Doctrine of the four elements of incompetency to explain the
Properties of Compound bodies. And for this Rejection of a Vulgar
Error, they ought not to be deny'd what praise men may deserve for
exploding a Doctrine whose Imperfections are so conspicuous, that men
needed but not to shut their Eyes, to discover them. But I am
mistaken, if our Hermetical Philosophers Themselves need not, as well
as the Peripateticks, have Recourse to more Fruitfull and
Comprehensive Principles then the _tria Prima_, to make out the
Properties of the Bodies they converse with. Not to accumulate
Examples to this purpose, (because I hope for a fitter opportunity to
prosecute this Subject) let us at present only point at Colour, that
you may guess by what they say of so obvious and familiar a Quality,
how little Instruction we are to expect from the _Tria Prima_ in those
more abstruse ones, which they with the _Aristotelians_ stile Occult.
For about Colours, neither do they at all agree among themselves, nor
have I met with any one, of which of the three Perswasions soever,
that does intelligibly explicate Them. The Vulgar Chymists are wont to
ascribe Colours to Mercury; _Paracelsus_ in divers places attributes
them to Salt; and _Sennertus_,[25] having recited their differing
Opinions, Dissents from both, and referrs Colours rather unto Sulphur.
But how Colours do, nay, how they may, arise from either of these
Principles, I think you will scarce say that any has yet intelligibly
explicated. And if Mr. _Boyle_ will allow me to shew you the
Experiments which he has collected about Colours, you will, I doubt
not, confess that bodies exhibite colours, not upon the Account of the
Predominancy of this or that Principle in them, but upon that of their
Texture, and especially the Disposition of their superficial parts,
whereby the Light rebounding thence to the Eye is so modifi'd, as by
differing Impressions variously to affect the Organs of Sight. I might
here take notice of the pleasing variety of Colours exhibited by the
Triangular glass, (as 'tis wont to be call'd) and demand, what
addition or decrement of either Salt, Sulphur, or Mercury, befalls the
Body of the Glass by being Prismatically figur'd; and yet 'tis known,
that without that shape it would not affor'd those colours as it does.
But because it may be objected, that these are not real, but apparent
Colours; that I may not lose time in examing the Distinction, I will
alledge against the Chymists, a couple of examples of Real and
Permanent Colours Drawn from Metalline Bodies, and represent, that
without the addition of any extraneous body, Quicksilver may by the
Fire alone, and that in glass Vessels, be depriv'd of its silver-like
Colour, and be turn'd into a Red Body; and from this Red Body without
Addition likewise may be obtain'd a Mercury Bright and Specular as it
was before; So that I have here a lasting Colour Generated and
Destroy'd (as I have seen) at pleasure, without adding or taking away
either Mercury, Salt, or Sulphur; and if you take a clean and slender
piece of harden'd steel, and apply to it the flame of a candle at some
little distance short of the point, You shall not have held the Steel
long in the flame, but You shall perceive divers Colours, as Yellow,
Red and Blew, to appear upon the Surface of the metal, and as it were
run along in chase of one another towards the point; So that the same
body, and that in one and the same part, may not only have a new
colour produc'd in it, but exhibite successively divers Colours within
a minute of an hour, or thereabouts, and any of these Colours may by
Removing the Steel from the Fire, become Permanent, and last many
years. And this Production and Variety of Colours cannot reasonably be
suppos'd to proceed from the Accession of any of the three Principles,
to which of them soever Chymists will be pleas'd to ascribe Colours;
especially considering, that if you but suddenly Refrigerate that
Iron, First made Red hot, it will be harden'd and Colourless again;
and not only by the Flame of a Candle, but by any other equivalent
heat Conveniently appli'd, the like Colours will again be made to
appear and succeed one another, as at the First. But I must not any
further prosecute an Occasional Discourse, though that were not so
Difficult for me to do, as I fear it would be for the Chymists to give
a better Account of the other Qualities, by their Principles, then
