violent Explosion than Gun-powder, the acid Spirits of the Sulphur and
Nitre rushing towards one another, and towards the Salt of Tartar, with
so great a violence, as by the shock to turn the whole at once into
Vapour and Flame? Where the Dissolution is slow, it makes a slow
Ebullition and a gentle Heat; and where it is quicker, it makes a
greater Ebullition with more heat; and where it is done at once, the
Ebullition is contracted into a sudden Blast or violent Explosion, with
a heat equal to that of Fire and Flame. So when a Drachm of the
above-mention'd compound Spirit of Nitre was poured upon half a Drachm
of Oil of Carraway Seeds _in vacuo_, the Mixture immediately made a
flash like Gun-powder, and burst the exhausted Receiver, which was a
Glass six Inches wide, and eight Inches deep. And even the gross Body of
Sulphur powder'd, and with an equal weight of Iron Filings and a little
Water made into Paste, acts upon the Iron, and in five or six hours
grows too hot to be touch'd, and emits a Flame. And by these Experiments
compared with the great quantity of Sulphur with which the Earth
abounds, and the warmth of the interior Parts of the Earth, and hot
Springs, and burning Mountains, and with Damps, mineral Coruscations,
Earthquakes, hot suffocating Exhalations, Hurricanes, and Spouts; we may
learn that sulphureous Steams abound in the Bowels of the Earth and
ferment with Minerals, and sometimes take fire with a sudden Coruscation
and Explosion; and if pent up in subterraneous Caverns, burst the
Caverns with a great shaking of the Earth, as in springing of a Mine.
And then the Vapour generated by the Explosion, expiring through the
Pores of the Earth, feels hot and suffocates, and makes Tempests and
Hurricanes, and sometimes causes the Land to slide, or the Sea to boil,
and carries up the Water thereof in Drops, which by their weight fall
down again in Spouts. Also some sulphureous Steams, at all times when
the Earth is dry, ascending into the Air, ferment there with nitrous
Acids, and sometimes taking fire cause Lightning and Thunder, and fiery
Meteors. For the Air abounds with acid Vapours fit to promote
Fermentations, as appears by the rusting of Iron and Copper in it, the
kindling of Fire by blowing, and the beating of the Heart by means of
Respiration. Now the above-mention'd Motions are so great and violent as
to shew that in Fermentations the Particles of Bodies which almost rest,
are put into new Motions by a very potent Principle, which acts upon
them only when they approach one another, and causes them to meet and
clash with great violence, and grow hot with the motion, and dash one
another into pieces, and vanish into Air, and Vapour, and Flame.
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