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
into a small concave Vessel of carefully refined Silver that other Salts than Nitre and Allum might not Corrode it which I had purposely provided for the quick Evaporation and Crystallization of smaller quantities of Matter Our Liquor being in this Vessel put upon some small Coals and Ashes did not Evaporate near so easily as one would have thought but turned into an Vnctuous Substance of a dark Reddish Colour wherefore we placed the Vessel upon quick Coals that by their brisk heat they might make the Liquor boil and free it from superfluous moisture By this means after a while it was reduced to a Substance that afforded us a pretty Phaenomenon not unlike to That elsewhere mentioned where we spake of the Infusion or Solution of the Solid Phosphorus in common Water For the boiling Liquor crackled like a handful of Bay-Salt cast into the Fire and whilst these cracklings continued which they did much longer than one would have expected they imitated little Volleys of Shot not only in the great number of the Noises they made but in the little slashes that accompanied them which flashes when the Fire was somewhat encreased were so many and followed one another so fast that they appeared to make up a continued flame not unpleasant to behold Experiment II. After the foregoing Experiment I had a mind to be able to make some estimate how far the breaking of the shining Matter into Fragments and the conditions of the Vessel contributed to the quick consumption of it To this purpose we took a lump of three Grains carefully weighed out and put it into a small Glass Funnel whose upper end was wide and capacious enough in reference to the lower part which was exceeding slender that the Noctiluca might have Air both above and oftentimes below and yet the Matter might not side down till it were so wasted as to be less than a small Pins head a Vessel of this shape I chose to make use of that I might catch the Liquor that would be afforded by the deliquation of our Icy Phosphorus for which purpose the slender pipe of this Funnel was put into the Orifice of a small Cylindrical Phial and there kept in a quiet place which was a South-Window from whence every Night after I was in Bed I caused it to be brought into my Chamber to see if it continued to shine By which Tryals I found that it remained Luminous and was not yet so wasted to fall quite through the Funnel into the Phial at somewhat beyond the end of the Fifteenth day so that it continued to shine three hundred and sixty Hours The very Limpid Liquor that was brought into the Phial by this Experiment was unhappily lost before I could make any Tryals with it but not before I had done the chief thing I aimed at in saving of it which was to know its weight to be by and by mentioned What has been hitherto related may justly enough make a Man reflect with some wonder upon the strange minuteness and multitude of parts that are crouded together in our Noctilucal Matter if we consider what a multitude of Luminous Beams of visible Smoke of Odorable though unseen Esfluviums so small a quantity of it as three Grains which are but the twentieth part of a Drachm could incessantly afford for two or three hundred hours leaving after all this behind it above three times its Weight for so we found it to be of a Liquor which it self was not a Cadavorous one or what it looked like common Water but as may be argued from what was lately recited of the same kind of Liquor might have been Impregnated with very many Saline parts and not a few capable of shining briskly OBSERVATIONS About the INFLAMABILITY Of the NOCTILUCA It self SECT XI Observation I. I Took a little of the Consistent Noctiluca and having broken it and as its brittleness would permit spread it here and there upon a piece of folded Paper I lighted that Paper at the flame of a Candle and observed that when the flame reached This or That little Fragment of the shining Matter it would take Fire and burn away in a slashing and very sputtering manner accompanied with noise almost as Grains of Salt Petre are wont to do when they are put upon a live Coal Observation II. I observed also that if I put pieces of Paper on which I had placed some of these Grains of Noctilucal Matter upon some Embers covered with Ashes before the paper it self took Fire the shining Matter would communicate its flame to the Contiguous Paper Experiment I. We took a Fragment of our shining Matter not amounting to a Grain This we put into half a Spoonful or less of high Rectified Spirit of Wine and kindling that Liquor with the flame of a Candle the Spirit burned away as is usual in a-flame partly Yellow and especially at the out side but chiefly Blew But though the heat of the Silver Spoon wherein the Tryal was made did quickly as might well be expected melt the Noctilucal Matter and gave it a Globular form yet it continued at the bottom without manifestly mixing with the Vinous Spirits or considerably altering the Colour of their flame But when the Spirit of Wine was all consumed without leaving any jot of Phlegm behind it the last drops coming when they were actually kindled to touch the shining Matter presently set it a Fire but its flame was very differing from that of the Vinous Spirits For besides somewhat that was odd in its Figure its Colour was not at all Blew or Blewish but