In the fourth and last place, then, I consider, that as generally as Chymists are wont to appeal to Experience, and as confidently as they use to instance the several substances separated by the Fire from a Mixt Body, as a sufficient proof of their being its component Elements: Yet those differing Substances are many of them farr enough from Elementary simplicity, and may be yet look’d upon as mixt Bodies, most of them also retaining, somewhat at least, if not very much, of the Nature of those Concretes whence they were forc’d.

I am glad (sayes Eleutherius) to see the Vanity or Envy of the canting Chymists thus discover’d and chastis’d; and I could wish, that Learned Men would conspire together to make these deluding Writers sensible, that they must no longe hope with Impunity to abuse the World. For whilst such Men are quietly permitted to publish Books with promising Titles, and therein to Assert what they please, and contradict others, and ev’n themselves as they please, with as little danger of being confuted as of being understood, they are encourag’d to get themselves a name, at the cost of the Readers, by finding that intelligent Men are wont for the reason newly mention’d, to let their Books and Them alone: And the ignorant and credulous (of which the number is still much greater then that of the other) are forward to admire most what they least understand. But if Judicious men skill’d in Chymical affaires shall once agree to write clearly and plainly of them, and thereby keep men from being stunn’d, as it were, or imposd upon by dark or empty Words; ’tis to be hop’d that these men finding that they can no longer write impertinently and absurdly, without being laugh’d at for doing so, will be reduc’d either to write nothing, or Books that may teach us something, and not rob men, as formerly, of invaluable Time; and so ceasing to trouble the World with Riddles or Impertinencies, we shall either by their Books receive an Advantage, or by their silence escape an Inconvenience.

But after all this is said (continues Eleutherius) it may be represented in favour of the Chymists, that, in one regard the Liberty they take in using names, if it be excusable at any time, may be more so when they speak of the substances whereinto their Analysis resolves mixt Bodies: Since as Parents have the Right to name their own Children, it has ever been allow’d to the Authors of new Inventions, to Impose Names upon them. And therefore the subjects we speak of being so the Productions of the Chymist’s Art, as not to be otherwise, but by it, obtainable; it seems but equitable to give the Artists leave to name them as they please: considering also that none are so fit and likely to teach us what those Bodies are, as they to whom we ow’d them.

I told You already (sayes Carneades) that there is great Difference betwixt the being able to make Experiments, and the being able to give a Philosophical Account of them. And I will not now add, that many a Mine-digger may meet, whilst he follows his work, with a Gemm or a Mineral which he knowes not what to make of, till he shews it a Jeweller or a Mineralist to be inform’d what it is. But that which I would rather have here observ’d, is, That the Chymists I am now in debate with have given up the Liberty You challeng’d for them, of using Names at Pleasure, and confin’d Themselves by their Descriptions, though but such as they are, of their Principles; so that although they might freely have call’d any thing their Analysis presents them with, either Sulphur, or Mercury, or Gas, or Blas, or what they pleas’d; yet when they have told me that Sulphur (for instance) is a Primogeneal and simple Body, Inflamable, Odorous, &c. they must give me leave to dis-believe them, if they tell me that a Body that is either compounded or uninflamable is such a Sulphur; and to think they play with words, when they teach that Gold and some other Minerals abound with an Incombustible Sulphur, which is as proper an Expression, as a Sun-shine Night, or Fluid Ice.

But before I descend to the Mention of Particulars belonging to my Fourth Consideration, I think it convenient to premise a few Generals; some of which I shall the less need to insist on at present, because I have Touched on them already.