they have done of Colours. And your _Sennertus_ Himself (though an
Author I much value) would I fear have been exceedingly puzl'd to
resolve, by the _Tria Prima_, halfe that Catalogue of Problems, which
he challenges the Vulgar Peripateticks to explicate by their four
Elements.[26] And supposing it were true, that Salt or Sulphur were
the Principle to which this or that Quality may be peculiarly
referr'd, yet though he that teaches us this teaches us something
concerning That quality, yet he Teaches us but something. For indeed
he does not Teach us That which can in any Tollerable measure satisfie
an inquisitive Searcher after Truth. For what is it to me to know,
that such a quality resides in such a Principle or Element, whilst I
remain altogether ignorant of the Cause of that quality, and the
manner of its production and Operation? How little do I know more then
any Ordinary Man of Gravity, if I know but that the Heaviness of mixt
bodies proceeds from that of the Earth they are compos'd of, if I know
not the reason why the Earth is Heavy? And how little does the Chymist
teach the Philosopher of the Nature of Purgatition, if he only tells
him that the Purgative Vertue of Medicines resides in their Salt? For,
besides that this must not be conceded without Limitation, since the
purging parts of many Vegetables Extracted by the Water wherein they
are infus'd, are at most but such compounded Salts, (I mean mingl'd
with Oyle, and Spirit, and Earth, as Tartar and divers other Subjects
of the Vegetable Kingdom afford;) And since too that Quicksilver
precipitated either with Gold, or without Addition, into a powder, is
wont to be strongly enough Cathartical, though the Chymists have not
yet prov'd, that either Gold or Mercury have any Salt at all, much
less any that is Purgative; Besides this, I say, how little is it to
me, to know That 'tis the Salt of the Rhubarb (for Instance) that
purges, if I find That it does not purge as Salt; since scarce any
Elementary Salt is in small quantity cathartical. And if I know not
how Purgation in general is effected in a Humane Body? In a word, as
'tis one thing to know a mans Lodging, and another, to be acquainted
with him; so it may be one thing to know the subject wherein a Quality
principally resides, and another thing to have a right notion and
knowledg of the quality its self. Now that which I take to be the
reason of this Chymical Deficiency, is the same upon whose account I
think the _Aristotelian_ and divers other Theories incompetent to
explicate the Origen [Errata: origine] of Qualities. For I am apt to
think, that men will never be able to explain the _Phaenomena_ of
Nature, while they endeavour to deduce them only from the Presence and
Proportion of such or such material Ingredients, and consider such
ingredients or Elements as Bodies in a state of rest; whereas indeed
the greatest part of the affections of matter, and consequently of the
_Phaenomena_ of nature, seems to depend upon the motion and the
continuance [Errata: contrivance] of the small parts of Bodies. For
'tis by motion that one part of matter acts upon another; and 'tis,
for the most part, the texture of the Body upon which the moving parts
strike, that modifies to motion or Impression, and concurrs with it
to the production of those Effects which make up the chief part of the
Naturalists Theme.
[Footnote 25: _De Cons. & dissen. cap. 11. pag. 186._]
[Footnote 26: _Sennert. de Con. seus. [Transcriber's Note: Consens.] &
Dissens. pag. 165. 166._]
But (sayes _Eleutherius_) me thinks for all this, you have left some
part of what I alledg'd in behalf of the three principles, unanswer'd.
For all that you have said will not keep this from being a useful
Discovery, that since in the Salt of one Concrete, in the Sulphur of
another and the Mercury of a third, the Medicinal vertue of it
resides, that Principle ought to be separated from the rest, and there
the desired faculty must be sought for.
I never denyed (Replyes _Carneades_) that the Notion of the _Tria
Prima_ may be of some use, but (continues he laughing) by what you now
alledg for it, it will but appear That it is useful to Apothecaries,
rather than to Philosophers, The being able to make things Operative
being sufficient to those, whereas the Knowledge of Causes is the
Thing looked after by These. And let me Tell You, _Eleutherius_, even
this it self will need to be entertained with some caution.
