Part 7

And that the Fire doth oftentimes divide Bodies, upon the account that some of their Parts are more Fixt, and some more Volatile, how far soever either of these Two may be from a pure Elementary Nature is Obvious enough, if Men would but heed it in the Burning of Wood, which the Fire Dissipates into Smoake and Ashes: For not only the latter of these is Confessedly made up of two such Differing Bodies as Earth and Salt; but the Former being condens'd into that Soot which adheres to our Chimneys, Discovers it self to Contain both Salt and Oyl, and Spirit and Earth, (and some Portion of Phlegme too) which being, all almost, Equally Volatile to that Degree of Fire which Forces them up, (the more Volatile Parts Helping perhaps, as well as the Urgency of the Fire, to carry up the more Fixt ones, as I have often Try'd in Dulcify'd _Colcothar_, Sublim'd by _Sal Armoniack_ Blended with it) are carried Up together, but may afterwards be Separated by other Degrees of Fire, whose orderly Gradation allowes the Disparity of their Volatileness to Discover it self. Besides, if Differing Bodies United into one Mass be both sufficiently Fixt, the Fire finding no Parts Volatile enough to be Expell'd or carried up, makes no Separation at all; as may appear by a Mixture of Colliquated Silver and Gold, whose Component Metals may be easily Sever'd by _Aqua Fortis_, or _Aqua Regis_ (according to the Predominancy of the Silver or the Gold) but in the Fire alone, though vehement, the Metals remain unsever'd, the Fire only dividing the Body into smaller Particles (whose Littlenesse may be argu'd from their Fluidity) in which either the little nimble Atoms of Fire, or its brisk and numberless strokes upon the Vessels, hinder Rest and Continuity, without any Sequestration of Elementary Principles. Moreover, the Fire sometimes does not Separate, so much as Unite, Bodies of a differing Nature; provided they be of an almost resembling Fixedness, and have in the Figure of their Parts an Aptness to Coalition, as we see in the making of many Plaisters, Oyntments, &c. And in such Metalline Mixtures as that made by Melting together two parts of clean Brass with one of pure Copper, of which some Ingenious Trades-men cast such curious Patterns (for Gold and Silver Works) as I have sometimes taken great Pleasure to Look upon. Sometimes the Bodies mingled by the Fire are Differing enough as to Fixidity and Volatility, and yet are so combin'd by the first Operation of the Fire, that it self does scarce afterwards Separate them, but only Pulverize them; whereof an Instance is afforded us by the Common Preparation of _Mercurius Dulcis_, where the Saline Particles of the Vitriol, Sea Salt, and sometimes Nitre, Employ'd to make the Sublimate, do so unite themselves with the Mercurial Particles made use of, first to Make Sublimate, and then to Dulcifie it, that the Saline and Metalline Parts arise together in many successive Sublimations, as if they all made but one Body. And sometimes too the Fire does not only not Sever the Differing Elements of a Body, but Combine them so firmly, that Nature her self does very seldom, if ever, make Unions less Dissoluble. For the Fire meeting with some Bodies exceedingly and almost equally Fixt, instead of making a Separation, makes an Union so strict, that it self, alone, is unable to Dissolve it; As we see, when an Alcalizate Salt and the Terrestrial Residue of the Ashes are Incorporated with pure Sand, and by Vitrification made one permanent Body, (I mean the course or greenish sort of Glass) that mocks the greatest Violence of the Fire, which though able to Marry the Ingredients of it, yet is not able to Divorce them. I can shew you some pieces of Glass which I saw flow down from an Earthen Crucible purposely Expos'd for a good while, with Silver in it, to a very vehement Fire. And some that deal much in the Fusion of Metals Informe me, that the melting of a great part of a Crucible into Glass is no great Wonder in their Furnaces. I remember, I have Observ'd too in the Melting of great Quantities of Iron out of the Oar, by the Help of store of Charcoal (for they Affirm that Sea-Coal will not yield a Flame strong enough) that by the prodigious Vehemence of the Fire, Excited by vast Bellows (made to play by great Wheels turn'd about by Water) part of the Materials Expos'd to it was, instead of being Analyz'd, Colliquated, and turn'd into a Dark, Solid and very Ponderous Glass, and that in such Quantity, that in some places I have seen the very High-wayes, neer such Iron-works, mended with Heaps of such Lumps of Glasse, instead of Stones and Gravel. And I have also Observ'd, that some kind of Fire-stone it Self, having been employ'd in Furnaces wherein it was expos'd to very strong and lasting Fires, has had all its Fixt Parts so Wrought on by the Fire, as to be Perfectly Vitrifi'd, which I have try'd by Forcing from it Pretty large Pieces of Perfect and Transparent Glass. And lest You might think, _Eleutherius_, that the Question'd Definition of Heat may be Demonstrated, by the Definition which is wont to be given and Acquiesc'd in, of its contrary Quality, Cold, whose property is taught to be _tam Homogenea, quam Heterogenea congregare_; Give me leave to represent to You, that neither is this Definition unquestionable; for not to Mention the Exceptions, which a _Logician_, as such, may Take at it, I Consider that the Union of Heterogeneous Bodies which is Suppos'd to be the Genuine Production of Cold, is not Perform'd by every Degree of Cold. For we see for Instance that in the Urine of Healthy Men, when the Liquor has been Suffer'd a while to stand, the Cold makes a Separation of the Thinner Part from the Grosser, which Subsides to the Bottom, and Growes Opacous there; whereas if the Urinal be Warme, these Parts readily Mingle again, and the whole Liquor becomes Transparent as before. And when, by Glaciation, Wood, Straw, Dust, Water, &c. are Suppos'd to be United into one Lump of Ice, the Cold does not Cause any Real Union or Adunation, (if I may so Speak) of these Bodies, but only Hardening the Aqueous Parts of the Liquor into Ice, the other Bodies being Accidentally Present in that Liquor are frozen up in it, but not Really United. And accordingly if we Expose a Heap of Mony Consisting of Gold, Silver and Copper Coynes, or any other Bodies of Differing Natures, which are Destitute of Aqueous Moisture, Capable of Congelation, to never so intense a Cold, we find not that these Differing Bodies are at all thereby so much as Compacted, much less United together; and even in Liquors Themselves we find _Phænomena_ which Induce us to Question the Definition which we are examining. If _Paracelsus_ his Authority were to be look't upon as a Sufficient Proof in matters of this Nature, I might here insist on that Process of his, whereby he Teaches that the Essence of Wine may be Sever'd from the Phlegme and Ignoble Part by the Assistance of Congelation: and because much Weight has been laid upon this Process, not only by _Paracelsians_, but other Writers, some of whom seem not to have perus'd it themselves, I shall give You the entire Passage in the Authors own Words, as I lately found them in the sixth Book of his _Archidoxis_, an Extract whereof I have yet about me; and it sounds thus. _De Vino sciendum est, fæcem phlegmaque ejus esse Mineram, & Vini substantiam esse corpus in quo conservatur Essentia, prout auri in auro latet Essentia. Juxta quod Practicam nobis ad Memoriam ponimus, ut non obliviscamur, ad hunc modum: Recipe Vinum vetustissimum & optimum quod habere poteris, calore saporeque ad placitum, hoc in vas vitreum infundas ut tertiam ejus partem impleat, & sigillo Hermetis occlusum in equino ventre mensibus quatuor, & in continuato calore teneatur qui non deficiat. Quo peracto, Hyeme cum frigus & gelu maxime sæviunt, his per mensem exponatur ut congeletur. Ad hunc modum frigus vini spiritum una cum ejus substantia protrudit in vini centrum, ac separat a phlegmate: Congelatum abjice, quod vero congelatum non est, id Spiritum cum substantia esse judicato. Hunc in Pelicanum positum in arenæ digestione non adeo calida per aliquod tempus manere finito; Postmodum eximito vini Magisterium, de quo locuti sumus._

