Salts namely an Acid Salt and an Alkali That there are Three sorts of Spirits or Mercuries an Acid spirit a sharp biting spirit and a burning spirit that the Acid spirit was an Acid Salt dissolv'd in a little flegm the sharp spirit a volatile Alkali dissolved also in a little flegm and the burning spirit a Sulphur and Sulphur an inveloped Acid I have now no more to do but to bring you some Experiments to convince you of this Truth I. EXPERIMENT Which proves that Acià Spirits are no other than Acid Salis dissolved in some flegm An Acid Spirit ferments it self with all Alkali's and makes thereof Salts of the same nature with those from which it was drawn as the Spirit of Niter c. II. EXPERIMENT A sharp Spirit is a Volatile Alkali dissolved in some Flegm All sharp spirits ferment themselves with Acids and precipitates Vitriol of Mars dissolved in water as the volatile spirit of sal-Armoniack c. III. EXPERIMENT Which proves that burning spirits are Sulphurs Plants give a great deal of Oil and a little spirit before they are fermented and they give on the contrary a great deal of spirit and a very little Oil after they are fermented because the parts thereof unloose themselves and dis-intangle themselves one from the other in the time of Fermentation and remain bound and intangled one in the other before the Fermentation was made which clearly shews that a burning spirit is a vegetable sulphur but much less intangled than the other sulphurs of Vegetables IV. EXPERIMENT Which proves the same Experience shews us That burning spirits exposed to the air for some time are changed into Oils of the same nature as those of the Plants from which they were drawn V. EXPERIMENT Which demonstrates that burning Spirits are envelloped Acids There is drawn from salt of Saturn a burning spirit of the same nature as spirit of Wine this spirit cannot come but from the Acid of the distilled Vinegar which entred into the Composition of the salt of Saturn whose parts are bound and intangled one in the other VI. EXPERIMENT Which proves that Oyles of Vegetables are envelloped Acids Oyl corrodes Copper and turns it into Verdigrise there are none but Acids which can produce this Effect and therefore consequently Oil ought to be Acid. VII EXPERIMENT Which proves the same Fire is an Oyl whose parts are unwrapped and in a most Violent Agitation and Motion fire is Acid since it renders Corals Salt Oyl which is the matter thereof ought then to be Acid. VIII EXPERIMENT Which proves the same Soap does furnish us still with a most convincing Proof That Oils of Vegetables are enveloped Acids Soap is made with three parts of Alkali and two of Oil which two matters are mingled together and then boiled and there comes therefrom a salt body which is Soap you know that saltness comes from the mixture of Acid with Alkali and that consequently seing soap is salt the Soap ought not only to have Alkali in it but also Acid the Acid cannot be communicated to it but by the Oil which was put thereto which Acid unwraps it self in the Alkali which was joined thereto it must be therefore that Oil is an envelloped Acid. PYR. It may be also Tha◠the Fire communicated this saltness to the soap as it did to the Corals for you have already told me That when one reverberates them in a violent fire for some daies and nights they become intirely Salt and ferment no more with Acids EUB. The same thing cannot be said of soap as of Corals because one must reverberate the Coral six daies and nights to render them salt and the saltness of Soap is communicated to it in a short time even as soon as the Acid of the Oil is dis-enveloped and absrobed by the Alkali which was put thereto likewise the soap augments not in weight on the fire as the Corals do they augmenting a fifth part IX EXPERIMENT Which proves that the Fat 's and Suets of Animals are envelloped Acids Soap is made with the suet of Animals after the same manner as it is with the Oils of Vegetables It must be therefore that the Fat 's and Suets of Animals may be envelloped Acids as the Oils of Vegetables are X. EXPERIMENT Which proves the same The flame of Fat 's and Suets is Acid it destroies Iron and reduces it into Scoria's c. Grease's and Suets ought then to be Acids XI EXPERIMENT Which proves that the Sulphurs of Minerals and Metals are envelloped Acids Sulphur of Antimony elevates Mercury into Cinnabar as we observed in the Composition of its Butter How should the Sulphur of Antimony elevate Mercury which is an Alkali into Cinnabar if it were not Acid It follows therefore that the Sulphur of Antimony is acid Common Sulphur elevates Mercury into Cinnaber and it may be made use of for the position of Soap as well as the Oils of Vegetables and Fat 's of Animals In a word the Sulphur of Gold is acid since it produceth the same Effects as Acids do for it calcines Iron which cannot be calcin'd but by Acids c. The Sulphurs of Minerals and Metals are then envelloped Acids PYR. In Truth These Principles are most sensible and palpable EUB. This is not yet enough to have discovered thus much to you concerning Acid Salt Alkali Salt in particular but 't is needful that I press the thing more home and that I make you know what these II Salts are capable to do when they are once united These two Salts are in regard one of the other as the Soul is in regard of the Body and the Body in respect of the Soul The the Acid Salt is the Soul which animates and vivifies the Body and the Alkali Salt is the Body which receiveth the Soul and unites it self so intimately therewith that this Soul can be nothing without this Body nor this Body without this Soul. When they are once intimately united as we observe in common Salt it is impossible to separate them one from the other and though these two Salts seem at first sight to have an Antipathy one against the other by the Fermentation which they make when they meet Nevertheless they embrace and unite in such wise together that very far from destroying themselves they are coagulated and make no more but one and the same Body And it may be said thereof as the Incomparable Hypocrates hath said in his Book of DIET speaking of Fire and Water that though these two Elements differ in Quality nevertheless they agree in use That they are sufficient for all Bodies and for themselves but neither the one nor the other separated can be sufficient neither for any other body nor for it self Constituuntur saith he tum Animantia tum alia omnia tum homo ipse ex duobus differentibus quidem facultate Concordibus vero commodis usu haec ambo simul sufficientia sunt tum aliis omnibus tum mutuo
