of Light that I was surpriz'd when coming in the Night time to look upon it I found it to shine no more at all especially since I could not restore any manifest light to it either by agitation or by moderately warming the Sealed Glass that contained it Experiment VI. After many Observations made of the degrees of Light that our Icy Noctiluca afforded as 't were of its own accord without external heat I thought fit to try whether by the application of a moderate heat of the Fire the Light might not be much invigorated and perhaps the Phosphorus it self be brought actually to kindle even in a Close Vessel This Design I was the rather induced to prosecute because I had some hopes that by this way of encreasing the Light of our Phosphorus though it should not long retain it s acquired degree of Luminousness yet this increase might continue long enough for some not inconsiderable uses And especially in case much Noctilucal Matter were heated at once to give Light enough for taking of Gun-powder out of the Gun-room of a Ship or out of a Magazine without danger of firing the Powder which would be a means to prevent those sad accidents that have but too frequently happened to Ships especially of War of which we had very lately a notable instance in the River of Thames In prosecution of this Design we took some Grains of our Consistent Phosphorus and having put them into a round Glass-Egg somewhat larger than an ordinary Hen Egg fitted with a stem of a proportionable bigness and about two thirds of a Foot long This being Hermetically sealed up at least as far as we discerned the Globulous part of it was warily and by Degrees warmed at the Fire and then we instantly removed it into a dark place were the included Matter not only shone by great odds more vividly than before it was heated but some portions of it were brought to an actual flame as appeared both by the radiant Splendor of the Burning Matter and by the condition of the Smoke it emitted And yet more manifestly by the intense heat which the flaming part of the Matter and not the other parts communicated to that part of the Glass which it adhered to for there the Vessel was not to be so much as touched without inconvenience and when this flame expired which it did after no long time the portion of the lately kindled Matter did no more shine or burn as before but was reduced to the condition of the rest of the Noctilucal Matter together with which it did for a good while retain a considerable degree of Light upon the account of the heat it had been expos'd to over and above that Luminousness that ordinarily belonged to it This Experiment appeared so strange and was so delightful to those that had never seen it that partly to gratify the curious and partly to pursue my own design 't was reiterated within the compass of a Month or two between if I mistake not twenty and thirty times the same Matter being still kept in the same Vessel though by being melted and in great part sublim'd by its frequent approaches to the Fire it was divided into several parcels But this made the Experiment so much the more pleasant in regard that sometimes for it was not always more than one or perhaps than two portions of the Matter would seem to burn at once This was looked upon as a very new and scarce credible thing that one should be able to bring a Bodie to Burn with an actual flame and for no inconsiderable time in a Glass Hermetically Sealed and not large neither But to deal with Philosophical sincerity I must not conceal from you that after we had made many Tryals in the above mentioned Glass there happened a Phaenomenon which gave me some suspition that at that time it was not actually Sealed But it did not appear but that it had been very well Sealed at first and might continue so during several Tryals for after this suspition we used this Glass ten or twelve times or perhaps oftner to make the before recited Experiment and after all those we could perceive no crack or flaw at all in the ball or stem of the Glass and found it difficult to get in the point of a small pin into a little hole which we either found or by endeavouring to find one made at the Apex However by the things formerly related it appeared that our Noctilucal Matter would Burn with less vent by great odds than other fewels known to us and that a small quantity may be made to burn and shine longer than one would expect And we were encouraged by what we saw to hope that if a more considerable quantity of Matter were put into a conveniently shaped Glass and assisted with other friendly Circumstances especially if the Luminousness could be a little heightened it may be rendred fit to be of some use in Ships and Magazines of Powder If I had been furnished with accommodations when I first made the foregoing Experiment I would have pursued the Tryal somewhat further by making a pretty quantity of our Noctilucal Matter burn several times in a thin Glass-Vessel exquisitely closed with Hermes his Seal that by weighing the Vessel