Colcothar, I was destitute of a Furnace capable of giving a heat
intense Enough to bring such a Calx to Fusion; yet having conjectur'd
that if Colcothar abounded with that Metal, Aqua Fortis would find it
out there, I put some dulcifi'd Colcothar into that _Menstruum_, and
found the Liquor, according to my Expectation, presently Colour'd as
Highly as if it had been an Ordinary Solution of Copper.
THE
SCEPTICAL CHYMIST.
_The Fifth Part._
Here _Carneades_ making a pause, I must not deny (sayes his Friend to
him) that I think You have sufficiently prov'd that these distinct
Substances which Chymists are wont to obtain from Mixt Bodies, by
their Vulgar Destillation, are not pure and simple enough to deserve,
in Rigour of speaking, the Name of Elements, or Principles. But I
suppose You have heard, that there are some Modern _Spagyrists_, who
give out that they can by further and more Skilfull Purifications, so
reduce the separated Ingredients of Mixt Bodies to an Elementary
simplicity, That the Oyles (for Instance) extracted from all Mixts
shall as perfectly resemble one another, as the Drops of Water do.
If you remember (replies _Carneades_) that at the Beginning of our
Conference with _Philoponus_, I declar'd to him before the rest of the
Company, that I would not _engage_ my self at present to do any more
then examine the usual proofs alledg'd by Chymists, for the Vulgar
doctrine of their three Hypostatical Principles; You will easily
perceive that I am not oblig'd to make answer to what you newly
propos'd; and that it rather grants, then disproves what I have been
contending for: Since by pretending to make so great a change in the
reputed Principles that Destillation affords the common _Spagyrists_,
'tis plainly enough presuppos'd, that before such Artificial
Depurations be made, the Substances to be made more simple were not
yet simple enough to be look'd upon as Elementary; Wherefore in case
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