the Composition of Lac Virginis The Smell is an affection of the olfactory Nerves and the Tast is also one of the papillous Nerves of the Tongue as colours are of the Retain There is so great a Relation between the Taste and Smell that those things which are agreeable to the Smell are also almost alwayes to the Taste Whence it comes That the most part of Animals smell their Aliments before they tast them and they do not eat them except they find them agreeable to their Smell as we may take notice of it in Apes All the Difference between these two Senses is That the Particles which cause us to Smell are a great deal more subtile and thin than those which cause us to Taste As there are no Colors which we do not behold but by the different mixtures of Acids with Alkali's so there is also no Savour nor Odors which we do not perceive according to the divers Mixture of these two Salts 1. EXPERIMENT Which proves that Odours come from Acid and Alkali OIl of Roses drawn by Distillation which is an envelloped Acid mixt with a sufficient great quantity of water hath almost no odour but mingled with Salt of Tartar which is a powerful Alkali it makes a fluid Composition some drops of which being mingled with a quantity of water makes the water one of the most delectable odours in the World. 2. EXPERIMENT Which proves the same SUlphurs of Minerals which are envellopod Acids being to be dissolved by Fire or some other Dissolvant cast forth an odour as stinking as that of the Oil of Roses drawn by Distillation but mixt with some Alkali it 's pleasant 3. EXPERIMENT Which proves that the Difference of Tasts comes from the Diversity of Acids and Alkali's EXperience shews us That Saltness comes from the Mixture of Acids with Alkali's Soap which is salt gives us a familiar example thereof It is made with pure Alkali's and Oil which is an enveloped Acid. 4. EXPERIMENT Which proves that the Diversity of Savours depends upon the different Mixture and particular nature of Acids 〈◊〉 Alkali's SIlver reduced into Cristals by spirit of Niter which is a powerful Acid become of an extream bitter Tast Lead on the contrary dissolved in distilled Vinegar and reduced into salt acquires the sweetness of sugar c. I could bring several other Experiments to prove that the diversity of Odors and Savours depends upon the different Mixture of Acid and Alkali But tho' I have discoursed you thereof elsewhere I shall yet bring you one more sufficiently familiar which is that of Wine Wine having another Tast and another Smell before it is fermented than it has when it is fermenting or after it is Fermented for it changes by little and little its green Taste into a plesanter and becomes at last sour and loseth its temperament of Wine and all these changes happens to it according 〈◊〉 the Acids and Alkalies which are found therein are more or less intangled and 〈◊〉 as one of them is more or less exalted and there is almost no odor or savor through which it doth not pass before it grows four There remains no more but that I speak two words of the passive Principles The Water is the first of these Principles it serves as I have already told you as a Vehicle to the Acid and Alkali salts it serves also to dissolve them and put them in Motion because Salts act not except they are dissolved Salia non agunt nisi dissoluta Water causes the Destruction of Mixts when it is found therein in too great a quantity as it compacts them and strictly unites their parts when it is found therein in a lesser quantity and it fills up the empty spaces which it meets with therein The Earth or Caput Mort. on the contrary being extreamly porous and light makes a great many vacancies in Bodies wherein it is found but on the other hand it hinders that those bodies be not destroy'd by the abundance of flegm It is unnecessary to bring you a great many Experiments to prove that Water and Earth are found in all Bodies and That they are Principles thereto but without any action I believe you are sufficiently convinced thereof and have several times observ'd That there is no Body from which we cannot draw some Flegm by Distillation and which leave not some Earth after Calcination and though we work never so much on Water and Earth it is Impossi to draw any other thing therefrom but water and Earth You are not ignorant also That rotten wood which hath no Acid and Alkali Salts and which hath nothing but some Flegm and Earth hath no more any action PYR. I could wish you would a little longer explain what you mean by the words Fermentation and Precipitation whereof you make use so often EUBUL By the Word Fermentation I mean an Internal Motion of all the parts of Bodies which are fermented in such Manner that they take no more the same place nor scituation as they had before and that they change consequently or at least alter very much the nature of the bodies which are fermented as for the difference of Effervescence in which there is made only a simple Motion of the integral parts of Mixts by the force of some exteriour Agent as Fire the which parts re-take afterwards the same scituation which thy occupied before unless their natures and qualities be in any wise changed There are several sorts of fermentations in Nature some are made with Effervescence as that which happens upon the mixture of Oil of Vitriol with Oil of Tartar and others are made without Effervescence as it happens in an Eg which a Hen hatcheth and in common Water when one casts thereinto some Drops of well-deflegm'd Spirit of Vitriol and this Fermentation is known only by the Heat which we feel at that instant There are some which are made without Heat as that which is made of Vitriol dissolved in water with Oil of Tartar There are some which are made with Fires and Flames as the Fermentation which is made of Calx Vive in the time it is sprinkled with a little Vinegar and others which are without Fire or flame as are the ordinary Fermentations There are still some sensible and insensible sensible as the Fermentation of Spirit of Niter with Oil of Tartar and insensible as that of Wine which sours PYR. Whence comes it that there are so many sorts of Fermentations EUB. Either Bodies are fermented of themselves as Wine or they are fermented by means of a Ferment as Dough with Leven either the Acid Salts and Alkali Salts are Exalted or else they are Intangled one in the other and in the Passive principles one of them is exalted and the other Intangled or one of them is in a great quantity and the other in a small quantity If the Acid Salts and Alkali Salts are each as powerful as the other the Fermentation cannot be made without Heat and