in exact Scales both before and after the accension of the included Phosphorus I might find whether any ponderable parts were subtile enough to pervade the pores of the Glass and in case they were not I then hoped to discover what change of texture might be made in the Matter of a bodie reduced to an actual flame in a Vessel wherein it could not receive the free Air nor emit any Fumes or exhalations which would have been to me a very acceptable Experiment And perhaps would have prov'd a very instructive one too Since as I have in another place complain'd in the Analyses hitherto made by Chymists either the body exposed to the Fire has not been actually inflamed which is the case of Those distill'd in exactly clos'd Vessels or else there has been some commerce betwixt Them and the external Air which may justly render it doubtful whether the bodies produced by this Analysis were the same both for number nature c. that would have been produced in Vessels exquisitely closed since we see that Wood for Instance burned in a Chimny affords store of Soot and Ashes which are very differing bodies from those that Chymists obtain from the same Wood Distill'd in close Vessels But to trouble you no further with what I would have done I shall add one Circumstance I observed in what was done Namely That sometimes there appeared a little Liquor in the Glass whether it consisted of some Aqueous Particles that may be suspected to have lain hid in the Noctilucal Matter or were produced by the actual deflagration of a part of the Matter and the rest of the Matter by the reiterated operarations of the Fire was turned to a Red Colour which it yet
not the same they have divers qualities so like those that entitle what is afforded by confessedly mix'd Bodies to the name of Phlegm or Salt or some other Primordial Ingredient that the Earth for instance or the acid Spirit obtain'd in our Experiment are far less differing from the Earth of Blood or the Spirit of Amber than these are from the Earth and Salt of throughly Calcined Hartshorn 5. 'T will scarce be necessary to draw so obvious a Corollary from what has been already deliverd as this That 't is possible that Chymical Principles or at least such Substances as a Vulgar Chymist not knowing from what Body they were obtain'd would look upon as such may be made of another But though I shall not enlarge on this Corollary it will not be amiss to make one considerable Observation that belongs to it Namely that Acid and Aqueous Substances how differing soever each of them is from a pure Oyl may be produced from it by the action of the Fire For I found by Tryal that in that Liquor which the Laborant took for the Phlegm of Oyl of Anniseeds there was such store of Acid parts that as was above recited they would readily dissolve powdered Coral though crude even in the cold and would make a great conflict with Salt of Tartar and with that of Vrine as soon as the Liquor was put upon it But yet the greatest part of the Liquor by far seemed to be of an Aqueous nature which a Chymist would call Phlegm which is a Body that will not mingle with Oyl and is otherwise exceedingly different from Oyl especially an Essential one such of that of Anniseeds whose purity makes it it totally inflamable And the quantity of the whole Liquor consisting of Acid and Phlegmatick parts was far from being inconsiderable amounting to about two Ounces and three quarters It may also be worth while to observe as another thing belonging to our Corollary that the Truth declared in it allows us to question whether it be necessary to suppose with the Chymists that Nature has been oblig'd to make provision of great quantities of Primordial and Simple Bodies and that she is solicitous to mix them all together for the composing of a Body capable of affording by the Analysis or separatory Operation of the Fire Salt Spirit Sulphur Phlegm and Earth I will not hence universally infer that there are no such Substances one or more to be found in any of those Bodies that are called perfectly mixed antecedently to their being exposed to the Fire But this I think will follow from what has been delivered that the pre-existence of such Substances must be made out by some other way than the bare operation of the Fire and that the grand Chymical supposition will not hold in all Bodies that what similar Body soever is obtain'd by the operation of the Fire from a Concrete committed to Distillation was formerly and actually pre-existent in it 6. And lastly our Experiment affords us a considerable Argument in favour of that part of the Corpuscular or Mechanical Hypothesis that teaches inanimate Bodies to differ from one another but in the bigness shape motion contexture and in a word the Mechanical affections of the minute parts they consist of For in our Experiment we see that Oyl of Anniseeds which is not only an uniform or similar Body as to sense but is judged so by Chymists upon an Analysis of the concrete that afforded it is by having its parts