Water is froze it is not absolutely and perfectly cold since the Ball of a Weather-Glass being immersed in a Glass of Water and taken out when the Water was froze about it the Glass having been before tallow'd over to make it part with the Ice the Ice being broken off the Ball of the Weather-Glass the Air which was colder caused the Liquor to subside And that there may be sensible Perceptions of several degrees of Privation of the impressions of outward Objects appears since we perceive a sensible privation of Light when the Moon is eclipsed nine Digits and a more sensible one when it is totally darkned But tho' I argue for the privative nature of Cold yet I would not be thought to mean that an absolute Privation of Motion is the cause of it and by which it is affected for I rather think them the occasion than the efficient cause the motion of the Blood and Humours being differently modifyed upon a privation of their motion and consequently a different Sensation impressed upon the Sensory and that a Privation of the motion of some Parts of matter about our Sensory may occasion a new Determination of the Motion of those Fluids may be inferr'd from easy Observations for a Tennis-Ball is variously determined in its motion according to the Angle of Incidence upon another Body and tho' the Arches of a Bridge be quiescent Bodies yet by throwing the Water together they render its Stream violent enough to turn Mills and even the rapid motion of a Bullet may receive a new determination of its motion by striking upon the surface of the Water if when it was first discharg'd it made a sharp Angle with the Water so that its Angle of Incidence might not be too blunt and that various effects may ensue a Privation of some principal cause of former Events appears further from observing that by stopping the motion of Water a Mill presently ceases to move tho' no positive violence be offer'd to it And upon a relaxation of the violence of Wind all that was perform'd by the Mill presently ceases for want of Wind And in Paralytick cases a viscous or narcotic Humour obstructing or disaffecting one part of a Nerve so that Spirits cannot freely circulate through it occasions several odd and terrible Symptoms And Animals included in an Air-Pump dye barely by a privation of Air tho' nothing else is present to disaffect them And even Insects tho' void of motion upon a privation of Air yet when it is again let into them they move about as the advantages of their Species enables them so that from what hath been said it appears that a privation of the Agitation of the Humours may occasion a contrary and probably the effects ascribed to Cold. A fourth The next Argument alledged by Gassendus and to be considered is this Fac manuum immitti in aquam nunc calidam nunc frigidam quamobrem manus intra istam non intra illam refrigeratur An quia Calor manus intra frigidam retrabitur manusque proinde relinquitur calida manus At quidnam calor refugit quod intra frigidam reperiatur nonne frigas At si frigus est Tantum Privatio quidnam calor ab illa metuit Privatio sane nihil est atque adeo nihil agere unde ejus motus incutiatur potest But without supposing insensible matter to be in the least capable of proscecuting or avoiding what is hurtful to it this Objection is easily answered for the Reason why warm Water feels hot and cold affects us upon immerging our hand in it is because the Parts of the one is more and the Parts of the other less agitated than those about the Sensory and the motion of Humours about our Sensory being increased we feel a hot sensation and a cold one upon a Privation of that motion A fifth And tho' it be urged by some in favour of the positive Nature of Cold that Water is froze by externally applying to the outside of a Glass a Mixture of Snow and Salt yet to shew that Argument proves not that Cold acts positively I shall add the following explication of des Cartes Quia materia subtilis partibus bujus aquae circumfusa crassior aut minus subtilis consequenter plus virium habens quam illa quae circa nivis partes herebat locum illius occupat dum partes nivis liquescendo partibus salis circumvolvuntur Facilius enim per salsae aquae quam per dulcis poros movetur perpetuo ex corpore uno in aliud transire nititur ut ad ea loca perveniat in quibus mortui suo minus resistitur quo ipso materia subtilior ex nive in aquam penetrat ut egredienti succedat quum non satis valida fit ad continuandam agitationem hujus aquae illam concrescere sinit And in a similar manner Calces or Precipitates or other Powders are dryed by being placed on a piece of Paper
not that that acts positively upon them but imbibes the moisture And I have seen a Cold Liquor acquire a hardness its moisture being imbibed by a piece of Bread immersed in it as also Spirit of Wine dephlegmed by a Mixture of Salt of Tartar without so much as Heat the Aqueous Parts finding a more ready and easie passage into the Pores of the Alkaly than through the Spiritous Liquor And I know a saline Body which when incorporated with Water the Water will leave this a consistent mass and be imbibed by the Spirit of Wine And for a further illustration of the Cartesian Explication I shall add that Camphire by floating upon Aqua fortis will become a fluid Oyl and continue in that form till the subtle Spirit which by pervading it kept it fluid flyes away and evaporates for being put into Water the Spirit leaving the Camphire and being imbibed into the Pores of the Water it becomes a consistent mass again which that it depended not on the Coldness of the Water was evident since