this is the _first_ of my two Considerations; the _Other_ is, That it
is not impossible that the Corpuscles into which a body is dissipated
by the Fire may by the Operation of the same fire have their figures
so altered, or may be by associations with one another brought into
little Masses of such a Size and Shape, as not to be fit to make
sensible Impressions on the Tongue. And that you may not think such
alterations impossible, be pleased to consider with me, that not only
the sharpest Spirit of Vinager having dissolved as much Corall as it
can, will Coagulate with it into a Substance, which though soluble in
water, like salt, is incomparably less strongly Tasted then the
Vinager was before; but (what is more considerable) though the Acid
salts that are carried up with Quicksilver in the preparation of
common sublimate are so sharp, that being moistened with water it will
Corrode some of the Metals themselves; yet this Corrosive Sublimate
being twice or thrice re-sublim'd with a full proportion of insipid
Quicksilver, Constitutes (as you know) that Factitious Concrete, which
the Chymists call _Mercurius dulcis_; not because it is sweet, but
because the sharpness of the Corrosive Salts is so taken away by their
Combination with the Mercurial Corpuscles, that the whole mixture when
it is prepar'd is judg'd to be insipid.
And thus (continues _Carneades_) having given you some Reasons why I
refuse to admit Elementary water for a constant Ingredient of Mixt
Bodies, It will be easie for me to give you an Account why I also
reject Earth.
For first, it may well be suspected that many Substances pass among
Chymists under the name of Earth, because, like it, they are Dry, and
Heavy, and Fixt, which yet are very farr from an Elementary Nature.
This you will not think improbable, If you recall to mind what I
formerly told you concerning what Chymists call the Dead Earth of
things, and especially touching the copper to be drawn from the _Caput
Mortuum_ of Vitriol; And if also you allow me to subjoyn a casual but
memorable Experiment made by _Johannes Agricola_ upon the _Terra
Damnata_ of Brimstone. Our Author then tells us (in his notes upon
_Popius_ [Transcriber's Note: Poppius],) that in the year 1621 he made
an Oyle of Sulphur; the remaining _Faeces_ he reverberated in a
moderate Fire fourteen dayes; afterwards he put them well luted up in
a Wind Oven, and gave them a strong Fire for six hours, purposing to
calcine the _Faeces_ to a perfect Whiteness, that he might make
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