variously agitated shak'd and rubbed against one another and in differing manners broken associated and ranged transmuted into four Bodies of such differing natures and qualities as the Chymists principles and Elements are known to be And this without the help of any true Seed or plastick Principle by the bare operation of the Fire which Helmont calls the Artificial death of things and the destroyer of Seminalities And this is the more considerable because whereas the Ancient Corpuscularian Philosophers assigned three general ways whereby Bodies may be produced namely by the addition of new parts the dividing and sometimes taking away a portion of the former and the Transposition of the constituent parts in our Experiment the whole work seems to be performed only by what they would have called Transposition and that guided but by so simple impetuous and unruly an Agent as the Fire Unless it be said that divers igneous particles that penetrated the Glass Retort did substantially associate themselves with some parts of the Oyl of Anniseeds and concur with them to compose the Pitch-like Caput Mortuum which they will perhaps say that whatever others may do I ought to allow as a possible thing after what I have elsewhere written purposely to shew that such a penetration of the Pores of Glass by the Atoms of Fire is not impossible But the Experiment I have delivered of the Ponderability of Flame prove only that some of its Particles may combine with heavy Bodies and fix'd in the degree of Fire I exposed them to my Tryals having been made upon Tin and Lead And it will not perhaps be thought likely that Igneous Atoms should by their combination with the Particles of an inflamable Oyl produce an Aqueous Liquor and that in great quantity as we lately noted of the Acid Phlegm of Anniseeds amounting to two ounces and almost six Drams Upon the whole Matter the Phaenomena observable in our Experiment upon Oyl of Anniseeds seem very congruous to the Mechanical Hypothesis and very unfavourable to That of the Chymists For whether the Fire be supposed to have Acted meerly as an Agent or Efficient Cause or to have also concurred as a Material one it appears that by changes of Texture without the Addition of any visible Parts or of any Seed Bodies very differing in Colour Consistence Fixity and divers other Qualities may be produced from a Body not only homogeneous as to sense but pure enough to pass for a Chymical Principle And though the suspicion lately proposed should be allowed to be Probable as to the other Products as well as to the black Substance yet still our Process upon the Oyl of Anniseeds would afford considerable Corollaries against the Chymical Doctrine I call in question For 1. The Objection we are considering will give wary men just ground to suspect that in ordinary Chymical Distillations the Fire is not always to be looked upon as a meer Instrument of Analysis but may in many if not in most cases be also a material Cause of the supposed Principles produced by its means which is quite contrary to the Received Doctrine of the Vulgar Spagyrists who are those I now dispute with But not to insist on this Remark I think our process upon Oyl of Anniseeds will not serve to prove the Paradox proposed at the beginning of this Paper since treating of Ingredients Chymically obtainable I may be allowed to speak of them in the usual sense of Chymists who suppose the different Substances obtained from a
sometimes too of a Colour to which I cannot easily assign a known Name 3. Our Icy Noctiluca or Phosphorus is manifestly heavier in Specie than common Water in which being put it readily sinks to the bottom and quietly lies there 4 The Ice like Body though consistent is not hard being far less so than common Ice but yet 't is not so soft but that 't is brittle and will more easily be broken in pieces by the pressure of ones Fingers than receive shapes from them and yet by him that goes somewhat warily to work it may be spread upon a solid Body almost like the unmelted Tallow of a Candle 5. The Consistent Phosphorus is fusible enough For though in the Air it will not be brought to melt without some difficulty and waste yet by the help of hot Liquors and even of Water it self it may with a little care and dexterity be brought to melt which is an Observation of good use because by means of fusion several Fragments if the Matter be pure enough may be brought to run into one Lump and in that condition may both be the better preserved and become fit to be applied to some considerable uses which cannot so well if at all be made of lesser though numerous Fragments 6. This Glacial Noctiluca is as to sense cold but of a texture that disposes it to be easily agitated and by agitation become incalescent as will appear hereafter When this Solid Noctiluca is held in the free Air though perhaps its superficies be wet it affords a very vivid Light usually surpassing That of the Aerial Noctiluca and this Light seems to proceed from if not also to reside in