the same would happen on warm Water But tho' Cold should depend primarily on the influence of frigorifick Atoms yet since those by acting on the Body cooled may produce their effect by expelling calorifick Atoms the privation of those calorifick Atoms is the cause of freezing so tho' a Bullet kills a Man yet the issue is a privation of life and when a Room is darkned by extinguishing the light the darkness depends on the privation of light A sixth The last Argument of Gassendus is this Tametsi multa videantur ex sola caloris absentia frigescere nibil ominus nisi frigus extrinsicus inducatur non tam profectô frigescere quam decalescere sunt Censenda Esto enim Lapis Lignum aut aliquid aliud quod nec calidum nec frigidum sit id ubi fuerit ad motum Igni calefiet sane at cum deinceps calor excedet neque frigidum ullum circumstabit non erit cur dicas ipsum frigefieri potius quam minus calidum fieri rediere in suum statum But to this it may be answered that if we speak of Coldness with respect to sense I see not why any Body that grows hot by the action of the fire may not be said to grow Cold rather than Decalescere since Heat being only too brisk an agitation for our Sensory when upon a removal of that Cause and a declining of that motion it became less agitated than the Humours about our Sensory we may not then say it grows Colder and Colder till it become Ice But to conclude this Chapter I shall add that tho' I have offered these Arguments against Gassendus yet I shall wave determining the Controversie till further satisfied in some Speculations and in the Phaenomena of some Particular Experiments besides I would first know from those that would have Cold to be a positive Quality whether and on what account those little fragments of matter are Cold Whether their frigorifick Atoms have weight As also what is their Texture and whether that Quality may be destroy'd and whether they be primitive Bodies or not And why Coldness ensues the Mixture of two warm Bodies And in order to the solving of some of which it would be requisite to enquire how Water comes by its expansive force upon congelation And since Cold is a Privation of motion why upon the Mixture of certain Bodies Cold ensues tho' their Parts be thereby put into motion CHAP. XI Two Problems about Cold. An attempt to measure the great expansive force of freezing Water Of the Production of Cold by the conflict of Bodies appearing to make an Ebullition The first Problem THE first Problem I shall propose is how upon the Mixture of two or three Bodies there should ensue a great and tumultuary agitation of small Parts and yet even during this conflict not any sensible Heat but a considerable degree of Cold be produced Concerning which I shall only propose the question whether local motion be not Generical and whether the figure and size of Parts variously moved may not be able to cause a sensation of Heat and when variously modify'd a sense of Cold or whether the sense of Cold depends not on some frigorifick Atoms which are let lose in the Ebullition and affect the Sensory which would otherwise perceive a hot sensation by the effects of the motion of those Parts with which cold Aoms are mixed and which they over-power The second Problem The second Problem is Whence the vast force of freezing Water proceeds For since Cold depends on an Imminution of local motion it is not a little strange how it should be able to break resisting Bodies which require local motion to separate their Parts And tho' Gassendus tells us that they proceed from the ingress of frigorifick Atoms yet till Glaciation succeeds notwithstanding Water grows colder gradually it subsides and does not expand And Spirit of Wine and Chymical Oyls the greater degree of Cold they are exposed to contract the more and some Oyls even when coagulated are condensed instead of being expanded And as for what the Cartesians offer for the removal of these difficulties it may well be questioned how their Eel-like Particles being relaxed and their spring weakned they should be able to expand in spite of Opposition So that considering that Water when expanded is full of bubbles I was apt to suspect that the Air contained in them contributed to the effect and that a constipation of the Pores of Water might give them a springiness The great expansive force of Water froze To try the expansive force of freezing Water we convey'd a Bladder full of Water into a Brass Cylinder and fitting a Plugg to it upon that we placed a flat Board to hold Weights on and then the Cylinder being encompassed with a frigorifick Mixture upon the freezing of the Water in one Experiment the Plugg raised 115 pound weight and in another 100 pound Averdupois and in a third 254 pound weight Three saline Bodies each purify'd by the fire being mixed together Of the Production of Cold. produced a cold Effervescense with a hissing noise and a considerable Intumescense And in the mean time the Glass which contained it would grow colder than before and gather a Dew on the outside which would reach as high as the Mixture but on the concave bottom of the Glass there was no Dew that being not sufficiently exposed to the Air so that the Mixture could not be supposed to sweat through the Pores of the Glass since it tasted not in the least of saline Ingredients But least our Senses should misinform us of the degrees of Cold in this Mixture we at another time immersed a Weather-Glass in which the Liquor subsided above four Inches lower than in common Water Tho' the Acid Liquor it self being kept all Night in a Room with Water was of the same temper with it which appeared by a Weather-Glass immersed
