Imprimatur, Tractatus Cui Titulus Curiosities in Chemistry.  
Sept. 30. 1690. Ex Aedibus Collegij. Guall. Charleton. Proefes Coll. Med. Lond. 

E.  
Tho. Burwell,  
J. Gordon,  
Will. Dawes,  
Tho. Gill.     

Curiosities in Chemistry: BEING NEW EXPERIMENTS AND Observations Concerning the PRINCIPLES OF Natural Bodies.  
Written by a Person of HONOUR, and Published by his Operator, H. G.  
LONDON: Printed b● H.C. for Stafford Anson, at the Three Pigeons in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1691.   

NEW EXPERIMENTS AND OBSERVATIONS Concerning the PRINCIPLES OF NATURAL BODIES.  

The Introduction.  
THE Ingenious Author of this Treatise has herein laid a great many Experiments and Observations together, in order to prove that Water is the only first Material Principle of Natural Bodies; and that all the other pretended Hypostatical Principles are ultimate and reducible into mere Elementary Water. Wherefore to give a brief and perspicuous account of his Reasonings upon this Subject, he has thought it expedient to reduce them to the following Propositions.   

Sect. I.  
The Ardent Spirits of Vegetables are nothing else but the Oleous Particles of these Vegetables subtilised by Fermentation, and thereby dissolved in, and united to some part of their own Phlegm.  
FOR Lavender, Rue, Margerum, etc. distilled without addition, and without a previous Fermentation, afford an Oil, but never yield any burning Spirit. Whereas after Fermentation they yield an ardent Spirit, but no Oil; which is a manifest proof, that the inflammable Oil is converted into an inflammable Spirit: especially, since by the lasting action of the Air upon this Spirit, the Oleous part will at last be brought to separate itself from the phlegm and swim above it. Moreover if you pour Oils in small quantity upon Fermenting Vegetables, they will come over in Distillation in the form of Spirits.  
As for the Spirits of Aniseeds, Wormwood, and such other Oleous and Aromatic Vegetables, that are prepared with Spirit of Wine without any previous Fermentation; they are nothing else but the Oils of these Vegetables that the Spirit of Wine has imbibed and carried up along with it in Distillation. For this Spirit, being itself no other thing than the Oil of Wine Dissolved in Phlegm, will presently imbibe any Aromatic Oil dropped into it. Hence it is, that, in the Preparation of Spirit of Aniseeds, the Oleous part of the Spirit of Wine imbibes as much of their Oil as it can receive, and the rest (for they abound with Oil) being joined with the Phlegmatic part of the Spirit of Wine, compose a Milk-coloured Liquor, (as all Oils do when they are mixed with Water, which we see daily in the Preparation of Emulsions) whose Oily parts may be imbibed by fresh Spirit of Wine, and by that means yield Spirit of Aniseeds anew.  
Finally, 'tis upon the account of their Oleous nature, that ardent Spirits are so Inflammable; and that they so much weaken the Corroding Acidity of Aqua fortis, as to render it innocent enough to be taken inwardly, though they themselves be endowed with a certain Volatile Acid.   

Sect. II.  
The Spirits of Vegetables, made by Incineration, are nothing else but the Volatile Salts of the Tartar of these Plants, dissolved in their own Phlegm.  
FOR they consist of the Effluvia that ascend from the Plants, while their Tartar is a Calcining into a fixed Salt, kept from flying away into the Air, by reason of the peculiar structure of the Furnaces, etc. employed in this kind of Incineration: and are therefore altogether of the same nature with Spirit of Soot, or even with the genuine bitterish Alcaline Spirit of Tartar of Wine. N.B. Since in the Juice of Grapes, the Alcali and Acid, mutually Coagulated, obtain the name of Tartar, Why should not the same Salts, con-coagulated in the Juices of other Vegetables, though endowed with very different Seeds, obtain the same Appellation, rather than that of Essential Salts? For there is really, in the Juices of all Vegetables, a Tartar not unlike to that of Wine. So that the Spirits, prepared by the Incineration of Plants, do, like that of Vinous Tartar, proceed from the Tartars of these Plants; which seeing they consist of the same Salts, namely Alcaly and Acid, those Spirits are indeed nothing else but these Salts in a Fluid state. Hence if genuine Spirit of Tartar be drawn off from an Alcalisate Salt, the Volatile Acid being left in the fixed Alcaly, it will strike your Nose with the pungent scent of a Volatile Urinous Salt.   

Sect. III.  
The Alcaline urinous Spirits of Animals are nothing else, but the Volatile Salts of these Animals, dissolved in a little of their own Phlegm.  
[FOR, 1. If you put Spirit of Urine, or any other Urinous Spirit, well rectified, into a glass conveniently shaped, a gentle heat will sublime good store of dry Volatile Salt into the slender neck of the Glass, leaving a weak Phlegmatic Liquor in the bottom; which would be mere insipid Phlegm, if it could be perfectly freed from the Volatile Salt that 'tis yet impregnated with, and from the subtle Particles of Oil that generally, if not constantly, ascend together with these Spirits, and continue invisibly mixed with them (though never so well rectified, even to a perfect transparency) for a long time, till at length by the action of the Air, or evaporation of the Volatile Salt (if the Glass be not very well stopped) or the intestine motion of the parts of the Liquor, though it be, the Particles of Oil begin to separate themselves from the rest of the Liquor, and gather together into numerous little drops, which, though they be singly invisible, yet render the whole Liquor muddy and of a reddish colour. 2. In the Distillation, for instance, of Fermented Urine, or of Sal Armoniac mingled with a fixed Salt, usually the Volatile Salt sublimes at first in a dry form; but if you continue the Distillation, so much of the Phlegm will ascend as shall dissolve all your Volatile Salt, and wash it it down into the Receiver, where you have it in the form of a Spirit. 3. If you dissolve, in common Water Distilled, as much Volatile Salt of Human Blood (for instance) as it will take up, and Distil this mixture, you will by that means obtain a Liquor, that by its smell, taste, and divers Operations, appears to be a good brisk Spirit of Human Blood; as that incomparable promoter of Experimental Philosophy, Mr. boil, has observed in his late useful Treatise about Human Blood.  
The same is to be said of the Alcaline Spirits, that are Distilled from Peas, Beans, and some other Vegetables: For they appear by divers effects to be much of the same nature with Urinous Spirits.]   

Sect. IU.  
The Acid Spirits of Minerals (as Sea-salt, Vitriol, Sulphur, etc.) are nothing else but the Acid Salts of these Minerals freed from the more Terrestrial Parts, united with a little Phlegm, and so reduced into a fluid state by the force of the fire.  
FOR you may reduce them to a dry Salt by pouring them upon an Alcaly. For instance, Spirit of Vitriol, after it has been employed to corrode Iron, and the superfluous moisture evaporated, recorporifies into Vitriol. And Spirit of Nitre, satiated with Salt of Tartar or any other fixed Salt, turns into Nitre again after evaporation. Moreover these Acid Spirits are often found upon the Corks (that stop the Glasses wherein they are kept) in a dry saline form.  
The same is to be said of the Acid Spirits of Vegetables, as that of Vinegar, Tartar, Guaiac, etc. which are nothing else but Essential Salts dissolved in Phlegm.   

Sect. V.  
The Oils or Sulphurs of Vegetables are nothing else but Volatile Salts concentrated, in union with an unctuous inflammable Acid; which by its unctuosity hinders them to mix readily with Water, as all Salts use to do.  
THerefore Helmont often affirms, that Vegetable Oils may be turned into Volatile Salts. But however that be, being joined with fixed Salts, they turn into a Soap; and if they be frequently drawn off, they are thereby at last resolved into mere Elementary Water: which is also true of all Fermented ardent Spirits, since they are but Oils dissolved in Phlegm. Thus Spirit of Wine, drawn off from Salt of Tartar, leaves its seminal Acid behind it, and comes over weak and Phlegmatic: and if this abstraction be often reiterated, it is thereby at length resolved into pure Elementary Water, as will be more fully declared hereafter.  
There is a certain Vegetable Sulphur, found in Charcoals before they be burnt to ashes, by virtue whereof they glow. It is separated by means of Alcalis and Precipitation. This Sulphur is of a golden colour, and of no contemptible use: but if the Charcoal be Distilled in a Retort with an open fire, it turns, like all other Sulphurs, into an Acid Spirit, which being poured upon the fixed Salt of the Caput mortuum, makes an effervescence with it, and so is Coagulated into a Salt.   

Sect. VI.  
The Sulphurs of Animals, namely Oil and Fat, are also nothing else but Volatile Alcaline Salts concentrated, and somewhat suppressed by an occult Acid (that is not manifest to sense) so that they cannot make any Effervescence with manifest Acids.  
THESE Volatile Salts may be discovered after the very same manner with those of Vegetable Oils. Yea, sometimes Dogs-grease, for instance, exposed in a Glass to the Sun, sublimes into a Volatile Salt without any other art: and 'tis, upon the sole account of this Volatile Salt, that it has been found beneficial to the exulcerated Lungs of Consumptive persons. The Oil of Hartshorn also may be sublimed into a Volatile Salt.   

Sect. VII.  
The Acid Oils of Minerals (as Vitriol, Sulphur, Allom, Sea-salt , etc.) are not true Oils, but Acid Salts concentrated ; and differ not from the forementioned Acid Spirits of the same Minerals, but in that they are less diluted with Phlegm.   

Sect. VIII.  
All Mineral Sulphurs, if they be kindled, turn into a very Acid saline Spirit.  
THE fixed incombustible Sulphurs of Metals, that Helmont speaks of, are (if there be any such Sulphurs) reducible into a Salt, since the same Author informs us, that the Metals themselves may be totally reduced to an aequiponderant Salt, and this into insipid Water.  
As for the Earthy part of Natural Bodies, being useless and of no activity, it scarcely uses to be reckoned amongst the Principles. And however Helmont informs us, that the Liquor Alcahest turns this Earth into Water, by depriving it of its Essence, i. e. of its seminal virtue.  
From what has been said it appears that all those substances, that the vulgar Chemists obtain from Bodies by the Fire, and style Principles, are reducible to Salts and and Phlegm (or Water.) Now our ingenious Author goes on to prove, at great length, that even,   

Sect. IX.  
All sorts of Salts, whether Acid or Alcalisate, Fixed or Volatile, are finally reducible to Elementary Water.  
HERE first of all 'tis to be acknowledged, that Salts do naturally exist in Bodies before they have suffered the Fire: although in many Bodies, as Woods, Flints, etc. the Salts are so bound up, by reason of the close contexture of the Parts of these Bodies, that they cannot easily be put into motion and dissolved, and therefore do not affect the Organs of taste, till the concretion of the Parts be dissolved, and the scattered saline Particles be brought together and Colliquated by the Fire. Nor is it true, that the Terrestrial Particles are turned into Salts by the Operation of the Fire: for, Why is it then that Ashes, once Elixiviated, will not yield one grain more of Salt, though you Calcine them again? Why do not any Terrestrial Particles acquire a saline taste by the Operation of the Fire? But yet,   