of an intense Yellow and burned so fiercely and with so Vivid a Light as was somewhat surprising to behold and continued to Burn a pretty while considering the paucity of the combustible Matter And whilst it burned it emitted good store of Smoke that seemed to be darted up to a considerable height the Matter did not burn all away at first but left a kind of Caput Mortuum which lay in the form of a little Cake partly of a deep Yellow and partly of a fine Red. This Matter being more Bulky in proportion to That That was consumed than I thought it likely that so little of the Phosphorus should contain of incombustible Matter I proceeded to burn it as elsewhere will be related after another manner till there remained but some very few light feces that seemed to be of the same nature with Those that are to be mentioned in the next Experiment Experiment II. We took a small Fragment not amounting to a Grain of the Noctilucal Matter and putting it into a Silver Spoon we cast upon it the Sun-beams concentrated by our smallest Dioptrical burning Glass by These it was presently set on Fire and afforded together with a great deal of Smoke a flame exceeding Yellow and so very fierce and bright that it was conspicuous though the Window being purposely set open the Beams of the Sun then in the Meridian were suffered to beat full upon
Matter could be prepared Experiment I. In pursuit of this Design I took an old Phial that had been long laid aside as useless because the Matter had been poured out of it into a clearer and smaller Glass and having held that side of this Phial to which I perceived some Feculent Matter stuck near the Fire till it had conceived a considerable degree of warmth I remov'd it into a dark place and as I expected found it to shine and that Vividly enough whilst it retain'd a Competent degree of heat and when it cooled too much the Light ceased with the Agitation that as a Cause or a Condition accompanied it But if afterwards the Phial were again held to the Fire as before the shining Power would be excited and the Splendor would continue a pretty while But after some days or weeks for I remember not which this Disposition to be made Luminous by external heat was utterly lost Experiment II. Having also taken notice of a little Feculent Stuff that stuck to the inside of the Glass that had contain'd some of our Noctilucal Matter I imagined that though it would not shine in the dark by the contact of the Air to which it had been too long accustomed yet when once that dispirited or disanimated Superficies if I may so call it that had lain exposed to the Air was removed the more Internal part of the Matter might not be destitute of a shining Power I carefully scraped off the outermost Surface and rubbing a little of the rest with my finger upon my hand I found it to shine well enough And though the Matter being once more left exposed to the Air did lose in its Superficial parts the Virtue of shining in the dark yet those parts being taken off the remaining Matter being rubb'd did not appear destitute of a Luminous Quality so that it seemed that though the Air did after a while mortifie as it were and spoil the Superficial parts that were exposed to its immediate Contact yet this vitiated Surface served for a kind of Cover or Fence to the Matter that lay beneath it and kept it from Evaporating or Spending those Spirituous or Subtile parts on whose Account it was capable of becoming Luminous Experiment III. And as I had observed on other occasions that Liquors abounding in Tenacious parts though the Liquors did not appear opacous or Feculent would leave sticking to the insides of the Glasses that contained them somewhat that though generally not perceived because not very manifest was by some other ways that I had tried discoverable Having as I was saying observ'd this in some other Cases I suspected that even in a Phial that had formerly contained some of our shining Substance though it seemed to have been well emptied and to have no gross Feculency adhering to it there might stick somewhat which though unobserved by the naked Eye might be made visible to the naked Eye by heat or motion In pursuance of this Conjecture I took this Glass and having crackt it into Fragments that it might be put into the neck of a Phial of a convenient shape and size and having well stopt the Vessel and removed it into a dark place we there shook it and had the pleasure to see not only that Light was readily produced by the motion excited in the justling of the parts one against another but that by reason of the various position of the Fragments of Glass some looking upwards some downwards some to the right hand and some to the left the light seemed to be Vibrated every way with a very delightful Vividness This Production of a kind of blazing Light was often repeated with these broken pieces of Glass and if the Phial were heated the effect seemed more quick and considerable And if I misremember not by only warming the Phial without shaking it a Light would be produced Experiment IV. Afterwards having beaten some of the Glass into such small pieces as were capable of passing through the neck of a Glass-Egg with a flat bottom that it might stand upright of it self we Hermetically sealed up the neck to try whether by this hindring the included Matter from exhaling or transpiring we could keep the beaten Glass