in both successively And the Salt it self being cast into Water scarce made it sensibly colder nor did the Glass wherein this Salt was kept disclose any remarkable degree of Coldness And even the frigorifick Mixture it self when the Ebullition was over appear'd not colder than common Water in a Night's time so that the Coldness depended purely upon the Texture of the fermenting Liquor And to this I shall add that tho' I made use of a Spirit that was drawn off at the same time with this Salt and which in the Judgment of my senses appeared to be of the same kind yet instead of a cold Ebullition it produced a Luke-warm Heat And to these I shall further subjoyn that tho' the Liquor above mention'd would produce a cold Ferment with the dry Salt yet with the Spirit it grew warm tho' some of the same frigorifick Spirit kept warm by the fire till the Liquor in the Weather-Glass rose yet upon the injecting of some of the dry'd Salt it would be manifestly depressed Nay tho the Spirit and Salt were both warm yet upon their Mixture they would produce a manifest Coldness And to this Experiment I shall add that Salt of Tartar mix'd with Spirit of Vinegar produced upon their Ebullition a degree of Coldness greater than that of Water and when a Weather-Glass was removed out of Water into it an hour after the ferment the Spirit was depressed about half an Inch tho' Salt of Pot-ashes mix'd with Spirit of Vinegar produced Heat as appeared by the same Weather-Glass successively immersed in either CHAP. XII Of the Mechanical Origin or Production of Heat Of the mechanical Production of Heat HEAT being a quality whose nature seems to consist in a mechanical Motion of the Parts of the Body said to be hot it may be requisite to note that the three following Conditions are necessary in modifying that Motion First That the Motion be more rapid than in Bodies barely fluid so Water becomes hot by an increase of the motion of its Parts which argue their vehement motion by dissolving Butter and rising in the form of Vapours Which effects are more conspicuous as the degree of Motion is greater or less Another Instance to shew that the Parts of hot Water are in a more violent agitation than those of cold is in Water cast upon a hot Iron for they presently acquire such an additional Motion from that hot Body that it hisses and boils yielding Steams copiously But a stronger instance of the vehement Agitation of the parts of hot Bodies is in actual Flame since they move so impetuously as to dissolve and shatter whatever lies in their way A second Condition requisite to render a Body hot is that the motion of its Parts be variously determined which variety of Determination is apparent in Fire which produces the same effects on the same Bodies whatsoever is their Scituation in respect of that Fire so a red Coal melts Wax whether held above below or on one side of it and that a variously determin'd Motion is requisite appears if we observe that the rapid motion of Water in a River which is only one way contributes not to the increase of its heat A third requisite is that the Parts in such a Motion should be very minute so as to be insensible since it is manifest that tho' Sand be put into a violent motion it acquires not a heat by it This account of heat being considered it will appear that a Body may become hot as many ways as it is capable of having its parts put into such a Motion To illustrate which Observation I shall subjoin some instances of the Production of Heat several ways as first by an effusion of Oyl of Vitriol upon Salt of Tartar Aq. fortis upon Silver But to pass over these common Instances I shall proceed to some not so frequently known having first taken notice of the Heat which succeeds an effusion of cold Water upon Quick-lime which Phaenomenon tho' it be commonly held to be an effect of an Antiperistasis upon the enclosure of the Lime in cold Water yet that the effect is produced by another cause appears since the like succeeds if hot Water be made use of instead of Cold and further because tho' Oyl of Turpentine be poured on it cold no such Effect follows EXPERIMENT I. Tho' Helmont ascribes the Incalescence of Quick-lime upon an Affusion of Water to a conflict of an Alkalizate and an acid Salt set at liberty by being dissolv'd in the Water yet since no such acid appears to be latent in Quick-lime the account is unsatisfactory For I might as well suppose an Acid latent in other Alkalies in as much as Salt of Tartar mixed with Water either in the Palm of ones Hand or in a Vial affords a sensible Heat EXPERIMENT II III IV. Others think that the cause of the Heat of Quick-lime proceeds from some fiery Empyrumatical Atoms lodged in the substance of the Stone when calcin'd and set at liberty in the form of Effluvia but this Hypothesis is not without some difficulties since no such Heat succeeds an affusion of Water upon Minium or Crocus Martis per se tho' their increase of weight argues that they are stuffed with fiery and metalline Particles To which I shall add that I knew two Liquors which being several times separated and reconjoined without addition did at each Congress acquire a sensible heat so Salt of Tartar several times freed from Water The effects of a mixture of Salt of Tartar and Water will produce Heat when mixed again with that Water which shews that the violence of the Fire is not requisite to impress upon all calcin'd Bodies that will heat with Water what passes for an Empyreum And this Phaenomenon I am apt to believe proceeds from a