the Body it self 7. When our Icy Phosphorus is taken out of its receptacle and exposed to the immediate contact of the free Air it usually emits a wonderful deal of Smoak discernable by the Light of the Body it ascends from and this plentiful emission of Effluviums usually lasts as long as the Phosphorus is kept in the Air. 8. But 't is pleasant to observe and deserves to be considered That as soon as 't is plung'd in Water so as to be quite covered with that Liquor it ceases not only to Smoak as before but to shine as if a thorowly kindled Coal were suddenly quenched in Water And if it were not for this our Noctiluca would effluviate so fast that it would be quickly wasted whereas the Water fencing it from the contact of the Air keeps it from spending it self as formerly and yet does really make but a seeming and temporary extinction of this Anomalous Fire For as soon as 't is again taken out of the Water though it have lain there perhaps a great while it falls to shine again even whilst 't is yet dropping wet 9. And I have sometimes had the pleasure to observe that when I had so large a Piece of Noctiluca that I could conveniently hold one half of it under the Surface of the Water and the other half above it whilst the emers'd part afforded no Light the extant part shone Vividly Having thus mentioned most of the qualities that belong to the Noctiluca it self I shall now proceed to the Phaenomena my Tryals on it or with it afforded me without confining my self to any solicitous order since my Circumstances permitted me not to keep one in making those tryals But before I descend to other Particulars It will not I think be amiss to take notice of a few that having more affinity than others with the last mentioned quality of our Phosphorus seem proper to be annexed to what has been delivered of it OBSERVATIONS About The WATER Wherein the NOCTILUCA Was kept SECT IV. BEcause I guessed that the Water wherein the Noctiluca had been long kept covered to fence it from the Air though it did not manifestly dissolve the Mass yet might be impregnated at least with the more Saline and on that account resoluble parts of it I thought fit to make a few tryals upon this Liquor Experiment I. And First I found that it had a strong and penetrant taste that seemed near of kin to that of Sea-Salt but was more piercing as if Brine were mingled with Spirit of Salt and it relished also somewhat of Vitriol Experiment II. Being put into a small concave Vessel of Refin'd Silver upon lighted Coals and Ashes it evaporated but very slowly and would not be brought to shoot into Crystals nor yet to afford a dry Salt but coagulated into a Substance sometimes like a Gelly and sometimes as to consistence like whites of Eggs which Substance was easily melted by heat Experment III. When this Substance was kept a while on a hotter Fire it only boiled at first but soon after began as I guessed it would to make a crackling noise wherein this was remarkable and pretty that the Explosions were accompanied with flashes of Fire and light which if they were small were generally very Blew like the Flames of Sulphur but more Vivid and sometimes also more Blew but the greater cracks whose noise was considerable were wont to appear of a Yellow colour and very Luminous And these Phaenomena did not only appear whilst the Matter was Boiling over the Fire but a pretty while after the Vessel was taken off and held in the Air. Experiment IV. If before the Coagulated Matter were too far wasted by the heat it were suffered to coole a little it appeared to have acquired a consistence like melted Rosin or rather still Bird-Lime for it would draw out into Threeds of perhaps a Foot or more in length and having held one of these Threeds to the Flame of a Candle it did not take Fire but melted into little Globul's as capillary Threeds of Glass are in like circumstances wont to do And having made some of them stick to the wieck of a Candle towards the bottom of the Flame they Coloured the lower part of the flame quite round with a very fine Blew which lasted much longer than one would have Expected Experiment V. This glutinous Substance had by the Action of the Fire acquired an odd kind of strong smell almost like That of Garlick and being left all night in the Air attracted to it to use the Vulgar Phrase the moisture of it exceeding fast being dissolved in a good part into a Liquor almost as strong as Spirit of Salt Experiment VI. Putting this Substance again over the Fire as before it appeared to be more fixt than one would have looked for for though there were not so much as a Spoonful of it yet it continued Boyling for a great while and afforded a Multitude of shining Explosions whereof some made a considerable noise and gave notable flashes of Light which seemed to be made by condens'd and agitated Fumes suppressed by the somewhat hardned Surface of the Matter and kindled in their eruption into the Air into which some parts of these Fumes that were not kindled escaped in the form of a Smoke whose smell
