Part 14

I know that the chief of these Chymists represent, that though the Distinct Substances into which they divide mixt bodies by the Fire, are not pure and Homogeneous; yet since the four Elements into which the _Aristotelians_ pretend to resolve the like bodies by the same Agent, are not simple neither, as themselves acknowledge, 'tis as allowable for the Chymists to call the one Principles, as for the Peripateticks to call the other Elements; since in both cases the Imposition of the name is grounded only upon the Predominancy of that Element whose name is ascrib'd to it. Nor shall I deny, that this Argument of the Chymists is no ill one against the _Aristotelians_. But what Answer can it prove to me, who you know am disputing against the _Aristotelian_ Elements, as the Chymicall Principles, and must not look upon any body as a true Principle or Element, but as yet compounded, which is not perfectly Homogeneous, but is further Resoluble into any number of Distinct Substances how small soever. And as for the Chymists calling a body Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, upon pretence that the Principle of the same name is predominant in it, That it self is an Acknowledgment of what I contend for; namely that these productions of the Fire, are yet compounded bodies. And yet whilst this is granted, it is affirm'd, but not prov'd, that the reputed Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, consists mainly of one body that deserves the name of a principle of the same Denomination. For how do Chymists make it appear that there are any such primitive and simple bodies in those we are speaking of; since 'tis upon the matter confess'd by the answer lately made, that these are not such? And if they pretend by Reason to evince what they affirm, what becomes of their confident boasts, that the Chymists [Errata: Chymist] (whom they therefore, after _Beguinus_, call a _Philosophus_ or _Opifex Sensatus_) can convince our Eyes, by manifestly shewing in any mixt body those simple substances he teaches them to be compos'd of? And indeed, for the Chymists to have recourse in this case to other proofs then Experiments, as it is to wave the grand Argument that has all this while been given out for a Demonstrative One; so it releases me from the obligation to prosecute a Dispute wherein I am not engag'd to Examine any but Experimentall proofs. I know it may plausibly Enough be Represented, in favour of the Chymists, that it being evident that much the greater part of any thing they call Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, is really such; it would be very rigid to deny those Substances the names ascribed them, only because of some sleight mixture of another Body; since not only the Peripateticks call particular parcels of matter Elementary, though they acknowledge that Elements are not to be anywhere found pure, at least here below; And since especially there is a manifest Analogie and Resemblance betwixt the bodies obtainable by Chymical Anatomies and the principles whose names are given them; I have, I say, consider'd that these things may be represented: But as for what is drawn from the Custome of the Peripateticks, I have already told You, that though it may be employ'd against Them, Yet it is not available against me who allow nothing to be an Element that is not perfectly Homogeneous. And whereas it is alledg'd, that the Predominant Principle ought to give a name to the substance wherein it abounds; I answer, that that might much more reasonably be said, if either we or the Chymists had seen Nature take pure Salt, pure Sulphur, and pure Mercury, and compound of them every sort of Mixt Bodies. But, since 'tis to experience that they appeal, we must not take it for granted, that the Distill'd Oyle (for instance) of a plant is mainly compos'd of the pure principle call'd Sulphur, till they have given us an ocular proof, that there is in that sort of Plants such an Homogeneous Sulphur. For as for the specious argument, which is drawn from the Resemblance betwixt the Productions of the Fire, and the Respective, either _Aristotelian_ Elements, or _Chymical_ Principles, by whose names they are call'd; it will appear more plausible then cogent, if You will but recall to mind the state of the controversie; which is not, whether or no there be obtain'd from mixt Bodies certain substances that agree in outward appearance, or in some Qualities with Quicksilver or Brimstone, or some such obvious or copious Body; But whether or no all Bodies confess'd to be perfectly mixt were compos'd of, and