Sect. X.  
The fixed Salts of Vegetables, prepared by Calcination, were not naturally pre-existent in that form, but are produced of the Volatile Salts, colliquated amongst themselves and with the Earthy Particles, by the force of the Fire.  
'TIS true, there naturally exists, in the Juice of Grapes and of all other Vegetables, a Tartar so fixed as to be inodorous, and to endure the Air (though not the Fire) without flying away. Which fixtness proceeds from the Acid, that saturates the Volatile Alcali of this Tartar; as we see in the Volatile Salt of Urine, Soot, etc. which being satiated with Spirit of Salt, are thereby fixed into Sal-Armoniack, that has no smell. The Fermentation of the Juices, pressed out of Apples, Pears, etc. is a manifest proof of this Tartarous Salt; for there can be no Fermentation without Acid and Alcaly, which are the constituent Principles of Tartar. But there is no Salt, pre-existent to Calcination in any Vegetable, so fixed as to endure the Fire as well as the Air. For,  
First, the ordinary way of preparing fixed Salts, is, by burning the dried Vegetables to Ashes in an open Fire, Lixiviating these Ashes by decoction in common Water, and exposing this Lee to some heat, till the greatest part of the Water being Evaporated, the saline Particles, formerly dispersed in the Pores of the Liquor, unite together for want of room into Crystals, of different Figures, according to the diversity of the seminal Acid. Others Distil a certain Acid seminal Spirit from the Plant, reduced to Ashes by a moderate Fire, and Lixiviate the Salt that remains in the retort with this Spirit. Again others, instead of this Acid, cast a little Sulphur upon the Salt, when 'tis highly Calcined, whose seminal Acid gives a certain form to the Salt, in place of that which the extreme Calcination had destroyed; lest, if the Salt were wholly destitute of a seminal Acid, it should resolve into Elementary Water, as shall be made out hereafter. But Tachenius' method is the best; namely, to reduce the Plants, whilst they are fresh and green, into black Ashes with a very gentle Fire, so as they may not break out into a manifest flame; to Calcine these Ashes to whiteness in an Earthen Pot over the fire, stirring them ever now and then; after this to Lixiviate them with common Water; to evaporate the Lee to the consistence of Honey; then to urge it with a moderate Fire to browness: and last of all to dissolve and Chrystallise it. One pound of Ashes, prepared after this manner, will yield near four ounces of very pure fixed Salt: whereas four pound Calcined by the former methods, will scarce yield one ounce. The reason of so great a difference, depends partly upon the greenness of the Plants, and partly upon the moderateness of the Fire employed to Calcine them. For dried Plants (for instance Wormwood) do always afford less fixed Salt than green ones; whence it manifestly follows, that by Exs●iccation some Saline Particles are carried away with the Aqueous ones, which would have composed a part of the fixed Salt, if the Plant had been Calcined while it was green: now these Salts could not fly away unless they were Volatile. Again, as the Volatile Salts of a Plant are spent by the action of the Air in Exsiccation, so are they likewise by the action of the Fire in Calcination; and this so much the more, by how much the Fire is more violent; for the Particles of a manifest flame, being in exceeding quick motion, excite the Volatile Salts to a swifter motion, and consequently a more copious avolation, than those of a gentle smothering Fire.  
Secondly, If you take the Soot that ascends in the Calcination of Tartar, (otherwise called the Spirit of Tartar,) and put it back again to the Caput mortuum, you will thereby much increase the quantity of the fixed Salt: And if all the Volatile saline Particles of Tartar could be kept from flying away in Calcination, they would all turn into a fixed Salt. But if all of them were driven away, 'twere not possible to obtain one grain of fixed Salt: which yet never happens, because they cannot all fly away at once, but one after another; so that those, which were to fly away last, are by reason of their longer stay in the fire, Colliquated, and so fixed; and that partly by the Acid Particles that feed the flame (and condense the smoke into Soot) and partly by the Earthy Particles, commixed with the Volatile Salts that are Coagulated in the Fire.  
Thirdly, 'Tis impossible to extract one grain of fixed Salt from any Vegetable, not yet calcined to Ashes, that is, so long as there remains any smoke, or the least motion, of the Vegetable Particles (such as we see in glowing Charcoal;) but when this motion ceases, 'tis a sign that all the remaining Particles are Coagulated and fixed.  
Fourthly, Soot is nothing else but a heap of Volatile Particles Coagulated together, and yet by Calcination it affords a considerable quantity of fixed Salt; which must proceed from the Colliquation of the Volatile Salts, since there can be none but such in Soot: for fixed Salts are so constant in the Fire that they cannot ascend in the form of Flame or Smoke, and consequently cannot enter the composition of Soot. And that the Salts of Soot are Volatile, is also manifest from hence, that, by means of Spirit of Salt, they may be turned to Sal-Armoniack, and consequently (when the Acid Spirit is separated by the addition of a fixed Alcali) into a Volatile and highly Urinous Salt. So that the matter, of which the fixed Salt of Soot consists, are these Volatile Salts of Soot, one Acid and another Urinous, Colliquated together and with the Terrestrial Particles, by the force of the Fire. Nor can it be said, that the fixed Salt of Soot was carried up by the Volatile; for (besides that there was no fixed Salt pre-existent in the mixed Body) by this means it would be no more a fixed but a Volatile Salt: and if we consider the proportion of the fixed Salt of Soot to the weight of the Soot itself, it will easily appear, that Soot contains not enough of Volatile Salt to elevate such a quantity of Fixed, since that aught to exceed this almost in a triple proportion. Thus though if you mingle fixed Salt of Tartar, with a sufficient proportion of its own, or any other, Volatile Salt, and commit this mixture to sublimation, our Author denies not but that some parts of the fixed Salt will be elevated by the other Salt; yet he affirms, that these are not integral parts, but have lost the nature of a fixed Salt, and are really turned into a Volatile one, because this sublimation separates them from the Terrestrial Particles, their union with which was the only thing that kept them in a fixed state. In the like manner Spirit of Wine, being digested with fixed Salt of Tartar, and drawn off by Distillation, carries along with it some of the saline Particles (whence it is said to be Tartarised,) but no Terrestrial ones, and consequently no fixed Salt but a Volatile. Again, as 'tis impossible to obtain one grain of fixed Salt from Soot, before a violent Calcination, so the quantity of the fixed Salt is increased by all the same methods that restrain the Volatile from flying away in this Calcination: namely if it be Calcined in a close Vessel, with an intense Fire at the beginning, (that the Volatile Salts may be the sooner colliquated, before they can have time to fly away) then beaten, and kept stirring over the Fire till it be of a cineritious colour. The Soot also, that ascends in the Calcination of Soot, being put back again to the Caput Mortuum, increases the quantity of the fixed Salt.  
Fifthly, Whatsoever separates the Terrestrial parts from any fixed Salt, does at the same time destroy its Fixity, and Volatilise the saline parts. Which our Author makes out by several Experiments. 1. If you pour Spirit of Salt, by degrees, upon a Lee of Salt of Tartar, (or of any other Alcalisate Salt,) till it be almost satiated, (which is known by the abating of the Effervescence,) you shall observe a kind of Earth precipitate out of the fixed Salt, (namely because, upon the mutual conflict, between an Acid and an Alcali, whatsoever heterogeneous substance is contained in either of them uses to precipitate.) The Earthy part of the Salt of Tartar being thus separated, the saline part is thereby rendered Volatile, and would actually fly away, were it not for the Acid that fixes it anew: and if you separate this Acid, by the addition of new Salt of Tartar, it will by this means be set at liberty, and strike your Nostrils with an Urinous odour. Thus, if you separate the Liquor from the precipitated Earth by Filtration, then reduce it to Crystals by evaporation, and last of all, mingle an equal quantity of Salt of Tartar, with these Crystals in a Mortar; the Acid rit Spirit will join itself to this new Salt of Tartar, and so the Volatile Alcali, being freed from the Acid, flies away. Nor can it be said, that the forementioned Earth did but externally adhere to the Salt of Tartar, and was not intimately united with it by Colliquation; since the experiment succeeds with Oil of Tartar per deliquium, though it be clear and limpid like Rock-water: but observe, that the Earth does not fall out of the Pores of the Oil of Tartar, till the Salts have attained the point of saturation, and then the Liquor, that was lympid before, begins to look troubled; and when the Glass has stood a while, a whitish coloured substance settles to the bottom. But the Volatile Salt, that is separated from the Oil of Tartar, is weaker than that which is separated from the dry Salt; because Salts approach so much the nearer to the nature of Elementary Water, by how much the easier they run per deliquium. 2. In the very same manner, and for the same reason, a Volatile Urinous Salt may be obtained from the Caput mortuum of Salarmoniac, by the addition of new fixed Salt. For in Sal-Armoniack there is a somewhat fixed Acid Spirit, combined with the Volatile Salt of Urine and Soot; which Acid, being imbibed by the Salt of Tartar, (that is mingled with the Sal-Armoniack immediately before Distillation,) the Volatile Salt is set at liberty, and presently flies away. And in the mean time, the forementioned Acid dissolves the Union, between the Earthy and Saline Particles of the Salt of Tartar, and thereby renders the saline ones Volatile; which therefore, so soon as they are freed from this Acid, by the addition of new Salt of Tartar to the Caput mortuum, do presently ascend, even without Fire, with a most piercing Urinous odour. And even from this second Caput mortuum you may obtain a Volatile Salt, by the addition of a third portion of Salt of Tartar. 3. The Volatilisation of Salt of Tartar, by the help of Vinegar, depends upon the same Principle. For they pour Vinegar upon the Salt of Tartar, and draw it off very Phlegmatic; for the Acid Salt is left in the Salt of Tartar. Then they pour on fresh Vinegar, and abstract it as before; and reiterate this Operation so often, till the Vinegar came over as Acid as when it was poured on: which is a sign that the Salt of Tartar is now satiated with the Acid of the Vinegar, and consequently Volatilised by the separation of the Earth that fixed it. For if you pour Vinegar upon the Lee of Tartar, to the point of saturation, the Earth of the Tartar will presently precipitate. 4. The Preparation of Balsam of Samech is of no small affinity to this; namely, the Volatilisation of Salt of Tartar, by a frequent abstraction of Spirit of Wine from it. For the Spirit that is first poured on, though it were highly rectified, comes off Phlegmatic, with very great loss of its igneous virtue; because 'tis in great part turned into a Water, by being robbed of its seminal Acid. But, so soon as the Salt of Tartar is fully satiated with this Acid, (which cannot be without reiterating the abstraction of fresh Spirit a great many times, since Salt of Tartar requires a great quantity of the strongest Vinegar to satiate it, though the Acidity of Vinegar be manifest and more fixed, whereas that of Spirit of Wine is occult and Volatile,) and the Spirit comes off without loss of strength, the Alcali of the Tartar is found to have been Volatilised, by being separated from the Earth that fixed it. Hence you may observe a sweetness in the Spirit of Wine Tartarised, which argues, that the Acid Particles of the Spirit are Converted into sweet ones, by being Coagulated in the Alcalisate ones of the Salt of Tartar that ascend with them; in like manner as when Vinegar is Coagulated in Saturn or Mars. N. B. 'Tis not necessary, in this Operation, to separate the Acid from the Volatilised Alcaly, before this Alcaly can be made to ascend, as it was in the Experiments made with Spirit of Salt and Vinegar; because the Acid of the Spirit of Wine is much more Volatile than that of Spirit of Salt or Vinegar, and therefore, tho' it be Coagulated in the Volatilised Alcaly, yet it hinders not its Volatility. 5. The same Observation holds of Oil of Cinnamon (and the like Distilled Oils) which being long Digested and Circulated with its own Fixed Salt, Volatilises it, and is together with it totally converted into a Volatile Salt, if Helmont rightly informs us, And 'tis easy to understand the reason of this, if we consider that there is an Acid in all distilled Oils, as well as in Spirit of Wine and all other Inflammable Substances; which we shall manifestly prove hereafter. 6. In the Fermentation of Salt of Tartar with its own proper Ferment, namely Crude Tartar; the Acid of the latter Precipitates the Earth of the former; (from eight ounces of each the Author has seen two Drams of Earth separated) but the Volatilised Alcaly, being kept under the power of this Acid, does not yet manifest itself: so that the Volatile Urinous Salt which is obtained from hence, does not so much proceed from the Salt of Tartar, as from the Crude Tartar, on which the Salt of Tartar operates in this case, much after the same manner as it uses to do as Salarmoniac. Which is the more probable, because a very piercing Urinous Salt may be obtained from Crude Tartar alone, without any Salt of Tartar, only by the addition of an equal weight of Crude Alum, as Dan. Ludovicus informs us. 7. Oil of Tartar per deliquium, digested with Flowers of Sulphur in a gentle heat, emits Particles extremely Urinous; which effect the Author attributes to the Acid of the Sulphur: and adds, that, having had occasion to reduce fetid Oil of Hartshorn into a soap with a certain Alcalisate Salt, the Glass grew warm without any External Heat, and a strong Urinous Odour pierced his Nose. [I am apt to think that this Odour came not from the Alcalisate Salt, as the Author seems to believe, but from the Oil of Hartshorn, which without doubt contains an Urinous Salt in it. And if it contain an Acid also, as the Author thinks it does, the Incalescence might proceed from some conflict betwixt this & the Alcalisate Salt, which being united together, the Urinous Salt was perhas thereby set at liberty from the Acid that formerly detained it.] The like Odour is observable in the Salt produced by frequent abstraction of Spirit of Wine from Salt of Tartar: Where the Author observes that some, after they have several times poured Spirit of Wine upon warm Salt of Tartar and abstracted it again, do last of all pour on Oil of Vitriol, and then obtain the Volatile Salt by the addition of fresh Salt of Tartar. Which Experiment, tho' the Author has not tried, yet he judges it may succeed; since the Terestrial parts of the Salt of Tartar may be separated by the Oil of Vitriol, and the Alcaline parts, being united with this Acid, may be set at liberty by the addition of new Salt of Tartar.  
Here the Author takes occasion to discourse of the Virtues of Salt of Tartar Volatilised, and affirms that it has no peculiar Effects, (neither in the Curing of Diseases, nor in the Dissolution of Bodies,) but what other Urinous Salts do likewise produce. But yet he acknowledges a Specific Difference between them, upon the account of the Seed in the Acid of Tartar, which differs from the Seeds of other Acids: and in this respect other Urinous Salts do also differ from one another; since the renowned Boyl has observed, that the Volatile Salt of Hartshorn resembles a Parallelopiped, but that of Human Blood, digested with Spirit of Wine, is like a Rhombus. This diversity of Figure is owing to the different Seeds or Ideas, as residing in the Acids, that are the causes of the Solidity and Coagulation of these Salt: Wherefore the Fixed Salt of Tartar Cristallised does also resemble a Rhombus, because the Seminal Acid of this Salt, is of the same kind with that of the Spirit of Wine, which being stronger than the Seminal Acid of the forementioned Volatile Salt of Blood, this Salt is Coagulated according to the Idea of the Vinous Acid: even as, when Spirit of Nitre is poured upon Salt of Tartar, the Acid of the former being the more powerful, forms the Crystals of an Oblong figure like Nitre, but not like Salt of Tartar, which resembles a Rhombus. The Author concludes, that this Seminal difference of Volatile Alcalies is of little moment in Medicine, since all Alcalies, even the purest, are endowed with so much of a Seminal Acid, as does indeed preserve them from a Spontaneous resolution, into Elementary Water, but yet hinders them not from being in a capacity to imbibe this or that Hostile Morbisic Acid indifferently. The same thing is to be said of the fixed Alcalisate Salts of Vegetables, for the Seminal Virtues are lost in the Calcination, and there remains only so much of a seminal Acid, as keeps them from relapsing into Elementary Water, and does indeed cause them to differ specifically from one another, but not to produce different Effects in Medicine.  
From all the forementioned Particulars, concerning the Volatilising of Fixed Salts, our Author concludes, that there can never be any Method found out to effect it, but by separating the Terrestrial Particles. As for Zwelfers Volatile Salt of Tartar, prepared by often reiterated Solutions (per deliquium) and Abstractions, he affirms that 'tis nothing else but useless Elementary Water; as will manifestly appear to him that considers, that Alcalisate Salts are fundamentally nothing else but Aqueous Particles, converted by a little Seminal Acid into rigid Salts, which, as soon as the Acid is destroyed, turn again into Water: wherefore the more violent the Calcination is, and by consequence the greater your loss is of this seminal Acid, they are the more easily resolved per deliquium in moist Air, which by its virtue, as a Menstruum, does in great part consume the little Acid that remains and thereby resolve a great part of the Alcalisate Salt into Elementary Water, wherein the other Particles, not yet deprived of their Seed, do swim, (for when Salts approach to the nature of Water, they are readily dissolved in it;) but if the Water be abstracted from them, and they exposed to the Air again, their remaining Acid is destroyed, and they resolved into Water in great part: and if they run per deliquium and be abstracted often enough, all the Seminal Acid will be at length destroyed, and nothing remain but bare Elementary Water, which will all of it easily ascend. And by this means any Fixed Alcalisate Salt may be totally reduced into Elementary Water.   