to me to relate his misfortune the recent effects of which I could not look upon without some wonder as well as smiles 5. Having already told you the effect of our Noctiluca upon Gun-powder I thought fit to try whether it would not kindle a Bodie that is thought somewhat less prone to take fire Exper. And accordingly having put together about half a Grain of our dry Noctilucal Matter and six times its weight of common flowers of Sulphur they were lodged in the fold of a Piece of White Paper which was laid upon a Board and when I had a little bruis'd and rubb'd This with the Haft of a Knife it shone through the intercepted Paper very Vividly but did no more Wherefore suspecting that the want of Air was the cause why it did but shine not burn too I opened the Paper and found that as soon as the Air had access it took Fire and furiously Burned the Paper and if I had not been wary had burned me too Another time the same Experiment being try'd afforded this notable Phaenomenon that the Ingredients being well rubb'd together in folded Paper though before the Paper was displaid and exposed to the Air they did not kindle yet upon the contact of This the mixture took Fire and did not burn away with a slow flame as Brimstone is wont to do but slashed away at once with a great blaze like Fired Gun-powder save that the flame appeared more Luminous 6. The highest effect of the heat of our Icy Noctiluca was casually produced by the Laborant who being desirous to try whether some that was newly prepared was good and fit to be brought to me began to Write Letters with it upon a piece of Planck that had been long used in the Laboratory as part of a Stove and he chancing to press the recent Matter hard upon this Board that the constant heat of the place had brought to an unusual degree of dryness found to his surprize that he had not only shining but burning Letters The Lucid Matter having actually set on Fire those parts of the Wood against which he had strongly pressed it SECT XIII Experiment I. TO examine somewhat particularly to what Family or Sort of Salts the Saline part of our Noctilucal Matter either does belong or has most cognation with for I thought it possible it might not fully agree with any known Species of Salts but have somewhat peculiar to it self I suffered a little of the small stock I then had to resolve it self per Deliquium into a clear Liquor and then made with it some of the Tryals elsewhere delivered by which I am wont to examine what Species a Salt belongs to guessing this Liquor by the taste and the manner how it was made to be somewhat though not altogether of the nature of Spirit of Sea-Salt I dropt a little oâ—â—â— upon a convenient proportion oâ—â—â—rup of Violets and found that it 〈◊〉 it not Green as a Volatile 〈◊〉 Salt would have done but of a fine Carnation Colour such as that Syrup is wont to acquire upon the mixture of an Acid Spirit with it I found also that a very little of our Anomalous Liquor presently destroy'd the blew Colour and not the other of a Tincture of Lignum Nephriticum Experiment II. I also put some of this Liquor that came by Deliquium from the Noctiluca upon some silings of Copper which being thorowly wetted and some of them covered with it I exposed in a hollow Glass for two or three Days to the Air and by this means had as I expected without the help of heat a solution of some of the Filings of Copper the Colour of which was not a deep Azure as if it had been made with a Volatile Urinous Salt but seemed to partake of Green and Blew and to be an intermediate or Compounded Colour Experiment III. To make the Saline nature of this Liquor the more manifest I put some of it upon powder of Red Coral which it presently fell upon and Corroded with noise and froth and putting another parcel of the same Liquor upon some dry Salt of Tartar there presently ensued a fierce conflict between them whereby some noise and much froth was produced so that I thought it needless to waste any more of the Noctilucal Matter wherewith I was but slenderly stored to make it more apparent that our Liquor was not as most Chymists would have expected of an Urinous nature but belong'd to the Family of Acid Salts and seemed to be near of kin to that branch of them to which the Spirituous part of common or Sea-Salt belongs Experiment IV. Some Virtuosi may be apt to think that since our Icy Noctiluca is of a more Solid Substance than the Aerial and uses to continue to shine much longer since I say this is so if the consistent Phosphorus were included in a Glass whence its expirations could have no vent the Matter being kept from wasting the Luminousness may also be kept from ceasing This conjecture being plausible though the Notion I have of the Nature of our Noctiluca could not promise me a confirmation of the conjecture yet to prevent the being blamed for an easily evitable omission I put some of our dry Phosphorus into a clear Phial capable as was guessed to hold about an Ounce of Water and