disposition of the Texture of the Salt being stocked with store of igneous Parts which upon an ingress of Water pressed into the Pores of the Body by the weight of the Atmosphere are apt to break the Texture of that Body and to put them in motion so as to produce a sensible Heat And that the Ferment depends upon the peculiar Texture of the Salt I am perswaded and a constipation of the Pores of it since Sal-Armon dissolv'd in Water and boiled to a dry Salt was not so much impregnated with fiery Parts as to cause a Heat upon its mixture with Water again but a considerable degree of Cold and tho' one would expect a greater cognation betwixt the Particles of fire adhering to Quick-lime and Spirit of Wine wholly inflammable yet the latter poured upon the former did not produce any sensible incalescence or dissolution of it and when this Spirit was soak'd into it I poured Water upon it without perceiving the least Heat or the Lime broken till within a few hours after so that the Spirit being sucked into the most capacious Pores of the Lime and associating with the Water rendred it more unfit to
so close upon it that the Water should not be able to get out between them To the midst of this bottom was fastned a long string for a use to be hereafter mention'd the Instrument being thus prepared the Water was poured in at the top of the Pipe A B which pressing upon the false bottom C D against the subjacent rim G H contributed to render the Vessel more close and to obstruct its own passage whereupon we tyed the upper end of the string I K to a beam and put so many weights into the opposite Scale as were sufficient to raise the false bottom C D from the rim G H. And then deducting from that weight the weight of the false bottom and the Water contained in the broad Cylindrical Box B E C H. G D F we found that the Pressure which was made upon C D was much greater than what reading Stevinus would make one expect and than all the Water contained both in the Pipe and Cylinder would have been had it been contained in an uniform Cylinder paradox VII PARADOX VII That a Body immersed in a fluid sustains a Lateral Pressure from the fluid and that increased as the depth of the immersed Body below the Surface of the fluid increaseth This appears from what is represented by Plate the third Fig. the fifth See Plate 3. Fig. 5. where Oyl being sucked up into the Pipes G F K and they sufficiently immersed in the Water contained in the Vessel A B C D so that the Surface of the Oyl I K may be but a little above the Water the Imaginary Pillar of Water H G will suspend it there but if the Pipe be raised the Oyl becoming too heavy to be kept up by so short a Cylinder the incumbent Cylinder will force it out of the Orifice G but if the Pipe be further immersed the Water will raise the Oyl in the Tube and fill part of the Cylindrical cavity below it To this Experiment I shall add See Plate 3. Fig. 6. that having stopped the Mouth of the Vial ABCD represented by Fig. six Plate the third with a Cork and Cement and bored with a hot Iron a hole to receive the Pipe G H and the other E F I stopped the Orifice G with a Cork and Cement likewise and then pouring in Water through the Pipe E till it rose to the Surface I the Bubble X was so nicely poised that it swam but as soon as by pouring in more Water the Surface was raised to K the Bubble X subsided to the bottom From whence it appears that the whole Water contained in the Pipe E presses upon the whole Water within the Glass otherwise it could not compress the Air in the Bubble and make it sink and likewise that it not only presses upon that subjacent but likewise upon those Parts that are latterally situated in Respect of it And that not only the upper Parts of the Water but even the Cork that is below the Surface of the Water I is pressed by the weight of it and obliquely too appears since if the Orifice G be not closely stopped the Water will be raised through it and if instead of a Cork and Cement it be only stopped with ones Thumb one may perceive an evident Pressure of the Water against it And that the subsiding of the Bubble depended on the Pressure of the Water above it appeared since if part of the Water was poured off by inclining the Vial it would presenty emerge again And one thing in this Experiment worthy our notice was that if the Glass A B. C D was not wholly filled but the space betwixt L M filled with Air yet the Pressure of such different Fluids may be so easily communicated from one to the other that the Bubble would descend equally as if it were filled with Water paradox VIII PARADOX VIII That Water may be made to depress a Body lighter than it self as well as to buoy it up The truth of this Paradox will be easily made out by the following Experiments for if a Glass Syphon See Plate 3. Fig. 7. of the Figure represented by Fig. 7. Plate the third be filled from H to I with Oyl of Turpentine and immersed in the Glass A B C D till the Orifice A of the shorter Leg be under Water if then the Orifice E be unstopped and the whole Tube E I F G H be depressed gradually the incumbent Water H K will press the Oyl out of the shorter Leg H G into the longer E F. And For a further confirmation of this Paradox as well as the foregoing and the second I shall subjoin that having provided a Pipe of the Figure represented by Fig. 8. and sucked so much Oyl into it as filled the space L M N P See Fig. 