The Second Consideration I Desire to have Notice Taken of, is This,
That it is not so Sure, as Both Chymists and _Aristotelians_ are wont
to Think it, that every Seemingly Similar or Distinct Substance that
is Separated from a Body by the Help of the Fire, was Pre existent in
it as a Principle or Element of it.
That I may not make this Paradox a Greater then I needs must, I will
First Briefly Explain what the Proposition means, before I proceed to
Argue for it.
And I suppose You will easily Believe That I do not mean that any
thing is separable from a Body by Fire, that was not Materially
pre-existent in it; for it Far Exceeds the power of Meerly Naturall
Agents, and Consequently of the Fire, to produce anew, so Much as one
Atome of Matter, which they can but Modifie and Alter, not Create;
which is so Obvious a Truth, that almost all Sects of Philosophers
have Deny'd the Power of producing Matter to Second Causes; and the
_Epicureans_ and some Others have Done the Like, in Reference to their
Gods themselves.
Nor does the Proposition peremptorily Deny but that some Things
Obtain'd by the Fire from a Mixt Body, may have been more then barely
Materially pre-existent in it, since there are Concretes, which before
they be Expos'd to the Fire afford us several Documents of their
abounding, some with Salt, and Others with Sulphur. For it will serve
the present Turn, if it appear that diverse things Obtain'd from a
Mixt Body expos'd to the Fire, were not its Ingredients Before: for if
this be made to appear it, will [Errata: appear, it will] be Rationall
enough to suspect that Chymists may Decieve themselves, and Others,
in concluding Resolutely and Universally, those Substances to be the
Elementary Ingredients of Bodies barely separated by the Fire, of
which it yet may be Doubted Whether there be such or No; at least till
some other Argument then that drawn from the _Analysis_ be Brought to
resolve the Doubt.
That then which I Mean by the Proposition I am Explaining, is, That it
may without Absurdity be Doubted whether or no the Differing
Substances Obtainable from a Concrete Dissipated by the Fire were so
Exsistent in it in that Forme (at least as to their minute Parts)
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