always fit to exhibit the Phaenomenon but we found not the event answer our desires for after no long time we could no more produce any Light in our Sealed Vessel though an unlucky Accident happening in one of our last Tryalâ— keeps me from being fully satisfied of the unpracticableness of the thing desâ—gned Experiment V. In the Printed Tract of the Aerial Noctiluca there is mention made of some Liquor that was Hermetically Sealed up in a bolt-Glass that was not great to try whether by this way we could for any long time preserve the shining faculty of that Liquor wherein it was already exceeding faint and not to be excited but by a considerable degree of heat and a vehement agitation of the Vessel it self This Sealed Glass having been left in the corner of a Window for what was judg'd a competent time we yesternight approached the Vessel by degrees to the Fire and shaking it from time to time till the included Liquor had acquired a considerable degree of heat Then removing it to a dark place and shaking the Vessel somewhat strongly we perceived that the disposition the Liquor had to shine was very much impaired but not quite abolished For there would from time to time upon the rude agitation it was put into appear little portions of Matter that looked prettily and shone very Vividly like sparks of Fire and some of these appeared in the Spherical part of the Glass and some in the Neck Some of them seemed as it were fixed to their first Station and others moved upwards and downwards and most of them continued some time to shine a pretty while before they disappeared and when they vanished few of them did so by degrees but each luminous speck when it had lasted out its time lost its whole Light at once SECT II. THE new Liquid Phosphorus I lately mentioned to have been made since the publishing of the Aeriâ—l Noctiluca was poured into a large Phial that might contain by our guess ten or twelve times as much as was put into it so that the shining Matter having so much Air included with it might thereby be assisted to diversifie at least some of the Phenomena afforded by former Noctilucas Observation I. And accordingly I observed in the first place that though the shining steams filled the whole cavity of the large Glass that was untaken up by the Liquor and the residence and this lighter flame continued much longer at once than any we have hitherto mentioned for it continued Vivid several Days and Nights together without ever unstopping the Phial to give it fresh Air. And if I misremember not I observ'd it to do so for about a week before my occasions hindred me from observing it any longer Observation II. I sometimes took
was very strong and rank but of a peculiar kind To which I shall add what seemed strange that though oftentimes two and sometimes more slashes appeard at once yet so small a quantity of Matter continued to afford them for almost an hour together and probably would have done it longer but that the late time of the Night obliged me to go to Bed before the Experiment was finished What Liquors would or would not dissolve the Icy Noctiluca SECT V. AMong other ways of investigating the Nature of our Icy Phosphorus I thought fit to try whether or no it would be dissolved in some Liquors of differing kinds hoping that if it would be so in any of them it might somewhat assist us to guess at its Texture Experiment I. We found then by tryal That common Water would not in the Cold dissolve it though the Liquor was thereby Impregnated as when Crocus Metallorum or Glass of Antimony being infused in Wine or Water the Menstruum will be Impregnated by its Emetick Particles and yet the Bulk Shape and Colour of the Croâ—us or the Glass will not thereby be visibly diminished or altered Experiment II. Afterwards we put a Grain or two of our Lucid Matter into a little Urinous Spirit of Sal Armoniac but it seemed not to make any conflict with it nor manifestly to work upon it though to give the Liquor time to make a Solution we left them together for several days But as soon as we had poured aside the Spirit it appeared that it had not by any contrariety destroy'd the power of the Noctiluca which began readily to shine as formerly and yet might be immediately suppressed again by suffering the Liquor to cover it as before but when we had by keeping the Phial for some time in a moderate heat Impregnated the Liquor with it this Liquor being then dropt into Water had a like effect with That mentioned in the Experiment of Impregnated Spirit of Wine Experiment III. Seeing a Volatile and Urinous Salt would not work sensibly upon our Phosphorus we thought fit to try what Corrosive Liquors would do and accordingly we put a Grain or two of our Splendent Matter into a very small Phial wherein was a little Oyl of Vitriol that Menstruum appearing in many cases more Corrosive than other vulgar Acids but neither did this Menstruum dissolve our Icy Noctiluca in the Cold and therefore putting it in some heat we found that though it did not manifestly dissolve the shining Matter yet the warmed Oyl made it melt and appear at least for the time a fluid Body in which this seemed to me remarkable that this so fugitive a Substance should be ponderous enough to lye at the bottom of Oyl of Vitriol which is one of the heaviest Fluids we yet know except Quicksilver which many will not allow to be a Liquor What we