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_;[14] 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 [Errata: 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
vitae_, 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
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