found this later in the bottom of the Retort in the Forme of a
_Crocus_ or redish powder: And because Copper is of too sluggish a
Nature to be forc'd over in close Vessels by no stronger a heat. And
that which is also somewhat Remarkable in the Destillation of good
Verdigrease, (or at least of that sort that I us'd) is this, that I
Never could observe that it yielded me any oyl, (unless a little black
slime which was separated in Rectification may pass for Oyle) though
both Tartar and Vinager, (especially the former) will by Destillation
yield a Moderate proportion of it. If likewise you pour Spirit of
Vinager upon Calcin'd Lead, the Acid Salt of the Liquor will by its
Commixture with the Metalline parts, though Insipid, acquire in a few
hours a more than Saccharine sweetness; and these Saline parts being
by a strong Fire Destill'd from the Lead wherewith they were imbody'd,
will, as I formerly also noted to a Different purpose, leave the Metal
behind them alter'd in some qualities from what it was, and will
themselves ascend, partly in the Forme of an unctuous Body or Oyle,
partly in that of Phlegme; but for the greatest part in the Forme of a
subtile Spirit, indow'd, besides divers new Qualities which I am not
now willing to take notice of, with a strong smell very much other
than that of Vinager, and a piercing tast quite differing both from
the Sowerness of the Spirit of Vinager, and the Sweetness of the Sugar
of Lead.
To be short, As the difference of Bodies may depend meerly upon that
of the schemes whereinto their Common matter is put; So the seeds of
Things, the Fire and the other Agents are able to alter the minute
parts of a Body (either by breaking them into smaller ones of
differing shapes, or by Uniting together these Fragments with the
unbroken Corpuscles, or such Corpuscles among Themselves) and the same
Agents partly by Altering the shape or bigness of the Constituent
Corpuscles of a Body, partly by driving away some of them, partly by
blending others with them, and partly by some new manner of connecting
them, may give the whole portion of matter a new Texture of its minute
parts; and thereby make it deserve a new and Distinct name. So that
according as the small parts of matter recede from each other, or work
upon each other, or are connected together after this or that
determinate manner, a Body of this or that denomination is produced,
as some other Body happens thereby to be alter'd or destroy'd.
Since then those things which Chymists produce by the help of the Fire
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