are resoluble into a determinate number of primary unmixt Bodies. For, if you keep the state of the question in your Eye, you'l easily discerne that there is much of what should be Demonstrated, left unprov'd by those Chymical Experiments we are Examining. But (not to repeat what I have already discover'd more at large) I shall now take notice, that it will not presently follow, that because a Production of the Fire has some affinity with some of the greater Masses of matter here below, that therefore they are both of the same Nature, and deserve the same Name; for the Chymists are not content, that flame should be look't upon as a parcel of the Element of Fire, though it be hot, dry, and active, because it wants some other Qualities belonging to the nature of Elementary fire. Nor will they let the Peripateticks call Ashes, or Quicklime, Earth, notwithstanding the many likenesses between them; because they are not tastlesse, as Elementary Earth ought to be: But if you should ask me, what then it is, that all the Chymical Anatomies of Bodies do prove, if they prove not that they consist of the three Principles into which the fire resolves them? I answer, that their Dissections may be granted to prove, that some mixt bodies (for in many it will not hold) are by the fire, when they are included in close Vessels, (for that Condition also is often requisite) dissolube [Transcriber's Note: dissoluble] into several Substances differing in some Qualities, but principally in Consistence. So that out of most of them may be obtain'd a fixt substance partly saline, and partly insipid, an unctuous Liquor, and another Liquor or more that without being unctuous have a manifest taste. Now if Chymists will agree to call the dry and sapid substance salt, the Unctous liquor Sulphur, and the other Mercury, I shall not much quarrel with them for so doing: But if they will tell me that Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury, are simple and primary bodies whereof each mixt body was actually compounded, and which was really in it antecedently to the operation of the fire, they must give me leave to doubt whether (whatever their other arguments may do) their Experiments prove all this. And if they will also tell me that the Substances their Anatomies are wont to afford them, are pure and similar, as Principles ought to be, they must give me leave to believe my own senses; and their own confessions, before their bare Assertions. And that you may not (_Eleutherius_) think I deal so rigidly with them, because I scruple to Take these Productions of the Fire for such as the Chymists would have them pass for, upon the account of their having some affinity with them; consider a little with me, that in regard an Element or Principle ought to be perfectly Similar and Homogeneous, there is no just cause why I should rather give the body propos'd the Name of this or that Element or Principle, because it has a resemblance to it in some obvious Quality, rather then deny it that name upon the account of divers other Qualities, wherein the propos'd Bodies are unlike; and if you do but consider what sleight and easily producible qualities they are that suffice, as I have already more then once observ'd, to Denominate a Chymical Principle or an Element, you'l not, I hope, think my wariness to be destitute either of Example, or else of Reason. For we see that the Chymists will not allow the _Aristotelians_ that the Salt in Ashes ought to be called Earth, though the Saline and Terrestrial part symbolize in weight, in dryness, in fixness and fusibility, only because the one is sapid and dissoluble in Water, and the other not: Besides, we see that sapidness and volatility are wont to denominate the Chymists Mercury or Spirit; and yet how many Bodies, think you, may agree in those Qualities which may yet be of very differing natures, and disagree in qualities either more numerous, or more considerable, or both. For not only Spirit of Nitre, Aqua Fortis, Spirit of Salt, Spirit of Oyle of Vitriol, Spirit of Allome, Spirit of Vinager, and all Saline Liquors Distill'd from Animal Bodies, but all the Acetous Spirits of Woods freed from their Vinager; All these, I say, and many others must belong to the Chymists Mercury, though it appear not why some of them should more be comprehended under one denomination then the Chymists Sulphur, or Oyle should likewise be; for their Distill'd Oyles are also Fluid, Volatile, and Tastable, as well as their Mercury; Nor is it Necessary, that their Sulphur should be Unctuous or Dissoluble in Water, since they