to please the Learned I intend to shew a greater Use thereof in Medicine by the Explication of Diseases and their Symptoms and the Remidies we may obtain therefrom with the manner how they act Errata Pag. 7. l. 4. read but they p. 9. l. 10. r. Harts-horn p. 13. l. 8. different ib. l. 9 -gulations p. 14. l. 3. a salt ib. l. 5. disssolve it p. 50. l. 13. absorbed p. 56. l. 17. it self p. 59. l. 9. leaves p. 63. l. 20. Retine p. 64. l. 22. Retine p. 65. l. 16. dele of p. 68. l. 11 Retine p. 72. l. 2. and. ib. l. 20. hath p. 79 l. 14. or one p. 99. l. 19. with p. 101. l. 21. dele the. p. 105 l. 21. dele the. p. 106 l. 10. it p. 115. l. 1. become p. 127. l. 15. you have p. 139. l. 16. add one p. 165. l. 3. be as CHYMICAL DISCEPTATIONS Or SOME DISCOURSES UPON Acid and Alkali EUBULUS DEar Pyrophilus We shall at last arrive at the End of our Errors and Draw from the Fountain of Nature it self Those Necessary Lights which can make us Philosophers PYROPH What say you Eubulus EUB. I say nothing but what I can convince you of by evident Reason and certain Experiments PYR. How have you discovered the Truth EUB. The Reading good Authors and the Converse which I for some time have had with learned Men have quite demolished all my Prejudices and made me Examine things with as much Freedom and Impartiality as I had before of Antipathy I have constantly observed That Authority eveâ— to this present time hath been an Invincible Enemy both to Physick and Medicine and the very Rock upon which all the Famous Men of the past Ages have rely'd and is indeed at this day the Cause of so many Sects and different Opinions which we see in the Schools Whereas Reason and Experience are the only True KEYS which can give Admittance inâ—o either of these Sciences for â—o be a Philosopher it is absoâ—utely necessary to banish Auâ—hority and to follow Reason â—nd Experience I am not â—ble sufficiently to admire the â—rosperous Success and Exactâ—ess of the Anatomists and Chyâ—ists of our Age The first â—aving discovered to us in the Body Parts Humours and Uses â—nknown to the Antients and â—he Last have withdrawn us â—rom that erroneous Darkness wherein the Four Elements and â—heir First and Occult Qualities had plunged us giving us Principles as clear as those were obscure PYR. I have alwaies told you That Anatomy and Chymistry were great Assistants to Physick and Medicine and that they enlighten us much where we attain it only by their Experiments EBU. I do not design to Entertain you here with the New Discoveries of Anatomists upon Humane Bodies I shall only speak of those which Chymists have made us take Notice of in the Dissolution of Mixts Know that for this Effect They acknowledg two sorts of Principles of which some they call Active Principles and others they stile Passive Principles The Active Prinâ—iples are the Causes of all the Actions and all the different Motions which are done in Nature The Passive Princiâ—les on the contrary are not â—apable of any Action but serve only as Matrixes to the active Principles for them therein to make their Productions PYR. VVe cannot desire an exacter Distinction of Principles but how many have you of either EUB. There is some Controversy amongst Chymists about the Number of Active Principles Some will have Three which they call Salt Sulphur and Mercury pretending that these are the last Bodies they find in the Resolution of Mixts By Mercury they understand the most subtile most penetrating and most aetherial Substance in the Mixt. By Sulphur all that which is therein oleagenous and inflamable and By Salt and that is dissolved in Water and coagulated by Fire they say The Mercury or Spirit is the Soul of Bodies That it gives Motion and Life to Animals That it makes Plants grow brings forth blowers and ripens Fruits also that it renders Stones and Mettals perfect That the Sulphur or Oil Causes the Diversity of Colours and Odors the Beauty and Deformity of Bodies and That the Salt is the cause of the Tastes Weight Solidity and hardness of Mixts Others acknowledg that there are Salt Sulphur and Mercury in all Bodies they demonstrate also by several Experiments That these Three Substances are composed of Two others a great deal more simple viz. of Acid and Alkali Salts and that Salt Sulphur and Mercury are no other but these Two Salts at liberty or intangl'd In effect you shall observe That there are Two sorts of Salts there are some Simples which are not compounded of any other Substance and some Compounds as are all the compound Mineral Salts and essential Salts of Plants which are composed of simple Salts and passive Principles notwithstanding in such sort as the Acid which is the first of these simple Salts predominates therein And these Salts are called Salts because they are dissolved by Moisture and coagulated by Driness The simple Salts are either Alkali or Acid the Alkali Salts are either Fixed or Volatile the Acid Salts are alwaies in a Liquor therefore called Acid Spirits nevertheless these Acid Spirits are no other but Acid Salts dissolved in a little water The Alkali Salt on the contrary is almost alwaies in a Body it is as I said but even now either fixed or volatile the fixed Alkali Salt is never elevated by the action of Fire as Salt of Tartar and all those Salts which are drawn from Plants by Incineration which we call Lixiviate Salts as those of Scordium Tamarisk c. The Volatile Alkali Salt on the contrary is elevated with the least heat of fire and is drawn chiefly from Animals as the Volatile Salt of Vipers Harts c. There are Three Sorts of Mercury or Spirit an Acid Spirit as that of Niter Allum Vitriol c. A sharp or biting Spirit as that of Harts-horn Urine Vipers c. and a burning Spirit as that of Wine Beer Cyder c. The Acid Spirit is an Acid Salt dissolved in a little Flegm The sharp biting Spirit is an Alkali volatile likewise dissolved in a little Flegm and the burning Spirit is a Sulphur and a Sulphur is an enveloped Acid. All Chymists in effect agree That there are two passive Principles viz. Water and Earth or Flegm and Caput Mort. The Water serves as a Menstruum and Dissolvant to the Acid and Alkali Salts and it is extracted by Distillation from those Bodies which contain it The Earth serves as a Bond to these Two Salts it is extracted commonly after the Extraction of the Lixivious Salt. It is to be noted That according to the different Mixture of these Four sorts of Substances and the different Rangings of their Parts there are made different Productions in Nature sometimes of Animals sometimes of Vegetables and sometimes of Minerals PYR What do you mean by Acid Salt and Alkali Salt EUB.