And first I must invite you to take notice of a certain passage in Helmont;Illud notabile, in vino esse Spiritum quendam mitiorem ulterioris & nobilioris qualitatis participem quā qui immediatè per distillationem elicitur diciturque aqua vitæ dephlegmata, quod facilius in simplici Olivarum oleo ad oculum spectatur. Quippe distillatum oleum absque laterum aut [tigularum] additamento, quodque oleum Philosophorum dicitur, multum dissert ab ejus oleitate; quæ elicitur prius reducto oleo simplici in partes dissimilares sola digestione & Salis circulati Paracelsici appositione; siquidem sal circulatum idem in pondere & quantitatibus pristinis ab oleo segregatur postquam oleum olivarum in sui heterogeneitates est dispositum. Dulce enim tunc Oleum Olivarum ex oleo, prout & suavissimus vini spiritus a vino hoc pacto separantur, longéque ab aquæ vitæ acrimoniâ distinctus.—Helmont. Aura vitalis, pag. 725. which though I have not Found much heeded by his Readers, He Himself mentions as a notable thing, and I take to be a very considerable one; for whereas the Distill’d oyle of oyle-olive, though drawn per se is (as I have try’d) of a very sharp and fretting Quality, and of an odious tast, He tells us that Simple oyle being only digested with Paracelsus’s sal circulatum, is reduc’d into dissimilar parts, and yields a sweet Oyle, very differing from the oyle [distill’d, from] sallet oyle; as also that by the same way there may be separated from Wine a very sweet and gentle Spirit, partaking of a far other and nobler quality then that which is immediately drawn by distillation and call’d Dephlegm’d Aqua vitæ, from whose Acrimony this other spirit is exceedingly remote, although the sal circulatum that makes these Anatomies be separated from the Analyz’d Bodies, in the same weight and with the same qualities it had before; which Affirmation of Helmont if we admit to be true, we must acknowledge that there may be a very great disparity betwixt bodies of the same denomination (as several oyles, or several spirits) separable from compound Bodies: For, besides the differences I shall anon take notice of, betwixt those distill’d Oyles that are commonly known to Chymists, it appears by this, that by means of the Sal Circulatum, There may be quite another sort of Oyles obtain’d from the same Body; and who knowes but that there may be yet other Agents found in Nature, by whose help there may, whether by Transmutation or otherwise, be obtain’d from the Bodies Vulgarly call’d Mixt, Oyles or other substances, Differing from those of the same Denomination, known either to Vulgar Chymists, or even to Helmont Himself: but for fear You should tell me, that this is but a conjecture grounded upon another Man’s Relation, whose Truth we have not the means to Experiment, I will not Insist upon it; but leaving You to Consider of it at leasure, I shall proceed to what is next.

Secondly, Then if that be True which was the Opinion of Lucippus, Democritus, and other prime Anatomists of old, and is in our dayes reviv’d by no mean Philosophers; namely, That our Culinary Fire, such as Chymists use, consists of swarmes of little Bodies swiftly moving, which by their smallness and motion are able to permeate the sollidest and Compactest Bodies, and even Glass it Self; If this (I say) be True, since we see that In flints and other Concretes, the Fiery part is Incorporated with the Grosser, it will not be Irrationall to conjecture, that multitudes of these Fiery Corpuscles, getting in at the Pores of the Glass, may associate themselves with the parts of the mixt Body whereon they work, and with them Constitute new Kinds of Compound Bodies, according as the Shape, Size, and other Affections of the Parts of the Dissipated Body happen to dispose them, in Reference to such Combinations; of which also there may be the greater Number; if it be likewise granted that the Corpuscles of the Fire, though all exceeding minute, and very swiftly moved, are not all of the same bigness, nor Figure. And if I had not Weightier Considerations to Discourse to you of, I could name to you, to Countenance what I have newly said, some particular Experiments by which I have been Deduc’d to think, that the Particles of an open Fire working upon some Bodies may really Associate themselves therewith, and add to the Quantity. But because I am not so sure, that when the Fire works upon Bodies included in Glasses, it does it by a reall Trajection of the Fiery Corpuscles themselves, through the Substance of the Glass, I will proceed to what is next to be mention’d.

I could (sayes Eleutherius) help you to some Proofes, whereby I think it may be made very probable, that when the Fire acts immediately upon a Body, some of its Corpuscles may stick to those of the burnt Body, as they seem to do in Quicklime, but in greater numbers, and more permanently. But for fear of retarding Your Progress, I shall desire you to deferr this Enquiry till another time, and proceed as you intended.