generally referr Spirit of Wine to Sulphurs, although that Spirit be not Unctuous, and will freely mingle with Water. So that bare Inflamability must constitute the Essence of the Chymists Sulphur; as uninflamablenesse joyned with any taste is enough to intitle a Distill'd Liquor to be their Mercury. Now since I can further observe to You, that Spirit of Nitre and Spirit of Harts-horne being pour'd together will boile and hisse and tosse up one another into the air, which the Chymists make signes of great Antipathy in the Natures of Bodies (as indeed these Spirits differ much both in Taste, Smell, and Operations;) Since I elsewhere tell you of my having made two sorts of Oyle out of the same mans blood, that would not mingle with one another; And since I might tell You Divers Examples I have met with, of the Contrariety of Bodies which according to the Chymists must be huddl'd up together under one Denomination; I leave you to Judge whether such a multitude of Substances as may agree in these sleight Qualities, and yet Disagree in Others more Considerable, are more worthy to be call'd by the Name of a Principle (which ought to be pure and homogeneous,) than to have appellations given them that may make them differ, in name too, from the bodies from which they so wildly differ in Nature. And hence also, by the bye, you may perceive that 'tis not unreasonable to distrust the Chymists way of Argumentation, when being unable to shew us that such a Liquor is (for Example) purely saline, they prove, that at least salt is much the predominant principle, because that the propos'd substance is strongly tasted, and all Tast proceeds from salt; whereas those Spirits, such as spirit of Tartar, spirit of Harts-horn, and the like, which are reckoned to be the Mercuries of the Bodies that afford them, have manifestly a strong and piercing tast, and so has (according to what I formerly noted) the spirit of Box &c. even after the acid Liquor that concurr'd to compose it has been separated from it. And indeed, if sapidness belong not to the spirit or Mercurial Principle of Vegitables and Animals: I scarce know how it will be discriminated from their phlegm, since by the absence of Inflamability it must be distinguish'd from their sulphur, which affords me another Example, to prove how unacurate the Chymical Doctrine is in our present Case; since not only the spirits of Vegitables and Animals, but their Oyles are very strongly tasted, as he that shall but wet his tongue with Chymical Oyle of Cinnamon, or of Cloves, or even of Turpentine, may quickly find, to his smart. And not only I never try'd any Chymical Oyles whose tast was not very manifest and strong; but a skilful and inquisitive person who made it his business by elaborate operations to depurate Chymical Oyles, and reduce them to an Elementary simplicity, Informes us, that he never was able to make them at all Tastless; whence I might inferr, that the proof Chymists confidently give us of a bodies being saline, is so far from demonstrating the Predominancy, that it does not clearly Evince so much as the presence of the saline Principle in it. But I will not (pursues _Carneades_) remind you, that the Volatile salt of Harts-horn, Amber, Blood, &c. are exceeding strongly scented, notwithstanding that most Chymists deduce Odours from Sulphur, and from them argue the Predominancy of that Principle in the Odorous body, because I must not so much as add any new Examples of the incompetency of this sort of Chymical arguments; since having already detain'd You but too long in those generals that appertain to my fourth consideration, 'tis time that I proceed to the particulars themselves, to which I thought fit they should be previous:

These Generals (continues _Carneades_) being thus premis'd, we might the better survey the Unlikeness that an attentive and unprepossess'd observer may take notice of in each sort of Bodies which the Chymists are wont to call the salts or sulphurs or Mercuries of the Concretes that yield Them, as if they had all a simplicity, and Identity of Nature: whereas salts if they were all Elementary would as little differ as do the Drops of pure and simple Water. 