Sulphur and less Mercury And tho the judicious Mr. Boyle has some suspitions of this strange Relation yet as to the Generation of Animals and Plants he thinks it not incredible since common Water which is indeed often impregnated with variety of Seminal Principles and Rudiments long kept will putrify and stink and then perhaps too produce Moss and little Worms or other Insects according to the Nature of the Seeds that were lurking in it And tho' the Distillation of Eels yielded him some Oyl Spirit Volatile Salt and Caput mortuum yet were all these so disproportionate to the Phlegm in which at first they boyl'd as in a pot of Water that they seem'd to have been nothing but Coagulated Phlegm which does likewise strangely abound in Vipers as hot in their operation and as vivacious as they are And seven ounces and a half of Human Blood yielded near six ounces of Phlegm before any of the Spirits began to arise and require the Receiver to be chang'd Corrosive Acid Spirits tho they seem to be nothing but Fluid Salts yet you 'l find them to abound with Water if either you entangle and so six their Saline part by making them corrode some idoneous Body or mortify it with a contrary Salt Thus in making of Balsamus Samech with distill'd Vinegar instead of Spirit of Wine the Salt of Tartar from which it is distilld will by mortifying and retaining the Acid Salt turn near twenty times its weight of the Vinegar into worthless Phlegm before it be satiated And in making the true Balsamus Samech which is nothing but Salt of Tartar dulcifi'd by distilling from it Spirit of Wine till it be glutted with the Vinous Sulphur as soon as the Spirit of Wine is depriv'd of its Sulphur by the Salt of Tartar the rest which is incomparably the greater part remigrates into Phlegm so that if Helmonts process be true which was confirmed to Mr. Boyle by a sober and skilfull Spagyrist who did indeed prepare the Spirit and Salt by a way that is neither short nor easie but added nothing to them Spirit of Wine seems to be Materially nothing but Water under a Sulphureous disguise tho' being so igneous that it will totally flame away 't is of all Liquors the most likely to be free from Water But Helmont's grand Argument for his Hypothesis is taken from the operation of the Alcahest which he says does adequately resolve Plants Animals and Minerals into one Liquor or more according to their several internal Disparaties of Parts without Caput mortuum or the destruction of their seminal vertues and that the Alcahest being abstracted from these Liquors in the same weight and vertue wherewith it dissolv'd them they may by frequent Cohobations from Chalk or some other fit substance be totally depriv'd of their seminal Endowments and by that means reduc'd to Insipid Water Here Mr. Boyle judiciously observes that it may be doubted whether this Water because insipid must be Elementary since the candid P. Laurembergius affirms that he saw an insipid Menstruum that was a powerfull Dissolvent and the Water which may be drawn from Quicksilver without addition tho' almost tastless will manifest a very differing nature from simple Water if you digest in it appropriated Minerals However the forementiond Experiments concerning the growth of Vegetables do sufficiently prove that Salt Spirit Earth and Oyl which are four of the pretended Chymical Principles may be produc'd out of simple Water But to return to our Author Having prov'd That Water is the only Material Principle of Bodies usually calld Mixt by three Arguments 1. Because none of the other pretended Chymical Principles have a right to that Title some of them not being naturally pre-existent in the Bodies from which they are obtain'd and all of them being reducible to Elementary Water 2. Because Water is the only Nourishment of all Animals Plants and Minerals and by consequence the only Matter of which they consist Because all Animals Plants and Minerals are by a true Analysis ultimately reducible to simple insipid Water Having evinc'd this I say by these three newly mention'd Arguments and Fire being the only Sublunary Body besides Air of which heareafter that these Arguments as hitherto prosecuted can with any colour of reason be pretended not to reach and being likewise by many enumerated amongst the Principles of Natural Bodies the next Proposition shall be that Prop. XVI Fire is nothing but an Acid Volatile Sulphur very swiftly mov'd FOR there is a certain Sulphur in every Inflamable Body which takes fire as soon as 't is put into a rapid motion whatsoever the Cause be that excites it to that motion This appears in the striking of fire by the collision of two Flints in the firing of the Axel-tree of a Mill or Coach that sometimes happens upon a long continued and vehement attrition and in many other such obvious Instances Oyl of Vitriol contains a great many Acid Sulphureous Particles proceeding as well from the Embryonated Acid that Corroded the Iron or Copper Oar in the Bowels of the Earth as from the Iron or Copper it self these Particles being excited to motion by the affusion of Oyl of Tartar or even genuine Spirit of Tartar produce a notable heat and Effervescency The Sulphur of Quick-lime whether it be innate or adventitious from the fire conceives a vehement Heat as soon as 't is excited to motion by the Alcaline Lixivial Particles set at liberty by the affusion of Water Finally to add no more Butter of Antimony consists chiefly of the Sulphureous Particles of the Antimony and the Salino-Acid ones of the Mercury Sublimate the latter being wash'd off with Water the former do more manifestly appear namely in Mercurius vitae which causes Vomiting without any danger of Corroding the Bowels and both of them being vehemently mov'd by the affusion of Spirit of Nitre there is an intense heat produc'd So that the Formal nature of Fire or Heat consists in Motion Now that the Sulphureous Particles of which Fire is materially constituted are of an Acid nature will abundantly appear from the ensuing Considerations I. The particles of the Flame of common Sulphur being receiv'd and Condens'd in a Glass Bell do compose a very piercing Acid Liquor II. There are not any Bodies more akin to Fire than the totally inflamable Spirits of fermented Vegetables And yet all the Principal Effects of these Fermented Spirits depend upon a Volatile Acid. For 'T is upon the account of its Acid Salt that Spirit of Wine is Coagulated in Spirit of Urine or Salarmoniac or in any other Volatile Alcali as also that it loses its strength by distillation from Salt of Tartar which imbibes and retains the Acid and receives an increase of weight thereby And Generous Wine that is turgent with this Spirit being drunk moderately sends a Volatile Acid to the Brain that makes a subtile effervescence with the Alcaline Animal Spirits and thereby produces Cheerfulness and a Vigorous Promptitude to
Imprimatur Tractatus Cui Titulus Curiosities in Chymistry Sept. 30. 1690. Ex Aedibus Collegij Guall Charleton Proefes Coll. Med. Lond. Censore Tho. Burwell J. Gordon Will. Dawes Tho. Gill. Curiosities in Chymistry BEING NEW EXPERIMENTS AND Observations Concerning the PRINCIPLES OF Natural Bodies Written by a Person of HONOUR and Published by his Operator H. G. LONDON Printed bâ— H.C. for Stafford Anson at the Three Pigeons in St. Paul's Church-yard 1691. NEW EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS Concerning the PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL BODIES The Introduction THE Ingenious Author of this Treatise has herein laid a great many Experiments and Observations together in order to prove that Water is the only first Material Principle of Natural Bodies and that all the other pretended Hypostatical Principles are ultimate and reducible into mere Elementary Water Wherefore to give a brief and perspicuous account of his Reasonings upon this Subject he has thought it expedient to reduce them to the following Propositions Sect. I. The Ardent Spirits of Vegetables are nothing else but the Oleous Particles of these Vegetables subtilized by Fermentation and thereby dissolved in and united to some part of their own Phlegm FOR Lavender Rue Marjoram c. distilled without addition and without a previous Fermentation afford an Oyl but never yield any burning Spirit Whereas after Fermentation they yield an ardent Spirit but no Oyl which is a manifest proof that the inflamable Oyl is converted into an inflamable Spirit especially since by the lasting action of the Air upon this Spirit the Oleous part will at last be brought to separate it self from the phlegm and swim above it Moreover if you pour Oyls in small quantity upon Fermenting Vegetables they will come over in Distillation in the form of Spirits As for the Spirits of Aniseeds Wormwood and such other Oleous and Aromatick Vegetables that are prepared with Spirit of Wine without any previous Fermentation they are nothing else but the Oyls of these Vegetables that the Spirit of Wine has imbibed and carried up along with it in Distillation For this Spirit being it self no other thing than the Oyl of Wine Dissolv'd in Phlegm will presently imbibe any Aromatick Oyl dropt into it Hence it is that in the Preparation of Spirit of Aniseeds the Oleous part of the Spirit of Wine imbibes as much of their Oyl as it can receive and the rest for they abound with Oyl being joyn'd with the Phlegmatick part of the Spirit of Wine compose a Milk-coloured Liquor as all Oyls do when they are mixed with Water which we see daily in the Preparation of Emulsions whose Oily parts may be imbibed by fresh Spirit of Wine and by that means yield Spirit of Aniseeds anew Finally 't is upon the account of their Oleous nature that ardent Spirits are so Inflamable and that they so much weaken the Corroding Acidity of Aqua fortis as to render it innocent enough to be taken inwardly though they themselves be endowed with a certain Volatile Acid. Sect. II. The Spirits of Vegetables made by Incineration are nothing else but the Volatile Salts of the Tartar of these Plants dissolved in their own Phlegm FOR they consist of the Effluvia that ascend from the Plants while their Tartar is a Calcining into a fixt Salt kept from flying away into the Air by reason of the peculiar structure of the Furnaces c. imployed in this kind of Incineration and are therefore altogether of the same nature with Spirit of Soot or even with the genuine bitterish Alcaline Spirit of Tartar of Wine N.B. Since in the Juice of