held the Mercury and Iron in dissotion if this Precipitation of Vitriol or Mars and Mercury dissolved by Acid Spirits and precipitated afterwards with Alkali's was made after any other manner than that which I have already told you it should be all one whether one put an Acid thereto after there was an Alcali cast into it or that one put none the which notwithstanding happens not for the Acid which was put thereto joining it self to the Alkali which was put thereto before hinders by that means that the Alkali could not absorb the Acid spirits which held the Mercury and Iron in disiolution PYR. All your Experiments convince me strongly of that which you have told me concerning Acid and Alkali Salts but as it is not sufficient to Establish Principles only to tell what they are and what they do It is therefore very needful it be proov'd that they Exist that they are found in all Bodies and that they are Principles therto that 's to say That all Bodies are resolv'd into them and that they are not resolv'd into any other substance and 'T is this that I could wish you would plainly shew me concerning these two Salts if it be possible EUB. You have none but Animals Vegetables and Minerals to examine and you shall not find one of them in which these two Salts are not to be met withal and in which they are not Principles The Volatile Alkali's which are drawn in abundance from the Blood Flesh Horns and Bones of Animals which ferments with all Acids and precipitates Vitriol of Mars dissolved in water do they not prove There is excess of Alkali therein and the different Acid Juices which are separated from their Bodies as Spittle which mortifies Mercury it being a powerful Alkali which cannot be so mortified but by an Acid and as the Acid of the Stomach curdles Milk when one drinks it fasting the which is plainly perceived by Vomiting it up again almost as soon as it was taken and Milk cannot be coagulated but by an Acid. Flesh also Blood and Milk which grow sower when they begin to corrupt prove sufficiently That there is some Acid Salt in Animals Is there a Vegetable in which these two Salts are not found the simple Fermentation which Vegetable Juices make should be sufficient to convince you of it for Fermentation as I shall tell you hereafter cannot be made but by the meeting of these two Salts Also there is not a Vegetable from which we do not draw a great quantity of Alkali and which does not give when it begins to corrupt sufficiently sensible signs of its Acidity How also should we be able to draw an Essential salt from Plants if they had not Acid and Alkali seeing Essential salts are no other as I gave you to observe when I spake of the Regeneration of Salts than these two Salts joined together Do they not draw also an Acid and Alkali from Minerals compound Mineral Salts as Vitriol Alum Niter c. give us an Acid in dissolution and leave us an Alkali in the Caput Mort. Calcined stones as Calx vive are not fermented when they are dissolved in water but because they contain each of these two Salts Hath not common Sulphur its Acid which they draw per Campanum in burning it and which elevates Mercury into Cinaber hath it not also its Alkali which remains in the Caput Mort Is there not Acid and Alkali in Antimony as we observe in the Composition of its Butter Equal parts of Antimony and Mercury sublimate they mingle together which they put in a Retort and commit to the fire Then the Acid spirits which had sublimed the Mercury quits it to join it self to the mercurial Part or Alkali of the Antimony and the Sulphur or Acid of the Antimony elevates the Mercury into Cinnabat Have not the Metals also their Acid and Alkali Gold abounds in Sulphur which is Acid and it hath a Mercury which retains this Sulphur and unites it self intimately to it Silver and the other Metals have a Mercury which ferments with spirit of Niter which is Acid and a Sulphur which hinders the volatility and fluidity of this Mercury PYR. May not the fire produce these Salts also from the most part of those Bodies from which they are drawn EUB. No for when one has once drawn the Salt from Ashes calcine them never so wel they will never give others no more than floted wood that is I suppose Wood that has lain in water till it is rotten rotten wood and Plants exposed some daies and nights to the Aier because their salts have been dissolv'd in the air and water and are consequently drawn out from their Bodies It should not happen so if the fire had produced those two Salts for then at all times whether after Putrifaction or Calcination the fire should always produce some new salt and one body would give no more than another the which is contrary to Experienâ—e as you see The Acidity of Blood Milk and Flesh is natural to them and those different Acid Juices which we find in the Bodies of Animals are separated therefrom without Artifice and without the help of fire The Fermentation which Vegetable Juices make is done of it self In a word The Acids and Alkali's of compound Mineral salts separated one from the other by the means of fire would never recompose the same salts when one reunites them together if the Fire had produced them for what proportion what relation should these new Productions of the fire have with the Principles which compose these salts to cause that these Productions should regenerate salts as natural as Niter Alum Sal-gem c. You see plainly by all these Experiments That the Fire does not produce in Bodies the Salts which we draw therefrom but that these Salts are actually found therein There remains no more but that I shew you they are Principles thereto There are commonly drawn from all Bodies three different Substances to which are given as I have already said the names of Salt Sulphur and Mercury which are pretended to be the last Bodies which are found in the Resolution of Mixts but Experience hath at length discovered That these Three Substances were composed of Acid Salt and Alkali Salt and that these two Salts are not composed of any other substance and by consequence they ought to be Principles For though the Artist work as much as he will he may easily find the means to reduce the Salt Sulphur and Mercury into our Two Salts but he will never find the Knack to reduce these two Salts into any other Substances and though he make use of the same two Infirnments which he used for the reducing the other Three substances into these Two Salts to wit Fire and Water notwithstanding standing he shall never be able to make that the Acid Salt be no more Acid Salt nor the Alkali Salt Sal Alkali I have occasioned you to take Notice that there are two sorts of
produce this Effect Acids assisting to make this Coagulation as Country-women observe Therefore consequently there may be Alkali in Iron We see likewise by another familiar Experiment That there is Acid in Iron for if one puts a bit of iron into Sauce wherein there is some Gall as in that of a Carp the Gall of which one has broke all the Volatile Alkali which causes the bitterness of the Gall joins it self to the Iron and the Sauce remains sweet How should this be that this Volatile Alkali doth join it self to the Iron if there was not Acid in the Iron seeing Alkali cannot produce such an Effect it follows therefore That there is Acid in Iron PYR. He afterwards demands the Reason Why Mercury which dissolves Gold so readily it being a hard and solid Body and reduces it into an Amalgama acts not at all upon filings of Iron though this is a Metal so open that Liquors weak enough work upon it EUB. Two things contribute to this Effect The first is That there is a great deal more Sulphur in Gold than in Iron and consequently Mercury which abounds in Alkali can rather work on Gold than on Iron The second is That the Sulphur of Iron is intangled in a great quantity of Earth which hinders the Action of the Mercury which has not parts sufficiently subtile nor sufficiently penetrating to dis-intantangle it as the Spirits of Niter and sal