'Tis known that both Chymists and Physitians ascribe to the fixt salts of calcin'd Bodies the vertues of their concretes; and consequently very differing Operations. So we find the _Alkali_ of Wormwood much commended in distempers of the stomach; that of Eyebright for those that have a weak sight; and that of _Guaiacum_ (of which a great Quantity yields but a very little salt) is not only much commended in Venereal Diseases, but is believed to have a peculiar purgative vertue, which yet I have not had occasion to try. And though, I confess, I have long thought, that these _Alkalizate_ salts are, for the most part, very neer of kin, and retain very little of the properties of the Concretes whence they were separated; Yet being minded to Observe watchfully whether I could meet with any Exceptions to this General Observation, I observ'd at the Glasse-house, that sometimes the Metal (as the Workmen call it) or Masse of colliquated Ingredients, which by Blowing they fashion into Vessels of divers shapes, did sometimes prove of a very differing colour, and a somewhat differing Texture, from what was usuall. And having enquired whether the cause of such Accidents might not be derived from the peculiar Nature of the fixt salt employ'd to bring the sand to fusion, I found that the knowingst Workmen imputed these Mis-adventures to the Ashes, of [Errata: Ashes off] some certain kind of Wood, as having observ'd the ignobler kind of Glass I lately mention'd to be frequently produc'd when they had employ'd such sorts of Ashes which therefore they scruple to make use of, if they took notice of them beforehand. I remember also, that an Industrious Man of my acquaintance having bought a vast quantity of Tobacco stalks to make a fixt Salt with, I had the Curiosity to go see whether that Exotick Plant, which so much abounds in volatile salt, would afford a peculiar kind of _Alcali_; and I was pleas'd to find that in the _Lixivium_ of it, it was not necessary, as is usual, to evaporate all the Liquor, that there might be obtain'd a Saline Calx, consisting like lime quench'd in the Air of a heap of little Corpuscles of unregarded shapes; but the fixt salt shot into figur'd Crystal, almost as Nitre or _Sal-armoniack_ and other uncalcin'd salts are wont to do; And I further remember that I have observ'd in the fixt Salt of Urine, brought by depuration to be very white, a tast not so unlike to that of common salt, and very differing from the wonted caustick Lixiviate tast of other salts made by Incineration. But because the Instances I have alledg'd of the Difference of _Alcalizate_ salt are but few, and therefore I am still inclin'd to think, that most Chymists and many Physitians do, inconsideratly enough and without Warrant from Experience, ascribe the Vertues of the Concretes expos'd to Calcination, to the salts obtain'd by it; I shall rather, to shew the Disparity of salts, mention in the first Place the apparent Difference betwixt the Vegetable fixt salts and the Animal Volatile ones: As (for Example) betwixt salt of Tartar, and salt of Harts-horn; whereof the former is so fixt that 'twill indure the brunt of a violent Fire, and stand in fusion like a Metal; whereas the other (besides that it has a differing tast and a very differing smell) is so far from being fixt, that it will fly away in a gentle heat as easily as Spirit of Wine it self. And to this I shall add, in the next place, That even among the Volatile salts themselves, there is a considerable Difference, as appears by the distinct Properties of (for Instance) salt of Amber, salt of Urine, salt of Mans Skull, (so much extoll'd against the falling Sicknesse) and divers others which cannot escape an ordinary Observer. And this Diversity of Volatile salts I have observ'd to be somtimes Discernable even to the Eye, in their Figures. For the salt of Harts-horn I have observ'd to adhere to the Receiver in the forme almost of a _Parallelipipedon_; and of the Volatile salt of humane blood (long digested before distillation, with spirit of Wine) I can shew you store of graines of that Figure which _Geometricians_ call a _Rhombus_; though I dare not undertake that the Figures of these or other Saline Crystals (if I may so call Them) will be alwaies the same, whatever degree of Fire have been employ'd to force them up, or how hastily soever they have been made to convene in the spirits or liquors, in the lower part of which I have usually observ'd them after a while to shoot. And although, as I lately told You, I seldom found any Difference, as to Medical Vertues, in the fixt Salts of Divers Vegetables; and accordingly I have suspected that most of these volatile Salts, having so great a Resemblance in smell, in tast, and fugitiveness, differ but little, if at all, in their Medicinal properties: As indeed I have found them generally to agree in divers of them (as in their being somewhat Diaphoretick and very Deopilative; [Errata: Deopilative)] Yet I remember _Helmont_[18] somewhere