Sect. XI.  
THE Volatile Salts of Vegetables, since they are the Matter of which (Colliquated with the Acid and Terrestrial Particles) the Alcalisate Salts consist; And the Volatile Salts of Animals, since (as the Author has proved) they differ not essentially from those of Vegetables; are both of them ultimately reducible into Elementary Water.   

Sect. XII.  
ACID Salts, made fluid by the force of Fire, and drawn off from fixed Alcalies, may be thereby so robbed of their Acid, that nothing will ascend but Elementary Water. And the Alcalisate Salt, that has imbibed the Acid, being frequently resolved per deliquium and the Phlegmatic part as frequently abstracted, may by this means be at length totally converted into pure Elementary Water.  
Thus the Author having particularly examined the pretended Chemical principles, and found them all ultimately reducible into Elementary Water; Concludes that   

Sect. XIII.  
ALL Mixed Bodies are made up of Water, as the only first Material Principle and Seeds (which differ according to the differing species of Bodies) as the Formal Principle, united together by means of Acid Ferments: That is to say, Water is Coagulated into a Plant, by the Ferment of a Vegetable Seed; into a Metal, Stone, etc. by that of a Mineral Seed; and into Flesh, Bones, etc. by the Ferment of an Animal Seed. For in all Mixed Bodies there are certain Acid Particles, wherein the Seeds or Ideas of Natural things do reside, and which, in Coagulating the approximated Aliment, do follow the draught of these Ideas, and so are thereby determined to give it the form of this or the other Vegetable Mineral, or Animal. Thus in a Man's Stomach, for example, there lurks a certain Acid, that discovers itself by the sour belches of healthy men, and by the Vomiting of Coagulated Milk, tho' it were taken fluid. This Acid easily receives the Alcalical Particles of the Meat extracted by (the Alcalical Menstruum) the spital, and imprints the Idea of its own Seed upon them, by which they are determined to nourish Man only, and no other Animal; as afterwards, when they come to every particular Part of the Body, by the Circulation of the Blood, they are determined by the seminal Acid residing in that Part, to nourish it rather than any of the rest. And that Aliment, which has once received the Seal or Impression of the seminal Idea of any Animal in the Stomach, or of any part of the Animal in that same Part; will never receive the Idea of another Animal, nor of another Part of the same Animal, unless it be suppressed by a more powerful Ferment; as when Sheep's Bones, tho' furnished with their own proper Ferment and Idea yet, being unable to resist the stronger one of a Dog's stomach, are therein turned into fit nourishment for the Dog, and afterwards for his Musculous Flesh itself and other Parts, as well as for his Bones. In like manner Grass has its own Ferment and Idea suppressed by that of a Cow's stomach, which seals it with such an Impression, as renders it fit Nourishment for a Cow, but not for any other Animal. But if the same Grass had been taken into the stomach of a Horse, it would have been turned into Nourishment fit for a Horse, but unfit for a Cow or any other Animal. Again common Mercury, which is the Nourishment of Metals, is converted into this or the other Metal, according to the diversity of the Acid seminal Sulphur that Coagulates it. Finally all Vegetables also are endowed with a seminal Acid, and therefore their expressed Juices do, after long Fermentation, taste Acid. And in the Fermentation of Cream of Tartar with Salt of Tartar, the Seed, Idea or Archaeus, that reside in the Acid of the Tartar, forms certain Bubbles very much resembling natural Grapes.  
All this will be better understood hereafter, from the Author's particular expication of the nature of the foremention'd Seeds, Ideas and Ferments: But now, to put it past all doubt, that Water is the only Material Principle of all Mixed Bodies, the Author has not only proved that all Substance's that Mixed Bodies can be resolved into by the Chemical Art, are totally reducible into Elementary Water; but likewise he proves particularly, that   

Prop. XIV.  
Water is the only and Catholic Nourishment of all Vegetables, Animals, and Minerals.  
AND 'Tis manifest that every Body consists of the same Matter that nourishes. 1. As for Vegetables, helmont's Experiment proves this beyond contradiction; namely, he put 200 pound of Earth (dried in an oven) into an earthen vessel, moistened it with Rain-water, planted it in the trunk of a Willow Tree weighing 5 pound, and let it alone there for 5 years' time, only watering it, as need required, with Rain-water or distilled Water. [And to keep the neighbouring Earth from getting in, he employed a plate of Iron tined over and perforated with many holes.] At the 5 years' end he found the Tree had grown so well, that it weighed 169 pound and three ounces: And yet the Earth, being dried again, weighed but two ounces less than it had done at first: so that above 160 pound of Wood, Bark, Root, etc. had grown up out of mere Water, Coagulated by the Seminal Ferment of the Vegetable into the several Substances newly mentioned. Hence Rain does wonderfully refresh, envigorate and advance the growth of, all sorts of Plants, and without that they decay, whither and die. For Water is indifferent to them all, till it be turned by the Ferment of the Vegetable Seed into Leffas', as Helmont calls the Juice that is the immediate Aliment of the Plant. Thus Wolf-bane Aconitum and Lavender, for instance, growing in the same Soil, are both nourished by the same Rain-water, which by the Ferment of the one is Coagulated into a poisonous Herb, and by that of the other into a wholesome one.  
Secondly, That Animals are nourished with Water alone, appears in Fishes; for they live only in the Water, and yet have no food supplied them from any where else, nor is there any Rudiment of it to be found in their Stomaches, as Helmont observes. [And tho' some Fishes feed upon others, yet these others feed only upon Water, and therefore are materially nothing else but Water.] As for Terrestrial Animals; some of them, as Horses, Cows, Sheep, etc. feed wholly upon Water and Grass, which the Author has already proved to be materially nothing else but Water, and therefore that which grows in well watered places, prospers best, others, as a Lion, Wolf, etc. tho' they be not nourished by Grass and Water only, but feed upon other Animals, yet still their food is materially nothing else but Water, being that these Animals live only upon Grass and Water, except when they are too young to digest Grass, that they are nourished by their Mother's Milk, which also is materially nothing else but Water, since it is generated of the Mother's nutriment. [The same things are easily applicable to Birds;] and to Men, which feed only upon Vegetables, Fishes, and the Flesh of Beasts that are nourished only by Vegetables.  
Thirdly, As for Minerals; Mercury is the immediate Aliment of Metals, and some other Minerals, and the nearest Matter of which they are produced. Now Mercury is nothing but Elementary Water, Coagulated by a certain Metalline and Arsenical Sulphur into such a Water as does not wet the Hands: and by other various Sulphurs 'tis further Coagulated into Antimony and divers Metals. Hence Mines are never found but where there is a great conflux of Water. Gold is gathered out of the Sands of some Rivers. Sand abounds no where so much as near the Sea and great Rivers. Stones are nothing else but sand compacted together. [And the illustrious Mr. boil has fully proved in a most ingenious as well as judicious Discourse about the Origine and virtues of Gems, that many Gems and Medical Stones were once fluid Bodies. But 'twere too long, here to give an account of the many cogent Arguments he there employs to prove this Assertion, which very much countenances our Author's Hypothesis.] The experienced Helmont informs us, that it often happens in Mines when the Workmen are breaking the Rocks, that the Wall cleaves, and a little water of a whitish green Colour flows out of the cleft, & presently thickens like liquid Soap; afterwards it grows yellow or white or of a deeper green. This Juice he calls Bur, and affirms it to be the nearest Matter of all Minerals, and to be nothing else but Water Coagulated by a Mineral Ferment, as Leffas' is by a Vegetable.  
To make it yet more evident, that Water is the only first Material Principle of Natural Bodies; the Author undertakes to prove that   