For first, it will not presently follow, That if the Purgative or
other vertue of a simple may be easily extracted by Water or Spirit of
Wine, it Resides in the Salt or Sulphur of the Concrete; Since unlesse
the Body have before been resolved by the Fire, or some Other Powerful
Agent, it will, for the most part, afford in the Liquors I have named,
rather the finer compounded parts of it self, Than the Elementary
ones. As I noted before, That Water will dissolve not only pure Salts,
but Crystals of Tartar, Gumme Arabick, Myrr'h, and Other Compound
Bodies. As also Spirit of Wine will Dissolve not only the pure Sulphur
of Concretes, but likewise the whole Substance of divers Resinous
Bodies, as Benzoin, the Gummous parts of Jallap, Gumme Lacca, and
Other bodies that are counted perfectly Mixt. And we see that the
Extracts made either with Water or Spirit of Wine are not of a simple
and Elementary Nature, but Masses consisting of the looser Corpuscles,
and finer parts of the Concretes whence they are Drawn; since by
Distillation they may be Divided into more Elementary substances.
Next, we may consider That even when there intervenes a Chymical
resolution by he [Transcriber's Note: the] Fire, 'tis seldom in the
Saline or Sulphureous principle, as such, that the desir'd Faculty of
the Concrete Resides; But, as that Titular Salt or Sulphur is yet a
mixt body, though the Saline or Sulphureous Nature be predominant in
it. For, if in Chymical Resolutions the separated Substances were pure
and simple Bodies, and of a perfect Elementary Nature; no one would be
indued with more Specifick Vertues, than another; and their qualities
would Differ as Little as do those of Water. And let me add this upon
the bye, That even Eminent Chymists have suffer'd themselves to be
reprehended by me for their over great Diligence in purifying some of
the things they obtain by Fire from mixt Bodies. For though such
compleatly purifyed Ingredients of Bodies might perhaps be more
satisfactory to our Understanding; yet others are often more useful to
our Lives, the efficacy of such Chymical Productions depending most
upon what they retain of the Bodies whence they are separated, or gain
by the new associations of the Dissipated among themselves; whereas
if they were meerly Elementary, their uses would be comparatively very
small; and the vertues of Sulphurs, Salts, or Other such Substances of
one denomination, would be the very same.
And by the Way (_Eleutherius_) I am inclin'd upon this ground to
Think, That the artificial resolution of compound bodies by Fire does
not so much enrich mankind, as it divides them into their supposed
Principles; as upon the score of its making new compounds by now
[Transcriber's Note: new] combinations of the dissipated parts of the
resolv'd Body. For by this means the Number of mixt Bodies is
considerably increased. And many of those new productions are indow'd
with useful qualities, divers of which they owe not to the body from
which they were obtein'd, but to Their newly Acquired Texture.
But thirdly, that which is principally to be Noted is this, that as
there are divers Concretes whose Faculties reside in some one or other
of those differing Substances that Chymists call their Sulphurs,
Salts, and Mercuries, and consequently may be best obtain'd, by
analyzing the Concrete whereby the desired Principles may be had
sever'd or freed from the rest; So there are other wherein the noblest
properties lodge not in the Salt, or Sulphur, or Mercury, but depend
immediately upon the form (or if you will) result from the determinate
structure of the Whole Concrete; and consequently they that go about
to extract the Vertues of such bodies, by exposing them to the
Violence of the Fire, do exceedingly mistake, and take the way to
Destroy what they would obtain.
I remmember that _Helmont_ himself somewhere confesses, That as the
Fire betters some things and improves their Vertues, so it spoyles
others and makes them degenerate. And elsewhere he judiciously
affirmes, that there may be sometimes greater vertue in a simple, such
as Nature has made it, than in any thing that can by the fire be
separated from it. And lest you should doubt whether he means by the
vertues of things those that are Medical; he has in one place[27] this
ingenuous confession; _Credo_ (sayes he) _simplicia in sua
simplicitate esse sufficientia pro sanatione omnium morborum._ Nag.