informes us, that there is this Difference betwixt the saline spirit of Urine and that of Mans blood, that the former will not cure the Epilepsy, but the Latter will. Of the Efficacy also of the Salt of Common Amber against the same Disease in Children, (for in Grown Persons it is not a specifick) I may elsewhere have an Occasion to Entertain You. And when I consider that to the obtaining of these Volatile Salts (especially that of Urine) there is not requisite such a Destructive Violence of the Fire, as there is to get those Salts that must be made by Incineration, I am the more invited to conclude, that they may differ from one another, and consequently recede from an Elementary Simplicity. And, if I could here shew You what Mr. _Boyle_ has Observ'd, touching the Various Chymicall Distinctions of Salts; You would quickly discern, not only that Chymists do give themselves a strange Liberty to call Concretes Salts, that are according to their own Rules to be look'd upon as very Compounded Bodies; but that among those very Salts that seem Elementary, because produc'd upon the Anatomy of the Bodies that yield them, there is not only a visible Disparity, but, to speak in the common Language, a manifest Antipathy or Contrariety: As is evident in the Ebullition and hissing that is wont to ensue, when the Acid Spirit of Vitrioll, for Instance, is pour'd upon pot ashes, or Salt of Tartar. And I shall beg leave of this Gentleman, sayes _Carneades_, casting his Eyes on me, to let me observe to You out of some of his papers, particularly those wherein he treats of some Preparations of Urine, that not only one and the same body may have two Salts of a contrary Nature, as he exemplifies in the Spirit and _Alkali_ of Nitre; but that from the same body there may without addition be obtain'd three differing and Visible Salts. For He Relates, that he observ'd in Urine, not only a Volatile and Crystalline Salt, and a fixt Salt, but likewise a kind of _Sal Armoniack_, or such a Salt as would sublime in the form of a salt, and therefore was not fixt, and yet was far from being so fugitive as the Volatile salt; from which it seem'd also otherwise to differ. I have indeed suspected that this may be a _Sal Armoniack_ properly enough so call'd, as Compounded of the Volatile salt of Urine, and the fixt of the same Liquor, which, as I noted, is not unlike sea-salt; but that it self argues a manifest Difference betwixt the salts, since such a Volatile salt is not wont to Unite thus with an ordinary _Alcali_, but to fly away from it in the Heat. And on this occasion I remember that, to give some of my Friends an Ocular proof of the difference betwixt the fixt and Volatile salt (of the same Concrete) Wood, I devis'd the following Experiment. I took common Venetian sublimate, and dissolv'd as much of it as I well could in fair Water: then I took Wood Ashes, and pouring on them Warme Water, Dissolv'd their salt; and filtrating the Water, as soon as I found the _Lixivium_ sufficiently sharp upon the tongue, I reserv'd it for use: Then on part of the former solution of sublimate dropping a little of this Dissolv'd Fixt salt of Wood, the Liquors presently turn'd of an Orange Colour; but upon the other part of the clear solution of sublimate putting some of the Volatile salt of Wood (which abounds in the spirit of soot) the Liquor immediately turn'd white, almost like Milke, and after a while let fall a white sediment, as the other Liquor did a Yellow one. To all this that I have said concerning the Difference of salts, I might add what I Formerly told you, concerning the simple spirit of Box, and such like Woods, which differ much from the other salts hitherto mention'd, and yet would belong to the saline Principle, if Chymists did truly teach that all Tasts proceed from it. And I might also annex, what I noted to you out of _Helmont_[19] concerning Bodies, which, though they consist in great part of Chymical Oyles, do yet appear but Volatile salts; But to insist on these things, were to repeat; and therefore I shall proceed.

[Footnote 18: _Error vero per distillationem nobis monstrat etiam Spiritum salinum plane volatilem odore nequicquam ut nec gustu distinguibilem a spiritu Urinæ; In eo tamen essentialiter diversum, quod spiritus talis cruoris curat Epilepsiam, non autem Spiritus salis lotii._ Helmont. Aura Vitalis.]

[Footnote 19: _Aliquando oleum Cinnamomi, &c. suo sali Alcali miscetur absque omni aqua, trium mensium Artificiosa occultaque circulatione, totum in salem volatilem commutatum est. Helmont. Tria Prima Chymicorum, &c. pag. 412._]