Armoniack do whose parts are so thin and so agitated that they dis-intangle the parts of the Iron one from the other and makes a Dis-union of its Sulphur and Alkali it is not so of Gold whose Sulphur is only intangled in its Mercury and which hath only a very little Earth which is not strong enough to intangle the parts of the Sulphur and Mercury of Gold. PYR. The same thing happens which he pursues to the same End In the Precipitation which is made of Corals and Peals dissolved in distilled Vinegar with Oil of Tartar made per deliquium Chymists attribute this Precipitation to the Alkali of Tartar which absorbs the Acid spirits of the Dissolvant and nevertheless we see That Acids precipitate them as well as Alkali's EUB. I do not wonder That Acids precipitate equally with Alkali's Corals and Pearls dissolved in distilled Vinegar Yet that does not at all destroy the Reason That they are wont to render when it is made with Alkali's for there are as you know Two sorts of Dissolutions in Nature either an Acid dissolves an Alkali or else an Alkali dissolves an Acid if it is an Alkali which holds an Acid in Dissolution the Precipitation cannot be made but by an Acid for then the Alkali which held it in Dissolution quits it to join it self to the new Acid that is cast thereto If on the contrary 't is an Acid which holds an Alkali in Dissolution either the Alkali dissolved by this Acid is mixed intimately with its dissolvant in such manner that the dissolvant fills exactly all the pores of the dissolved body as it happens in Vitriol of Mars or the dissolvant do's not penetrate the Body but superficially and do's not throughly fill the pores thereof as we observe in Mercury dissolv'd in Aqua fort and in Coral and Pearls dissolved in distilled Vinegar If it happens that the Acid spirit penetrates intimately the Boto which it is joined and that those points be of the same figure and grossness as the Pores of that Body the Precipitation cannot be made but by an Alkali which charges it self with the Acid which held that Body in dissolution and makes it at that instant to quit its hold The which Acids cannot do because that not finding therein any Vacuity they cannot work upon it If the Dissolvant is not mingled per minima with the dissolved Bodys an their points are not of a figure proportionated to those of the pores of the Body the Precipitation thereof may be made by Acids and Alkali's by Alkali's after the same manner as I told you but now and by Acids because the points of these Acids work upon those of the Dissolvant causing them to quit their hold for the Body being no longer agitated nor detained by those points it falls by its own weight to the bottom of the Vessel which contains it Thus when Oil of Tartar precipitates Corals and Pearls dissolved in distilled Vinegar they have Reason to say that this Precipitation is done Because the Alkali of Tartar has blunted and charged it self with the points of the distilled Vinegar which held the Coral and Pearls in Dissolution altho Acids precipitate also this Dissolution PYR. Our Author saith Chapter the Third That the Admirers of Acid and Alkali seem to have assign'd arbitrarily certain Extents and Employments to each of these Principles as for Example That an Acid doth in quality of an Acid such and such Operations and the Alkali's in their quality the like also and That from thence depends all the Phaenomena's of Nature and That they ought not to promote in publishing Propositions of this Importance without good and sufficient Proofs thereof EUB. Does not Experience teach us That Acids of whatsoevâ—r Nature they be coagulate Blood Milk c. That they ferment with all Alkali's and never with other Acids That they constitute the Essence of all Bodies that they are the pointed Bodies which fills up the Vacuities of Alkali's and which are the absolute Masters thereof That Alkali's on the contrary dissolve Blood and Milk coagulated by Acids That they hinder them also from being coagulated and that their parts are not dis-united one from the other For Example sake If one mingle som volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack with new Milk or with Blood so soon as it comes out of the Vein it conserves them in their Consistence for a great while and hinders them from being corrupted Alkali's whiten Linnen and Stuffs they ferment well all Acids and never with other Alkali's These are the little Bodies full of holes and wholly vacuous in a word They precipitate Vitriol of Mars dissolv'd in Water which Salts nor Acids can never precipitate You thus see plainly That they assign not in vain these nor several other Effects to Acid's and Alkali's seeing Experience teacheth you That they are alwaies and at all times the Cause thereof PYR. He affirms also That the Division of Salts into Acid and Alkali is purely arbitrary and That they may divide them otherwise Acids and Alkali's having not only in a great many things some agreement but also salts of one and the same Denomination being visibly different in several chief points as Alkali's whereof some are fixed others volatile and some thereof give a Precipitation of corrosive Sublimate dissolved in water of a tawny colour as salt of Tartar others a white colour as spirit of Urine Harts-horn c. Finally some act very slowly on filings of Copper as Oil of Tartar made per deliquium and others dissolve it with readiness as spirit
of Urine c. he adds also That there is no less Difference between Acids some dissolve Bodies which others cannot dissolve as Aqua Fortis which dissolves Silver Mercury c. and touches not Gold and as Aqua Regis which dissolves Gold and touches neither Silver nor the other Metals Spirit of Vinegar well deflegm'd dissolves Lead in the Cold and reduces it into minute parts which Spirit of common Salt cannot do and he concludes this Chap demanding whether Acid and Alkali have the Simplicity that a Philosopher requires in Principles and in Smiling at the Definition that they are Wont to give That Acid is an Enemy to Alkali and Alkali to Acid. EUB. The Division of simple Salts into Acid and Alkali is as Just and Exact as can be wish'd Acids and Alkali's having not any agreement in Virtue and Property and the one never produceth the Effects of the other as Mr. Boyle would have it as for Example Alkali's are Bodies vacuous and full of holes which precipitate Vitriol of Mars dissolved in Water which whiten Linnen and Stuffs which make a Dissolution of Milk and Blood coagalated by Acids c. Acids on the contrary are pointed Bodys which fill up the little holes they meet with in Alkali's which foul Linnen and Stuffs which coagulate Blood and Milk c. in a word which have not any of the Properties of Alkali's And though Salts of one and the same Denomination differ in some things yet nevertheless they all agree in Nature and use for we see That Alkali's whether fixed or volatile are Bodys full of holes That they all precipitate Vitriol of Mars That Acids on the contrary are pointed Bodies c. so that when some Alkali's precipitate corrosive Sublimate dissolved in water into a tawny coloured Powder and some others into a white powder that does not prove That they have a different Nature one from the other but that comes from the Diversity of their Pores some having them more conformable to the Acid which had sublimed the Mercury and others less and they blunt after this manner more or less the points of those Acids whence comes the Diversity of colours of the precipitate It is not also the Diversity of Natures that makes that Volatile Alkali's dissolves Copper more readily than fixed Alkali's do but only the greater agitation of their parts all Acids work on Silver and the other Metals but more or less according to the greater or lesser Relation their points have with the pores of those Metals These Acids never work on Gold which cannot be dissolved but by salt Menstruums as I have said else-where And whatsoever Mr. Boyle says of spirit of Salt which he