But I dare not _Eleu._ lay much Weight upon this Process, because I have found that if it were True, it would be but seldom Practicable in this Country upon the best Wine: for Though this present Winter hath been Extraordinary Cold, yet in very Keen Frosts accompanied with lasting Snowes, I have not been able in any Measure to Freeze a thin Vial full of Sack; and even with Snow and Salt I could Freeze little more then the Surface of it; and I suppose _Eleu._ that tis not every Degree of Cold that is Capable of Congealing Liquors, which is able to make such an _Analysis_ (if I may so call it) of them by Separating their Aqueous and Spirituous Parts; for I have sometimes, though not often, frozen severally, Red-wine, Urine and Milk, but could not Observe the expected Separation. And the Dutch-Men that were forc'd to Winter in that Icie Region neer the Artick Circle, call'd _Nova Zembla_, although they relate, as we shall see below, that there was a Separation of Parts made in their frozen Beer about the middle of _November_, yet of the Freezing of their Back [Errata: Sack] in _December_ following they give but this Account: _Yea and our Sack, which is so hot, was Frozen very hard, so that when we were every Man to have his part, we were forc'd to melt it in the Fire; which we shar'd every second Day, about half a Pinte for a Man, wherewith we were forc'd to sustain our selves._ In which words they imply not, that their Back [Errata: Sack] was divided by the Frost into differing Substances, after such manner as their Beer had been. All which notwithstanding, _Eleu._ suppose that it may be made to appear, that even Cold sometimes may _Congregare Homogenea, & Heterogenea Segregare_: and to Manifest this I may tell you, that I did once, purposely cause to be Decocted in fair Water a Plant abounding with Sulphureous and Spirituous Parts, and having expos'd the Decoction to a keen North-Wind in a very Frosty Night, I observ'd, that the more Aqueous Parts of it were turn'd by the next Morning into Ice, towards the innermost part of which, the more Agile and Spirituous parts, as I then conjectur'd, having Retreated, to shun as much as might be their Environing Enemy, they had there preserv'd themselves unfrozen in the Form of a high colour'd Liquor, the Aqueous and Spirituous parts having been so sleightly (Blended rather than) United in the Decoction, that they were easily Separable by such a Degree of Cold as would not have been able to have Divorc'd the Parts of Urine or Wine, which by Fermentation or Digestion are wont, as Tryal has inform'd me, to be more intimately associated each with other. But I have already intimated, _Eleutherius_, that I shall not Insist on this Experiment, not only because, having made it but once I may possibly have been mistaken in it; but also (and that principally) because of that much more full and eminent Experiment of the Separative Virtue of extream Cold, that was made, against their Wills, by the foremention'd Dutch men that Winter'd in _Nova Zembla_; the Relation of whose Voyage being a very scarce Book, it will not be amiss to give you that Memorable part of it which concerns our present Theme, as I caus'd the Passage to be extracted out of the Englished Voyage it self.