Grapes the Alcali and Acid mutually Coagulated obtain the name of Tartar Why should not the same Salts con-coagulated in the Juices of other Vegetables though endowed with very different Seeds obtain the same Appellation rather than that of Essential Salts For there is really in the Juices of all Vegetables a Tartar not unlike to that of Wine So that the Spirits prepared by the Incineration of Plants do like that of Vinous Tartar proceed from the Tartars of these Plants which seeing they consist of the same Salts namely Alcaly and Acid those Spirits are indeed nothing else but these Salts in a Fluid state Hence if genuine Spirit of Tartar be drawn off from an Alcalisate Salt the Volatile Acid being left in the fixt Alcaly it will strike your Nose with the pungent scent of a Volatile Urinous Salt Sect. III. The Alcaline Vrinous Spirits of Animals are nothing else but the Volatile Salts of these Animals dissolved in a little of their own Phlegm FOR 1. If you put Spirit of Urine or any other Urinous Spirit well rectified into a glass conveniently shaped a gentle heat will sublime good store of dry Volatile Salt into the slender neck of the Glass leaving a weak Phlegmatick Liquor in the bottom which would be mere insipid Phlegm if it could be perfectly freed from the Volatile Salt that 't is yet impregnated with and from the subtle Particles of Oyl that generally if not constantly ascend together with these Spirits and continue invisibly mixed with them though never so well rectified even to a perfect transparency for a long time 'till at length by the action of the Air or evaporation of the Volatile Salt if the Glass be not very well stop'd or the intestine motion of the parts of the Liquor though it be the Particles of Oyl begin to seperate themselves from the rest of the Liquor and gather together into numerous little drops which though they be singly invisible yet render the whole Liquor muddy and of a reddish colour 2. In the Distillation for instance of Fermented Urine or of Sal Armoniack mingled with a fixt Salt usually the Volatile Salt sublimes at first in a dry form but if you continue the Distillation so much of the Phlegm will ascend as shall dissolve all your Volatile Salt and wash it it down into the Receiver where you have it in the form of a Spirit 3. If you dissolve in common Water Distilled as much Volatile Salt of Human Blood for instance as it will take up and Distil this mixture you will by that means obtain a Liquor that by its smell tast and divers Operations appears to be a good brisk Spirit of Human Blood as that incomparable promoter of Experimental Philosophy Mr. Boyle has observed in his late useful Treatise about Human Blood The same is to be said of the Alcaline Spirits that are Distilled from Peas Beans and some other Vegetables For they appear by divers effects to be much of the same nature with Urinous Spirits Sect. IV. The Acid Spirits of Minerals as Sea-salt Vitriol Sulphur c. are nothing else but the Acid Salts of these Minerals freed from the more Terrestrial Parts united with a little Phlegm and so reduced into a fluid state by the force of the fire FOR you may reduce them to a dry Salt by pouring them upon an Alcaly For instance Spirit of Vitriol after it
has been imployed to corrode Iron and the superfluous moisture evaporated recorporifies into Vitriol And Spirit of Nitre satiated with Salt of Tartar or any other fixt Salt turns into Nitre again after evaporation Moreover these Acid Spirits are often found upon the Corks that stop the Glasses wherein they are kept in a dry saline form The same is to be said of the Acid Spirits of Vegetables as that of Vinegar Tartar Guaiac c. which are nothing else but Essential Salts dissolved in Phlegm Sect. V. The Oyls or Sulphurs of Vegetables are nothing else but Volatile Salts concentrated in union with an unctuous inflamable Acid which by its unctuosity hinders them to mix readily with Water as all Salts use to do THerefore Helmont often affirms that Vegetable Oyls may be turned into Volatile Salts But however that be being joyned with fixt Salts they turn into a Soap and if they be frequently drawn off they are thereby at last resolved into mere Elementary Water which is also true of all Fermented ardent Spirits since they are but Oyls dissolved in Phlegm Thus Spirit of Wine drawn off from Salt of Tartar leaves its seminal Acid behind it and comes over weak and Phlegmatick and if this abstraction be often reiterated it is thereby at length resolved into pure Elementary Water as will be more fully declared hereafter There is a certain Vegetable Sulphur found in Charcoals before they be burnt to ashes by vertue whereof they glow It is separated by means of Alcali's and Precipitation This Sulphur is of a golden colour and of no contemptible use but if the Charcoal be Distilled in a Retort with an open fire it turns like all other Sulphurs into an Acid Spirit which being poured upon the fixt Salt of the Caput mortuum makes an effervescence with it and so is Coagulated into a Salt Sect. VI. The Sulphurs of Animals namely Oyl and Fat are also nothing else but Volatile Alcaline Salts concentrated and somewhat suppressed by an occult Acid that is not manifest to sense so that they cannot make any Effervescence with manifest Acids THESE Volatile Salts may be discovered after the very same manner with those of Vegetable Oyls Yea sometimes Dogs-grease for instance exposed in a Glass to the Sun sublimes into a Volatile Salt without any other art and 't is upon the sole account of this Volatile Salt that it has been found beneficial to the exulcerated Lungs of Consumptive persons The Oyl of Harts-horn also may be sublimed into a Volatile Salt Sect. VII The Acid Oyls of Minerals as Vitriol Sulphur Allom Sea-salt c. are not true Oyls but Acid Salts concentrated and differ not from the fore-mentioned Acid Spirits of the same Minerals but in that they are less diluted with Phlegm Sect. VIII All Mineral Sulphurs if they be kindled turn into a very Acid saline Spirit THE fixt incombustible Sulphurs of Metals that Helmont speaks of are if there be any such Sulphurs reducible into a Salt since the same Author informs us that the Metals themselves may be totally reduced to an aequiponderant Salt and this into insipid Water As for the Earthy part of Natural Bodies being useless and of no activity it scarcely uses to be reckoned amongst the Principles And however Helmont informs us that the Liquor Alcahest turns this Earth into Water by depriving it of its Essence i. e. of its seminal vertue From what has been said it appears that all those substances that the vulgar Chymists obtain from Bodies by the Fire and style Principles are reducible to Salts and and Phlegm or Water Now our ingenious Author goes on to prove at great length that even Sect. IX All sorts of Salts whether Acid or Alcalisate Fixt or Volatile are finally reducible to Elementary Water HERE first of all 't is to be acknowledged that Salts do naturally exist in Bodies before they have suffered the Fire although in many Bodies as Woods Flints c. the Salts are so bound up by reason of the close contexture of the Parts of these Bodies that they cannot easily be put into motion and dissolved and therefore do not affect the Organs of tast 'till the concretion of the Parts be dissolved and the scattered saline Particles be brought together and Colliquated by the Fire Nor is it true that the Terrestrial Particles are turned into Salts by the Operation of the Fire for Why is it then that Ashes once Elixiviated will not yield one grain more of Salt though you Calcine them again Why do not any Terrestrial Particles acquire a saline tast by the Operation of the Fire But yet Sect. X. The fixt Salts of Vegetables prepared by Calcination were not naturally pre-existent in that form but are produced of the Volatile Salts colliquated amongst themselves and with the Earthy Particles by the force of the Fire 'T IS true there naturally exists in the Juice of Grapes and of all other Vegetables a Tartar so fixt as to be inodorous and to endure the Air though not the Fire without flying away Which fixtness proceeds from the Acid that saturates the Volatile Alcali of this Tartar as we see in the Volatile Salt of Urine Soot c. which being satiated with Spirit of Salt are thereby fixed into Sal-Armoniack that has no smell The Fermentation of the Juices pressed out of Apples Pears c. is a manifest proof of this Tartarous Salt for there can be no Fermentation without Acid and Alcaly which are the constituent Principles of Tartar But there is no Salt pre-existent to Calcination in any Vegetable so fixt as to endure the Fire as well as the Air. For First the ordinary way of preparing fixt Salts is by burning the dried Vegetables to Ashes in an open Fire Lixiviating these Ashes by decoction in common Water and exposing this Lee to some heat 'till the greatest part of the Water being Evaporated the saline Particles formerly dispersed in the Pores of the Liquor unite together for want of room into Crystals of different Figures according to the diversity of the seminal Acid. Others Distill a certain Acid seminal Spirit from the Plant reduced to Ashes by a moderate Fire and Lixiviate the Salt that remains in the retort with this Spirit Again others instead of this Acid cast a little Sulphur upon the Salt when 't is highly Calcined whose seminal Acid gives a certain form to the Salt in place of that which the extreme Calcination had destroyed lest if the Salt were wholly destitute of a seminal Acid it should resolve into Elementary Water as shall be made out hereafter But Tachenius's method is the best namely to reduce the Plants whilst they are fresh and green into black Ashes with a very gentle Fire so as they may not break out into a manifest flame to Calcine these Ashes to whiteness in an Earthen Pot over the fire stirring them ever now and then after this to Lixiviate them with common Water to evaporate the Lee to the consistence