Prop. XV.  
All Animals, Vegetables, and Minerals are ultimately resoluble into Elementary Water.  
[FIRST the substances that Animals are resolved into by Distillation, are Phlegm, Volatile Salt, Urinous Spirit, Oil, and Earth or Caput mortuum, but very little if any Fixed Salt. The Phlegm is nothing else but Elementary Water, except in as far as it partakes of the Volatile Salt and Oil, of which it always carries up some Particles, nor can it ever be perfectly separated from them.] 2. The Volatile Salt of Animals is of the same nature with that of Vegetables, which being Colliquated by the force of the Fire with Acid and Earthy Particles, is thereby turned into a Fixed Salt. And this fixed Salt being frequently deliquated, and the Phlegm as often abstracted, is at length totally resolved into Elementary Water. All this was abundantly proved before; as also that 3. The Spirit is nothing else but Volatile Salt dissolved in Phlegm. 4. The Oily and Fat parts of Animals may be united with an Alcalisate Salt into Soap, from which being often abstracted, they turn at length into mere Elementary Water. And this is to be observed of all the Fats of Animals, that by frequent Circulation with Salt of Tartar they are converted into Water. 5. [As for the Fixed Salt of Animal Substances, 'tis the common Opinion that none can be abstracted from them; perhaps because all their Saline Parts are so Volatile, that (to speak consonantly to our Author's Hypothesis) they cannot sustain a Colliquation with the Earthy Parts, especially since there are very few, if any, manifestly Acid ones to concur to their Fixation. But that indefatigable Searcher into Nature, Mr. boil, informs us, that by an obstinate Calcination of eight ounces and a half of Caput mortuum of Human Blood, he obtained above seven drams of Salt, which, though it were not truly Lixivial, but rather of the nature of Sea-salt, yet it was Fixed enough to endure a Calcination for two days together, without flying away. However, 'tis probable, that this was nothing else but some unalter'd part of the Sea-salt that seasoned the Aliments, that the person or persons whose the Blood was fed upon.] 6. The Earth also may be totally resolved into Elementary Water, by being deprived of its seminal virtue by means of the Alcahest, if we may believe Van Helmont.  
Hence 'tis that dead Animals, when they putrify, are resolved into an Aqueous Substance. And Helmont has delivered a notable Experiment to this purpose, namely, that if you dig up a Frog at full Moon, in the coldest time of Winter, (atrocissimo hyemis borea) wash it, and tie it to a stick in the Fields, the next morning 'twill be turned into a white and transparent Mucilage, not unlike to liquified Gum Tragacanth, but retaining the figure of a Frog. Yea he affirms that the Cadaver of a Man or Beast, exposed all night to the Rays of the Moon, will in the Morning be almost fluid with rottenness, (putrilagine diffluet:) so great power has the Moon to reduce dead Bodies into an Aqueous Mucilage.  
[Secondly, Vegetable Substances Chemically analysed, yield Phlegm, Volatile Salt, Spirit of several sorts, Oil, Fixed Salt, and Earth. To the first, second, fourth and sixth may be applied what was said of the Phlegm, Volatile Salt, Oil, and Earth of Animal Substances. The Fixed Salt may be totally resolved into Elementary Water, by reiterated Solutions in the Air, and Abstractions, as above. There are 4. sorts of Spirits afforded by Vegetable Substances. 1. Vinous inflammable Spirits, which were formerly proved to be nothing but Oils dissolved in Phlegm by Fermentation: as also that 2. Volatile Saline Spirits, as Spirit of Soot, Spirit of Beans (that have been kept in a dry place for some Months) etc. are nothing but Volatile Salts dissolved into Phlegm. And that 3. Acid Spirits, as Spirit of Vinegar, Spirit of Beans newly gathered, etc. Are nothing but Acid Salts in a fluid state and united with Phlegm: and being poured upon Fixed Salts, they are together with them ultimately resoluble into Elementary Water. 4. Adiaphorous Spirits of Box, Guaiacum etc. Which the judicious Mr. boil, who was the first Observer of them, suspects to be generated of the finer parts of the Oil of the Wood, reduced to an extraordinary smallness, and by that means tightly mixed with the Phlegm the juice of Grapes affords: all these 4 sorts of Spirits, as Mr. boil has observed in his excellent Discourse concerning the Producibleness of the Chemical Principles.  
Thirdly, As for Minerals; We must rely upon the testimony of Van Helmont, whom Mr. boil concludes to be a veracious Author, (except in that extravagant Treatise of the Magnetical Cure of Wounds,) from the success he has had in trying some of his Experiments, that might seem not the most likely to succeed: [and I think we may justly lay great weight upon the judgement of so experienced and judicious a person as Mr. boil, concerning the sincerity of any Chemical Author.] Helmont then in several places informs us, that all Stones, Gems, Marcasites, Metals etc. may be transmuted into an aequiponderant Salt, and this into Insipid Water. And as for Metals, it seems indeed that common Mercury is their nearest Matter, into which they may be resolved by the separation of their Coagulating Salts: and the famous Langelot has made an Experiment of this in the Regulus of Antimony. Now if the other Metals also may be resolved into Mercury by depriving them of their Sulphurs, and the Mercury itself be reducible into Water, (by robbing it of the Sulphurs yet remaining in it,) as Mr. boil somewhere affirms, it may in great part, and as several other Authors of good credit attest; than it can no more be doubted, that all Minerals are reducible into Water.  
[It will not be unseasonable in this place to mention a few Experiments, delivered in Mr. Boils Septical Chemist, that do very much countenance the three last Propositions. That excellent Author than informs us, that about the middle of May he caused his Gardener, to dig out some good Earth, dry it well in an Oven, weigh it, put it in a very shallow Earthen Pot, and set in it a Seed of Squash (a sort of Indian Pompion that grows apace) which he watered only with Rain or spring Water. And though the hastening Winter hindered it from attaining any thing near its wont magnitude, yet being taken up about the middle of October, the Pompion together with the Stalk and Leaves weighed three pound wanting a quarter. And yet the Earth, being very well dried in an Oven, was found to have lost little or nothing of its first weight. He tried the like Experiment with two Cucumbers, which being taken out of the Earth wherein they had grown, weighed (together with the Roots and Branches) fourteen pound and six ounces; and yet the Earth had lost but a pound and a half of its first weight, which the Gardener judged to have been in great part wasted in the ordering. But granting that some of the Earth, or rather of the dissoluble Salt harboured in it, was wasted in the nourishment of the Plant; yet 'tis plain, that the main Body of it consisted of trasmuted Water. This Experiment may be tried with the Seeds of any Plant that is bulky and grows hastily. Likewise A top of Spearmint of an inch long, being put into a vial full of Spring-water with its lower part immersed, did in a few days shoot forth numerous Roots into the Water, (as if it had been Earth,) and display itself upwards into many Leaves, with a pretty thick stalk. The same Experiment has also succeeded with Margerum (tho' more slowly) Balm, and Peniroyal, to name no more. One of these Vegetables cherished only by Spring-water, and that never renewed, afforded by distillation (besides Phlegm) an Empyreumatical Spirit, an adust Oil, and a Caput mortuum, that appearing to be a Coal, consisted no doubt of Salt and Earth. And if Helmont had distilled the forementioned Tree, no doubt it would have afforded him the like distinct Substances as another of the same kind. But a more considerable Instance (to prove that all sorts of Bodies are nothing else but Water subdued by Seeds) than any yet mentioned, is afforded us by Mr. de Rochas, who tells us, that he took simple Water, that he well knew to be mixed with no other thing but the Spirit of Life, and having with a heat Artificial, Continual, and Proportionate, prepared it by the Graduations of Coagulation, Congelation, and Fixation, which he had spoken of before, until it was turned into Earth; this Earth produced Animals that moved of themselves, Vegetables and Minerals. The Animals he found, by a Chemical Anatomy he made of them, to be composed of much Sulphur, little Mercury, and less Salt; and the Minerals (which were solid and heavy, and began to grow, by converting into their own Nature one part of the Earth thereunto disposed) of much Salt, little Sulphur, and less Mercury. And though the judicious Mr. boil has some suspicions of this strange Relation, yet as to the Generation of Animals and Plants, he thinks it not incredible, since common Water (which is indeed often impregnated with variety of Seminal Principles and Rudiments) long kept will putrify and stink, and then perhaps too produce Moss and little Worms, or other Infects, according to the Nature of the Seeds that were lurking in it. And tho' the Distillation of Eels yielded him some Oil, Spirit, Volatile Salt, and Caput mortuum, yet were all these so disproportionate to the Phlegm (in which at first they boiled as in a pot of Water) that they seemed to have been nothing but Coagulated Phlegm; which does likewise strangely abound in Vipers, as hot in their operation and as vivacious as they are.  
And seven ounces and a half of Human Blood yielded near six ounces of Phlegm, before any of the Spirits began to arise, and require the Receiver to be changed. Corrosive Acid Spirits, though they seem to be nothing but Fluid Salts, yet you'll find them to abound with Water, if either you entangle, and so six their Saline part by making them corrode some idoneous Body, or mortify it with a contrary Salt. Thus in making of Balsamus Samech with distilled Vinegar instead of Spirit of Wine, the Salt of Tartar from which it is distilled, will, by mortifying and retaining the Acid Salt, turn near twenty times its weight of the Vinegar into worthless Phlegm, before it be satiated. And in making the true Balsamus Samech (which is nothing but Salt of Tartar dulcified, by distilling from it Spirit of Wine till it be glutted with the Vinous Sulphur,) as soon as the Spirit of Wine is deprived of its Sulphur by the Salt of Tartar, the rest (which is incomparably the greater part) remigrates into Phlegm: so that if helmont's process be true (which was confirmed to Mr. boil by a sober and skilful Spagyrist, who did indeed prepare the Spirit and Salt by a way that is neither short nor easy, but added nothing to them) Spirit of Wine seems to be Materially nothing but Water under a Sulphureous disguise, tho' being so igneous that it will totally flame away, 'tis of all Liquors the most likely to be free from Water. But Helmont's grand Argument for his Hypothesis, is taken from the operation of the Alcahest; which, he says, does adequately resolve Plants, Animals, and Minerals into one Liquor or more, according to their several internal Disparaties of Parts, (without Caput mortuum or the destruction of their seminal virtues;) and that the Alcahest being abstracted from these Liquors in the same weight and virtue wherewith it dissolved them, they may by frequent Cohobations from Chalk or some other fit substance, be totally deprived of their seminal Endowments, and by that means reduced to Insipid Water. Here Mr. boil judiciously observes, that it may be doubted whether this Water, because insipid, must be Elementary; since the candid P. Laurembergius affirms that he saw an insipid Menstruum, that was a powerful Dissolvent: and the Water which may be drawn from Quicksilver without addition, tho' almost tasteless, will manifest a very differing nature from simple Water, if you digest in it appropriated Minerals. However the forementiond Experiments concerning the growth of Vegetables, do sufficiently prove that Salt, Spirit, Earth, and Oil (which are four of the pretended Chemical Principles) may be produced out of simple Water. But to return to our Author.]  
Having proved, That Water is the only Material Principle of Bodies usually called Mixed, by three Arguments. 1. Because none of the other pretended Chemical Principles have a right to that Title; some of them not being naturally pre-existent in the Bodies from which they are obtained; and all of them being reducible to Elementary Water. 2. Because Water is the only Nourishment of all Animals, Plants, and Minerals; and by consequence the only Matter of which they consist. Because all Animals, Plants, and Minerals are by a true Analysis ultimately reducible to simple insipid Water. Having evinced this, I say, by these three newly mentioned Arguments; and Fire being the only Sublunary Body (besides Air, of which hereafter) that these Arguments, as hitherto prosecuted, can with any colour of reason be pretended not to reach; and being likewise by many enumerated amongst the Principles of Natural Bodies; the next Proposition shall be, that   