having very carefully closed this Glass I laid it aside and observed it to continue to shine for some few days after which the Light manifestly decayed and soon after quite disappeared though I thought it possible that it did not altogether so soon expire as it ceased to be visible to me because the Whitish Fumes emitted by the Matter whilst it continued to shine had covered the inside of the Glass with a kind of Whitish Soot that at length opacating it might well hinder a faint Light from pervading the Vessel and reaching our Eyes But it seems that the Air included with the Phosphorus either had some vital Substance if I may so call it prey'd upon thereby or else was by the Fumes of the Phosphorus to name no other possible ways tamed and rendred at length unfit to continue the slame sui generis of our Noctiluca Experiment V. Yet to pursue the design of making a Light more lasting than ordinary by keeping the Matter from commerce with the External Air I took some of our Noctilucal Matter that came over with the Aqueous from which 't was not so easily separable but that I thought it best to leave them together in regard that it shone so well that it might pass for an excellent portion of the Aerial Noctiluca This we Sealed up in a Glass-Egg whose bottom had been made flat on purpose that it might stand without leaning and setting it in a place where it would be frequently in my Eyes I observed it from time to time especially at Night and found it continue to shine if I much misremember not a Week or longer and that with so little decay
retains SECT XIV Experiment I. I Have formerly related that upon the immersion of our Phosphorus into Water it would immediately cease shining and continue without Light as long as 't was kept under that Liquor This gave me a ground to suppose that by the interposition of Water between the Noctilucal Matter and the Air the Phosphorus may be kept unactive till it be fitted by an extraordinary agitation of its parts to act with an unwonted vigour when the Air shall come to touch it suddenly this supposition I say induced me to put two Grains of our Icy Noctiluca into a small Glass Egg and pour a pretty quantity of Water on it In order to the following Experiment we heated the Liquor well yet without making it at all boil and thereby melted the little Fragments of Solid Matter and made them flow into one Liquid Mass that kept it self at the bottom distinct from the Water This done we presently remov'd the Glass into a dark place and pouring out the Water we observ'd that as soon as the Air came to touch the Noctilucal Matter it seemed to be kindled into an actual flame that afforded a very Vivid Light which success pleased me the better because it shewed that a kind of Fire may be kept under Water as long as one pleases without sensibly burning and yet in a moment upon the bare removal of the Water shew it self in the form of actual Fire That our shining Substance was of this nature appeared manifestly by this That the Water being poured out somewhat too hastily carried along with it which I did not intend it should do the whole Mass of the Noctilucal Matter and This by its fall into the Silver Cup that was employ'd to receive the Liquor was divided into two or three parts which coming to a more free or full contact of the Air blaz'd out much more than when they were in the Glass and afforded us a delightful spectacle since the flame burned upon the Water with much Light and fierceness and a strange deal of Smoke and it did ever and anon sputter with noise like Salt Petre made to burn upon a live Coal These flames continued the pleasure we had to see them burn upon the water a pretty while and after their extinction looking into the Siver Cup we found divers flakes of a Reddish Matter which the Chymists would call a Caput Mortuum that lay at the bottom of the Water and the sides of the Silver Cup that were next to that Liquor looked almost as if fine Brick-dust had been strewed upon them Experiment II. Being desirous to see whether our Noctilucal Matter shining through a Coloured Glass the Beams of Light would be ting'd in their passage we took two or three Grains of our Matter and put it into a Phial of an almost Spherical Figure capable of holding by our estimate about twelve Ounces of Water which Phial was made of fine Glass of a very pleasant Colour participating of those that are call'd Orange and Aurora But the Lucid Matter being shut up in this Phial and carried into a dark Room did not appear through the Glass to be considerably altered in Colour whch because I imputed partly to the smalness of the Fragment of the Phosphorus in reference to the capacity of the Vessel through which it would give no more than a faint Light I caused the Glass to be considerably heated and then brought it into the dark Room I staid for it in there as soon as 't was come the included matter seem'd to be actually flaming and the trajected Beams of Light appeared of an unusual and glorious Colour the Light