〈◊〉 I immersed it in Water and upon the opening the Orifice O as the Pipe was gradually depressed the Oyl was pressed out of the Pipe L M to N and from thence to what height I pleased in the Pipe O P N. PARADOX IX paradox IX That whatever is said of Positive Levity a parcel of Oyl lighter than Water may be kept in Water without ascending in it Considering that since the Surface of a Vessel of standing Water is Physically speaking Horizontal the Water that presses against the lower part of the immersed Body must needs be deeper than that which presses against the upper and that this is the Reason why Bodies lighter than Water emerge I concluded that if the Water upon the upper Surface of Oyl in a Tube could be so high as to ballance the Pressure of that Water below Oyl might be suspended betwixt two Parcels of Water To try the Result I sucked an Inch of Water into a Tube and by stopping the upper Orifice and by that means suspending the Water in the Tube I removed it into a Vessel of Oyl and then opening the upper Orifice till an Inch of Oyl was buoyed up into it I removed it again into a Vessel of Water and immersed it so far in that till the Water below the Oyl was equal in height to the Water above it in which station the Cylinder of Oyl and Water being equal in weight with the Pressure of the external Water the Oyl Q. R. was suspended betwixt the Water S. R. and that below it P. Q. the Surface of the Water in the Pipe T. S. being so much above the Surface of the Water A D. as was requisite to make the Oyl and Water contained in the Pipe to press equally on the Surface G. H. with the external Water See Plate 4. Fig. 1. as Plate 4. Fig. 1. represents PARADOX X. That the Cause of the Ascension of Water in Syphony paradox X and of flowing through them may be explained without having recourse to Nature's Abhorrency of a Vacuum To demonstrate this See Plate 4. Fig. 2. we provided a Glass Tube A B. C D. of a convenient wideness and half a
he expands himself CHAP. IV. Laudanum Helmontii Junioris Communicated in the Philosophical Transactions of October 1674. Preparations of Laudanum TAKE of Opium four ounces of the Juice of Quinces four pound cut the Opium small and digest it in the Juice of Quinces ten days or more then filtre it and having infused in it of Cinnamon Nutmegs and Cloves each one ounce let them infuse six days and then having let it just boil a little filtre it and evaporate the moisture till the Mass is of what consistence you desire and incorporate with it two or three ounces of Saffron well powdered and make it up into a Mass The Dose of this Laudanum if kept liquid is from five to ten drops or less and of the Pills a less quantity is required CHAP. V. Observations of an Earth-Quake made at Oxford and communcated in the Transactions of April 2. 1666. Observations of au Earth-Quake RIding betwixt Oxford and a Lodging in the Country which was four Miles off the first two Miles it was colder than at other times all that Winter but before I got home the Wind turned and Rain began to fall And in an hour after I perceived a trembling in the House where I was and soon after there happened a brisk Storm At Brill a place higher than where I was the Earth-Quake was more sensible the Stones in the floor of a Gentleman's House being perceived to move This Hill abounds with several kinds of Mineral substances and I am told that from that place the Earth-Quake extended it self several Miles CHAP. VI. Passages relating to the Art of Medicine Passages relating to the Art of Medicines THO' the following passages may be of small use to the Ingenious and Experienced Masters yet since they may be fervicable to younger Physicians I shall for their Information impart them EXPERIMENT I. A tall well set Gentleman about twenty four years old having by a fall broke his Skull in several places which were several times Trepaned and large Chasms made in it by the taking away of several pieces in about three days time he was seized with a Palsey on one side so violently as to be deprived of motion and almost of sense except that in his Leg he had some short remissions And this Palsie continued about twenty four weeks about which time his head being further laid open they found a Splinter of a bone much like the scale of a Fish which stuck so fast and close to the Dura Mater that an effusion of Blood accompanyed the taking of it away but that being stopped in about three days time his Palsie began to leave him and he is now very strong and healthy tho' the Callus which supplies the place of his Skull be very large From whence it appears what great effects may spring from a very slight cause But besides the aforementioned Observations it was further to be taken notice of that the Parts whilst the Palsie continued were not only deprived of sense and motion but were very much extenuated by a continued Atrophy which loss of substance they acquired again upon a Cessation of the Paralytick affection And it was further to be observed that all the difference betwixt those and other Parts was that they were more subject to be cold To which we may add that tho' he was frequently let blood he continued to have a good stomach nor did the affection of the Brain cause the least Vomiting or Convulsions EXPERIMENT II. To shew the great and terrible effects of sudden Passions of the mind I shall relate the following History viz. That a Woman having taken a Boy to a River side with her which she loved very well the Boy accidentally falling into the Water unseen by her when she missed him she was taken with a dead Palsie which could not be removed EXPERIMENT III. But to shew what contrary effects violent Passions of the mind may have I shall add that a Gentleman who was in his youth taken with so violent