Prop. XVI.  
Fire is nothing but an Acid Volatile Sulphur very swiftly moved.  
FOR there is a certain Sulphur in every Inflammable Body, which takes fire as soon as 'tis put into a rapid motion, whatsoever the Cause be that excites it to that motion. This appears in the striking of fire by the collision of two Flints; in the firing of the Axletree of a Mill or Coach, that sometimes happens upon a long continued and vehement attrition; and in many other such obvious Instances. Oil of Vitriol contains a great many Acid Sulphureous Particles, proceeding as well from the Embryonated Acid, that Corroded the Iron or Copper Oar in the Bowels of the Earth, as from the Iron or Copper itself: these Particles, being excited to motion by the affusion of Oil of Tartar (or even genuine Spirit of Tartar) produce a notable heat and Effervescency. The Sulphur of Quicklime (whether it be innate, or adventitious from the fire) conceives a vehement Heat, as soon as 'tis excited to motion, by the Alcaline Lixivial Particles set at liberty by the affusion of Water. Finally (to add no more) Butter of Antimony consists chiefly of the Sulphureous Particles of the Antimony, and the Salino-Acid ones of the Mercury Sublimate: the latter being washed off with Water, the former do more manifestly appear, (namely in Mercurius vitae, which causes Vomiting without any danger of Corroding the Bowels:) and both of them being vehemently moved by the affusion of Spirit of Nitre, there is an intense heat produced.  
So that the Formal nature of Fire or Heat consists in Motion. Now that the Sulphureous Particles of which Fire is materially constituted, are of an Acid nature, will abundantly appear from the ensuing Considerations.  
I. The particles of the Flame of common Sulphur, being received and Condensed in a Glass Bell, do compose a very piercing Acid Liquor.  
II. There are not any Bodies more akin to Fire, than the totally inflammable Spirits of fermented Vegetables. And yet all the Principal Effects of these Fermented Spirits, depend upon a Volatile Acid. For 'Tis upon the account of its Acid Salt, that Spirit of Wine is Coagulated in Spirit of Urine or Salarmoniac, or in any other Volatile Alcali, as also, that it loses its strength by distillation from Salt of Tartar, which imbibes and retains the Acid, and receives an increase of weight thereby. And Generous Wine, that is turgent with this Spirit, being drunk moderately, sends a Volatile Acid to the Brain, that makes a subtle effervescence with the (Alcaline) Animal Spirits, and thereby produces Cheerfulness and a Vigorous Promptitude to Action; (as on the contrary, the Sadness of Melancholy persons proceeds from the Fixation of the Animal Spirits by a more Fixed Acid.) But upon excessive Drinking, that Volatile Acid ascends too copiously to the Brain, conquers and fixes the Animal Spirits, and so stupefies the Organs of Sense and Motion: yea sometimes it may Suppress the Vital Acid (or Innate Heat) of the Blood, and at length totally Coagulate it; especially if the Wine be endowed with a strong Acid, as the French, and chiefly the Hungarian Wines are wont to be. And indeed, that the Inebriating virtue of Wine (and all other strong Drinks) is entirely owing to a Volatile Acid, may be proved by many Arguments. 1. Hence 'tis, that Volatile Alcaline Salts do prevent Drunkenness, especially Spirit of Salt-Armoniack, if some drops of it be now and then mingled with the Drink. 2. Bitter Almonds and other Oleous things, do likewise prevent Drunkenness, by weakening and suppressing the vaporous Acid of the Wine, so that it cannot reach the Brain. 3. The same Acid inflames Drunkards Faces, and adorns them with purulent Pimples, like so many Gems. For the whitish coloured Matter, contained in these Pimples, proceeds only from the Volatile Acid of the Wine that infects the ferment of the Muscles of the Face, coagulates and precipitates the Blood that comes thither for Nutrition, and so changes its Purple Colour into a whitish one. For proof of this Assertion, 'tis to be noted, that the Purple Colour of the Blood proceeds from the resolution of the Sulphurous Acid Parts by the ferment of the Heart, which sets them at liberty, so as that they may mix per minima, and make a subtle effervescence with the Alcaline Spirits: as when Spirit of Salt-Armoniack or of Hartshorn, or any other that is Alcalical, is digested with Spirit of Wine, they produce together a very red Tincture, because the Acid Sulphur of the Wine, being by Digestion intimately mixed, and making a subtle effervesence with the subtle Alcaly, is at length so resolved as to manifest itself by tinging the whole Liquor: after the same manner, in the Tincture of the Salt of Tartar, the Spirit of Wine is tinged by the Volatilised Alcaly of Tartar: and common Sulphur boiled in the Lixivium of any Fixed Salt, is thereby exalted to a Red Colour; but because the Alcaline Salt is so tied to the Terrestrial Particles, that it cannot penetrate the Sulphur per minima, therefore the Colour is obscure and dark. Now, if you pour another Acid Liquor upon these Sanguine Tinctures, immediately they become of a Milk-white Colour. Just so it happens, when the Blood is extravasated, and putrefied in any Part of the Body, the Acidity, that arises from this Putrefaction, Precipitates the Sulphur that tinged the Blood, and thereby turns it into white stinking Pus; even as common Sulphur, when it is Precipitated out of any Lixivium by the affusion of Vinegar, strikes the Nose with an ungrateful Odour, though it was utterly inodorous before: so that Pus is nothing but Blood, whose vital Alcaline Balsamical Spirits are suppresed by an hostile Acid, and the ting Sulphureous Particles Precipitated in Wounds & Abscesses, while the Pus is a making, the motion of the Acid Particles do often produce a Symptomical Fever, an Inflammation in the Part affected, Convulsive Motions in the Brain, and Pains in the Nervous Parts: but these Symptoms abate as soon as the Pus is made, and the motion of the Particles ceased. 4. Amongst the External Medicines, that are wont to be applied to the foremention'd Pimples in the Face, the Preparations of Saturn are the chief; because they imbibe the Acid of the Wine, or other Inebriating Liquor, that inflames the Face. For Saturn readily receives all sorts of Acids or Sulphurs, even those of Metals, as is well known to the Refiners. Thus the unripe Sulphurs of Metals, Coagulated in Saturn, do compose lethargy. Vinegar, Coagulated in Saturn, produces Sugar of Lead. And all Acids in general, Coagulated in Saturn, Mars, or any other Body whatsoever, are wont to be dulcified thereby. For all Sugars are nothing but Acid Salts Coagulated in other Particles: whence 'tis, that they are resolved by Distillation into a very Ardent and powerfully Inebriating Spirit; and are extreme sit to promote or even begin Fermentations: and therefore 'tis, that the Syrups of the shops have a manifestly Acid Taste; and Sugar is very hurtful to Scorbutical persons, because upon the account of its Acidity it excites divers vicious Effervescencies, produces Tumours of the Bowels etc. And vitiates the Vital Ferment of the Stomach.  
III. That the Particles of Fire are of an Acid Nature, may evidently appear from all other Inflameable Substances, especially those that are Oily and Fat, as well as from common Sulphur and Spirit of Wine.  
For in the first place, 'tis certain, that Oleous and Fat Bodies are really endowed with an Acid; as appears from the following Reasons. 1. Surgeons observe, that Oils, and fat Substances, are very noxious to the Bones, (especially the Skull, which is a Porous Bone) and particularly, that they are apt to make them Carious; which must happen upon the account of their Corroding Acid. And for the same reason, they render Ulcers sordid, by increasing the Corroding Acid. 2. What else is that Greenness, that adheres to Lamps, but the Acid of the oil-olive Coagulated in the Particles of the Metal, that it has Corroded? whence comes the Blue Colour of Oil of Camomile distilled in Copper Vessels, but from some Particles of the Veins Corroded by the Acidity of the Oil? 3. The Heart-burn (Ardour Ventriculi) is often occasioned by Fat things, (especially if you drink after them, because the Acid Salts are thereby dissolved and put into a swifter motion) as well as by austere and sourish Wines: and the Remedy, in both Cases, is, to use things fitted to Precipitate the Acid. 4. Oleous and Fat things are hurtful in Erysipelatous Distempers, (which proceed from the Coagulation of the Blood by an Acid,) because they increase the Peccant Acidity, whence the Putrefaction is increased, the Bones are corroded, and the Natural Heat of the Part is at last totally suppressed, and mortified. (Yet the Author denies not, but these Effects do also partly depend upon the Obstruction of the Pores of the Part, by the foresaid Fat substances, so that the Effluvia, wont to transpire through the Pores, being detained in the Body, and inordinately moved, do increase the Fever.) 5. 'Tis likewise upon the account of their Acidity, that Oils are hurtful to all Inflammations, without such a Preparation as consumes or corrects their Acid. Thus Lin-seed Oil mingled with an equal weight of Spirit of Wine, and boiled (with continual stirring) till the Spirit be consumed, is used safely and successfully, both inwardly and outwardly, in Pleurisies, Peripneumonies, Inflammations of the Liver etc. because the Coagulating Acid is readily imbibed by this Oil, that has been deprived of its own Acid by the Spirit of Wine, which, being a much more Volatile Oleous Body than the Oil of Lin-seed, evaporates before it, and carries its Acid along with it; even as the same Spirit, being mingled with Aqua fortis and distilled in a Cucurbit, ascends before it, and carries a great part of its Acidity along with it, insomuch that the remaining Aqua fortis becomes a very safe Internal Medicine, tho' before, the smell of it only would cause an Atrophia in the whole Body. The same Oil of Lin-seed is also Corrected, by frequently extinguishing red hot Steel in it, till it appear by the ceasing of the hissing & smoke, that the Acid Particles are either Evaporated in smoke and spent by Deflagration, or Coagulated in the Mars. And if after this it be Distilled from Quicklime, that if any Acidity yet remains, it may be therein Coagulated, the Oil of Lin-seed becomes an excellent Remedy for Inflammations, Burns and the like: as oil-olive also does, by Distillation from Quicklime. And this last named Oil, being imbibed in old Tiles or Bricks (which are deprived of all moisture by their having been long exposed to the heat of the Sun) heated red hot, and quenched in it, and then distilled in a Retort, is thereby robbed of all its Acidity, and acquires a singular Virtue in the Palsy, Gout, Cramp etc. And all Oils are wholesomer boiled than crude, because a great part of the Acid is exhaled in the boiling. 6. Helmont teaches that Distilled Chemical Oils, which are otherwise very hot, may by an artificial Circulation for three months' time with an Alcali Salt be turned into a very temperate Volatile Salt: namely because the hot Acid of the Oil is Saturated by the Alcali, and by that means reduced temperate. Nor can there be any other Reason given, why the Alcaly should have this effect upon the Oil, but that the Acid of the Oil corrodes the Alcaly and is Coagulated in it.  
Now in the next place, That the Heat and Inflammability of Oily Substances depend upon the Acid, that the Experiments, newly delivered, prove to be contained in them, may be evinced from those same Experiments; most of which do not only prove, that Oleous and Fat Bodies are endowed with an Acid, but likewise, that the effects usually ascribed to the hot Quality of these Bodies, do indeed depend upon this Acid; and that whatsoever mitigates or destroys this Acid, does at the same time weaken or destroy their Heating Power. And 2. that this may also be truly applied to their Inflammability, and that the Acid Particles contained in Oily and Fat Substances are really the Matter of which the Flame of these Substances (when they are burning) consists, does plainly appear by the Abstraction of Oils from Spirit of Wine, Quicklime, or Bricks; for, being by this means deprived of their Acid, they become less Inflammable than the crude Oils were. And Candles made of Sheep's Tallow, burn sooner away than those made of any other Tallow, because there is greater store of Acid Particles in it; as appears by the Griping of the Guts, which cannot happen without a Corroding Acid, (for all the Medicines, effectual against this Distemper testify that to be the Cause of it) and which is very often occasioned by eating Fat Mutton, especially if the Acid Salts be dissolved by drinking after it, in like manner as when Salt Butter is sweetened by melting it, and pouring it into water, and thereby dissolving the Salt. Likewise recent Fat, or Oil burns sooner away, than that which has been long kept, and thereby lost much of its Volatile Acid. N.B. Since Tallow, as well as every other Body, is materially nothing else but water Coagulated by a seminal Acid, and since 'tis only the Acid Particles that feed the Flame; it follows, that when they are consumed, he remainder, being robbed of, the Coagulating, Acid must return into Elementary Water, and therefore 'tis insensibly dissipated like a Vapour: even as the water of Spirit of Wine kindled vanishes into a Vapour.  
IV. The Particles of Fire being fixed or Coagulated in any Body whatsoever, do plainly manifest themselves to be Acid, as appears from the following Instances. 1. Fire Coagulated in Mars, turns it into a Crocus, that differs nothing from Rust, (which proceeds always from an Acid) and is every way like to that Crocus which is prepared with Acids, and endowed with the same Medicinal Virtues. V. Tachen. Hipp. Chym. cap. 28. 2. Fire Coagulated in Saturn is separated by means of a Fixed Alcaly, or even of Venetian Borax; for Minium (which received its red Colour from the Sulphur of the Coals, even as the Sulphur of Antimony Coagulated in Mercury, turns it [into Cinnabar] of an exceeding high red, is by the help of these Salts reduced to crude Lead. N. B. According to Tachenius' Computation, 100 pound of Lead retains in Calcination ten pound of Fire. 3. All the Remedies for Burns are such as are capable to imbibe, saturate, or suppress the Igneous Acid; for instance, Sugar of Saturn, Ceruse, lethargy, Oils deprived of their Acidity, Lixiviums, etc. And unwashen Thread mitigates Erysipelatous Inflammations, because of the Alcaly of the spital.  
V. And lastly, The Acidity of the Particles of Fire appears from its efficacy in Chirurgery, and particularly in exstirpating ill conditioned Ulcers. For the cause of Ulcers being a Corrosive Acid, they may be cured by three sorts of external Medicines. 1. Those that Saturate this Acid, as Spirit of Salt-Armoniac, Quicklime Water, Oil of Tartar per deliquium, and the like. 2. Those that imbibe and assume this Acid, as all the Preparations of Saturn. The Author has known Ulcers in the Legs cured, merely by applying thin Plates of Lead to them; because the Acid, corroding the Musculous Flesh, was coagulated in the Lead. 3. Those that by a more potent Acidity suppress this weak one; as Verdegreese, which consists of the Acid Salts of Vinegar Coagulated in Particles of Venus; now these Salts are much more powerful than in common Vinegar, because they are concentrated and separated from strong Phlegm, and thereby enabled to suppress the weaker putredinous Acid of the Ulcers; which Aqua fortis, Spirit of Salt, and other Acid Spirits also do. But nothing performs this so effectually, as Actual Cauteries, because there is no Acid so powerful as that of Fire.  
N. B. I. The Acid Effluvia, that are continually passing away from Inflammable Bodies while they are burning, do compose Flame, so long as they continue numerous enough within a certain Sphere, and in a very swift motion, but having passed the limits of this Sphere, they begin to move more slowly, and are by degrees dispersed. So that the same Acid Effluvia, which being in a rapid motion, produce tormenting Pains and Convulsive Motions by corroding the Nervous Parts; when they are in a moderate Motion, do produce in our Body a temperate and grateful heat, by inciting the Nervous Capillaments to gentle Spasms.  
N. B. 2. Tho' Actual Fire be so far from being one of the Material Principles of Mixed Bodies, that it cannot exist in them without destroying them; yet there are certain Acid Particles in all mixed Bodies, differing but in Rest, or in Degrees of Motion from Actual Fire, in which the Seeds or Ideas reside, that are the Formal Principles of those Bodies. But these Acid Particles do themselves return into Elementary Water, when they are devested of those Seeds. Which Seeds or Ideas, so often heretofore mentioned, 'twill now be seasonable to explain.  
Having abundantly proved, that Simple Water is the only Matter of which all Mixed Bodies consist, 'tis plain that they all agree in one and the same Material Principle; so that their difference one from another proceeds not from any diversity in the Matter of which they consist, or in the proportion of the Elements that may be supposed to concur to their Composition But,   