does not fall out of the Pores of the Oyl of Tartar 'till the Salts have attain'd the point of saturation and then the Liquor that was lympid before begins to look troubled and when the Glass has stood a while a whitish colour'd substance settles to the bottom But the Volatile Salt that is separated from the Oyl of Tartar is weaker than that which is separated from the dry Salt because Salts approach so much the nearer to the nature of Elementary Water by how much the easier they run per deliquium 2. In the very same manner and for the same reason a Volatile Urinous Salt may be obtain'd from the Caput mortuum of Sal-Armoniac by the addition of new fixt Salt For in Sal-Armoniack there is a somewhat fixt Acid Spirit combined with the Volatile Salt of Urine and Soot which Acid being imbib'd by the Salt of Tartar that is mingled with the Sal-Armoniack immediately before Distillation the Volatile Salt is set at liberty and presently flies away And in the mean time the forementioned Acid dissolves the Union between the Earthy and Saline Particles of the Salt of Tartar and thereby renders the saline ones Volatile which therefore so soon as they are freed from this Acid by the addition of new Salt of Tartar to the Caput mortuum do presently ascend even without Fire with a most piercing Urinous odour And even from this second Caput mortuum you may obtain a Volatile Salt by the addition of a third portion of Salt of Tartar 3. The Volatilisation of Salt of Tartar by the help of Vinegar depends upon the same Principle For they pour Vinegar upon the Salt of Tartar and draw it off very Phlegmatick for the Acid Salt is left in the Salt of Tartar Then they pour on fresh Vinegar and abstract it as before and reiterate this Operation so often 'till the Vinegar came over as Acid as when it was poured on which is a sign that the Salt of Tartar is now satiated with the Acid of the Vinegar and consequently Volatilis'd by the separation of the Earth that fix'd it For if you pour Vinegar upon the Lee of Tartar to the point of saturation the Earth of the Tartar will presently precipitate 4. The Preparation of Balsam of Samech is of no small affinity to this namely the Volatilisation of Salt of Tartar by a frequent abstraction of Spirit of Wine from it For the Spirit that is first poured on though it were highly rectifi'd comes off Phlegmatick with very great loss of its igneous vertue because 't is in great part turned into a Water by being rob'd of its seminal Acid. But so soon as the Salt of Tartar is fully satiated with this Acid which cannot be without reiterating the abstraction of fresh Spirit a great many times since Salt of Tartar requires a great quantity of the strongest Vinegar to satiate it though the Acidity of Vinegar be manifest and more fixt whereas that of Spirit of Wine is occult and Volatile and the Spirit comes off without loss of strength the Alcali of the Tartar is found to have been Volatilis'd by being separated from the Earth that fix'd it Hence you may observe a sweetness in the Spirit of Wine Tartarised which argues that the Acid Particles of the Spirit are Converted into sweet ones by being Coagulated in the Alcalisate ones of the Salt of Tartar that ascend with them in like manner as when Vinegar is Coagulated in Saturn or Mars N. B. 'T is not necessary in this Operation to separate the Acid from the Volatilis'd Alcaly before this Alcaly can be made to ascend as it was in the Experiments made with Spirit of Salt and Vinegar because the Acid of the Spirit of Wine is much more Volatile than that of Spirit of Salt or Vinegar and therefore tho' it be Coagulated in the Volatilis'd Alcaly yet it hinders not it's Volatility 5. The same Observation holds of Oyl of Cinnamon and the like Distil'd Oyls which being long Digested and Circulated with it's own Fixt Salt Volatilizes it and is together with it totally converted into a Volatile Salt if Helmont rightly informs us And 't is easy to understand the reason of this if we consider that there is an Acid in all distill'd Oyls as well as in Spirit of Wine and all other Inflamable Substances which we shall manifestly prove hereafter 6. In the Fermentation of Salt of Tartar with its own proper Ferment namely Crude Tartar the Acid of the latter Precipitates the Earth of the former from eight ounces of each the Author has seen two Drams of Earth separated but the Volatilis'd Alcaly being kept under the power of this Acid does not yet manifest it self so that the Volatile Urinous Salt which is obtain'd from hence does not so much proceed from the Salt of Tartar as from the Crude Tartar on which the Salt of Tartar operates in this case much after the same manner as it uses to do as Sal-Armoniac Which is the more probable because a very piercing Urinous Salt may be obtain'd from Crude Tartar alone without any Salt of Tartar only by the addition of an equal weight of Crude Alum as Dan. Ludovicus informs us 7. Oyl of Tartar per deliquium digested with Flowers of Sulphur in a gentle heat emits Particles extremely Urinous which effect the Author attributes to the Acid of the Sulphur and adds that having had occasion to reduce faetid Oyl of Harts-horn into a soap with a certain Alcalisate Salt the Glass grew warm without any External Heat and a strong Urinous Odour pierc'd his Nose I am apt to think that this Odour came not from the Alcalisate Salt as the Author seems to believe but from the Oyl of Harts-horn which without doubt contains an Urinous Salt in it And if it contain an Acid also as the Author thinks it does the Incalescence might proceed from some conflict betwixt this the Alcalisate Salt which being united together the Urinous Salt was perhas thereby set at liberty from the Acid that formerly detain'd it The like Odour is observable in the Salt produc'd by frequent abstraction of Spirit of Wine from Salt of Tartar Where the Author observes that some after they have several times pour'd Spirit of Wine upon warm Salt of Tartar and abstracted it again do last of all pour on Oyl of Vitriol and then obtain the Volatile Salt by the addition of fresh Salt of Tartar Which Experiment tho' the Author has not try'd yet he judges it may succeed since the Terestrial parts of the Salt of Tartar may be separated by the Oyl of Vitriol and the Alcaline parts being united with this Acid may be set at liberty by the addition of new Salt of Tartar Here the Author takes occasion to discourse of the Vertues of Salt of Tartar Volatilis'd and affirms that it has no peculiar Effects neither in the Curing of Diseases nor in the Dissolution of Bodies but what other Urinous Salts do likewise
of Cream of Tartar with Salt of Tartar the Seed Idea or Archeus that reside in the Acid of the Tartar forms certain Bubbles very much resembling natural Grapes All this will be better understood hereafter from the Authors particular expication of the nature of the foremention'd Seeds Ideas and Ferments But now to put it past all doubt that Water is the only Material Principle of all Mixt Bodies the Author has not only prov'd that all Substance 's that Mixt Bodies can be resolv'd into by the Chymical Art are totally reducible into Elementary Water but likewise he proves particularly that Prop. XIV Water is the only and Catholic Nourishment of all Vegetables Animals and Minerals AND 'T is manifest that every Body consists of the same Matter that nourishes 1. As for Vegetables Helmonts Experiment proves this beyond contradiction namely he put 200 pound of Earth dry'd in an oven into an earthen vessel moisten'd it with Rain-water planted it in the trunk of a Willow Tree weighing 5 pound and let it alone there for 5 years time only watering it as need requir'd with Rain-water or distill'd Water And to keep the neighbouring Earth from getting in he imploy'd a plate of Iron tin'd over and perforated with many holes At the 5 years end he found the Tree had grown so well that it weighed 169 pound and three ounces And yet the Earth being dry'd again weigh'd but two ounces less than it had done at first so that above 160 pound of Wood Bark Root c. had grown up out of mere Water Coagulated by the Seminal Ferment of the Vegetable into the severall Substances newly mention'd Hence Rain does wonderfully refresh envigorate and advance the growth of all sorts of Plants and without that they decay wither and dye For Water is indifferent to them all till it be turn'd by the Ferment of the Vegetable Seed into Leffas as Helmont calls the Juice that is the immediate Aliment of the Plant. Thus Wolf-bane Aconitum and Lavender for instance growing in the same Soyl are both nourish'd by the same Rain-water which by the Ferment of the one is Coagulated into a poysonous Herb and by that of the other into a wholsome one Secondly That Animals are nourish'd with Water alone appears in Fishes for they live only in the Water and yet have no food supply'd them from any where else nor is there any Rudiment of it to be found in their Stomachs as Helmont observes And tho' some Fishes feed upon others yet these others feed only upon Water and therefore are materially nothing else but Water As for Terrestrial Animals some of them as Horses Cows Sheep c. feed wholly upon Water and Grass which the Author has already prov'd to be materially nothing else but Water and therefore that which grows in well water'd places prospers best others as a Lyon Wolf c. tho' they be not nourish'd by Grass and Water only but feed upon other Animals yet still their food is materially nothing else but Water being that these Animals live only upon Grass and Water except when they are too young to digest Grass that they are nourish'd by their Mothers Milk which also is materially nothing else but Water since it is generated of the Mothers nutriment The same things are easily applicable to Birds and to Men which feed only upon Vegetables Fishes and the Flesh of Beasts that are nourish'd only by Vegetables Thirdly As for Minerals Mercury is the immediate Aliment of Metals and some other Minerals and the nearest Matter of which they are produc'd Now Mercury is nothing but Elementary Water Coagulated by a certain Metalline and Arsenical Sulphur into such a Water as does not wet the Hands and by other various Sulphurs 't is further Coagulated into Antimony and divers Metals Hence Mines are never found but where there is a great conflux of Water Gold is gather'd out of the Sands of some Rivers Sand abounds no where so much as near the Sea and great Rivers Stones are nothing else but sand compacted together And the illustrious Mr. Boyle has fully prov'd in a most ingenious as well as judicious Discourse about the Origine and virtues of Gems that many Gems and Medical Stones were once fluid Bodies But 't were too long here to give an account of the many cogent Arguments he there imploys to prove this Assertion which very much countenances our Authors Hypothesis The experienc'd Helmont informs us that it often happens in Mines when the Workmen are