being so considerable that it made divers Bodies distinctly visible at a pretty distance from the Glass and we judg'd that by the help of it a Book of a good Print might have been easily read but this Light which was the greatest we had till then produced with our Phosphorus did not last long in its vigour but in a short time gradually decay'd till it came to little more than the usual splendor of the Noctilucal Matter Experiment III. I formerly related that I could not make such an Experiment as I succesfully tryed with the Oyl of Cinamon and the Oyl of Cloves to succeed with the Oyl of Mace But now I must add that the little Phial wherein the Noctilucal Matter and that Oyl were included having been set aside as useless I afterwards chanced to cast my Eyes on it and to have the curiosity to try whether or no the unsuccessful Experiment I had made before were not one of that kind which in another Paper I have discoursed of under the name of Contingent ones and accordingly there being a somewhat dark corner in the Room I carried the Phial thither and although it were yet broad day I unstopt it there and was somewhat surpriz'd to find the included Matter to afford immediately a vigorus Light which put me afterwards upon repeating the Experiment at different times which I did with the like success without being able to determine the cause of this odd Phaenomenon Experiment IV. One Experiment I shall now relate which though because it seems as well as the last recited a contingent one I forbore to set down with the rest will perhaps be thought more singular than any of them We had in one of our Receivers that was but small since it was not judged capable of containing a Gallon of Water a parcel of our Consistent Noctiluca in which my Laborant told me that he had met with a Phaenomenon that to him who knew nothing of what is related Sect. XIV Exper. 1. was very surprizing and seemed to appear by chance since he often tryed in vain to produce it when he pleased This Receiver I took into my custody and pouring out the common Water with which the splendid Matter was kept covered to hinder it from steaming away we observed no other change than that upon the removal of the Water and the contact of the Air the Noctiluca would immediately shine and continue to do so till we thought fit to extinguish it pro tempore by pouring Water on it again This being done in the Morning I considered the following Night that this Receiver having been kept in the Laboratory which constant and sometimes vehement Fires made a very warm place 't was but fit in order to make the Tryal a fair one to bring the shining Matter to as great a warmth as it had in the Laboratory where it exhibited the Phaenomenon I was desirous to see Having then caused the Receiver with the Water in it to be held in a hot place till the Liquor had attained by our guess a fit degree of Tepidity we poured out the Water and within a minute or two after by our estimate we had the pleasure to see that the consistent Matter notwitstanding the wetness that in probability the Water had lest on it we observ'd I say that This wet
Matter upon the contact of the Air took Fire of it self not without noise and burnt with a manifest and actual Flame But our pleasure was somewhat moderated though the Experiment was the more ascertained by this accident That before we could pour in Water to quench the Fire the violence of the flame had broken the Receiver which was thick enough and thrown off a piece above half as broad as the Palm of ones Hand by which unlucky chance we were hindred from endeavouring to find as we intended to do whether we could by repeated Tryals discover the cause of the appearing contingency of this odd Phaenomenon which had far oftner in vain than successfully been endeavoured to be produced This Experiment recalls into my memory a notable Phaenomenon belonging to that formerly recited Sect. XI Exper. 2. about the kindling of our Phosphorus with the Sun-Beams united by a burning Glass For whereas I there mention that the Noctilucal Matter did not burn all away at first but left a kind of Caput Mortuum which lay in the form of a Cake variously coloured I shall now add that so much Matter could not be left unfired unless something hindered its accension we warily turned over the little Cake with the point of a sharp Knife and then the under part being I presumed hot presently took Fire upon the contact of the Air and flamed away till the Matter was almost totally consumed The Conclusion AND now I have acquainted you with all the chief things that I have hitherto been able to try or observe about our Icy Noctiluca or solid Phosphorus And though I have been oblig'd to deliver them without any exact Method yet perhaps their novelty will serve to make them acceptable to you Light is so noble a thing that the matter our Phosphorus affords it to reside in being endued with some uncommon qualities and particularly with a strange and almost incredible subtilty of parts I cannot but