cites for a most powerful Acid is Salt and not a pure Acid notwithstanding the Acid seems to predominate therein and That is the Reason why spirit of Salt works neither on silver nor the other Metals These two Salts have the Simplicity that a Philosopher requires in Principles because they are composed of Particles of one and the same Nature and can never be resolv'd into any other Substances In respect of the Definition which Mr. Boyle relates of Acid and Alkali he has Reason to blame it because he doth in no wise explain the Nature of these Principles no more than if one should say That that which dissolves a Body dissolvable by an Acid ought to be an Acid That all which precipitates a body dissolv'd by an Acid ought to be an Alkali but Mr. Boyle cannot say the same thing of the Definition which I have already so many times repeated concerning Acid and Alkali That the Acid is a Salt composed of small pointed parts which ferment with Alkali's makes the Essence of all Bodies The Alkali on the contrary is a vacuous Salt which ferments with Acids and precipitates Vitriol of Mars dissolved in water This Definition explains clearly their Nature Kind and Difference for these two Principles agree in that they are Salts and they differ in that one of them is pointed and the other porous and unequal and that one fills the Pores of the other and is its absolute Master PYR. This Famous English-Man will not allow Chap. 4. That the Fermentation or Heat and Ebulition which is caused when these Two Salts are mingled together is a sure Token to know Acid and Alkali For he pretends That these Effects depend principally on the Mechanick Disposition and Construction of Parts and That 't is sufficient to produce heat when the parts of a Body are agitated with vehemence on all sides and for the Ebulition That the Bodies which are mingled intercept the parts of the air or the warm Vapours in the time that they are excited and That there happens often in this mixture Heat without Ebulition and Ebulition without Heat He relates some Experiments of both For he saith When Oil of Vitriol which is a powerful Acid or Salt of Tartar which is a powerful Alkali are mingled with Water which is neither Acid nor Alkali There is at that time a considerable heat excited without any Ebulition and That on the contrary in the Mixture which is made of spirit of verdigriss made per se which is an Acid with salt of Tartar there is made a great Ebulition and gross Froth without any remarkable heat EUB. It is very true That the Heat and Ebulition which happens in Fermentation depends upon the Mechanick disposition and Construction of the parts of Bodys which are Fermented But this Construction or Disposition likewise depends wholly upon the different nature of Acids and Alkali's and their divers mixtures one with the other as I have already caused you to observe where I spoke of Fermentation and its Differences which would be needless here to repeat as for the oil of Vitriol and Salt of Tartar which heat water when they are dissolved therein you shall observe That there is in Oil of vitriol a metallick part of Iron or Copper according to the Nature of the Vitriol which was elevated in the Distillation by the Acid of that Salt as Experience sufficiently teacheth us This oil coming to be dissolved in the water there is then made a separation of the Metallick part from the Acid which had elevated it and an action of that Acid upon the Alkali of the water which is powerful enough since it hardens red hot Iron and hinders it from going into scoria's when it is squenched therein for there is none but Alkali's which can produce this effect then there is made on all sides an agitation of their parts with sufficient Vehemence whence comes the heat which happens in this mixture In regard of that which results from the mixture of salt of Tartar with water you shall understand that salt of Tartar does hot heat water but when it is too much or too little calcined when it is too much calcined it is charged with an Acid from the fire which coming to be dissolved in water it separates
it self from the Alkali of the Tartar and acts upon that of the water and causes as I have said but now the heat in the water and when the Tartar is not sufficiently calcined it retains some of its own Acid and becomes a little near the nature of Calx vive which causes it to ferment in water but when this Salt is neither too much nor too little calcined it dissolves simply in water without causing therein any Heat as all pure Alkali's do PYR. He afterwards comes to speak of the Tast which he saies is as the Touch-stone to know Acids and Alkali's he saith thereupon That there are a great many mixts in which the Tast can so little discern which of those two Principles predominate therein that one cannot suspect that there is in those two Bodys the least part of those Two Salts as in Diamons Rubys Gold Silver c. That there are also several Bodys which abound in Acid and Alkali Salts yet have no tast at all or which have one altogether different from that which the Chymists attribute to their Principles as Venice Glass which is insipid on the Tongue though it is almost no other thing but fixt Alkali and as Cristals of Silver and Lead made with aqua fortis whereof the first has an extream Bitterness and the last the sweetness of Sugar neither of which retain any thing of Acid of the aq Fort. which did dissolve those Metals EUB. By the Taste we can only know pure Acids and Alkalis as the Spirits of Sulphur Niter c. which are taken Notice of by their acidity and as the volatile Alkali's of Viper Harts-horn and fixed Alkali's as lixivial Salts which are known by their great acrimony as soon as these two Salts are mixt together they produce different Savours according to the divers Mixture and particular figure of their Parts It happens also very often that a body which experience teacheth us a acid being mingled with a Body which experience makes us know to be an Alkali they being insipid as for Example When four parts of Cream of Tartar dissolved in Water in which may be manifestly seen that the Acid predominates is mingled with two parts of Salt of Tartar dissolved also in water there is made as soon as they come together a Fermentation sufficiently violent from which afterwards is obtained by Cristallization a salt which is altogether insipid You see by this Experiment That though a Body be insipid nevertheless one may not conclude That it câ—ntains neither Acid nor Alkâ—liâ— therein PYR. Mr. Boyle pretends is the fifth Chapter That the Hypothesis of Acid and Alkali is neither Necessary nor Useful to explain that which happens to qualitys Whereof some are produced others destroy'd or altered it not appearing Thâ—t these two Principles contributed in any wise thereto as when Water is changed by the force of Beating into Froth which hath some Consistence or as when Coral which is red and transparent is changed into a white and opacous Powder without doing any other thing thereto than reducing it into a Powder sufficiently subtil to pass through a fine Searce EUB. The Froth which is formed on water by Beating comes only from the agitation of its parts and as there are a great many Alkali parts and also some Acid parts and a little Earth to be met with in water it is certain That these Principles contribute to the Production of this Quality It should be needful that Mr Boyle prove That there is no Acid nor Alkali in water to conclude That Acid and Alkali do not contribute in any wise to the production of this new Quality which is impossible to be done as for the Coral which becomes white and opacous when it is reduced into an Impalpable Powder I shall tell you That the most part of Bodies are destroy'd by Trituration and entirely change their Nature and those also which are harder and solider and if we may believe some of the Renouned Chymists of our Age as the famous Langelot Olaus Borrychius Schroder c. Leaf-Gold is destroyed in