breaking the Rocks that the Wall cleaves and a little water of a whitish green Colour flows out of the cleft presently thickens like liquid Soap afterwards it growes yellow or white or of a deeper green This Juice he calls Bur and affirms it to be the nearest Matter of all Minerals and to be nothing else but Water Coagulated by a Mineral Ferment as Leffas is by a Vegetable To make it yet more evident that Water is the only first Material Principle of Natural Bodies the Author undertakes to prove that Prop. XV. All Animals Vegetables and Minerals are ultimately resoluble into Elementary Water FIRST the substances that Animals are resolv'd into by Distillation are Phlegm Volatile Salt Urinous Spirit Oyl and Earth or Caput mortuum but very little if any Fixt Salt The Phlegm is nothing else but Elementary Water except in as far as it partakes of the Volatile Salt and Oyl of which it always carries up some Particles nor can it ever be perfectly separated from them 2. The Volatile Salt of Animals is of the same nature with that of Vegetables which being Colliquated by the force of the Fire with Acid and Earthy Particles is thereby turn'd into a Fixt Salt And this fixt Salt being frequently deliquated and the Phlegm as often abstracted is at length totally resolv'd into Elementary Water All this was abundantly prov'd before as also that 3. The Spirit is nothing else but Volatile Salt dissolv'd in Phlegm 4. The Oyly and Fat parts of Animals may be united with an Alcalisate Salt into Soap from which being often abstracted they turn at length into meer Elementary Water And this is to be observ'd of all the Fat 's of Animals that by frequent Circulation with Salt of Tartar they are converted into Water 5. As for the Fixt Salt of Animal Substances 't is the common Opinion that none can be abstracted from them perhaps because all their Saline Parts are so Volatile that to speak consonantly to our Authors Hypothesis they cannot sustain a Colliquation with the Earthy Parts especially since there are very few if any manifestly Acid ones to concur to their Fixation But that indefatigable Searcher into Nature Mr. Boyle informs us that by an obstinate Calcination of eight ounces and a half of Caput mortuum of Human Blood he obtain'd above seven drams of Salt which tho it were not truly Lixivial but rather of the nature of Sea-salt yet it was Fixt enough to endure a
Calcination for two days together without flying away However 't is probable that this was nothing else but some unalter'd part of the Sea-salt that season'd the Aliments that the person or persons whose the Blood was fed upon 6. The Earth also may be totally resolv'd into Elementary Water by being depriv'd of its seminal vertue by means of the Alcahest if we may believe Van Helmont Hence t is that dead Animals when they putrify are resolv'd into an Aqueous Substance And Helmont has deliver'd a notable Experiment to this purpose namely that if you dig up a Frog at full Moon in the coldest time of Winter atrocissimo hyemis borea wash it and tye it to a stick in the Fields the next morning 't will be turnd into a white and transparent Mucilage not unlike to liquifi'd Gum Tragacanth but retaining the figure of a Frog Yea he affirms that the Cadaver of a Man or Beast exposd all night to the Rayes of the Moon will in the Morning be almost fluid with rottenness putrilagine diffluet so great power has the Moon to reduce dead Bodies into an Aqueous Mucilage Secondly Vegetable Substances Chymically analys'd yield Phlegm Volatile Salt Spirit of several sorts Oyl Fixt Salt and Earth To the first second fourth and sixth may be apply'd what was said of the Phlegm Volatile Salt Oyl and Earth of Animal Substances The Fixt Salt may be totally resolv'd into Elementary Water by reiterated Solutions in the Air and Abstractions as above There are 4. sorts of Spirits afforded by Vegetable Substances 1. Vinous inflamable Spirits which were formerly prov'd to be nothing but Oyls dissolv'd in Phlegm by Fermentation as also that 2. Volatile Saline Spirits as Spirit of Soot Spirit of Beans that have been kept in a dry place for some Months c. are nothing but Volatile Salts dissolv'd into Phlegm And that 3. Acid Spirits as Spirit of Vinegar Spirit of Beans newly gather'd c. Are nothing but Acid Salts in a fluid state and united with Phlegm and being pour'd upon Fixt Salts they are together with them ultimately resoluble into Elementary Water 4. Adiaphorous Spirits of Box Guaiacum c. Which the judicious Mr. Boyle who was the first Observer of them suspects to be generated of the finer parts of the Oyl of the Wood reduc'd to an extraordinary smallness and by that means exquisitely mix'd with the Plegm the juice of Grapes affords all these 4 sorts of Spirits as Mr. Boyle has observ'd in his excellent Discourse concerning the Producibleness of the Chymical Principles Thirdly As for Minerals We must rely upon the testimony of Van Helmont whom Mr. Boyle concludes to be a veracious Author except in that extravagant Treatise of the Magnetical Cure of Wounds from the success he has had in trying some of his Experiments that might seem not the most likely to succeed and I think we may justly lay great weight upon the judgement of so experiencd and judicious a person as Mr. Boyle concerning the sincerity of any Chymical Author Helmont then in several places informs us that all Stones Gems Marcasites Metals c. may be transmuted into an aequiponderant Salt and this into Insipid Water And as for Metals it seems indeed that common Mercury is their nearest Matter into which they may be resolv'd by the separation of their Coagulating Salts and the famous Langelot has made an Experiment of this in the Regulus of Antimony Now if the other Metals also may be resolv'd into Mercury by depriving them of their Sulphurs and the Mercury it self be reducible into Water by robbing it of the Sulphurs yet remaining in it as Mr. Boyle somewhere affirms it may in great part and as several other Authors of good credit attest then it can no more be doubted that all Minerals are reducible into Water It will not be unseasonable in this place to mention a few Experiments deliver'd in Mr. Boyles Septical Chymist that do very much countenance the three last Propositions That excellent Author then informs us that about the middle of May he caus'd his Gardiner to dig out some good Earth dry it well in an Oven weigh it put it in a very shallow Earthen Pot and set in it a Seed of Squash a sort of Indian Pompion that grows apace which he water'd only with Rain or spring Water And tho the hastning Winter hinder'd it from attaining any thing near its wonted magnitude yet being taken up about the middle of October the Pompion together with the Stalk and Leaves weighed three pound wanting a quarter And yet the Earth being very well dry'd in an Oven was found to have lost little or nothing of its first weight He try'd the like Experiment with two Cucumbers which being taken out of the Earth wherein they had grown weighed together with the Roots and Branches fourteen pound and six ounces and yet the Earth had lost but a pound and a half of its first weight which the Gardiner judg'd to have been in great part wasted in the ordering But granting that some of the Earth or rather of the dissoluble Salt harbour'd in it was wasted in the nourishment of the Plant yet 't is plain that the main Body of it consisted of trasmuted Water This Experiment may be try'd with the Seeds of any Plant that is bulky and grows hastily Likewise A top of Spearmint of an inch long being put into a vial full of Spring-water with its lower part immers'd did in a few days shoot forth numerous Roots into the Water as if it had been Earth and display it self upwards into many Leaves with a pretty thick stalk The same Experiment has also succeeded with Marjoram tho' more slowly Balm and Peniroyal to name no more One of these Vegetables cherish'd only by Spring-water and that never renew'd afforded by distillation besides Phlegm an Empyreumatical Spirit an adust Oyl and a Caput mortuum that appearing to be a Coal consisted no doubt of Salt and Earth And if Helmont had distill'd the foremention'd Tree no doubt it would have afforded him the like distinct Substances as another of the same kind But a more considerable Instance to prove that all sorts of Bodies are nothing else but Water subdu'd by Seeds than any yet mention'd is afforded us by Mr. de Rochas who tells us that he took simple Water that he well knew to be mix'd with no other thing but the Spirit of Life and having with a heat Artificial Continual and Proportionate prepar'd it by the Graduations of Coagulation Congelation and Fixation which he had spoken of before untill it was turn'd into Earth this Earth produc'd Animals that mov'd of themselves Vegetables and Minerals The Animals he found by a Chymical Anatomy he made of them to be compos'd of much Sulphur little Mercury and less Salt and the Minerals which were solid and heavy and began to grow by converting into their own Nature one part of the Earth thereunto dispos'd of much Salt little