a Sciatica that he could not go but was carried to Church and look't upon as Incurable yet once when he was in the Church news being brought that the enemy was entred into the Town which was a Frontier Garrison and designed to Massacre all in the Church they all fled and left him behind them who being as much afraid of himself as the rest got off his seat and walk'd along like other Men and this I received from the Person affected forty years after the said fright who in all that time suffered not the least relapse of the Distemper It might be of no small advantage to Physick would Philosophers amongst those Experiments which they lay down as relating to what they write purposely about communicate those which they think of use to Physicians though they should be less pertinent to the Subject under Consideration for which reason I shall for the future communicate such desiring this short Advertisement may be my Apology A desined Chymical Medicine EXPERIMENT IV. Though Vomitive Medicines are not a little dangerous yet since in several Diseases they are altogether requisite I shall here lay down a Preparation which is as effectual and yet safer than any other Liquor and much to be preferred before an Infusion of Crocus Metallorum The Preparation is this Distill two parts of Antimony and three of Spirit of Wine in a Glass-Receiver 'till the distill'd Menstruum is succeeded with red Flores and filtrating the Liquor through Cap-Paper lay it up for use close stoped It may be given from four to eight or ten Drops in a spoonful or two of Wine Black-Cherry Water or Spring-Water drinking some of the same Liquor after it to wash it down it works very soon and evacuates plentifully and effectually without danger It hath had not only very good success in Surfeits and several other Cases but cured a Person of an intermitting Feaver which put on various Types and continued to afflict the Patient three Years notwithstanding great quantities of the Jesuit's Powder had been frequently given But here it is requisite to add this short Advertisement viz. That the Powder if kept long being apt to precipitate it must either be made use of whilst the Liquor is fresh or the Bottle must be shaked well when it is used A designed Chymical Medicine Considering the great esteem and value of Mineral Waters I contrived a way to imitate them by making use of Ingredients very harmless in themselves and likely to make no less innocent a Composition The Tryal was this Having digested in a Bolt-head two days one part of Filings of Iron with ten of distill'd Vinegar and then increased the Heat 'till the transparent Liquor appear'd to be of an Orange Colour we poured part of it off lest the Menstruum being too much impregnated the Metal should be precipitated This Orange-Colour Tincture being kept for use we dropped four Drops into eight Ounces and a half of common Water which made an
Symmetry and Complexion with Agreeable and Delightful Colours There are other States of Matter also as Rest and Motion Size and Shape usually call'd Qualities which are rather to be accounted Primary Modes of Matter But this concerning Names rather than Things I shall waving the usual Divisions of Qualities treat of them according to the following Division viz. First I shall consider them under two Heads to wit Manifest and Occult Qualities the former of which we shall divide gredients of a Body is evident since Water Hermetically Sealed being froze instead of retaining Fluidity and Transparency becomes Brittle Firm and sometimes Opacous which Qualities upon a Thaw it again loses Also fixt Metal barely by being hammer'd becomes brittle which Quality it presently loses when heated in the Fire And Silver by being hammer'd puts on Qualities which it by no means had when cold as a Power to melt some Bodies and to dry others with several others which it only acquires by Virtue of the invisible Agitation of its Parts put into Motion by hammering I might add several Instances of this Kind but having mention'd them in other succeeding Chapters I shall omit them here and pass to The Third Consideration which hath been prov'd in the preceding Chapter which is That we are not to consider the Effects of Mix'd Bodies as the bare Result of the Parts of Matter of such a determinate Texture but as plac'd amongst other Bodies on which they may variously act and be acted on But Fourthly to remove this Objection we must consider That the Peripatetick as well as Chymical Principles are incapable of accounting for the various Phaenomena of Nature which the Corpuscular Philosophy hath a greater Advantage in For neither the different Colours of the Planets nor the Generation and Perishing of Spots in the Sun are to be accounted for by the Doctrin of the Peripateticks nor Chymists besides several Phaenomena relating to Magnetism Musick Dioptricks Catoptricks and Staticks And indeed I should think it not a little strange that the various Textures The Difference in Agents and Patients diversify the Actions as well as Motions of Bodies would not more sufficiently account for the Phaenomena of Nature than the Cosideration of Quiescent Ingredients for as all Natural Bodies act on one another by Motion so that Motion is variously determin'd according to the different Textures of the Agents and Patients But to proceed to the Second Objection against the Corpuscularian Philosophy which is A Second Objection against the Corpuscularian Philosophy answer'd That it is impossible so great a variety of Qualities should arise from so few Principles as Matter and Motion In answer to