You may then in the next place (sayes Carneades) observe with me, that not only there are some Bodies, as Gold, and Silver, which do not by the usual Examens, made by Fire, Discover themselves to be mixt; but if (as You may Remember I formerly told You) it be a De-compound Body that is Dissipable into several Substances, by being expos’d to the Fire it may be resolv’d into such as are neither Elementary, nor such as it was upon its last mixture Compounded of; but into new Kinds of mixts. Of this I have already given You some Examples in Sope, Sugar of Lead, and Vitrioll. Now if we shall Consider that there are some Bodies, as well Natural, (as that I last nam’d) as Factitious, manifestly De-compounded; That in the Bowells of the Earth Nature may, as we see she sometimes does, make strange Mixtures; That Animals are nourish’d with other Animals and Plants; And, that these themselves have almost all of them their Nutriment and Growth, either from a certain Nitrous Juice Harbour’d in the Pores of the Earth, or from the Excrements of Animalls, or from the putrify’d Bodies, either of living Creatures or Vegetables, or from other Substances of a Compounded Nature; If, I say, we consider this, it may seem probable, that there may be among the Works of Nature (not to mention those of Art) a greater Number of De-compound Bodies, then men take Notice of; And indeed, as I have formerly also observ’d, it does not at all appear, that all Mixtures must be of Elementary Bodies; but it seems farr more probable, that there are divers sorts of compound Bodies, even in regard of all or some of their Ingredients, consider’d Antecedently to their Mixture. For though some seem to be made up by the immediate Coalitions of the Elements, or Principles themselves, and therefore may be call’d Prima Mista, or Mista Primaria; yet it seems that many other Bodies are mingl’d (if I may so speak) at the second hand, their immediate Ingredients being not Elementary, but these primary Mixts newly spoken of; And from divers of these Secondary sort of Mixts may result, by a further Composition, a Third sort, and so onwards. Nor is it improbable, that some Bodies are made up of Mixt Bodies, not all of the same Order, but of several; as (for Instance) a Concrete may consist of Ingredients, whereof the one may have been a primary, the other a Secondary Mixt Body; (as I have in Native Cinnaber, by my way of Resolving it, found both that Courser [the] part that seems more properly to be Oar, and a Combustible Sulphur, and a Running Mercury:) or perhaps without any Ingredient of this latter sort, it may be compos’d of Mixt Bodies, some of them of the first, and some of the third Kind; And this may perhaps be somewhat Illustrated by reflecting upon what happens in some Chymical Preparations of those Medicines which they call their Bezoardicum’s. For first, they take Antimony and Iron, which may be look’d upon as Prima Mista; of these they compound a Starry Regulus, and to this they add according to their Intention, either Gold, or Silver, which makes with it a new and further Composition. To this they add Sublimate, which is it self a De-compound body, (consisting of common Quicksilver, and divers Salts United by Sublimation into a Crystalline Substance) and from this Sublimate, and the other Metalline Mixtures, they draw a Liquor, which may be allow’d to be of a yet more Compounded Nature. If it be true, as Chymists affirm it, that by this Art some of the Gold or Silver mingl’d with the Regulus may be carry’d over the Helme with it by the Sublimate; as indeed a Skilfull and Candid person complain’d to me a while since, That an experienc’d Friend of His and mine, having by such a way brought over a great Deal of Gold, in hope to do something further with it, which might be gainfull to him, has not only miss’d of his Aim, but is unable to recover his Volatiliz’d Gold out of the Antimonial butter, wherewith it is strictly united.

Now (Continues Carneades) if a Compound body consist of Ingredients that are not meerly Elementary; it is not hard to conceive, that the Substances into which the Fire Dissolves it, though seemingly Homogeneous enough, may be of a Compounded Nature, those parts of each body that are most of Kin associating themselves into a Compound of a new Kind. As when (for example sake) I have caus’d Vitrioll and Sal Armoniack, and Salt Petre to be mingl’d and Destill’d together, the Liquor that came over manifested it self not to be either Spirit of Nitre, or of Sal Armoniack, or of Vitrioll. For none of these would dissolve crude gold, which yet my Liquor was able readily to do; and thereby manifested it self to be a new Compound, consisting at least of Spirit of Nitre, and Sal Armoniack, (for the latter dissolv’d in the former, will Work on Gold) which nevertheless are not by any known way separable, and consequently would not pass for a Mixt Body, if we our selves did not, to obtain it, put and Distill together divers Concretes, whose Distinct Operations were known before hand. And, to add on this Occasion the Experiment I lately promis’d You, because it is Applicable to our present purpose, I shall Acquaint You, that suspecting the Common Oyle of Vitrioll not to be altogether such a simple Liquor as Chymists presume it, I mingl’d it with an equal or a Double Quantity (for I try’d the Experiment more then once) of common Oyle of Turpentine, such as together with the other Liquor I bought at the Drugsters. And having carefully (for the Experiment is Nice, and somewhat dangerous) Distill’d the Mixture in a small Glass Retort, I obtain’d according to my Desire, (besides the two Liquors I had put in) a pretty Quantity of a certain substance, which sticking all about the Neck of the Retort Discover’d it self to be Sulphur, not only by a very strong Sulphureous smell, and by the colour of Brimstone; but also by this, That being put upon a coal, it was immediately kindl’d, and burn’d like common Sulphur. And of this Substance I have yet by me some little Parcells, which You may command and examine when you please. So that from this Experiment I may deduce either one, or both of these Propositions, That a real Sulphur may be made by the Conjunction of two such Substances as Chymists take for Elementary, And which did not either of them apart appear to have any such body in it; or that Oyle of Vitrioll though a Distill’d Liquor, and taken for part of the Saline Principle of the Concrete that yields it, may yet be so Compounded a body as to contain, besides its Saline part, a Sulphur like common brimstone, which would hardly be it self a simple or un-compounded body.