a much more Volatile Oleous Body than the Oyle of Lin-seed evaporates before it and carryes its Acid along with it even as the same Spirit being mingl'd with Aqua fortis and distill'd in a Cucurbit ascends before it and carrys a great part of its Acidity along with it insomuch that the remaining Aqua fortis becomes a very safe Internal Medicine tho' before the smell of it only would cause an Atrophia in the whole Body The same Oyl of Lin-seed is also Corrected by frequently extinguishing red hot Steel in it till it appear by the ceasing of the hissing smoke that the Acid Particles are either Evaporated in smoke and spent by Deflagration or Coagulated in the Mars And if after this it be Distill'd from Quick-lime that if any Acidity yet remains it may be therein Coagulated the Oyl of Lin-seed becomes an excellent Remedy for Inflammations Burns and the like as Oyl-Olive also does by Distillation from Quick-lime And this last nam'd Oyl being imbib'd in old Tyles or Bricks which are depriv'd of all moisture by their having been long expos'd to the heat of the Sun heated red hot and quench'd in it and then distill'd in a Retort is thereby robb'd of all its Acidity and acquires a singular Vertue in the Palsey Gout Cramp c. And all Oyls are wholsomer boyl'd than crude because a great part of the Acid is exhal'd in the boyling 6. Helmont teaches that Distill'd Chymical Oyls which are otherwise very hot may by an artificial Circulation for three Months time with an Alcali Salt be turn'd into a very temperate Volatile Salt namely because the hot Acid of the Oyl is Saturated by the Alcali and by that means reduc'd temperate Nor can there be any other Reason given why the Alcaly should have this effect upon the Oyl but that the Acid of the Oyl corrodes the Alcaly and is Coagulated in it Now in the next place That the Heat and Inflammability of Oyly Substances depend upon the Acid that the Experiments newly deliver'd prove to be contain'd in them may be evinc'd from those same Experiments most of which do not only prove that Oleous and Fat Bodies are endow'd with an Acid but likewise that the effects usually ascrib'd to the hot Quality of these Bodies do indeed depend upon this Acid and that whatsoever mitigates or destroys this Acid does at the same time weaken or destroy their Heating Power And 2. that this may also be truly apply'd to their Inflammability and that the Acid Particles contain'd in Oyly and Fat Substances are really the Matter of which the Flame of these Substances when they are burning consists does plainly appear by the Abstraction of Oyls from Spirit of Wine Quick-lime or Bricks for being by this means depriv'd of their Acid they become less Inflammable than the crude Oyles were And Candles made of Sheeps Tallow burn sooner away than those made of any other Tallow because there is greater store of Acid Particles in it as appears by the Griping of the Guts which cannot happen without a Corroding Acid for all the Medicines effectual against this Distemper testify that to be the Cause of it and which is very often occasion'd by eating Fat Mutton especially if the Acid Salts be dissolv'd by drinking after it in like manner as when Salt Butter is sweetned by melting it and pouring it into water and thereby dissolving the Salt Likewise recent Fat or Oyl burns sooner away than that which has been long kept and thereby lost much of its Volatile Acid. N.B. Since Tallow as well as every other Body is materially nothing else but water Coagulated by a seminal Acid and since 't is only the Acid Particles that feed the Flame it follows that when they are consum'd he remainder being robb'd of the Coagulating Acid must return into Elementary Water and therefore 't is insensibly dissipated like a Vapour even as the water of Spirit of Wine kindled vanishes into a Vapour IV. The Particles of Fire being fix'd or Coagulated in any Body whatsoever do plainly manifest themselves to be Acid as appears from the following Instances 1. Fire Coagulated in Mars turns it into a Crocus that differs nothing from Rust which proceeds always from an Acid and is every way like to that Crocus which is prepar'd with Acids and endow'd with the same Medicinal Vertues V. Tachen Hipp. Chym. cap. 28. 2. Fire Coagulated in Saturn is separated by means of a Fixt Alcaly or even of Venetian Borax for Minium which receiv'd its red Colour from the Sulphur of the Coals even as the Sulphur of Antimony Coagulated in Mercury turns it into Cinnabar of an exceeding high red is by the help of these Salts reduc'd to crude Lead N. B. According to Tachenius's Computation 100 pound of Lead retains in Calcination ten pound of Fire 3. All the Remedies for Burns are such as are capable to imbibe saturate or suppress the Igneous Acid for instance Sugar of Saturn Ceruss Litharge Oyls depriv'd of their Acidity Lixiviums c. And unwashen Threed mitigates Erysipelatous Inflammations because of the Alcaly of the Spittle V. And lastly The Acidity of the Particles of Fire appears from its efficacy in Chirurgery and particularly in exstirpating ill condition'd Ulcers For the cause of Vlcers being a Corrosive Acid they may be cur'd by three sorts of external Medicines 1. Those that Saturate this Acid as Spirit of Salt-Armoniac Quick-lime Water Oyl of Tartar per deliquium and the like 2. Those that imbibe and assume this Acid as all the Preparations of Saturn The Author has known Ulcers in the Legs cur'd meerly by applying thin Plates of Lead to them because the Acid corroding the Musculous Flesh was coagulated in the Lead 3. Those that by a more potent Acidity suppress this weak one as Verdegreese which consists of the Acid Salts of Vinegar Coagulated in Particles of Venus now these Salts are much more powerfull than in common Vinegar because they are concentrated and separated from strong Phlegm and thereby enabl'd to suppress the weaker putredinous Acid of the Ulcers which Aqua fortis Spirit of Salt and other Acid Spirits also do But nothing performs this so effectually as Actual Cauteries because there is no Acid so powerful as that of Fire N. B. I. The Acid Effluvia that are continually passing away from Inflammable Bodies while they are burning do compose Flame so long as they continue numerous enough within a certain Sphere and in a very swift motion but having pass'd the limits of this Sphere they begin to move more slowly and are by degrees dispers'd So that the same Acid Effluvia which being in a rapid motion produce tormenting Pains and Convulsive Motions by corroding the Nervous Parts when they are in a moderate Motion do produce in our Body a temperate and gratefull heat by inciting the Nervous Capillaments to gentle Spasms N. B. 2. Tho' Actual Fire be so far from being one of the Material Principles of Mixt
Bodies that it cannot exist in them without destroying them yet there are certain Acid Particles in all mixt Bodies differing but in Rest or in Degrees of Motion from Actual Fire in which the Seeds or Ideas reside that are the Formal Principles of those Bodies But these Acid Particles do themselves return into Elementary Water when they are devested of those Seeds Which Seeds or Ideas so often heretofore mention'd t' will now be seasonable to explain Having abundantly prov'd that Simple Water is the only Matter of which all Mixt Bodies consist 't is plain that they all agree in one and the same Material Principle so that their difference one from another proceeds not from any diversity in the Matter of which they consist or in the proportion of the Elements that may be suppos'd to concur to their Composition But Prop. XVII The diversity that is among Natural Bodies is wholly owing to the different Seminal Ideas that regulate the Operation of the Plastick Spirit which Coagulates Water into various Substances differing in Figure Solidity Bigness Order and Connection of Parts and other Modifications according as its Motions are guided by these Ideas FOR when God at first Created out of nothing the Terraqueous Globe and furnish'd it with numerous Bodies of several Species or kinds he was pleas'd because the Individuals were Corruptible to endow them by vertue of his Omnipotent Word Be fruitful and multiply with a Power of producing out of Pre-existent Matter new Individuals like themselves and of their own Species that so when the first Individuals were dissolv'd the Species might nevertheless be preserv'd in these new Individuals generated by the first so on as long as the world endures This Generative Power is seated in the seeds which are very obvious in Animals and Vegetables but more doubtful in Minerals at least in severall sorts of them As for Animals and particularly Man the Feminine seed is a limpid Liquor contain'd in the little Eggs that are found in the Testicles This Seminal Liquor contains in it self an exact Idea of an entire Human Body of the femal sexe consisting of as many particular distinct Ideas as there are different Parts in a Human Body which all together concur to make up one entire Idea of an entire Woman so if it were possible for us to contemplate this Idea with our Bodily Eyes as well as we can do with our Intellectual we might discern in it sensible signatures of all the Parts of the Body alltogether making up a lively representation and as 't were exact Model of an entire Woman The Idea of every particular Part in this Seed is a Particle of the Idea that resides in that same part of the Womans Body that generates this Seed For every Part of a Womans Mans or any other Animals Body whether Similar or Organical has its own Idea residing in it in which Idea is imprinted upon or which is all one communicates a Particle of it self unto the Blood that Circulates through the Part and the Blood carryes all these Ideas to the Testicles where they are gather'd together dispos'd into the same Order that the Parts they come from have in the Womans Body and so united into one entire Idea which is inclos'd within the Tunicles of the Egg that being defended from Injuries thereby the particular Parts of it may be able to retain their due situation and may not be lyable to be confounded one with another or misplac'd This Idea is endow'd in the Testicles with a particle of that moving Vital Spirit which is the Principle of all Vital Actions and the only Mover of all Seeds which without this are Barren and Unfruitful because they cannot unfold themselves But yet this Plastick Spirit in the Feminine Seed is too weak for to accomplish the evolution of the Ideas without it be strengthen'd Actuated and Fecundated by that more powerfull Spirit which the Masculine Seed is impregnated with All that has been said of the Feminine Seed is applicable also to this saving that it contains Ideas of all the Parts of a Human Body of the Male Sex only not of the Female and that these Ideas are confounded one with another because the Seed not being inclos'd in Tunicles in the form of Eggs but contain'd in the Testicles in a liquid form they fluctuate and cannot retain any certain Order Hence it is that as the Feminine Seed alone can never be fruitful till its weaker Spirit be corroborated by Conjunction with the Masculine so neither can the Masculine Seed alone ever produce a Foetus till its confus'd Ideas be reduc'd into due Order by conjunction with the Feminine each Idea taking its own proper place by applying it self to the correspondent Ideas of the Feminine Seed In short the Masculine Seed cannot reduce the confus'd Ideas into Order but being set in Order by the Feminine it can explicate or unfold them which the Feminine cannot Wherefore the Masculine Seed must be injected into the Womb whence it emits a Seminal and Vital Spirituous Exhalation through the Tubi Fallopiani into the Testes or Ovarium where one or more of the Eggs being impregnated with this Exhalation and foecundated thereby is thrust out of its