such wise by a long Trituration that it is impossible to make it retake the form of Gold whatsoever artifice you use so that it is not strange That Coral which is red and transparent should become white and opacous when it is reduced to an impalpable powder because that in the Trituration which is made thereof its parts are dis-united in such wise one from the other and are in so great a confusion that they can no longer keep their natural colour either because they do no longer reflect the light as they did reflect it before or because they do not make the same Impression on the aier or lastly that the Attoms which go out therefrom are not conditioned as they were and this colour cannot return to it except by the force of some exteriour agent its particles retake the same place and the same scituation as they occupied before the Trituration as we take notice of it in blew Vitriol which becomes white when reduced into pouder and which retakes its natural colour when this powder is dissolved in water and afterwards caused to cristallize PYR. He proceeds with an Objection like the former He saies They cannot render a Reason by Acid and Alkali of Gravity Light and several other Qualities which are called MANIFEST and much less of those which are called OCCULT as of the Force of the Loadstone on Iron and of Iron on the Loadstone as well as several other Phaenomena's of the Loadstone EUB. The gravity and levity of a body depends upon the more or less of Vacuity that there is in that body according to Mr. Boyle's Opinion in such manner That a body in which there are fewest Vacuities is most Weight as on the contrary that in which there are more vacuitys is more light Now the Moreness or Lessness of Vacuities depends upon the Moreness or Lessness of the acid which there is in Bodies for when there is a great deal of Acid therein the Pores of the Alkali are filled therewith and when on the contrary there is but a very little Acid those Pores remain empty and consequently the gravity of a Body depends upon the quantity of Acid that is found therein and the Levity upon the smallness of the Acid and quantity of Alkali which is found therein The abundance of Caput Mort. contributes much to the lightness of Bodys as we observe in the Firr-tree which is a very light wood and hath much Earth in it Light is no other but an agitation of small pointed Bodys which are poured out in the air and puts all the parts thereof in Motion It is of the same Nature with fire since it produceth the same Effects and that being re-united in a burning-glass it liquefies Metals and calcines Stones as fire doth which is Acid as I have proved else-where and by consequence Light ought also to be an Acid since it hath all the
there is a fourth Part of the World because Ptolomy Strabo and other antient Geographers did not know it How fair soever the Descriptions be which antient Anatomists have made on MAN yet they have left to us some Parts of this Microcosm to be discovered which tho they be not of any great Extent nevertheless they are of extream Importance for its Conservation and our antient Philosophers have not penetrated so deep into rhe Secrets of Nature but that we have Discovered by means of CHIMISTRY many things which were unknown to them You observe so little the Maxims for which you praise the Faculty of Montpellier that without fear to cheat or be cheated you reason by Principles all-together unknown to the Antients and you admit several new Anatomicks and Chimicks but you turn them lo particularly that they become unknown to their own Inventers and I know not but the use which you make thereof will rather serve to Destroy then to Establish them The manner by which you explain Nutrition Renders us not much more knowing You tell us pag. 79 107. The Chyle is made in the Stomach without teaching us the manner thereof That it falls afterwards into the Intestins where it is fermented with the Bile and splenetick Juice without explaining to us the Cause of this Fermentation and you go on with an evident false supposition That it is carryed to the Liver by the Vena Porta after having passed through the Tunicks of the Intestines to acquire therein the form of Blood. For to discover the Cause and Means of these Operations it must be observed That there is an Acid Liquor in the Stomach which produceth them therein Whether this Liquor be brought thither by the extremities of the Arteries which terminate thereto or else it is the remains of the Aliments which grow sour by abiding there and which serve as Leven to those that are taken afterwards as we observe that Dough grows sour by age and then it can ferment a great quantity of new The existence of this Liquor needs not be doubted of nor that it is a powerful dissolvant The Bones which we find half digested in the Stomachs of Dogs and the Copper which we find half corroded and half dissolved in the Stomachs of Ostriges and Drakes are sufficient Testimonies thereof And we may perceive that this Acid Liquor was not unknown to the incomparable Hypocrates when he saith in the first Aphorism of the sixth Section In longis laevitatibus Intestinorum si rectus Acidus superveniat bonum In long Loosnesses of the Intestines if acid Belchings supervene it is good for 't is then that this Liquor begins to be renewed and to execute its functions When the Stomach is empty and this Liquor is fallen thereinto in a sufficient large quantity or else if you please the Ferment is sufficiently exalted it excites Hunger for then it strikes the superior Orifice of the Stomach which is wholy nervous and of a most delicate Sense and produceth in us different Appetites according to the particular Nature and different Figure of its Particles whence it comes That we do digest more easily those aliments to which our appetite excites us because they have much conformity with that Acid. This Liquor serves not only to excite Hunger but also to dissolve the Aliments which we take and to convert them into Chyle for after the Aliments have been prepared in the Mouth by mastication and by the mixture of the Spittle they are cast by the Tongue into the Oesophage and fall at the same time into the Stomach as well by their own weight as by the impulsion of the Muscles of the Oesophage the acid liquor of the Stomach is immediately mingled with them scattering the parts thereof from the other and bruises them and attenuates them and by the continual agitation and motion which it makes thereof it causes them entirely to change their Nature and according to the relation that this liquor has with the aliments which we take the Chylification is made more or less perfect and in more or less time The Stomach being continually pressed by the Diaphragma in the time of Respiration the Chyle falls insensibly into the Intestines where it is confounded with the Bile and pancreick Juice and then there is made a Fermentation of the Chyle with these two Liquors during which time the more subtile parts and consequently the more proper to nourish the animal are strained and pass through the Tunicks of the Intestines and the grosser parts are cast out backwards by the anus as well by their own weight as by the peristatick Motion of the Intestines Sylvius de le Boe Graaf Suale c. have attributed the cause of this Fermentation of the Chyle with the Byle and pancreick Juice to the acidity of the pancreick Juice but experience hath taught our more curious Anatomists That this Juice is not in any wise acid but altogether incipid and therefore That cannot be the cause of this Fermentation and to discover the true Cause thereof it must be observed That when the Chyle falls from the Stomack into the Intestines it is of an acid-salt taste because of the Mixture of the Acid of the Spittle and of the acid Liquor of the Stomach with the volatile Alkali of the Aliments for as I have shewed in my foregoing Discourse that Acid-Salt Bodies are composed of a Mixture of Acid with Alkali This Taste is found