[Errata: Nay,] Barthias, even in a Comment upon _Beguinus_,[28]
scruples not to make this acknowledgment; _Valde absurdum est_ (sayes
he) _ex omnibus rebus extracta facere, salia, quintas essentias;
praesertim ex substantiis per se plane vel subtilibus vel homogeneis,
quales sunt uniones, Corallia, Moscus, Ambra, &c._ Consonantly
whereunto he also tells Us (and Vouches the famous _Platerus_, for
having candidly given the same Advertisement to his Auditors,) that
some things have greater vertues, and better suited to our humane
nature, when unprepar'd, than when they have past the Chymists Fire;
as we see, sayes my Author, in Pepper; of which some grains swallowed
perform more towards the relief of a Distempered stomack, than a great
quantity of the Oyle of the same spice.
[Footnote 27: Helmont Pharm. & Dispens. Nov. p. 458.]
[Footnote 28: Vide Jer. ad Begu. Lib. 1. Cap. 17.]
It has been (pursues _Carneades_) by our Friend here present observ'd
concerning Salt-petre, that none of the substances into which the Fire
is wont to divide it, retaines either the Tast, the cooling vertue, or
some other of the properties of the Concrete; and that each of those
Substances acquires new qualities, not to be found in the Salt-Petre
it self. The shining property of the tayls of gloworms does survive
but so short a time the little animal made conspicuous by it, that
inquisitive men have not scrupled publickly to deride _Baptista Porta_
and others; who deluded perhaps with some Chymical surmises have
ventur'd to prescribe the distillation of a Water from the tayles of
Glowormes, as a sure way to obtain a liquor shining in the Dark. To
which I shall now add no other example than that afforded us by Amber;
which, whilst it remains an intire body, is endow'd with an Electrical
faculty of drawing to it self fethers, strawes, and such like Bodies;
which I never could observe either in its Salt, its Spirit, its Oyle,
or in the Body I remember I once made by the reunion of its divided
Elements; none of these having such a Texture as the intire Concrete.
And however Chymists boldly deduce such and such properties from this
or that proportion of their component Principles; yet in Concretes
that abound with this or that Ingredient, 'tis not alwayes so much by
vertue of its presence, nor its plenty, that the Concrete is qualify'd
to perform such and such Effects; as upon the account of the
particular texture of that and the other Ingredients, associated after
a determinate Manner into one Concrete (though possibly such a
proportion of that ingredient may be more convenient than an other for
the constituting of such a body.) Thus in a clock the hand is mov'd
upon the dyal, the bell is struck, and the other actions belonging to
the engine are perform'd, not because the Wheeles are of brass or
iron, or part of one metal and part of another, or because the weights
are of Lead, but by Vertue of the size, shape, bigness, and
co-aptation of the several parts; which would performe the same things
though the wheels were of Silver, or Lead, or Wood, and the Weights of
Stone or Clay; provided the Fabrick or Contrivance of the engine were
the same: though it be not to be deny'd, that Brasse and Steel are
more convenient materials to make clock-wheels of than Lead, or Wood.
And to let you see, _Eleutherius_, that 'tis sometimes at least, upon
the Texture of the small parts of a body, and not alwaies upon the
presence, or recesse, or increase, or Decrement of any one of its
Principle, that it may lose some such Qualities, and acquire some
such others as are thought very strongly inherent to the bodies they
Reside in. [Errata: in;] I will add to what may from my past discourse
be refer'd to this purpose, this Notable Example, from my Own
experience; That Lead may without any additament, and only by various
applications of the Fire, lose its colour, and acquire sometimes a
gray, sometimes a yellowish, sometimes a red, sometimes an
_amethihstine_ [Transcriber's Note: amethistine] colour; and after
having past through these, and perhaps divers others, again recover
its leaden colour, and be made a bright body. That also this Lead,
which is so flexible a metal, may be made as brittle as Glasse, and
presently be brought to be again flexible and Malleable as before. And
besides, that the same lead, which I find by _Microscopes_ to be one
of the most opacous bodies in the World, may be reduced to a fine
transparent glasse; whence yet it may returne to an opacous Nature
again; and all this, as I said, without the addition of any extraneous
body, and meerly by the manner and Method of exposing it to the Fire.