this I shall endeavour to shew that it is possible those Catholick Affections of Matter should be deriv'd from Local Motion and that those Principles being variously combin'd and joyn'd together should afford Phaenomena as various as any to be observ'd in Nature And First If we allow what is undeniable viz. That the Tendency of Matter as to Motion is different in several Parts of the Universe it will follow that by Local Motion so diversify'd Matter must be divided into Parts distinct from one another and consequently being Finite must necessarily have a determinate Size as well as Shape And since all the Universal Bulk of Matter hath not its Parts in a constant Motion some of them being intangl'd together must needs be at Rest And hence the Primary Affections of Matter flow But there are yet other Affections of Matter belonging to the lesser Fragments of it in Respect of their Situation as Posture either Horizontal Erect or Inclining in reference to our Horizon and also a peculiar Order in Relation to each other the Union of which Parts collectively consider'd may properly be call'd Texture or Modification And since most Bodies are made up of Parts something Irregular it is impossible but that there should be Interstices or Pores left betwixt them And further some Parts of Bodies being very subtile and fine and easily put into Motion by Heat or other proper Agents such Bodies cannot but emit good store of Effluviums And when Particles of Matter are fitted and adapted so as to adhere together they form those similar Bodies call'd Elements which being mix'd with one another constitute Compound Bodies which being again associated with Compounds form Bodies still more Complex which Compounding and Decompounding of Bodies The Difference betwixt Mixture and Texture may be Properly call'd Mixture which differs from Texture because it implies a Heterogeneity of Parts which the latter does not And Lastly all Bodies whether Simple or Compound are to be consider'd as plac'd in the World as it is now constituted and rul'd by The Vniversal Fabrick of things as well as the Laws of Motion The Phoenomena exhibited by the Corpuscular Principles very numerous From hence it appearing That Matter is very Naturally diversify'd by eleven Primary Affections to which it self being added makes twelve we may by Parity of Reason consider that if such an inaccountable Number of Words may be made of the 24. Letters it will not be hard to think that so many different Modes of Matter may arise from such Finite Principles as could Reasonably be suppos'd to result from the various Associations of those ten Letters And indeed an inaccountable Number more since every one of these Principles admits of an Incredible Variety As first there may be a vast Variety of Associations in respect of the Figure or Number or Order of the Parts joyn'd as in Figure some may be Triangles or Squares others Pentagons c. There may also another Variety proceed from the Different Shapes and Sizes of the Parts of Matter united their Figures being either Spherical like a Bullet Elliptical like an Egg or Cubical as a Dye c. together with a great many others Examples of which the Instruments of Carvers Gravers c. afford those Tools being not only of different Sizes but also various Shapes And there is no less Variety in the Degrees of Motion since Motion may be infinitely different in Swiftness or Slowness Uniformity or Difformity as also according to the different Lines in which Bodies move as Streight Circular Hyperbolical Ellyptical c. as also according to the differently Figur'd Parts they strike against to which Causes of Variety may be added the different Sizes or Shapes of the Bodies mov'd as also the several Degrees of Compound Bodies and the different Modifications of their Ingredients and likewise of the Mediums through which they move as well as the Degreess of Impulse And the Effects of these may be vary'd again according to the different Situation or Determinate Natures of the Bodies they strike against Musical Instruments afford instances of the various Effects of Motion And that Motion is able to produce a vast Variety of Effects we may learn from Musical Instruments where according to the Difference of the Air 's Motion arising from the various
Vibrations of the Strings c. different Sounds are produced which as they are more or less coincident cause either Concords or Discords in Sound But it would be too tedious to mention all the Diversities which might happen in Qualities by the various Combinations of our Ten Principles and therefore since from hence their Fertility may sufficiently appear I shall proceed to A Third Objection answered The last Difficulty raised against the Corpuscular Philosophy which is That if the Qualities of Bodies depend on the Size Shape and Textures of Bodies all Bodies of the same Colours must have the same Textures and if the same Textures the same Qualities in other respects But we see it is contrary since the Calx of Harts-horn is insipid and yet the Volatile Salt of Harts-horn is very strong Scented and of as strong a Taste To which a great many more Examples might be added were it necessary Considerations in order to remove the Difficulty But I shall rather since it is not requisite offer the following Considerations to remove the Difficulty First That several Heterogeneous Parts may be lodged in the Pores of a Body which tho' of a different Nature from the Body it self yet they may produce some considerable Effects as in Perfumed Gloves the Odoriferous Parts are both different in Substance and have