Author has left unmentioned; though as for the Generation of Living
Creatures, both Vegetable and Sensitive, it needs not seem Incredible,
since we finde that our common water (which indeed is often
Impregnated with Variety of Seminal Principles and Rudiments) being
long kept in a quiet place will putrifie and stink, and then perhaps
too produce Moss and little Worms, or other Insects, according to the
nature of the Seeds that were lurking in it. I must likewise desire
you to take Notice, that as _Helmont_ gives us no Instance of the
Production of Minerals out of Water, so the main Argument that he
employ's to prove that they and other Bodies may be resolv'd into
water, is drawn from the Operations of his _Alkahest_, and
consequently cannot be satisfactorily Examin'd by You and Me.
Yet certainly (sayes _Eleutherius_) You cannot but have somewhat
wonder'd as well as I, to observe how great a share of Water goes to
the making up of Divers Bodies, whose Disguises promise nothing neere
so much. The Distillation of Eeles, though it yielded me some Oyle,
and Spirit, and Volatile Salt, besides the _Caput mortuum_, yet were
all these so disproportionate to the Phlegm that came from them (and
in which at first they boyl'd as in a Pot of Water) that they seem'd
to have bin nothing but coagulated Phlegm, which does likewise
strangely abound in Vipers, though they are esteem'd very hot in
Operation, and will in a Convenient Aire survive some dayes the loss
of their Heads and Hearts, so vigorous is their Vivacity. Mans Bloud
it self as Spirituous, and as Elaborate a Liquor as 'tis reputed, does
so abound in Phlegm, that, the other Day, Distilling some of it on
purpose to try the Experiment (as I had formerly done in Deers Bloud)
out of about seven Ounces and a half of pure Bloud we drew neere six
Ounces of Phlegm, before any of the more operative Principles began
to arise, and Invite us to change the Receiver. And to satisfie my
self that some of these Animall Phlegms were void enough of Spirit to
deserve that Name, I would not content my self to taste them only, but
fruitlesly pour'd on them acid Liquors, to try if they contain'd any
Volatile Salt or Spirit, which (had there been any there) would
probably have discover'd it self by making an Ebullition with the
affused Liquor. And now I mention Corrosive Spirits, I am minded to
Informe you, That though they seem to be nothing else but Fluid Salts,
yet they abound in Water, as you may Observe, if either you Entangle,
and so Fix their Saline Part, by making them Corrode some idoneous
Body, or else if you mortifie it with a contrary Salt; as I have very
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