But (sayes _Carneades_) after having already put you to so prolix a
trouble, it is time for me to relieve you with a promise of putting
speedily a period to it; And to make good that promise, I shall from
all that I have hitherto discoursed with you, deduce but this one
proposition by way of Corollary. [_That it may as yet be doubted,
whether or no there be any determinate Number of Elements; Or, if you
please, whether or no all compound bodies, do consist of the same
number of Elementary ingredients or material Principles._]
This being but an inference from the foregoing Discourse, it will not
be requisite to insist at large on the proofs of it; But only to point
at the chief of Them, and Referr You for Particulars to what has been
already Delivered.
In the First place then, from what has been so largely discours'd, it
may appear, that the Experiments wont to be brought, whether by the
common Peripateticks, or by the vulgar Chymists, to demonstrate that
all mixt bodies are made up precisely either of the four Elements, or
the three Hypostatical Principles, do not evince what they are
alledg'd to prove. And as for the other common arguments, pretended to
be drawn from Reason in favour of _Aristotelian Hypothesis_ (for the
Chymists are wont to rely almost altogether upon Experiments) they are
Commonly grounded upon such unreasonable or precarious Suppositions,
that 'tis altogether as easie and as just for any man to reject them,
as for those that take them for granted to assert them, being indeed
all of them as indemonstrable as the conclusion to be inferr'd from
them; and some of them so manifestly weak and prooflesse; that he must
be a very courteous adversary, that can be willing to grant them; and
as unskilful a one, that can be compelled to do so.
In the next place, it may be considered, if what those Patriarchs of
the _Spagyrists_, _Paracelsus_ and _Helmont_, do on divers occasions
positively deliver, be true; namely that the _Alkahest_ does Resolve
all mixt Bodies into other Principles than the fire, it must be
decided which of the two resolutions (that made by the _Alkahest_, or
that made by the fire) shall determine the number of the Elements,
before we can be certain how many there are.
And in the mean time, we may take notice in the last place, that as
the distinct substances whereinto the _Alkahest_ divides bodies, are
affirm'd to be differing in nature from those whereunto they are wont
to be reduc'd by fire, and to be obtain'd from some bodies more in
Number than from some others; since he tells us, he could totally
reduce all sorts of Stones into Salt only, whereas of a coal he had
two distinct Liquors.[29] So, although we should acquiesce in that
resolution which is made by fire, we find not that all mixt bodies are
thereby divided into the same number of Elements and Principles; some
Concretes affordding more of them than others do; Nay and sometimes
this or that Body affording a greater number of Differing substances
by one way of management, than the same yields by another. And they
that out of Gold, or Mercury, or Muscovy-glasse, will draw me as many
distinct substances as I can separate from Vitriol, or from the juice
of Grapes variously orderd, may teach me that which I shall very
Thankfully learn. Nor does it appear more congruous to that variety
that so much conduceth to the perfection of the Universe, that all
elemented bodies be compounded of the same number of Elements, then it
would be for a language, that all its words should consist of the same
number of Letters.
[Footnote 29: _Novi saxum & lapides omnes in merum salem suo saxo aut
lapidi & aequiponderantem reducere absque omni prorsus sulphure aut
Mercurio._ Helmont. pag. 409.]