Prop. XVII.  
The diversity, that is among Natural Bodies, is wholly owing to the different Seminal Ideas, that regulate the Operation of the Plastic Spirit, which Coagulates Water into various Substances, differing in Figure, Solidity, Bigness, Order and Connection of Parts, and other Modifications, according as its Motions are guided by these Ideas.  
FOR when God at first Created out of nothing the Terraqueous Globe, and furnished it with numerous Bodies of several Species or kinds; he was pleased, because the Individuals were Corruptible, to endow them by virtue of his Omnipotent Word (Be fruitful and multiply,) with a Power of producing out of Pre-existent Matter, new Individuals like themselves, and of their own Species; that so, when the first Individuals were dissolved, the Species might nevertheless be preserved in these new Individuals generated by the first; & so on, as long as the world endures. This Generative Power is seated in the seeds; [which are very obvious in Animals and Vegetables, but more doubtful in Minerals, at least in several sorts of them.]  
As for Animals, and particularly Man; the Feminine seed is a limpid Liquor, contained in the little Eggs, that are found in the Testicles. This Seminal Liquor contains in itself an exact Idea of an entire Human Body (of the female sex,) consisting of as many particular distinct Ideas, as there are different Parts in a Human Body, which all together concur to make up one entire Idea of an entire Woman: so if it were possible for us to contemplate this Idea with our Bodily Eyes, as well as we can do with our Intellectual, we might discern in it sensible signatures of all the Parts of the Body, altogether making up a lively representation, and as 'twere exact Model, of an entire Woman. The Idea of every particular Part in this Seed, is a Particle of the Idea that resides in that same part of the Woman's Body that generates this Seed. For every Part of a Woman's (Man's, or any other Animals) Body, whether Similar or Organical, has its own Idea residing in it, in which Idea is imprinted upon, or (which is all one) communicates a Particle of itself unto the Blood, that Circulates through the Part; and the Blood carries all these Ideas to the Testicles, where they are gathered together, disposed into the same Order that the Parts, they come from, have in the Woman's Body, and so united into one entire Idea, which is enclosed within the Tunicles of the Egg, that being defended from Injuries thereby, the particular Parts of it may be able to retain their due situation, and may not be liable to be confounded one with another or misplaced. This Idea is endowed in the Testicles with a particle of that moving Vital Spirit, which is the Principle of all Vital Actions, and the only Mover of all Seeds, which, without this, are Barren and Unfruitful, because they cannot unfold themselves. But yet this Plastic Spirit in the Feminine Seed is too weak for to accomplish the evolution of the Ideas, without it be strengthened, Actuated, and Fecundated by that more powerful Spirit which the Masculine Seed is impregnated with. All that has been said of the Feminine Seed, is applicable also to this, saving, that it contains Ideas of all the Parts of a Human Body of the Male Sex only, not of the Female; and that these Ideas are confounded one with another, because the Seed not being enclosed in Tunicles in the form of Eggs, but contained in the Testicles in a liquid form, they fluctuate and cannot retain any certain Order. Hence it is, that as the Feminine Seed alone can never be fruitful, till its weaker Spirit be corroborated by Conjunction with the Masculine; so neither can the Masculine Seed alone ever produce a Foetus, till its confused Ideas be reduced into due Order by conjunction with the Feminine, each Idea taking its own proper place, by applying itself to the correspondent Ideas of the Feminine Seed. In short, the Masculine Seed cannot reduce the confused Ideas into Order, but being set in Order by the Feminine, it can explicate or unfold them, which the Feminine cannot. Wherefore the Masculine Seed must be injected into the Womb, whence it emits a Seminal and Vital Spirituous Exhalation through the Tubi Fallopiani into the Testes or Ovarium, where one (or more) of the Eggs, being impregnated with this Exhalation, and foecundated thereby, is thrust out of its place, and falls into the extremity of the Tubus Fallopianus, which conveys it to the Womb. For tho' the two Seminal Spirits be now united into one, yet even this is not sufficient for the Evolution of the Ideas; till it be excited to motion by the Heat of the Womb; and than it begins the Evolution of the Ideas, by Coagulating the approximated Aliment into a substance agreeable to the particular Ideas, and applying it to them: by which means the Ideas, that were utterly insensible before, do quickly acquire a visible bulk: insomuch that Kerkringius tells us of a Foetus, but four days old, wherein the distinction of the Parts was plainly discernible. This Apposition of Aliments to, and gradual Evolution of the Ideas, begins at the first Conception, and continues after the Child has left the Womb, till the Body have attained its full stature; (that is, to a perfect Evolution of the Ideas, for when the Ideas are not capable of any further Evolution, the Growth of the Body must cease.) So that Ganeration is really nothing else, but the first Nutrition; or the Apposition of Aliment to and Evolution of the Ideas while they are yet insensible: and on the other side, Nutrition is nothing but a continued Generation. For 'tis the same Plastic Spirit, guided by the same Ideas, that Coagulates and Applies the Aliment to every Part, both in and out of the Womb. And the immediate Aliment of all the Parts in both states is the same, namely Blood, but with this Difference, that the Embryo is nourished with the Mother's Blood, communicated to it by the umbilical Vein from the Placenta Vterina: whereas, after the Child is born, it takes in various Aliments by the Mouth, and makes Blood of them itself for its own Nourishment. This Blood is already determined to nourish the Human (and no other Animals) Body, by the Impression that the Idea of the Stomachal Ferment has sealed the Aliments, it is made of, with; but is indifferent to all the Parts of the Human Body, till it come to be determined to the Nourishment of particular Parts by being stamped (as it were) with the Seal of the particular Ideas residing in them. For every Organ hides in its Ventricle an Idea of its own Body, that regulates the Apposition of the Aliment to that Part, (and is the same that regulated the first Formation of it.) And the Native Heat, or vital Spirit of every different Part, Coagulates the Blood into a differing Substance, and applies it in a differing manner, according to the diversity of that Idea, which guides the Motions of this Coagulating Spirit. These Ideas were concreated with the Parts of the first Individuals. And after what has been said, 'twill not be difficult to conceive, how they were folded up (as it were) and united into one entire Idea in the Seed of these first Individuals: how the second were generated by the gradual unfolding again of the same Ideas, & apposition of Aliment to them: in a word, how by the convolutions and Evolutions, (so to speak) of those Ideas, the Propagation of Mankind has been continued to this day. (And the same is to be said of all other Animals, as well as of all Vegetables.)  
This is as brief and clear an Account, as I could give of the Author's Notion of the Generation of Animals: which tho' it may seem already more prolix than is agreeable to the Design of this Treatise, yet, because the Theory of Generation is so difficult, and because I have not elsewhere met with so intelligible an Account of the Seeds and Ideas that Helmont so often speaks of; I thought it would not be foreign to my Design, if I insist a little longer upon a Theory, that will so much conduce to facilitate the Reading of an Author, that many are deterred from, by the Obscurity of his Notions, and that has delivered so many and so considerable Chemical Experiments; for the obscure hints he gives of some of the Principal, will be much better understood by one that is acquainted with His Notions, than by one that is not, caeteris paribus. Wherefore I shall proceed, without any farther Apology, to deduce, from the Hypothesis, already delivered, an explication of some of the chief Phaenomena of Generation; continuing to insist upon one single Instance, taken from the chief Species of Animals, Man: for the same things, that are here delivered concerning Man, may, with a little alteration, be easily applied to other Animals.]  
The Sex of the Foetus is determined by the prevalency of the Ideas of the Fathers, or of those of the Mother's Seed. If there be a parity of both, the Foetus will partake of both Sexes.  
A Mole happens, when an Egg falls out of the Ovarium into the Womb, merely by the irritation of Lust, without congress with a Man: for the Tunicles of this Egg swell and are extended in the Womb; but the moving Spirit of the Masculine Seed is wanting, to unfold the Ideas of the Egg and apply Aliment to them: for the Ideas, tho' they give the due Figure to every Part, yet they cannot unfold themselves; and the Feminine Spirit in the Egg is not vigorous enough to do it; tho' it have really some activity, whereby it concurs with the Masculine in the formation of a true Foetus, and makes itself alone some unperfect evolution of the Ideas in a Mole, which has been observed sometimes by Kerkringius and others, to contain the Parts of a Human Body sensibly, tho' imperfectly, delineated. 'Tis because of this strength and vigour of the Spirit of men's Seed, that they are said to be of a hotter temperament than Women; and that Eunuches turn Effeminate in their voice, manners, and disposition.  
Abortion happens upon the lest manifest Acidity of the Aliment of the Foetus, for this Coagulates and suffocates the Spirit, that by its occult and milder Acidity should Coagulate the Aliment, and apply it to the Nourishment of the Foetus. Hence a four Scorbutic disposition of the Blood makes Women subject to miscarry; and the use of red Coral, Mother of Pearl, and the like is good to prevent it.  
The Plurality of Foetus' happens when more Eggs than one are foecundated by the Man's Seed, and fall out of the Ovarium into the Womb. For the Ideas of the Man's Seed, being to be reduced into order by application to those of the Woman's, every particular Idea may be divided, and apply itself to the correspondent Idea of several Eggs. This is manifest in the Seed of a Cock, which if the Hen have but once received, it suffices oftentimes to make her Eggs fruitful for a whole year thereafter. So that every particular Idea of his Seed, must have been divided into as many Particles, as there were Eggs foecundated by it. Marcus Marci, De Ideis operatricibus, ascribes the plurality of foetus to the Plurality of Hearts in the Seed, howsoever this be occasioned; for the Heart being the Centre of Evolution, as many Hearts as there are, so many Centres of Evolution, and by consequence so many Foetus'.  
The monstrous Plurality of Parts in one Foetus happens, when the Ideas of the Masculine Seed are not exactly applied to the correspondent Ideas of the Feminine Seed; but decline to the right or left hand; so that, being separately unfolded, they make up distinct Parts.  
The want of a particular Part (as Arms, Legs &c.) happens, when the Idea of that Part is not unfolded for want of Aliment; or is extinguished by some impure Acid Particles of the Aliment, or by the force of the Mother's Imagination of some person presented to her, that has (by an Accident perhaps,) lost that Part.  
A Pygme or Dwarf-Stature happens, when the Evolution of the Ideas is hindered, either by the impurity or manifest Acidity of the Aliment applied to them, some time after the Foetus has left the Womb; or by the force of an Idea imprinted in the Mother's Imagination, that so mingles itself and becomes one with the Idea, that forms the Foetus, as to determine it, not only in respect of Figure but of Stature; so that the Formative Idea, being straight tied with the Imaginative, is compelled thereby to stop before a perfect Evolution. If this Idea take root in one Subject, it may be propagated to Posterity, till it be extinguished by a supervening Idea of greater Force.  
On the contrary, a Gigantine Stature proceeds from the Evolution of the Formative Idea beyond its due bounds; which Marcus Marci ascribes to two Causes, namely, either the Refraction of the Ideal Rays by falling into a dissimilar Medium, or the Mother's strong Imagination of some huge Statue. And indeed there are many obvious Instances, to prove, that a strong Imaginative Idea of the Mothers, impressed upon the Seed, (or even upon the Embryo, after the Evolution is begun) may have powerful Effects in the Formation of the Foetus. For hence it is, that we can often distinguish Men of several Nations by their Aspect: because the Women of every Nation form in their Imagination so strong an Idea, from the constant sight of their own Countrymen, as, by uniting itself to the Formative Idea, determines it to fashion the Foetus like them, in some Propertyes of the Countenance, that most, if not all, of them, agree in: jacob's Rods also are a signal Instance to this purpose. And there are many Relations of White Women, that by reason of a strong Imaginative Idea, occasioned by the frequent, or unexpected and affrighting sight of Blackamoors, have brought forth black Children. This Imaginative Idea continues, till it be extinguished by the accession of another more powerful Idea. The Author tells us of a Woman with Child, affrighted at the sudden coming of a Blackamoor; who being presently washed all over, by the prudent advice of a By-stander, did so strongly imagine the washing off of the Blackness hereby, that the Idea of Blackness, formerly conceived, and already imprinted upon the Foetus, was by this means extinguished; for she brought forth a white Child, but spotted between the Fingers and Toes, and in a few other Parts that the washers hand had missed. Finally, to add no more, 'tis a very usual Observation, that if a Woman with Child conceive a strong Idea of any Thing, whether by a longing desire after it, or being affrighted at the sight of it etc. the Child seldom fails to have a Mark in some part of its Body, representing that thing both in Colour and Figure; whether it be a Cherry, Mouse, or any other such like thing: and if the Thing, that surprises the Mother, fall upon or hit against a particular Part, the Idea of it will be impressed upon that same Part of the Foetus. [An Eye-witness related to me, that a pregnant Woman, that had been affrighted with a Cat suddenly thrown upon her lap, brought forth a Child with two Marks, one above each Knee; which Marks, when the Knees were brought together (into the same posture that the Mothers were in, when the Cat affrighted her) did exactly represent an entire Cat, with the Head above the one Knee, and the Tail above the other, in the very same posture that the Cat fell in. But, tho' it plainly appears from these and many more such Instances, that the Mother's Imagination has a powerful influence upon the Foetus; yet to give a clear and intelligible Explication of the Manner how it produces such Effects, is a matter of no small difficulty; and our Author gives but little account of it. However I shall offer some Considerations, that may somewhat lessen this Difficulty, tho' I shall not pretend to give a clear and satisfactory Solution of it. First of all then, I consider, that, since the Formation of the Foetus is wholly regulated by the Seminal Ideas, 'tis easy enough to conceive, that an Imaginative Idea, impressed upon the Seed, may have a considerable Influence in the Formation of the Foetus. For Instance, the Idea of a Blackamoor (simply as such, regarding only the Colour of his skin, and not the figure, proportion, and other Qualities of the Parts of his Body; or at least, not being so strong in regard of them, but that other different, and more prevalent Ideas of these Qualities, may render this ineffectual, as to them: this Idea (I say,) impressed upon the Seed, may determine the Formative Spirit to form the Foetus with a black skin; since it has been formerly proved, that all the Modifications (and consequently the Colour) of every Part, depend entirely upon the Ideas residing in the Seed. In the next place I consider, that, since 'tis highly probable, that the Animal Spirits, which come from the Brain through certain little Nerves to the Testes, do there mingle themselves with the spirituous part of the Blood, brought thither by the Arteries, and concur with it to make up the Matter whereof the Seed consists: and since the Idea of a Blackamoor (to keep to the former Instance) is conveyed to the Brain and imprinted there by the Animal Spirits, which receive it from the Image or Idea painted in the bottom of the Eye, upon the Tunica Retina or (as others think) the Choroeides, by the Rays of Light reflected from the Blackamoors Body: it may be easily enough conceived, that the Animal Spirits may also convey the same Idea from the Brain to the Testes, and there impress it upon the Seed. For if the Animal Spirits of the Optic Nerves transmit this Idea from the Eyes to the Brain, and there imprint it; why may not the Animal Spirits of the Par vagum transmit the same Idea from the Brain (through certain little Branches that reach,) to the Testes, and there communicate it to the Seed. And since the Rays of Light, that come from the Object, may be Reflected from a Specular Body to the Eye, without losing thereby that Figuration, Motion, or whatever other Modification it be, that qualifyes them to paint an exact Idea of the Object, they received it from, upon the Retina or Choroeides: why may not the Animal Spirits, that receive the very same Modification from the Tunicle of the Eye, be Reflected from the Brain to the Testes, and there impress the same Idea upon the Seed. Nor can it be said, that the Seed is not a Subject capable of such Ideas, since (as was noted before) the Animal Spirits are Part of the Matter whereof it consists, so that by taking them into its own substance, it must receive the Ideas they bring along with them. And 'tis most certain, that many Impressions, made in particular Parts of the Body, and transmitted to the Brain, do not stop there, but are Reflected back to the same, or to other Parts, where they often produce very notable Effects; & that barely by the strength of the Impression, without any concurrence of the Wills Determination, yea many times in direct opposition to it. And tho' the Substance of the Brain seems very remote from being Specular; yet since that Quality depends upon such a Modification of the surface of any Opacous Body, as qualifies it to Reflect the Rays of Light in the same order they fell in, without at all confounding them, or altering the Modifications they received from the Object; 'tis plain that the Brain, if it be at all capable of Reflecting the Impressions that come from visible Objects, (as certainly it is) must, as well as Specular Bodies, tho' perhaps upon very different accounts, be qualified to Reflect them without confounding or altering them; for if the Brain should confound or alter them, there could be no true distinct Ideas of the Objects, they come from, formed in it.  
All these Considerations may be also applied, to lessen our wonder at the powerful Influence of the Mother's Imagination upon the Foetus in the Womb already formed. For so long as the Foetus is in the Womb, it may very justly be considered as a Part of the Mother's Body; since her Blood Circulates through and nourishes it, as well as the other Parts of Her Body. And being 'tis very probable, that the Animal Spirits, conveyed by the Nerves to every Part of the Mother's Body, do there mingle with the Blood brought thither by the Arteries, and concur with it to the Nutrition of the Part: I may very reasonably suppose, that the Animal Spirits, that come to the Womb, may there mingle with the Arterial Blood, and be trasmitted together with it by the Umbilical Vein into the Body of the Foetus for its Nourishment. And if there be a strong Impression of any Idea in the Brain, the Animal Spirits may (as was formerly explained with relation to the Testes)▪ convey it to the Womb, and there impres● it upon the Body of the Foetus; which, being so soft and tender, may upon that account be more susceptible of any such Impression, than the other Parts of the Mother's Body; especially since Her frequent and solicitous Thoughts of the Womb, and the Foetus therein contained, may determine the Animal Spirits to flow more copiously thither than to other Parts, and keep those Pores of the Brain that lead thither more open: so that the Reflection of any Impression, made upon the Brain, may have a freer course that, than any other way. And tho' the Impression made upon the Foetus be but weak at first, yet it may be afterwards sufficiently confirmed by often reiterated Imaginations. Finally, tho' it be very little at first, yet it may increase daily as the Foetus grows: which may be both illustrated and confirmed by Figures lightly cut in the Rind of a Gourd, which grow bigger and bigger as the Gourd increases.  