different Qualities from the Leather the Gloves are made of The Second Consideration is That Parts of very different Natures may be linked together not in an Essential Structure but a Juxta-Position or Peculiar kind of Composition and yet afford the same Qualities notwithstanding their Essential Differences for invisible changes in some Parts of Matter may be sufficient to cause new Qualities tho' the Essential Parts of those Bodies be unaltered and not only so but diversified enough to denominate them of different Species So a Bar of Iron by being hammer'd may feel hot though there be no visible alteration in the Nature of the Metal by an intense Agitation of the Insensible Parts of it But to illustrate this Consideration a little further tho' a Piece of Iron Wood or Tin should have sharp protuberant Parts yet are they distinct Substances notwithstanding they all agree in that Quality of Roughness and if those rough Parts were worn off and the Body endowed with a smooth Quality yet still would they in respect of their Substance remain unaltered And tho' the superficies of Steel Brass Flint or Marble should be polished as to become Specular their Essential Differences would still be the same And as I took notice before tho' Air be put into an Undulating Motion by different Instruments yet if the Motion be raised to the same degree it causes the same Sound and produces the same Note So that Bodies may agree in some Extra-Essential Attributes and yet be different in their Essential Modifications To confirm the Truth of which Heat will afford us an Eminent Example which may be produc'd in a Body by putting its Parts into Agitation without destroying the Essential Properties of the Body so affected So that the Essential Nature of a Body may not be concern'd in reflecting the Rays of Light which produce those Extra-Essential Qualities which are called Colours since to produce Whiteness in a Body it is sufficient that the Surface of that Body be so modified as to reflect the Rays of Light copiously and undisturbed whatever the Essential and proper Texture of that Body is Different Qualities afforded by Bodies Homogeneous as to Sense And here it may be proper to take notice that there are several Bodies Homogeneous as to Sense which afford different Qualities as Salt-Peter becomes fluid and transparent when briskly agitated in a Crucible whereas it hath other Qualities when cool being a hard and white brittle Substance And the Powder of Alabaster being duly exposed to a convenient heat acquires several Qualities not different from those of fluid Bodies So Aqua Fortis although it be transparent and clear yet if rais'd in the form of Fumes it puts on a red Colour The Third thing I would propose to remove this difficulty is what hath been several times hinted before viz. That a Body is not to be considered barely as a determinate Substance but as a part of the Universe and placed amongst other Bodies But Fourthly As to that part of the Objection which questions the Corpuscular Principles in making it appear why a Body so qualified as to cause whiteness should have other Qualities which are of no Affinity with it what hath been already delivered may be sufficient to remove it viz. That the Extra-Essential Parts may be so qualified though the Essential Parts be not altered which we have more reason to believe since most sensible Qualities are only relative Attributes and may result from an accidental Motion or more than ordinary Laxity or Density of Parts or some other such like Affections Several Qualities exhibited by Venice Turpentine To illustrate which if a Third part of Venice Turpentine be evaporated we may obtain from it a Colophony of a Reddish Colour which being beaten small will lose its Transparency and be turned into a white Opacous Powder which with a Moderate heat will again be restored to its former Transparency Fludity and Colour into which fluid Body if one immerges the end of a Quill something below the Surface and blows Artificially it will rise in Bubbles curiously adorn'd with vivid and lively Colours and if in that state you take it into your Hands it is Viscid enough to draw into Strings and if put into a Triangular Figure will like a Triangular Glass yield a variety of Colours When cold it is very brittle and if moderately rubbed it is endowed with an Electrical Virtue of attracting Straws The same Phaenomena will appear upon managing purified Rosin after the same manner Another Experiment of the like Nature tried upon Putrified Urine To this I shall subjoyn another instance to shew that a Homogeneous Body may by shape or other Mechanical Affections have different Qualities in respect of our Senses and the Attributes assigned to it upon that Score The instance is in Putrified Urine Distill'd the Spirit of which when it hath by frequent Distillations been dephlegmed hath a pungent Taste and swims in a Phlegmatick Vehicle being also of a very offensive Smell whose Salts when freed from the Water are of a white Colour and are sharp and caustick if applied to an Excoriated Part besides which Qualities they likewise make the Eyes water and cause Sneezing And in respect of Physick their Qualities are no less noted being Diuretick Diaphoretick and Specifick in Hysterick Fits when mixed with Filings of Brass they turn them into a green Colour yet if mixed with Blew Juices of Plants they change that Colour for a Green one They dissolve Copper yet destroy the Corrosive Virtue of other Acid Menstruums and precipitate the Copper when dissolved by them Yet if common Salt be associated with