THE
SCEPTICAL CHYMIST
OR,
_A Paradoxical Appendix to the Foregoing Treatise._
_The Sixth Part._
Here _Carneades_ Having Dispach't what he Thought Requisite to oppose
against what the Chymists are wont to alledge for Proof of their three
Principles, Paus'd awhile, and look'd about him, to discover whether
it were Time for him and his Friend to Rejoyne the Rest of the
Company. But _Eleutherius_ perceiving nothing yet to forbid Them to
Prosecute their Discourse a little further, said to his Friend, (who
had likewise taken Notice of the same thing) I halfe expected,
_Carneades_, that after you had so freely declar'd Your doubting,
whether there be any Determinate Number of Elements, You would have
proceeded to question whether there be any Elements at all. And I
confess it will be a Trouble to me if You defeat me of my Expectation;
especially since you see the leasure we have allow'd us may probably
suffice to examine that Paradox; because you have so largly Deduc'd
already many Things pertinent to it, that you need but intimate how
you would have them Apply'd, and what you would inferr from them.
_Carneades_ having in Vain represented that their leasure could be but
very short, that he had already prated very long, that he was
unprepared to maintain so great and so invidious a Paradox, was at
length prevail'd with to tell his Friend; Since, _Eleutherius_, you
will have me Discourse _Ex Tempore_ of the Paradox you mention, I am
content, (though more perhaps to express my Obedience, then my
Opinion) to tell you that (supposing the Truth of _Helmonts_ and
_Paracelsus's_ Alkahestical Experiments, if I may so call them) though
it may seem extravagant, yet it is not absurd to doubt, whether, for
ought has been prov'd, there be a necessity to admit any Elements, or
Hypostatical Principles, at all.
And, as formerly, so now, to avoid the needless trouble of Disputing
severally with the _Aristotelians_ and the Chymists, I will address my
self to oppose them I have last nam'd, Because their Doctrine about
the Elements is more applauded by the Moderns, as pretending highly to
be grounded upon Experience. And, to deal not only fairly but
favourably with them, I will allow them to take in Earth and Water to
their other Principles. Which I consent to, the rather that my
Discourse may the better reach the Tenents of the Peripateticks; who
cannot plead for any so probably as for those two Elements; that of
fire above the Air being Generally by Judicious Men exploded as an
Imaginary thing; And the Air not concurring to compose Mixt Bodies as
one of their Elements, but only lodging in their pores, or Rather
replenishing, by reason of its Weight and Fluidity, all those Cavities
of bodies here below, whether compounded or not, that are big enough
to admit it, and are not fill'd up with any grosser substance.
And, to prevent mistakes, I must advertize You, that I now mean by
Elements, as those Chymists that speak plainest do by their
Principles, certain Primitive and Simple, or perfectly unmingled
bodies; which not being made of any other bodies, or of one another,
are the Ingredients of which all those call'd perfectly mixt Bodies
are immediately compounded, and into which they are ultimately
resolved: now whether there be any one such body to be constantly met
with in all, and each, of those that are said to be Elemented bodies,
is the thing I now question.
By this State of the controversie you will, I suppose, Guess, that I
need not be so absur'd [Errata: absurd] as to deny that there are such
bodies as Earth, and Water, and Quicksilver, and Sulphur: But I look
upon Earth and Water, as component parts of the Universe, or rather
of the Terrestrial Globe, not of all mixt bodies. And though I will
not peremptorily deny that there may sometimes either a running
Mercury, or a Combustible Substance be obtain'd from a Mineral, or
even a Metal; yet I need not Concede either of them to be an Element
in the sence above declar'd; as I shall have occasion to shew you by
and by.
To give you then a brief account of the grounds I intend to proceed
upon, I must tell you, that in matters of Philosophy, this seems to me
a sufficient reason to doubt of a known and important proposition,
that the Truth of it is not yet by any competent proof made to appear.
And congruously herunto, if I shew that the grounds upon which men are
perswaded that there are Elements are unable to satisfie a considering
man, I suppose my doubts will appear rational.