And now I see not any considerable Difficulty remaining in this Subject, after I shall have added this one Consideration; namely, That, because the Formative Idea, residing in every Part of the Foetus, is a Particle of the Idea that resides in the same Part of the Mother's Body; an Imaginative Idea, produced in her Brain, by a sudden Impression made upon any Part of her Body, may, when it is communicated to the Foetus, be more apt to unite itself with the Formative Idea, belonging to that same Part of the Foetus, than with any other; and upon this account, that Part may more easily, than any other, receive the Impression. For the Idea of the Object comes to the Mother's Brain, accompanied with the Idea of the Part, that the Impression is made upon, and the Imagination connects them together as it were into one Compound Idea, and transmits' them to the Foetus; where the latter easily unites itself with the Formative Idea homogeneous to it, and the former impresses itself upon the Part, that this Idea resides in.  
If it be objected, that after all that has been said, we are still in the dark about the main Point, for want of a clear and distinct Notion of the Ideas so often mentioned. I answer, that many things have been already, and some more yet remain to be, delivered, tending to clear the Nature of those Ideas, all which laid together, and attentively considered, may go a great way in assisting judicious Readers, to form as clear Notions about them, as can well be expected in so abstruse a Subject, as the Generation of Animals. And 'tis no less cefficult, if not much more, to give an Intelligible and satisfactory explication, of the Nature of Imaginative Ideas, representing sesible Objects in the Brain (which no man questions the reality of,) than of those Formative Ideas, that the Notions, here proposed about Generation, are built upon. And he that denies the later, because he cannot be distinct enough in his Conceptions of them, may upon the same ground deny the former, yea and even disbelieve his own Eyes, when he sees the Ideas of many various Objects transmitted through a small hole (filled with a Convex Glass) into a dark Room, and there delineated to the life, without the least confusion, upon a piece of White Paper, placed opposite to the hole, at a convenient distance. And such a Person I cannot better answer, than by recommending to his serious Perusal, A Discourse of things above Reason, lately Published; where the acute and judicious Author very convincingly proves, that, 'tis highly reasonable to believe many things, that our Reason cannot comprehend; many that we cannot form any clear and distinct Notions of; and many that we cannot reconcile to other unquestionable Truths. For the Ideas, we have been speaking of, may very justly claim a place in the second of the three, newly mentioned, Ranks of Privileged Things, which that Author styles Inexplicable. 'Tis true, that profound and subtle Philosopher, Des Cartes, has attempted, in his Book de Homme, to give a Mechanical Account of the Ideas, that are imprinted in the Brain by insensible Objects. But he found'st his Notions upon an Hypothesis, concerning the Structure of the Brain, and the Motion of the Spirits in it, which tho' it be most ingeniously devised, yet 'tis so far from being countenanced by Anatomical Observations, that it seems utterly inconsistent with the best and most accurate, that have been made upon that Part. But 'tis more than time to conclude this Digression, and proceed to the rest of our Author's Observations about the Seminal Ideas of Animals, and particularly of Man.  
The Propagation of Hereditary Distempers (such as the Epilepsy, Gout, Stone, Consumption) from Parents to their Children, depends upon this: That the seminal Idea which forms the Lungs (for instance) of the Foetus, is a Particle of that Idea which resided in the Parent's Lungs: Which is to be understood also of the Reins, Joints, Brain, and all the other Parts of the Body. Hence many Children are born with Moles, or Spots, in the very same Parts of their Body where their Parents had them, and of the same shape; insomuch, that whole Families have taken their Names from the Things that the Moles, common to these Families, were observed to resemble, as the Cicerones, Pisones, Lemuli, etc. For there are certain subtle Corpuseles, that go out of every (even the smallest) Part of the Parents Body, and mingle themselves with the Spirituous Part of the Blood that Circulates through it. Which Effluvia, being modified, and as it were figured, after a peculiar manner by the Part they come from, impress this Modification upon the forementioned Spirit; which Spirit, being afterwards united in the Seed with the Ideas of all the other Parts, (that is, the Spirits come from every Part with a peculiar Modification impressed upon them by it) and excited to Motion, and extricated from the grosser Parts of the Seed by the heat of the Womb, begins to form, of its own Substance, a Body like unto that Part, from which it received the Modifications impressed upon it. And thus the prima stamina of the Foetus are formed; which are nourished at first by the grosser Part of the Seed, and afterwards, partly by the Mother's Blood, and partly also, perhaps, by the Liquor contained in the Amnos or inner Membrane of the Foetus. From this Process of Generation, 'tis easy to understand, how that Disposition of some particular Part of the Parents Body, which renders Him or Her obnoxious to any particular Distemper, may be communicated to the same Part of the Foetus, and render it obnoxious to the same Distemper. Only the nature of the Impression which is made upon the Spirit that forms the Parts of the Foetus, and which qualifies it to form them like the Parts of the Parents Body which it came from; I say, the particular nature of this Modification remains in the dark still. Nor do I know how to illustrate it better, than by comparing it to that which is little less obscure than itself; namely, the Modification, which the Rays of Light receive by being Reflected from various Objects, and by which they are qualified, to produce, in a darkened Room, lively and distinct Representations of each of those Objects, both as to their Figure and the Colour of their surface; and 'tis from the surface only, that the Rays received this Modification, whereas the forementioned Effluvia come from all the innermost Recesses of every Part, and therefore from the correspondent Part of the Foetus like unto it, not only in Figure and Colour, but in the whole Nature and inward Textur of it.  
That the Ideas of all the Parts do really exist in the Blood, appears from the following Arguments. 1. They have sometimes visibly appeared in the Blood, received into a Cucurbit immediately as it slows out of the Vein, (whilst it is warm and turgid with Spirits) for some Medicinal Preparation: See Borell. Observe. 2. Some, that have drunk the Blood of any Animal, or of another Man, have been observed to partake of the Nature and Disposition of that Man or Animal. Commodus his disposition was owing to his Mother, who, presently after his Conception, drank the Blood of a cruel Gladiator that she was desperately in love with. A certain Maid, having drank some Cats-Blood, as a Remedy for the Epilepsy, did imitate Cats in her voice, motion and Actions, when the Fit was coming upon her; watching silently at little Mouseholes. See Becker. Microcosm. Therefore (to note that by the way) the Transfusion of Blood seems not a safe way of curing Diseases. 3. The spital of a Mad Dog makes other Dogs, Men, Horses, or any other Animal, wounded by his Teeth, turn mad also, and imitate his Actions and Gesticulations, such as Barking, Grinning, Fearfulness of Water, etc. Now spital is an immediate production of the Blood that circulates through the Salivary Glandules, & therefore must have received from thence the Ideas, that it infects the Spirits of the bitten Animal with. Also other Venomous enraged Animals, as the Tarantula, etc. communicate such Ideas by the little Wounds that their Teeth make in the Part they by't, as transform the Spirits of the Party bitten to a ridiculous imitation of their Gesticulations.  
Though every particular Part of the Foetus be formed, as has been said, by the Evolution of its own Idea, conveyed, by the Circulation of the Blood, from the Correspondent Part of the Parents Body, unto the Testes, where the Seed is made; yet maimed Parents may have perfect Children; namely, if both Father and Mother be not mutilated (at least not of the same Parts;) or if they have had perfect Seed in store, before they were dismembered; or if the defect of the Architect tonic Spirit, that should have come to the Seed from the Part that is deficient, be supplied by the strength of the Parents Imagination; who by seeing daily other Infants, Boys, Girls, Men, Women, all perfect, without the defect of any Part, may conceive so firm an Idea of a perfect Foetus, as will (by the Sympathy, between the Imagination and the Seed, formerly explained) produce the very same Modification in the Seed, that an Idea, conveyed by the Blood from the deficient Part, (if it had not been wanting) would have done. For the Mother's Imagination may not only add to the Foetus a Spot representing the Thing Imagined in Figure and Colour, but even the very Thing itself in its whole Nature. How many Instances are there of Pregnant Women, that have conceived so strong an Idea of the Horns of some Beast that has terrified them, that the Impression, thereby made upon the Foetus, has produced (not a Spot only representing it, but) a real substantial Horn, though, perhaps, this Cause of the Phaenomenon be not always observed. And hence it is, that if the Parents be maimed from their Birth, their Children are often mutilated of the same Part, because they cannot easily conceive a firm Idea of the entireness of that Part, which they never felt entire in themselves: But if they were dismembered long after, they can easily form a strong Idea of the Part that they have felt entire, and known the use of, in themselves, and so supply the defect of that Idea in the Seed. 'Tis also probable, that the Mother's Imagination is the principal Cause, why the Child's Face sometimes resembles the Fathers, sometimes the Mothers, and sometimes some other Person, according to the Idea that is prevalent in the Mother's Brain, while she is with Child.  
That the Mother (as well as the Father) is furnished with true Seed, endowed with the Ideas of the Parts of her own Body (as well as the Fathers is with the Ideas of his) and consequently, that she does contribute part of the Plastic virtue that forms the Foetus, as well as afford the Matter of which it is formed and nourished in the Womb, appears from several Parts of the foregoing Discourse, as well as from the three following Considerations. 1. The Ideas of the Masculine Seed can only be taken from the Parts of the Man's Body, and therefore can never form the Organs peculiar to a Woman. 2. The vicious Conformation of any Part of the Mother's Body, as well as of the Fathers, is often propagated to the Foetus. 3. When a Male and Female of differing Species copulate, the Foetus is of a mixed kind, resembling the one in some of its Parts, and the other in others. We have (besides the instance of Mules) too many instances of this in the Monstrous Foetus' produced by the detestable Venery of some Men, that copulate with Female Brutes. The flowing of the Menstruous Blood to a young Woman's Womb, is a sign of Maturity, because it signifies, that, besides the Seminal Idea of her own Sex (which she was really furnished with before) there is now also Aliment provided for the Evolution of that Idea, whensoever it comes to be Foecundated by the Masculine Seed.  
Death happens, when the Vital Spirit (or Calidum innatum) that is the chief Mover in the Evolution of the Ideas, and in all the Animal Functions, is suppressed or extinguished by any Cause whatsoever. (This may be better understood from what was formerly delivered of Abortion, which is nothing else but the Death of the Foetus.) But the Ideas do still remain in the Cadaver, though they are become Barren for want of the Moving Spirit; which shall be restored again at the Resurrection, and no new Evolution thereby made, but the entire Idea, as it was already unfolded at the time of Death, resuscitated or animated anew. And some of the Spectres, that are seen in Churchyards, may be nothing else but the Ideas, remaining in the Human Cadavers, elevated by means of a certain Central Heat, which would be seen in the day time also, if the Light of the Sun did not keep them from appearing. Serpents, cut to pieces and putrefied, breed new Serpents by the influence of the Sun, which restores to the quiescent Ideas that moving Spirit, which they had lost by Death. Frogs also bruised, in the Winter, and resolved into Mud, do, upon the same account, revive in the Summer. Ducks, putrefied, are reported to breed Serpents, and it has been confirmed to the Author, by a credible eye-witness: whence it evidently appears, that the seminal Ideas of the Serpent's Flesh (which they use to feed often upon) have not been totally destroyed, even by so many Digestions, but have continued entire under the dominion of the Ducks seminal Ideas. Swallows, when the cold Winter comes, bury themselves under the Water, where they continue without any sign of the least Motion or life, till the returning Sun inspire them with new vital Spirit, and thereby raise them to life again. All these Instances do strongly argue the possibility of the H●●●●●… Resurrection: Which (as also the Author's conjectures about Sp●●●…es) is likewise much confirmed by the Resuscitation of Vegetables, hereafter mentioned.  
Naturalists observe, that, in some Persons, the Passion is so great in time of Coition, that, for the present, it quite bereaveth them of the use of Reason. And therefore it is, (which should have been noted before) that the Parent's Imagination, at that time, produces more powerful Effects in the Seed, than the same Imagination, at any other time, could have done. For when the Animal Spirits flow in such abundance into the Organs of Generation, any Idea, that is very strong in the Imagination, must of necessity be carried down together with them and infect the Seed. But I have already insisted too long upon this Subject: And therefore I shall add no more, but pass on to the Generation of Vegetables.  
Every Species of Vegetables has its own particular Seed. The visible Seed is but the Receptable, that contains, and secures from External Injuries, the true Seed or Idea of the Plant, which (says our Author) all sound Philosophers affirm to be but the 2800 parts of its own Body; intimating this determinate Proportion, that in all Generations the true Seed is very remote from any sensible bulk. The Seminal Idea of every Plant (as was formerly said of Animals) consists of as many particular distinct Ideas, as there are different Parts in the Vegetable, all together representing an exact Model of the entire Plant. The Evolution of this Idea is performed in this manner. When the Body of the Seed, or external Capsula of the Seminal Ideas, begins to be softened by the moisture of the Earth, so that the Ideas may take up a larger space, the heat of the Sun excites the innate fire of the Seed, which is Congeneal to it; (for all fruitful Seeds are endowed with a Particle of that universal Spirit of Life, which is the Principle of all Vital Actions, Foecundates all Seeds, and is the only Mover in all Generations:) and which being, put in motion, begins, by the Coagulative virtue 'tis endowed with upon the account of its Acidity, to Coagulate the Water that is at hand, into a Substance agreeable to the nature of the Ideas, and fill up the little spaces of the Ideas with it: Which are by this means gradually explicated, till they have attained the utmost Evolution that they are capable of. This Evolution, of the Ideas of a Vegetable seed, may be clearly represented to the Eye by Artificial Vegetation, which is performed in the following manner, according to Tachenius.  
Take the ripe Seed of any Plant, gathered in fair Wether, bruise it in a Glass Mortar, and keep it in a Glass Hermetically sealed, of a shape and bigness answerable to that of the Plant, till you observe a convenient Evening, when Dew is like to fall; then take out your Seed, and expose it all night upon a Plate of Glass, that it may be wet with Dew; but be sure to seal it up again before Sun-rise, with a solution of the Salt of Dew, in its own distilled Liquor poured upon it to the height of three fingers breadth. Expose this sealed Glass to the Rays of the Sun and Moon in fair Wether, and keep it in a warm Fire-room in rainy Wether. After some days the Seed will appear like a Mucilage, and the supernatant D●w will be of a Green Colour saturate according to the nature of the seed, and covered over with a skin or divers Colours. When these signs are complete, if you heat the Glass, you shall see a perfect lively Idea of the Plant rise up within it, which will disappear again when the Glass is removed from the Heat. This odd Phaenomenon depends upon a Particle of the Universal Spirit contained in the Dew, which excites the innate Spirit of the Seed to an occult Fermentation, whereby the Idea is freed from its external earthy Receptacle, so that it may be elevated by the application of external Heat, leaving the heavy terrestrial Particles behind. But the Author does not give credit to the Experiment, that some pretend to, of elevating this Idea from the Ashes of a Plant; because the Calcination drives away that Spirit, which is the immediate Receptacle of the Idea of the Plant. The forementioned Salt of Dew is made by Filtering and Distilling the Dew till it leave no more Faeces, then Calcining the Faeces, and Extracting the Salt from them, which is to be dissolved in the Distilled Dew, and so poured on upon the Seed, as above.  
In the last place, Minerals also are endowed with Seminal Particles. For though they be not made up of so many dissimular Parts, and of distinct Organs, as Vegetables, and especially Animals are; and consequently, though we cannot suppose any Ideas in them consisting of Integral Organical Parts: Yet they have a certain Seminal Ferment, which, in Metals particularly, is evident enough; for 'tis this Ferment that converts Mercury into a Metalline Substance. Therefore, Iron Mines, that have been almost quite exhausted, are after some years found as rich in the Oar as they were at first. And the same thing is observed in Tin, (and likewise in Nitre.) And such a Seminal Power there is in common Gold, though this Metal be unfit to impregnate other Metals therewith, and consequently improper for the Grand Philosophical work of Transmutation; because its Sulphur, being once Coagulated, loses all Power of Motion for the future, and therefore is unfruitful and dead. But 'twas this same Seminal Sulphur, that, when the Gold was produced, did Coagulate itself with Mercury, and thereby convert it into Gold. And there appears not any solid Reason against the possibility of the Transmutation so much sought after; since, though Seeds cannot be converted into other Seeds, yet those, that are endowed with a weaker Mover, may be overcome by, and brought under the Dominion, of such Seeds as are furnished with a stronger.  
And now having established the Material and Formal Principles of Natural Bodies, the Efficient only remains to be considered.   