"_Gerard de Veer_, _John Cornelyson_ and Others, sent out of _Amsterdam_, _Anno Dom._ 1596. being forc'd by unseasonable Weather to Winter in _Nova Zembla_, neer Ice-Haven; on the thirteenth of _October_, Three of us (sayes the Relation) went aboard the Ship, and laded a Sled with Beer; but when we had laden it, thinking to go to our House with it, suddenly there arose such a Winde, and so great a Storm and Cold, that we were forc'd to go into the Ship again, because we were not able to stay without; and we could not get the Beer into the Ship again, but were forc'd to let it stand without upon the Sled: the Fourteenth, as we came out of the Ship, we found the Barrel of Beer standing upon the Sled, but it was fast frozen at the Heads; yet by reason of the great Cold, the Beer that purg'd out froze as hard upon the Side of the Barrel, as if it had been glu'd thereon: and in that sort we drew it to our House, and set the Barrel an end, and drank it up; but first we were forc'd to melt the Beer, for there was scarce any unfrozen Beer in the barrel; but in that thick Yiest that was unfrozen lay the Strength of the Beer, so that it was too strong to drink alone, and that which was frozen tasted like Water; and being melted we Mix'd one with the other, and so drank it; but it had neither Strength nor Taste."

And on this Occasion I remember, that having the last very Sharp Winter purposely try'd to Freeze, among other Liquors, some Beer moderately strong, in Glass Vessels, with Snow and Salt, I observ'd, that there came out of the Neck a certain thick Substance, which, it seems, was much better able then the rest of the Liquor (that I found turn'd into Ice) to resist a Frost, and which, by its Colour and consistence seem'd mafestly [Transcriber's Note: manifestly] enough to be Yiest, whereat, I confess, I somewhat marvail'd, because I did not either discerne by the Taste, or find by Enquiry, that the Beer was at all too New to be very fit to be Drank. I might confirm the Dutchmens Relation, by what happen'd a while since to a neere Friend of mine, who complained to me, that having Brew'd some Beer or Ale for his own drinking in _Holland_ (where he then dwelt) the Keenness of the late bitter Winter froze the Drink so as to reduce it into Ice, and a small Proportion of a very Strong and Spirituous Liquor. But I must not entertain you any longer concerning Cold, not onely because you may think I have but lost my way into a Theme which does not directly belong to my present Undertaking; but because I have already enlarg'd my self too much upon the first Consideration I propos'd, though it appears so much a Paradox, that it seem'd to Require that I should say much to keep it from being thought a meere Extravagance; yet since I Undertook but to make the common Assumption of our Chymists and _Aristotelians_ appear Questionable, I hope I have so Perform'd that Task, that I may now Proceed to my Following Considerations, and Insist lesse on them than I have done on the First.

THE

SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.

_The Second Part._

The Second Consideration I Desire to have Notice Taken of, is This, That it is not so Sure, as Both Chymists and _Aristotelians_ are wont to Think it, that every Seemingly Similar or Distinct Substance that is Separated from a Body by the Help of the Fire, was Pre existent in it as a Principle or Element of it.