place and falls into the extremity of the Tubus Fallopianus which conveys it to the Womb. For tho' the two Seminal Spirits be now united into one yet even this is not sufficient for the Evolution of the Ideas till it be excited to motion by the Heat of the Womb and then it begins the Evolution of the Ideas by Coagulating the approximated Aliment into a substance agreeable to the particular Ideas and applying it to them by which means the Ideas that were utterly insensible before do quickly acquire a visible bulk insomuch that Kerkringius tells us of a Foetus but four days old wherein the distinction of the Parts was plainly discernible This Apposition of Aliments to and gradual Evolution of the Ideas begins at the first Conception and continues after the Child has left the Womb till the Body have attain'd its full stature that is to a perfect Evolution of the Ideas for when the Ideas are not capable of any further Evolution the Growth of the Body must cease So that Ganeration is really nothing else but the first Nutrition or the Apposition of Aliment to and Evolution of the Ideas while they are yet insensible and on the other side Nutrition is nothing but a continued Generation For 't is the same Plastick Spirit guided by the same Ideas that Coagulates and Applyes the Aliment to every Part both in and out of the Womb. And the immediate Aliment of all the Parts in both states is the same namely Blood but with this Difference that the Embryo is nourish'd with the Mothers Blood communicated to it by the Vmbilical Vein from the Placenta Vterina whereas after the Child is born it takes in various Aliments by the Mouth and makes Blood of them it self for its own
or extinguish'd by any Cause whatsoever This may be better understood from what was formerly deliver'd of Abortion which is nothing else but the Death of the Foetus But the Ideas do still remain in the Cadaver though they are become Barren for want of the Moving Spirit which shall be restor'd again at the Resurrection and no new Evolution thereby made but the entire Idea as it was already unfolded at the time of Death resuscitated or animated anew And some of the Spectres that are seen in Church-yards may be nothing else but the Ideas remaining in the Human Cadavers elevated by means of a certain Central Heat which would be seen in the day time also if the Light of the Sun did not keep them from appearing Serpents cut to pieces and putrefi'd breed new Serpents by the influence of the Sun which restores to the quiescent Ideas that moving Spirit which they had lost by Death Frogs also bruis'd in the Winter and resolv'd into Mud do upon the same account revive in the Summer Ducks putrefi'd are reported to breed Serpents and it has been confirmâ—d to the Author by a credible eye-witness whence it evidently appears that the seminal Ideas of the Serpents Flesh which they use to feed often upon have not been totally destroy'd even by so many Digestions but have continu'd entire under the dominion of the Ducks seminal Ideas Swallows when the cold Winter comes bury themselves under the Water where they continue without any sign of the least Motion or life 'till the returning Sun inspire them with new vital Spirit and thereby raise them to life again All these Instances do strongly argue the possibility of the Hâ—â—â—â—â—… Resurrection Which as also the Authors conjectures about Spâ—â—â—…es is likewise much confirm'd by the Resuscitation of Vegetables hereafter mention'd Naturalists observe that in some Persons the Passion is so great in time of Coition that for the present it quite bereaveth them of the use of Reason And therefore it is which should have been noted before that the Parents Imagination at that time produces more powerful Effects in the Seed than the same Imagination at any other time could have done For when the Animal Spirits flow in such abundance into the Organs of Generation any Idea that is very strong in the Imagination must of necessity be carry'd down together with them and infect the Seed But I have already insisted too long upon this Subject And therefore I shall add no more but pass on to the Generation of Vegetables Every Species of Vegetables has its own particular Seed The visible Seed is but the Receptable that contains and secures from External Injuries the true Seed or Idea of the Plant which says our Author all sound Philosophers affirm to be but the 2800 parts of its own Body intimating this determinate Proportion that in all Generations the true Seed is very remote from any sensible bulk The Seminal Idea of every Plant as was formerly said of Animals consists of as many particular distinct Ideas as there are different Parts in the Vegetable all together representing an exact Model of the entire Plant. The Evolution of this Idea is perform'd in this manner When the Body of the Seed or external Capsula of the Seminal Ideas begins to be soften'd by the moisture of the Earth so that the Ideas may take up a larger space the heat of the Sun excites the innate fire of the Seed which is Congeneal to it for all fruitful Seeds are endow'd with a Particle of that universal Spirit of Life which is the Principle of all Vital Actions Foecundates all Seeds and is the only Mover in all Generations and which being put in motion begins by the Coagulative vertue 't is endow'd with upon the account of its Acidity to Coagulate the Water that is at hand into a Substance agreeable to the nature of the Ideas and fill up the little spaces of the Ideas with it Which are by this means gradually explicated 'till they have attain'd the utmost Evolution that they are capable of This Evolution of the Ideas of a Vegetable seed may be clearly represented to the Eye by Artificial Vegetation which is perform'd in the following manner according to Tachenius Take the ripe Seed of any Plant gather'd in fair Weather bruise it in a Glass Mortar and keep it in a Glass Hermetically seal'd of a shape and bigness answerable to that of the Plant 'till you observe a convenient Evening when Dew is like to fall then take out your Seed and expose it all night upon a Plate of Glass that it may be wet with Dew but be sure to seal it up again before Sun-rise with a solution of the Salt of Dew in its own distill'd Liquour pour'd upon it to the heighth of three fingers breadth Expose this seal'd Glass to the Rayes of the Sun and Moon in fair Weather and keep it in a warm Fire-room in rainy Weather After some days the Seed will appear like a Mucilage and the supernatant Dâ—w will be of a Green Colour saturate according to the nature of the seed and coverd over with a skin or divers Colours When these signs are compleat if you heat the Glass you shall see a perfect lively Idea of the Plant rise up within it which will disappear again when the Glass is remov'd from the Heat This odd Phaenomenon depends upon a Particle of the Vniversal Spirit contain'd in the Dew which excites the innate Spirit of the Seed to an occult Fermentation whereby the Idea is freed from its external earthy Receptacle so that it may be elevated by the application of external Heat leaving the heavy terrestrial Particles behind But the Author does not give credit to the Experiment that some pretend to of elevating this Idea from the Ashes of a Plant because the Calcination drives away that Spirit which is the immediate Receptacle of the Idea of the Plant. The foremention'd Salt of Dew is made by Filtring and Distilling the Dew 'till it leave no more Faeces then Calcining the Faeces and Extracting the Salt from them which is to be dissolv'd in the Distill'd Dew and so pour'd on upon the Seed as above In the last place Minerals also are endow'd with Seminal Particles For though they be not made up of so many dissimular Parts and of distinct Organs as Vegetables and especially Animals are and consequently though we cannot suppose any Ideas in them consisting of Integral Organical Parts Yet they have a certain Seminal Ferment which in Metals particularly is evident enough for 't is this Ferment that converts Mercury into a Metalline Substance Therefore Iron Mines that have been almost quite exhausted are after some years found as rich in the Oar as they were at first And the same thing is observ'd in Tin and likewise in Nitre And such a Seminal Power there is in common Gold though this Metal be unfit to impregnate other Metals therewith and consequently improper for the Grand
Philosophical work of Transmutation because its Sulphur being once Coagulated loses all Power of Motion for the future and therefore is unfruitful and dead But 't was this same Seminal Sulphur that when the Gold was produc'd did Coagulate it self with Mercury and thereby convert it into Gold And there appears not any solid Reason against the possibility of the Transmutation so much sought after since though Seeds cannot be converted into other Seeds yet those that are endow'd with a weaker Mover may be overcome by and brought under the Dominion of such Seeds as are furnished with a stronger And now having establish'd the Material and Formal Principles of Natural Bodies the Efficient only remains to be consider'd Prop. XVIII The chief Mover under God of all Natural Bodies that actuates and foecundates all Animal Vegetable and Mineral Seeds that Coagulates Elementary Water into all sorts of Bodies according to the various Ideas of those Seeds that applies the same Water to those Ideas and in a word the chief Efficient in all the Phaenomena of Nature is a certain subtil Spirit of an Igneous nature diffus'd through the whole visible World but chiefly treasur'd up at the Center thereof in the Sun N.B. 1. BY Spirit here is not meant an Immaterial Substance but a Body consisting of very Minute and very Active Particles peculiarly fitted for Motion and endow'd with a great measure of it 2. By the visible World I understand here that part of the Corporeal Universe which contains the Earth with the other six Planets and makes up one great Vortex whereof the Sun is the Center As for the rest of the Universe it is altogether unknown to us only as that most ingenious conjecture of the incomparable Des Cartes concerning it is very likely to be true namely that every one of the fixt Stars we see is the Center and Sun as 't were of a distinct Vortex So 't is no less likely that each of them has the same relation to its own Vortex and the same Influence upon the Planets or whatever Bodies they are which it contains that the Sun has to our Vortex and upon