hope that if improvements upon such a Matter were more industriously attempted by persons better qualified for such a Work than I especially in my present Circumstances pretend to be something would be produced tending to the discovery of the nature not only of Light but divers other Bodies and perhaps also of good use to humane life If some unwelcome Circumstances did not for the present discourage me I would contribute my weak endeavours towards such a design For sometimes I think a Naturalists Pen ought to be like a Merchants Ship that comes from time to time into Port to rest but not always to stay there but to take in new Lading and re-fit it self for a new Voyage to the same or other parts In the mean time I recommend this Subject to your self and those excellent Virtuosi you hold Correspondence with whose ingenious Attempts to advance true Philosophy will have for their good success the hearty wishes of Your most Affectionate and most Humble Servant R. B. FINIS A CHYMICAL PARADOX Grounded upon NEW EXPERIMENTS Making it probable That Chymical Principles are Transmutable So that out of One of Them Others may be Produc'd By the Honourable ROBERT BOYLE Fellow of the Royal Society LONDON Printed by R. E. for B. Tooke at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-yard 1681 2. AN ADVERTISEMENT OF THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER THE Following PARADOX having been written in or before the Year 1680. was kept in the Author's Hands that it might come out with the Latin Version of his Treatise intituled The Producibleness of Chymical Principles which is annexed to the Second Edition of His Sceptical Chymist printed 1680. but some unluckie Accidents having kâ—pt that Translation from being finished the Author thought sit the ensuing Paper should accompany his Icy Noctiluca both in English and in Latin Vpon this account he sent me not only the Discourse that now comes forth but some other Papers containing the Minutes taken from time to time by his Laborant of what occurr'd in the long Train of Distillations on which the following Reflexions are grounded For the Reader whether Forreign or Domestick may here be pleased to be advertised once for all That as the Author hath been pleased to publish all his Works in the English Tongue for Reasons best known to himself so the Province of the Translating them into Latin hath been undertaken by others For indeed his Assiduity and diligent Attendance on his daily and growing Experiments will not allow him leisure or opportunity to undertake that Work himself tho otherwise if he had a desire to polish any thing in that Tongue his Pen can command a sluent stile This by the by But I having returned to the Author both his own Papers and my Version of them in one Roll it unfortunately hapned that before the Icy Noctiluca was printed off there broke out in the Night a great Fire not far from the Author's Lodging which was so threatning even after the blowing up of several Houses to stop it that as many others were obliâ—ed hastily to remove their Gods our Author thought sit by the same way to endeavour to seâ—â—â—e his own Manuscripts but did it not so successfully but that sâ—me aâ—â— yet missing and among others the English and Latin Papers lately mentioned Notwithâ—â—andinâ— which the Importance of tâ—e Subjeâ—t and the Novâ—lty of tâ—e Experiments prevailed with the Author to prevent the like mischance from hapning to what be could â—â—ive concerning thâ—m tâ— communicate them to the Curicus who will by what I have here related be enabled to understand what he writes at the beginning of that part of the following Paper which because it was written after the Fire above-mentioned and very long after the rest he calls his Postscript A CHYMICAL PARADOX I Adventured many years ago in the Sceptical Chymist and long after in other Papers to lay down some Reasons of Questioning whether the Fire be the true and proper Instrument of Analyzing mix'd Bodies and do but dissociate their Principles or Ingredients without altering them or compounding them anew But I shall now present you a discovery that will perhaps make you think the Vulgar opinion of Chymists to be less fit to be doubted of than rejected The occasion of making the following Experiments was afforded me by the complaint of an ingenious Chymist and great Distiller who told me that endeavouring to purify an Essential Oyl by Rectification he found to his disappointment that he Distill'd it four or five times successively yet it still left some Faeces but much less than at the first though he concluded that if he should undergoe the trouble of distilling the Liquor a few times more it would come over perfectly pure without leaving any faeculency behind it But 't was more congruous to my Hypothesis to conjecture that the Caput Mortuum he complained of was not at least after the first or second Distillation a more gross or Faeculent part of the Oyl separated from the more pure but a new compound produced as