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.
157