the Bodies comprehended there in particularly the Terraqueous Globe And though this Part of our Authors Hypothesis concerning the Anima Mundi or Vniversal Spirit may be applicable in the sense newly explain'd to the whole Universe of Bodies yet his other Principles of Water and Seeds are not so comprehensive and whatever he says of them must be limited to the Bodies contain'd in this little Point of the Universe that the Almighty Creator has given to Mankind for an Habitation And the truth is we have but little certain knowledg of the other Parts of the World and that little we have is very superficial 3. This Vniversal Spirit is actually Igneous in its Fountain the Sun and after it is incorporated in Terrestrial Bodies even the coldest of them it differs but in the slower Motion of its Particles from actual Fire and therefore when-ever they are put into a rapid motion it turns into actual Fire again And those Particles of Combustible Bodies that being in a vehement Agitation do chiefly constitute our Culinary Fire were once Particles of this Vniversal Spirit and came Originally from the Sun 4. This is the Spirit that mov'd upon the Water at the beginning of the Creation For when God created the Matter of which he intended to form this Terraqueous Globe namely a great Mass of simple Elementary Water he endow'd it with all sorts of Seeds and made use of this Spirit to Coagulate a great part of the foresaid Mass according to the Signatures of those Seeds into Mineral Vegetable and Animal Bodies of all kinds And the Word in the Original which our Translators render Mov'd seems to agree very well with this Hypothesis For it properly belongs to Birds sitting upon and fluttering over their Eggs and young ones to excite quicken and foecundate the Seed contain'd in the Eggs and so bring forth the young ones and to cherish them when they are brought forth so that in this place the Word may be very reasonably suppos'd to imply that the Vital Spirit which God had Created did as 't were sit upon and move it self in the Waters to actuate the Seeds they contain'd and by this means Hatch'd as 't were and brought forth the after-mention'd Bodies 5. Tho' this Spirit by Coagulating the Elementary Water into several Bodies was it self Coagulated and Incorporated together with it and tho' it has been propagated to all sorts of Bodies that have been produc'd by Generation ever since the Terraqueous Globe was first Created so that every fruitful Seed has a Particle of this quickning Spirit connate with it Yet this Particle is not sufficient to accomplish the Evolution of the seminal Ideas and actuate the Body in all the Functions that belong to it unless it be maintain'd corroborated and multipli'd by constant fresh supplies from that Inexhaustible Treasure of this Vital Fire which is plac'd in the Sun and thence diffus'd with the Rayes of that glorious Body to all Parts of the visible World and particularly to the Terraqueous Globe where it maintains and actuates the fore-mention'd Native Spirit of all Animals Vegetables and Minerals 6. The Vital Substance that flows continually from the Sun is equally capable of all Forms and unites it self indifferently with all Seeds But when 't is once united it loses its indifferency and is specifi'd according to the determinate nature of every particular Seed that it incorporates with Hence the Sulphurs of Vegetables are quite different from those of Animals and both from the Sulphurs of Minerals nor can they be transmuted into one another by humane Art So streightly does the Vniversal Spirit unite it self with particular Seeds The reason of this so close an union is because the Native pre-existent in every Seed is of the same Spirit Nature and Original with this Vniversal Spirit As for the Proof of the Proposition hitherto explained the Vniversal Spirit asserted in it is manifest 1. From the absolute necessity of constant Respiration to Men and most other Animals for hence it is evident that there is a certain Vital Substance in the Air that they cannot live a Minute without fresh supplies of now that the Air is but the Vehicle of this Vital Substance flowing continually from the Sun and the Medium through which it is convey'd to sublunary Bodies shall be prov'd hereafter So that it must be the Vniversal Spirit cloath'd with Air that is constantly receiv'd into the Lungs by Inspiration and thence transmitted to the Heart which being the chief Fountain of the Animal Life that constantly diffuses a Vital Spirit through the Arteries together with the Blood to all Parts of the Body and thereby maintains and cherishes the Native Heat and Vital Spirit residing in each of them must have constant supplies from the Vniversal Spirit to Corroborate Maintain and Multiply its own Particular Spirit For the
Vniversal Spirit that flows from the Sun to all Parts of the Macrocosm is of the same Nature with this Particular Spirit that flows from the Heart to all Parts of the Microcosm and is therefore very fit to nourish and support it with constant new supplies 2. The same Vniversal Spirit is no less evident from what has been deliver'd under the former Proposition concerning the Generation of Animals To which I shall only add that Nature has solicitously provided to secure the Seed from External Air because if it were expos'd but a moment to the Air the Vniversal Spirit that dwells there would instantly suck up so to speak the Congeneal Spirit that foecundates the Seed as not being yet incorporated Wherefore the Seed of Oviparous Animals is carefully shut up from the Contact of the External Air within the Egg. And in Viviparous Animals presently after the Injection of the Masculine Seed into the Womb and the Union thereof with the Feminine the Orifice of that Part is exactly clos'd and the two united Spirits do presently fall to Work and begin the Evolution of the seminal Ideas and the Apposition of Aliment thereunto But this Work could never be accomplish'd nay nor even begun unless the seminal Spirit were excited cherish'd corroborated and supported by the Heat of the Womb and by constant supplies of the Mothers Vital Spirit convey'd with the Arterial Blood from her Heart to the Placenta Vterina and thence transmitted through the Vmbilical Vein into the Vena Cava and so into the Heart of the Foetus which is the Centre of Evolution and the chief Spring of all the Animal Actions both in and out of the Womb But no sooner is the Foetus separated from the Mother and thereby depriv'd of the supplies that the Vital Spirits residing in the Heart receiv'd from her in the Womb than it begins to draw supplies for maintaining of the same Vital Substance from the Vniversal Spirit lodg'd in the Air as was said before 3. 'T is the Vital Spirit residing in every particular Part of the Human or any other Animals Body maintain'd by the Influence of the Vniversal Spirit convey'd with the Air by Respiration into the Lungs and from thence communicated by means of the Circulation of the Blood first to the Heart and from that to the whole Body 't is this Spirit I say that Coagulates the Fluid Blood into the solid substance of that Part and is the true Efficient of all the Vital Functions belonging to it Those Animals that are destitute of Lungs are nevertheless endow'd with Organs of Resparation of an equivalent use For that excellent Anatomist Malpigius has happily discover'd that those blackish Points which we observe in Insects all along the length of their Body on both sides are really the Orifices of so many Tracheas or Wind-Pipes which convey the Air into the Stomach Spinal Marrow and all the other Bowels as well as the Heart so that the Air has immediate access to seed the Vital Spirit that resides in each of them because there is no Circulation of the Alimentary Juice in these Animals or if there be it is too slow to convey sufficient supplyes of the Vniversal Spirit from any one Part to all the rest as it doth from the Heart and Lungs in perfect Animals And the constant ingress and egress of the Air by these little Holes is so necessary to the life of Insects that if you immerge their whole Body into Oyl or but anoint these little spots with it they presently dye whereas if you anoint only the Intervals with Oyl without touching these little Holes they receive no harm And tho' Fishes have no Lungs nor Air Pipes because they live in the Water yet instead thereof they have Gils which are Dilated and Contracted by a perpetual Reciprocation to give ingress and egress to the Water as the Lungs of other Animals are to Inspire and Exspire the Air. Nor can Fishes live without Water any more than Land-Animals can do without Air. Whence 't is highly probable that the former receive constant supplyes of some vital substance from the Water as well as the later do from the Air especially if we farther consider that the Vital Liquor Circulates through the Gils of the one by the Ramifications of their Arteria Bronchialis as well as it do's through the Lungs of the other by those of the Arteria Pulmonaris Wherefore if in Land-Animals the said Vital Liquor divide it self into little Rivulets in its passage through the Lungs that every part thereof may at each Circulation receive fresh supples of Vital Spirit from the Air that is diffus'd through the whole substance of those Respiratory Organs by the numerous Ramifications of the Wind-pipe if this be so I say as we formerly prov'd it to be we may very reasonably suppose that in Fishes the same Vital Liquor Circulates in like manner through the Gils that it may receive constant fresh supplies of a vital substance from the Water that washes the Gils perpetually N. B. The Gils of Crusted Fish as Lobsters c. and of Shell-fish as Oysters c. are spongious and not only receive the Water into all their innermost parts where it communicates with the numerous Vessels that diffuse the Vital Liquor through the whole substance of the Gils but give it a Passage also into all the Internal Cavities of the Body where it is laid up as in Bottles to supply the foresaid Fishes with Vital Spirit when the Ebbing of the Sea leaves them in sicco whereas the Gils of sanguineous Fishes that live constantly in the Water are not spongious and the Water washes only their outward surfaces without penetrating any farther But instead of enlarging any more upon this point I shall refer the curious Reader to Dr. Willis's Book of the soul of Brutes Chap. 3. where he will find it very fully and accurately handled 4. The Existence of an Vniversal Spirit is evident from what has been said concerning the Growth of Vegetables For 't is a Particle of this Spirit in the seed excited strengthn'd and maintain'd by the Suns Vital Influence that Explicates the Seminal Idea and Coagulates the Water into solid substances as Wood Bark c. which could never be produc'd out of simple Water without this Coagulating Spirit 5. The same Argument may with equal if not greater force be applied to Minerals and especially to Metals which tho' they be the solidest substances yet known are nevertheless made of Mercury which of all Liquors is the most fluid In the next place To evince that the Sun is the chief Fountain of this Vniversal Spirit I need only put the Reader in mind of what was formerly observ'd concerning vegetable seeds namely that they would be perpetually barren if their Native Spirit were not actuated by that vital substance which is every where diffus'd with the Rayes of the Sun But to confirm this a little farther 't is evident beyond contradiction
