many respects from them all, and consequently has by many of the most
Intelligent Chymists been denied to be contain'd in the mixt Body. For
I know a way, and have practis'd it, whereby common Tartar, without
the addition of any thing that is not perfectly a Mineral except
Salt-petre, may by one Distillation in an Earthen Retort be made to
afford good store of real Salt, readily dissoluble in water, which I
found to be neither acid, nor of the smell of Tartar, and to be almost
as volatile as Spirit of Wine it self, and to be indeed of so
differing a Nature from all that is wont to be separated by Fire from
Tartar, that divers Learned Men, with whom I discours'd of it, could
hardly be brought to beleeve, that so fugitive a Salt could be
afforded by Tartar, till I assur'd it them upon my own Knowledge. And
if I did not think you apt to suspect me to be rather too backward
than too forward to credit or affirm unlikely things, I could convince
you by what I have yet lying by me of that anomalous Salt.
[Footnote 4: Lib. 1. Observat. Cap. 6.]
The Fourth thing that I shall alledge to countenance my first
Consideration is, That the Fire even when it divides a Body into
Substances of divers Consistences, does not most commonly analyze it
into Hypostatical Principles, but only disposes its parts into new
Textures, and thereby produces Concretes of a new indeed, but yet of a
compound Nature. This Argument it will be requisite for me to
prosecute so fully hereafter, that I hope you will then confess that
'tis not for want of good Proofs that I desire leave to suspend my
Proofs till the _Series_ of my Discourse shall make it more proper and
seasonable to propose them.
It may be further alledg'd on the behalf of my First Consideration,
That some such distinct Substances may be obtain'd from some
Concretes without Fire, as deserve no less the name of Elementary,
than many that Chymists extort by the Violence of the Fire.
We see that the Inflamable Spirit, or as the Chymists esteem it, the
Sulphur of Wine, may not only be separated from it by the gentle heat
of a Bath, but may be distill'd either by the help of the Sun-Beams,
or even of a Dunghill, being indeed of so Fugitive a Nature, that it
is not easy to keep it from flying away, even without the Application
of external heat. I have likewise observ'd that a Vessel full of Urine
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