did with this melted Noctiluca was not unpleasant to see and will God permitting be hereafter mentioned Experiment IV. Afterwards we put a small Fragment of our Icy Phosphorus into Aqua-Fortis and though we kept it in that Menstruum two or three Days and set the Vial that contained them for many hours in a warm place the Chimney Corner yet we found the Matter so little altered as to its visible appearance that we doubted whether the Liquor had dissolved any sensible quantity of it Having tryed Saline Menstruums upon our Icy Phosphorus I thought fit to try Oyls and also Spirit of Wine that is reckoned by Chymists to be of great affinity with them Experiment V. Whereupon I put a little of our Noctiluca into some Oyle of Turpentine which not dissolving it in the Cold the small Vial that contained it was left all Night in the Chimny upon warm Ashes But though the next Day none of the Phosphorus appeared any longer in the Glass yet we could not perceive by two or three differing Tryals that the Oyle was much altered by it and particularly I observed that though the Glass were unstopt and kept so for a while yet the Ingress of the Air did not produce any sensible light nor did we perceive the upper part of the Glass to be full of white Fumes as is usual in divers other Liquors Impregnated with our Noctiluca when they are unstopt SECT VI. IT has rendred the Experiments made with the Aerial Noctiluca much less acceptable than otherwise they would have been to the delicate sort of Speculators especially to Ladies that the Light they produced was accompanied with a very unpleasant smell that issued out of the Phial whenever it was unstopped to let in the Air. But by the help of our Icy Noctiluca I found a way to prevent this ungrateful concomitant of our Artificial Light But not being discouraged by the bad success of the forementioned Experiment I hoped an Aromatical Oyl might do what Subtil Oyles had not done Experiment I. And therefore having in a very small Phial put about a Grain of Noctilucal Matter and cover'd it with as much pure Essential of Cinamon as would swim less than a Fingers breadth above it we carefully stopt our little Phial and having warily held the bottom of it against a Fire till the Phosphorus began to melt I suffered it to Cool and then unstopping it in a dark place had the pleasure to see produced a Vanishing indeed but a Vivid Light So that by this means I could afterwards shew the production of Light to the nearest Persons of Quality not only without offending their Noses whilst their Eyes were gratified but with adding to the pleasure of a delightful Apparition That of a Fragrant smell But because Oyle of Cloves is more easie to be had good than the Oyl of Cinamon and is also much cheaper I tryed the Experiment more fully with That and therefore shall proceed to give you for an Example of Aromatick Oyles the Phaenomena of it Experiment II. We put some of our Luminous Ice into a little pure Oyl of Cloves such as the Chymists call Essential but found after a considerable time no less than some Days that at least a good part of the Matter was undissolved but yet the Liquor was richly Impregnated by it as we found by a pretty Phaenomenon that it afforded us For the little Phial it was kept in being opened in a dark place there immediately ensued a kind of flash of Light far more Vivid its small Bulk considered than any Liquor had afforded us before But the brightness of this Apparition was it seems too great to be lasting for this Flame-like Substance usually expired in less than a Minute of an Hour sometimes perhaps in half that time And there were two other Circumstances particular enough in this Phaenomenon Onâ— that sometimes especially if a Candle were in the Room the shining Fluid would appear of a pleasant and somewhat surprizing Blewish Colour And the Other that the Light would cease whilst yet there remained in the upper part of the Glass pretty Store of
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
other concretes also might be by the operation of the Fire This conjecture of mine was favoured by some Experiments I had made many years before and imparted to some inquisitive men whereby two distill'd Liquors were made barely by their mutual re-actions to afford great store of an Earthly and very fixed Substance And to the same conjecture it was suitable that by obstinately reiterating the Experiment the action oâ— the Fire upon the parts of the Body exposed to it and their mutual operations and combinations among themselves and not improbably too the material concurrence of Igneous particles might produce besides Earthly faeces other Bodies not unlike those that pass for the Chymists Principles How far the event proved agreeable to his Hypothesis will be best gathered from the Phaenomena themselves of the Tryals which I shall proceed to set down a succinct account of as soon as I have premised to make way for it That by an Essential Oyl Chymists are wont to mean such a fine Oleagenous Liquor as to prevent Empyreume and faeculent parts has been distill'd with store of Water in a Vesica or Limbeck We took a pound of Essential Oyl of Annifeeds which Liquor we therefore made choice of because 't is more easie to discern it by its self-coagulating property not to be sophisticated and having put it into a Glass Retort of a convenient size we caused it to be