Now the Considerations that induce men to think that there are
Elements, may be conveniently enough referr'd to two heads. Namely,
the one, that it is necessary that Nature make use of Elements to
constitute the bodies that are reputed Mixt. And the other, That the
Resolution of such bodies manifests that nature had compounded them of
Elementary ones.
In reference to the former of these Considerations, there are two or
three things that I have to Represent.
And I will begin with reminding you of the Experiments I not long
since related to you concerning the growth of pompions, mint, and
other vegetables, out of fair water. For by those experiments its
seems evident, that Water may be Transmuted into all the other
Elements; from whence it may be inferr'd, both, That 'tis not every
Thing Chymists will call Salt, Sulphur, or Spirit, that needs alwayes
be a Primordiate and Ingenerable body. And that Nature may contex a
Plant (though that be a perfectly mixt Concrete) without having all
the Elements previously presented to her to compound it of. And, if
you will allow the relation I mention'd out of _Mounsieur De Rochas_
to be True; then may not only plants, but Animals and Minerals too, be
produced out of Water, And however there is little doubt to be made,
but that the plants my tryals afforded me as they were like in so
many other respects to the rest of the plants of the same
Denomination; so they would, in case I had reduc'd them to
putrefaction, have likewise produc'd Wormes or other insects, as well
as the resembling Vegetables are wont to do; so that Water may, by
Various Seminal Principles, be successively Transmuted into both
plants and Animals. And if we consider that not only Men, but even
sucking Children are, but too often, Tormented with Solid Stones, but
that divers sorts of Beasts themselves, (whatever _Helmont_ against
Experience think to the contrary) may be Troubled with great and Heavy
stones in their Kidneys and Bladders, though they Feed but upon Grass
and other Vegetables, that are perhaps but Disguised Water, it will
not seem improbable that even some Concretes of a mineral Nature, may
Likewise be form'd of Water.
We may further Take notice, that as a Plant may be nourisht, and
consequently may Consist of Common water; so may both plants and
Animals, (perhaps even from their Seminal Rudiments) consist of
compound Bodies, without having any thing meerly Elementary brought
them by nature to be compounded by them: This is evident in divers
men, who whilst they were Infants were fed only with Milk, afterwards
Live altogether upon Flesh, Fish, wine, and other perfectly mixt
Bodies. It may be seen also in sheep, who on some of our English Downs
or Plains, grow very fat by feeding upon the grasse, without scarce
drinking at all. And yet more manifestly in the magots that breed and
grow up to their full bignesse within the pulps of Apples, Pears, or
the like Fruit. We see also, that Dungs that abound with a mixt Salt
give a much more speedy increment to corn and other Vegetables than
Water alone would do: And it hath been assur'd me, by a man
experienc'd in such matters, that sometimes when to bring up roots
very early, the Mould they were planted in was made over-rich, the
very substance of the Plant has tasted of the Dung. And let us also
consider a Graft of one kind of Fruit upon the upper bough of a Tree
of another kind. As for instance, the Ciens of a Pear upon a
White-thorne; for there the ascending Liquor is already alter'd,
either by the root, or in its ascent by the bark, or both wayes, and
becomes a new mixt body: as may appear by the differing qualities to
be met with in the saps of several trees; as particularly, the
medicinal vertue of the Birch-Water (which I have sometimes drunk upon
_Helmonts_ great and not undeserved commendation) Now the graft, being
fasten'd to the stock must necessarily nourish its self, and produce
its Fruit, only out of this compound Juice prepared for it by the
Stock, being unable to come at any other aliment. And if we consider,
how much of the Vegetable he feeds upon may (as we noted above) remain
in an Animal; we may easily suppose, That the blood of that Animal who
Feeds upon this, though it be a Well constituted Liquor, and have all
the differing Corpuscles that make it up kept in order by one
praesiding form, may be a strangely Decompounded Body, many of its
parts being themselves decompounded. So little is it Necessary that
even in the mixtures which nature her self makes in Animal and
Vegetable Bodies, she should have pure Elements at hand to make her
compositions of.