that the Growth of Vegetables depends upon the Influences of the Sun since the different Seasons of the Solar Year have so constant and so powerful Effects upon them For in Winter the Influence of the Sun is very weak because of the Obliquity of his Rayes and the shortness of the dayes and therefore Seeds lye dormant in the Earth without any motion Herbs fade and wither or dye totally Trees are depriv'd of their Leaves and lively Verdure shoot forth no Twigs produce no Blossoms bear no Fruit and in a word cease from all Vital Actions Yea many Animals themselves loose much of their Vigour and some of them such as Flyes Frogs Swallows c. lye dead as it were all the Winter long in Chinks of Walls or in Cavities of the Earth or under Water without any motion Sense or the least appearance of Life But when the Sun comes to be more vertical and the Dayes grow longer every thing capable of Life is quickn'd or reviv'd and the whole Face of the Earth that look'd dead and lifeless before appears fresh verdant lively and quite new insomuch that 't is astonishing to behold so vast an alteration the Vital Spirit remaining in the Roots of such Herbs as did not quite dye in the preceeding Winter being Reviv'd Excited to Motion and Corroborated falls to work afresh and produces new Stalks Leaves Flowers Seed Fruit c. the Vital Spirit that had in a great measure retir'd from the Branches of Trees into their Roots and Body explicates it self anew restores their fresh and lively Verdure and adorns them with new Leaves Twigs Buds Blossoms Fruit c. Finally the Vital Spirit of the forementioned Animals that had Concentred it self in the middle of their Body actuates the Members anew which it had before deserted and restores to them Sense Motion and the Exercise of all their Vital Functions Lastly The Vniversal Spirit appears to be of an Igneous Nature 1. Because it flows from the Sun which is an actual Fire Yea the Solar Rayes themselves which diffuse this Vital Substance through the Visible World being Collected by a Burning Glass into a Center produce all the Effects of our Actual Culinary Fire 2. The Vital Spirit of Animals is fed by the Universal Spirit as has been evidently prov'd and by consequence is of the same Nature with it Now this Vital Spirit in Hot Sanguineous Animals has all the Essential Properties of an Actual Flame For it constantly diffuses a sensible Heat through all the Members of the Body it is maintain'd by constant fresh supplies of sulphureous Fuel from the Aliments that are taken into the Stomach and thence conveyed to the Blood where this subtil Flame invisibly burns and of an Aerial Pabulum from the Air that is taken into the Lungs by Inspiration and there communicated to the same Liquor it constantly emits Fuliginous Effluvia both through the Wind-Pipe also through all the Pores of the Skin which are like so many Chimneys appointed to ventilate this vital Fire It is kindled first in the Seminal Liquor either by another vital Fire as in viviparous Animals or by the Intestine Motion of the Sulphureous Parts excited and cherished by a continu'd External Warmth as in Oviparous Animals but so long as the Foetus is included in the Womb or Egg it burns very faintly and never breaks out into an actual Flame till the Air have free nccess to it by Respiration finally it dyes as soon as it is depriv'd of Sulphureous Fuel of Aerial Pabulum or of Ventilation Now these Properties seem to be peculiar to Flame and particularly there is nothing we know of in the World besides Life and Fire whose Motion is instantly suppressed by withdrawing the Air. See Willis de Accentione Sanguinis Prop. 19. The Vniversal Spirit that Coagulates Elementary Water into Solid Substances of the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms consists of Acid Particles For 1. IT is of an Igneous nature and Fire has been prov'd to consist of Acid Particles put into a rapid Motion 2. All Chimists agree that the Concretion of Bodies depends upon the Saline Principle Now Acaline Salts are apt rather to Dissolve Bodies than either to Coagulate or be Coagulated Whereas we have a multitude of Instances of Coagulation and Fixation perform'd by Acid Salts which tho' they Corrode and so Dissolve many Bodies yet their Property is to Concoagulate with the Bodies they have Corroded Thus Quicksylver is Fixed and Coagulated by the Acid Particles of common or Antimonial Sulphur into Cinnabar by those of Salt and Vitriol into Sublimate Corrosive by Spirit of Nitre into Red Precipitate as the Chymists abusively call it by Oyl of Vitriol Oyl of Sulphur or Oyl of Alum into Turbith Mineral finally by the Acid Particles of Fire into Precipitate per se These Instances are the more pertinent to our purpose because Mercury is a more Fluid Body than Simple Water it self And the last of them tho' at first it appear somewhat Paradoxical yet upon better examination it seems to be very reasonable since Precipitate per se as well as the rest of the newly mentioned Preparations of Quicksilver may be reviv'd into running Mercury by being distill'd from Salt of Tartar Quick-lime or such other Alcalisate Bodies as are very apt to be wrought upon by Acid Salts and thereby to disengage the Quicksilver that was Coagulated with them and since the Particles of Fire which have been prov'd to be Acid may penetrate Glass and many times increase the weight of the inclosed Bodies as Mr. Boyle has undeniably evinced by a great many Experiments and finally since Fire is the only Agent in this Preparation The Sulphur of Lead deprives Quicksilver of its Fluidity Volatil urinous Salts are so powerfully fix'd by Acid Spirits as to endure an open Fire for some time but they recover their former volatility as soon as they are disengaged from the Acid Salts that fixed them by the addition of any Alcalisate Body All sorts of Acid Salts do coagulate Milk and the Coagulation of the Creamy parts of Milk into Butter depends upon the internal Acid of the Milk for if you throw any Alcalisate Salt into it there can be no Butter obtain'd from it The Acid Salts of Nitre do so powerfully fix the vomitive Sulphur of Antimony as to render it a good Diaphoretic The Acid of Spirit of Wine instantly Coagulates Spirit of Vrine for if both these Liquors be highly rectified as soon as ever you have mingled them the whole mixture loses its Fluidity insomuch that tho' the Glass be inverted not one drop will fall out yea our Author affirms that if Spirit of Wine highly rectified be kept for some months upon Salt of Urine in a gently digestive heat they will unite together into a Calculus of a reddish Colour and which is yet more strange four parts of this Stone will convert one part of new Spirit of Urine into its own Substance and four parts of this one more and so on without any end and that the Stone in the may be Generated after the same manner by the Plaistick Vertue of an Internal Acidum joyned with the Salt of Urine and being mixt with Gravel by Fermentation concentrates into a Concreate Substance We found by a Stone being taken out of a Humane Bladder and Anatomized by Distillation to consist of Oyl Spirit and Volatile Salt with a very large Caput Mortuum but of this we shall say no more at present but leave the Reader to judge what may be gathered by the foregoing Experiment so that it 's believed the Universal Spirit that Coagulates Elementary Water as well as other Bodies into solid Substances consists of Acid Particles FINIS Some Books Printed for and sold by Stafford Anson at the three Pidgeons in St. Paul's Church-yard 1691. 1. DIctionarium Historicum Geographicum Poeticum Opus admodum utile apprime necessarium A Carolo Stephano Inchoatum Ad incudem vero revocatum innumerisque pene locis auctum emaculatum per Nicolaum Lloydium Collegii Wadhami in Celeberrima Academia Oxoniensi socium Editio novissima In qua Historico Poetica Geographica seorsim sunt Alphabetice digesta Liber totus tum emendationibus tum additamentis recentioribus tredicem Annorum Lloydii Elucubrationibus manuque ultima ita adornatur ut novus ac plane alius videripossit Cui accessit Index Geographicus ubi hodierna vernacula Locorum nomina Antiquis Latinis proponuntur 2. The History of the Council of Trent containing eight Books In which besides the ordinary Acts of the Council are declared many notable Occurrences which happened in Christendom during the space of forty years and more and particularly the Practices of the Court of Rome to hinder the Reformation of their Errors and to maintain their Greatness Written in Italian by Pietro Soave Polano and faithfully translated into English by Sir Nathaniel Brent Knight Whereunto is added the Life of the Learned Author and the History of the Inquisition in Folio 3. Dionysii orbis Descriptio Annotationibus Eustathii Hen. Stephani nec non Guil. Hill commentario Critico Geographico ac Tabulis illustrata 8vo 4. P. Virgilii Maronis opera Interpretatione notis Illustravit Car. Ruaeus ad usum Delphini Juxta Editionem novissimam Parisiensem 8vo 5. Horatii opera ad Vsum Delphini 8vo 6. Phaedri Fabulae ad Vsum Delphini 8vo 7. Virgilii operacum Annotationibus Johannis Minellii 8. Id. cum Notis T. Farnabii 12ves 9. P. Terentii Comoediae cum notis T. Farnabii 12ves 10. Isocratis Orationes duae 1. Ad Demonicum 2. Ad Nicoclem Nova methodo apprime utili quoad verbum sensum Latine redditae Graecismis Phrasibus sententiis in quibus maxima vis Rei consistit