Distill'd in a Sand Furnace capable of giving a strong Fire thirty six times in which train of Operations the ensuing Phaenomena were both congruous to our Hypothesis and in themselves observable 1. As pure as the Essential or as some Spagyrists stile them the Aetherial Oyls of Vegetables are presum'd to be and as confidently as Chymists pretend they are the pure Sulphurs or Unctuous principles of the Bodies that afford them yet not only the first distillation left a Substance Black like Pitch at the bottom of the Retort but at every one of the following Distillations such a Substance was either separated or generated 2. Though after a Distillation or two it seemed likely that this Pitchy Substance would be found every time less and less which made the person formerly mentioned tell me that he supposed within ten or at most twelve Distillations in all if one should make so many this which he lookt upon as an Earthy recrement would be quite separated and leave the Oyl a most pure and Homogeneous Liquor yet I that as I formerly intimated look'd upon this black stuff not as a separated Excrement but generated Substance caused the Distillations to be repeated till they had attained thrice that number and not only found that at each time such a black Substance was left but that now and then a subsequent Distillation yielded much more of it than the precedent had done which change from less to more and from more to less was not observed only once or twice but several times And though this odd Pitchy Substance were towards the latter end found in less quantity than at the beginning yet the cause of that may well be that the Oyl to be Distill'd did sensibly from time to time decrease in Bulk partly by reason of the recess of that portion of the Oyl which could not but be dissipated and lost in so many Cohobations and partly and indeed chiefly by the loss of so much Oyl as was transmuted into Pitch and other Substances 3. The Oyl appeared in Distillation more fixed or unapt to rise than one would have expected from so fine and light a Liquor and especially towards the latter end of the Distillations it was often necessary to employ a scarce credible degree of Fire to elevate all that was not turned into Pitch 4. The Liquor did not Distill like a pure Principle or Homogeneous Body as Quicksilver is wont to do but first some fine and light Oyl usually came over after which followed a less volatile Oyl with another Substance or two and after that another ascended in a distinct manner 5. For 't is to be noted that besides the forementioned black Earth there were produced by the operation of the Fire divers other Substances whereof the first was a Waterish Liquor or Phlegm which after the Oyl had been exposed to some Distillations began to grow very troublesome For being rarified by the heat of the Fire into large bubbles the Antipathy or rather Incongruity between them and the Oyl occasioned a kind of conflict wherein these Bubbles did often suddenly break usually not without much noise and sometimes with such violence as to shake and endanger the Retort which once by this contest was actually broken yet not so but that the Liquors and other products of the Fire were saved by the watchful Laborant and seasonably transferred into a new Retort 6. Besides this Phlegm and the Pitch formerly taken notice of our operation afforded us from time to time a pretty quantity of a certain Substance which with some not unskilful Persons passed for a Volatile Salt because it ascended to the upper part of the Vessel and appeared in a dry form almost like short Needles and because also it seemed to the Laborant that like a Salt it was part of it at least dissoluble in the Spirituous Phlegm mentioned in the last Number But though at first I inclined to this Opinion yet having made some few Tryals to examin the truth of it I was and still am a little doubtful whether this sublim'd Body deserve the name of a true Volatile Salt though possibly there may be a pretty deal of that contain'd in it For I found the lumps of it notwithstanding their seeming Sponginess to sink in common Water and continue at the bottom of it without manifestly being dissolv'd by that Liquor as meer Volatile Salts are wont easily to be either in the Cold or by being kept a while in a moderate heat I found this Substance fusible like Bees-wax at the flame of a small Taper and if a lump of it were kindled thereat it would burn away partly with a Yellow flame and partly with a flame more intensly Blue than That of rectified Spirit of Wine but it appeared apt enough to go out of it self These and some other things inclin'd me to look upon our anomalous Sublimate as a Substance sui generis but yet such a one as I suspected to be somewhat of kin to a Sal Volatile Oleosum such as Camphire seems to be For our Sublimate rises without strong Fire and that in a dry form and is easily enough fusible all which I have observed in Camphire as well as in Volatile Salts and our Sublimate will like Camphire dissolve in a high rectified Vinous Spirit without at all Colouring the Liquor And having long since found by tryal that Camphire will though slowly dissolve in good Oyl of Vitriol and make the Menstruum look of a Reddish Brown I put some of that solvent upon our Sublimate and after having left them some
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