That I may not make this Paradox a Greater then I needs must, I will First Briefly Explain what the Proposition means, before I proceed to Argue for it.

And I suppose You will easily Believe That I do not mean that any thing is separable from a Body by Fire, that was not Materially pre-existent in it; for it Far Exceeds the power of Meerly Naturall Agents, and Consequently of the Fire, to produce anew, so Much as one Atome of Matter, which they can but Modifie and Alter, not Create; which is so Obvious a Truth, that almost all Sects of Philosophers have Deny'd the Power of producing Matter to Second Causes; and the _Epicureans_ and some Others have Done the Like, in Reference to their Gods themselves.

Nor does the Proposition peremptorily Deny but that some Things Obtain'd by the Fire from a Mixt Body, may have been more then barely Materially pre-existent in it, since there are Concretes, which before they be Expos'd to the Fire afford us several Documents of their abounding, some with Salt, and Others with Sulphur. For it will serve the present Turn, if it appear that diverse things Obtain'd from a Mixt Body expos'd to the Fire, were not its Ingredients Before: for if this be made to appear it, will [Errata: appear, it will] be Rationall enough to suspect that Chymists may Decieve themselves, and Others, in concluding Resolutely and Universally, those Substances to be the Elementary Ingredients of Bodies barely separated by the Fire, of which it yet may be Doubted Whether there be such or No; at least till some other Argument then that drawn from the _Analysis_ be Brought to resolve the Doubt.

That then which I Mean by the Proposition I am Explaining, is, That it may without Absurdity be Doubted whether or no the Differing Substances Obtainable from a Concrete Dissipated by the Fire were so Exsistent in it in that Forme (at least as to their minute Parts) wherein we find them when the _Analysis_ is over, that the Fire did only Dis-joyne and Extricate the Corpuscles of one Principle from those of the other wherewith before they were Blended.

Having thus Explain'd my Proposition, I shall endeavour to do two things, to prove it; The first of which is to shew that such Substances as Chymists call Principles May be produc'd _De novo_ (as they speak.) And the other is to make it probable that by the Fire we may Actually obtain from some Mixt Bodies such Substances as were not in the Newly Expounded sence, pre-existent in them.

To begin then with the First of these, I Consider that if it be as true as 'tis probable, that Compounded Bodies Differ from One Another but in the Various Textures Resulting from the Bigness, Shape, Motion, and contrivance of their smal parts, It will not be Irrationall to conceive that one and the same parcel of the Universal Matter may by Various Alterations and Contextures be brought to Deserve the Name, somtimes of a Sulphureous, and sometimes of a Terrene, or Aqueous Body. And this I could more largely Explicate, but that our Friend Mr. _Boyle_ has promis'd us something about Qualities, wherein the Theme I now willingly Resign him, Will I Question not be Studiously Enquired into. Wherefore what I shall now advance in favour of what I have lately Deliver'd shall be Deduc'd from Experiments made Divers Years since. The first of which would have been much more considerable, but that by some intervening Accidents I was Necessitated to lose the best time of the year, for a trial of the Nature of that I design'd; it being about he [Transcriber's Note: the] middle of _May_ before I was able to begin an Experiment which should have then been two moneths old; but such as it was, it will not perhaps be impertinent to Give You this Narrative of it. At the time newly Mention'd, I caus'd My Gardiner (being by Urgent Occasions Hinder'd from being present myself) to dig out a convenient quantity of good Earth, and dry it well in an Oven, to weigh it, to put it in an Earthen pot almost level with the Surface of the ground, and to set in it a selected seed he had before received from me, for that purpose, of Squash, which is an Indian kind of Pompion, that Growes apace; this seed I Ordered Him to Water only with Rain or Spring Water. I did not (when my Occasions permitted me to visit it) without delight behold how fast it Grew, though unseasonably sown; but the Hastning Winter Hinder'd it from attaining any thing neer its due and Wonted magnitude; (for I found the same Autumn, in my Garden, some of those plants, by Measure, as big about as my Middle) and made me order the having it taken Up; Which about the Middle of _October_ was carefully Done by the same Gardiner, who a while after sent me this account of it; _I have Weighed the Pompion with the Stalk and Leaves, all which Weighed three pound wanting a quarter; Then I took the Earth, baked it as formerly, and found it just as much as I did at First, which made me think I had not dry'd it Sufficiently: then I put it into the Oven twice More, after the Bread was Drawn, and Weighed it the Second time, but found it Shrink little or nothing._