manifestly in the Chyle and 't is in other Cases a constant Maxim That Acid-Salt Bodyes being mixed with some Alkali and dissolved in some Menstruum for Salts act not except dissolved are fermented as Vitriol of Mars doth being dissolved in water with Oil of Tartar made per deliquium The Chyle then being an acid-Salt and the Bile abounding in volatile Alkali they are fermented assoon as they come to be dissolved by the pancreick Juice This Fermentation cannot be made but at the same there is made a Precipitation of the Faeces and the more subtile parts pass into the lacteal Veins and not into the Vena porta and from thence into the Liver as you suppose for if the Branches of the Vena porta in the time of the Distribution of the Chyle be tyed they are found only filled with Blood and if they be separated with the Liver from the Intestines there is likewise not lost one drop of Chyle but it is carryed continually from the Intestines into the lacteal Veins from these veins into the two Receivers of Pequet and then into the thorachick Pipe where it is mingled with the Lympha which is discharged thereinto from the inferiour parts and ascending all a-long by this pipe it is disgorged into the left subclavial Vein where it is confounded with the Blood and continuing its way it falls into the descending Vena Cava where it is still mingled with the Blood that it contains and the Lympha which flows thereto from the superiour parts it enters lastly
the Regeneration of compound Mineral Salts and the Essential Salts of Plants for it is most certain That Acids are not the destroyers of Bodyes nor Alkali's their Authors since all Alkali's are determined by Acids to make Bodyes of the same Nature with those from which they were drawn and if it happens sometimes That Acids destroy some Bodies as common Sulphur doth Iron that happens because there is little Alkali to be found in those Bodyes and the Acid being intangled therein in a great deal of Earth it may easily be disintangled therefrom by another Acid the which intirely destroys the Composition but that happens not in those Bodyes where the Acid is fixed and united intimately with its Alkali as it is in Gold Silver c. You bring us Tartar of Wine for the first of all Acids and you prove it after so convincing a manner â—â—g 93. That the same Reasoning may be applyed in all its force to all the other Tartars of Vegetables It is the first say you in its generation and Action it is the first in its generation because it is produc'd such by nature for it is in Grapes together with the Alkali of wine and so long as Nature governs them they have not any motion of alteration one against the other c. but as soon as Nature doth cease to govern them they ferment themselves one with the other into Wine c. May not the same thing be said of all the other Vegetables They have all their Acid and Alkali produced such by Nature they are not dis-united but when Nature ceases to govern them they are fermented in their Juices as the Alkali and Acid of Grapes are in Wine You are not contented to assure us That Tartar is the first of Acids but also That its Acid consists in its Salt and That that which is distilled therefrom is the Volatile Alkali of Wine which this Acid had absorbed The Anatomy of Tartar will perhaps make you be of another Opinion for there is drawn therefrom first a Flegm by Distillation Secondly an Acid Spirit which ferments with all Alkali's Thirdly a stinking Oil and lastly a fixed Salt which is separated from its Caput Mort. by Lixiviation which ferments with all Acids and precipitates Vitriol of Mars dissolved in Water The Acid spirit of Tartar is of the same Nature with that of Vinegar as may be seen by this Experiment â„ž some Salt of Tartar and pour thereupon good Vinegar until it will take in no more and there will be made a regenerated Tartar like to that of Wine whose sourness is gone You may perceive then by this That that Spirit which is drawn from Tartar is not the volatile Alkali of Wine which the Tartar had absorbed as you teach us but it is on the contrary the volatile Acid of Wine which causeth it in time to degenerate into Vinegar The black and stinking Oil which went forth after the Flegm and Spirit is an enveloped Acid as are all the Oils of Vegetables In a word The Salt that is drawn from Tartar is as powerful an Alkali as any there is in Nature which as I said even now ferments with all Acids ' and does precipitate Vitriol of Mars dissolved in Water It seems also you have acknowledged this Truth when you said That Oil of Tartar made per deliquium which is no other thing but fixed Salt of Tartar dissolved in some Flegm did ferment with the Spirits of Salt Vitriol Pag. 97. Sulphur and Niter and did precipitate after the Fermentation some Matter from those Bodies Oil of Tartar is therefore an Alkali since it ferments with Acid Spirits for as you grant there is none but Alkali's which can ferment with Acids and it is false that you assure us That this Oil is Acid for if it was Acid it would ferment with Alkali's and never with Acids the which is contrary to what we see Pag. 98 99 100. The Reason which you render of the Effervescence which happens in the Dissolution of Metals in Aqua fort is a Subject as little satisfactory for you say That it is not the Aqua fort that causes this Dissolution and Effervescence but rather a volatile sulphurous Spirit which animates the Aqua Fort. to the Dissolution of the Mettal since that being evaporated or separated therefrom by the Acid of Salt of Tartar the rest of the Water acts no more for assuredly continue you it is this imperfect or to speak more properly embrionated Sulphur which symbolizeth with the Sulphur of a Mettal and more or less with one than with another whence come the Diversity of Aqua fortis and that one acts upon one Mettal and not upon another c. This Sulphur is impatient for a union with a Sulphur more perfect than it self therefore it searches through the Mercury and striving to be united with it per minima it divides it c. Experience fully destroyes the appearances of this Reasoning for it is most certain That Acids as Spirit of Niter dissolves imperfect Metals which have more Mercury than Sulphur as Silver Lead c. and as for Gold which hath a great deal more Sulphur than Mercury it cannot be dissolv'd but in salt Menstruums as Spirit of Sea-salt I have explained all these different Effects so clearly in the preceeding Discourses of this Book That the repetition thereof would be both useless and troublesom And as to the Hindrance that Oil of Tartar brings to those Dissolutions which you attribute to its Acidity it is not at all probable since I have formerly shewn That it was an Alkali and the true Reason of it is That the Oil of Tartar being a powerful Alkali absorbs the Acids which held the Metals in Dissolution and the Metals being no longer agitated or stir'd by their points are precipitated into a powder to the bottom of the Vessel Truly I see as little Justice in your Definition of Alkali You argue it to be a thing made Salt by Cremation Pag. 102. as though it was not a Salt before and this Definition doth in no wise explain the Nature of Alkali but only agrees with fixed Alkali yet it is certain that some are Volatile which are elevated sublimed with the least Heat as your self acknowledgeth pâ— 94.95 where you speak of Tartar You say It retains the volatile Alkali of Wine which causeth it to break the Vessels by its combating with the Acidity of the Tartar when it is distilled alone by Retort The Recipient being very exactly luted the fire too much prest But I have moreover sufficiently formerly proved That Alkali as well as Acid was actually in all Bodies and that to be Alkali it is not necessary that a Body be made salt by Cremation Moreover the Doctrine which you promote contradicts it self Pag 104 105. for if the Alkali was no other as you would have it than only the Sulphur of the Mixt retained in a portion of water under the