Prop. XVIII.  
The chief Mover (under God) of all Natural Bodies, that actuates and foecundates all Animal, Vegetable and Mineral Seeds; that Coagulates Elementary Water into all sorts of Bodies, according to the various Ideas of those Seeds; that applies the same Water to those Ideas , and in a word, the chief Efficient in all the Phaenomena of Nature, is a certain subtle Spirit of an Igneous nature, diffused through the whole visible World, but chiefly treasured up at the Centre thereof in the Sun.  
N.B. [1. BY Spirit here, is not meant an Immaterial Substance, but a Body consisting of very Minute and very Active Particles, peculiarly fitted for Motion, and endowed with a great measure of it. 2. By the visible World, I understand here, that part of the Corporeal Universe which contains the Earth with the other six Planets, and makes up one great Vortex, whereof the Sun is the Centre. As for the rest of the Universe, it is altogether unknown to us, only, as that most ingenious conjecture of the incomparable Des Cartes concerning it, is very likely to be true; namely, that every one of the fixed Stars, we see, is the Centre and Sun, as 'twere, of a distinct Vortex: So 'tis no less likely, that each of them has the same relation to its own Vortex, and the same Influence upon the Planets, or whatever Bodies they are which it contains, that the Sun has to our Vortex, and upon the Bodies comprehended there in particularly the Terraqueous Globe. And though this Part of our Author's Hypothesis concerning the Anima Mundi or Universal Spirit, may be applicable in the sense newly explained, to the whole Universe of Bodies, yet his other Principles of Water and Seeds are not so comprehensive; and whatever he says of them, must be limited to the Bodies contained in this little Point of the Universe, that the Almighty Creator has given to Mankind for an Habitation. And the truth is, we have but little certain knowledge of the other Parts of the World, and that little we have is very superficial.] 3. This Universal Spirit is actually Igneous in its Fountain, the Sun; and after it is incorporated in Terrestrial Bodies, even the coldest of them, it differs but in the slower Motion of its Particles from actual Fire, and therefore, whenever they are put into a rapid motion, it turns into actual Fire again. And those Particles of Combustible Bodies, that, being in a vehement Agitation, do chiefly constitute our Culinary Fire, were once Particles of this Universal Spirit, and came Originally from the Sun. 4. This is the Spirit that moved upon the Water at the beginning of the Creation. For when God created the Matter of which he intended to form this Terraqueous Globe, namely, a great Mass of simple Elementary Water, he endowed it with all sorts of Seeds, and made use of this Spirit to Coagulate a great part of the foresaid Mass, according to the Signatures of those Seeds, into Mineral, Vegetable and Animal Bodies of all kinds. [And the Word in the Original, which our Translators render Moved, seems to agree very well with this Hypothesis: For it properly belongs to Birds sitting upon and fluttering over their Eggs and young ones, to excite, quicken and foecundate the Seed contained in the Eggs, and so bring forth the young ones; and to cherish them when they are brought forth: so that, in this place, the Word may be very reasonably supposed to imply, that the Vital Spirit, which God had Created, did, as 'twere, sit upon, and move itself in the Waters, to actuate the Seeds they contained, and by this means Hatched, as 'twere, and brought forth the after-mentioned Bodies.] 5. Tho' this Spirit, by Coagulating the Elementary Water into several Bodies, was itself Coagulated and Incorporated together with it, and tho' it has been propagated to all sorts of Bodies that have been produced, by Generation, ever since the Terraqueous Globe was first Created; so that every fruitful Seed has a Particle of this quickening Spirit connate with it: Yet this Particle is not sufficient to accomplish the Evolution of the seminal Ideas, and actuate the Body in all the Functions that belong to it, unless it be maintained, corroborated, and multiplied by constant fresh supplies, from that Inexhaustible Treasure of this Vital Fire, which is placed in the Sun; and thence diffused, with the Rays of that glorious Body, to all Parts of the visible World, and particularly to the Terraqueous Globe, where it maintains and actuates the forementioned Native Spirit of all Animals, Vegetables and Minerals. 6. The Vital Substance, that flows continually from the Sun, is equally capable of all Forms, and unites itself indifferently with all Seeds. But when 'tis once united, it loses its indifferency, and is specified according to the determinate nature of every particular Seed that it incorporates with. Hence the Sulphurs of Vegetables are quite different from those of Animals, and both from the Sulphurs of Minerals; nor can they be transmuted into one another by humane Art: So straight does the Universal Spirit unite itself with particular Seeds. The reason of this so close an union, is, because the Native pre-existent in every Seed, is of the same Spirit Nature and Original with this Universal Spirit.  
As for the Proof of the Proposition hitherto explained, the Universal Spirit, asserted in it, is manifest, 1. From the absolute necessity of constant Respiration to Men, and most other Animals; for hence it is evident, that there is a certain Vital Substance in the Air, that they cannot live a Minute without fresh supplies of, now that the Air is but the Vehicle of this Vital Substance, flowing continually from the Sun, and the Medium, through which it is conveyed to sublunary Bodies, shall be proved hereafter. So that it must be the Universal Spirit, clothed with Air, that is constantly received into the Lungs by Inspiration, and thence transmitted to the Heart; which (being the chief Fountain of the Animal Life, that constantly diffuses a Vital Spirit through the Arteries, together with the Blood, to all Parts of the Body, and thereby maintains and cherishes the Native Heat and Vital Spirit residing in each of them) must have constant supplies from the Universal Spirit, to Corroborate, Maintain, and Multiply its own Particular Spirit. For the Universal Spirit, that flows from the Sun to all Parts of the Macrocosm, is of the same Nature with this Particular Spirit, that flows from the Heart to all Parts of the Microcosm, and is therefore very fit to nourish and support it with constant new supplies. 2. The same Universal Spirit is no less evident from what has been delivered under the former Proposition, concerning the Generation of Animals. To which I shall only add, that Nature has solicitously provided to secure the Seed from External Air, because, if it were exposed but a moment to the Air, the Universal Spirit, that dwells there, would instantly suck up (so to speak) the Congeneal Spirit that foecundates the Seed, as not being yet incorporated. [Wherefore the Seed, of Oviparous Animals, is carefully shut up from the Contact of the External Air within the Egg. And in Viviparous Animals, presently after the Injection of the Masculine Seed into the Womb, and the Union thereof with the Feminine,] the Orifice of that Part is exactly closed, and the two united Spirits do presently fall to Work, and begin the Evolution of the seminal Ideas, and the Apposition of Aliment thereunto. But this Work could never be accomplished, nay, nor even begun, unless the seminal Spirit were excited, cherished, corroborated, and supported by the Heat of the Womb, [and by constant supplies of the Mother's Vital Spirit, conveyed, with the Arterial Blood, from her Heart to the Placenta Vterina, and thence transmitted, through the umbilical Vein, into the Vena Cava, and so into the Heart of the Foetus, which is the Centre of Evolution, and the chief Spring of all the Animal Actions, both in and out of the Womb: But no sooner is the Foetus separated from the Mother, and thereby deprived of the supplies that the Vital Spirits, residing in the Heart, received from her in the Womb, than it begins to draw supplies for maintaining of the same Vital Substance, from the Universal Spirit lodged in the Air, as was said before. 3. 'Tis the Vital Spirit residing in every particular Part of the Human, or any other Animals Body, maintained by the Influence of the Universal Spirit conveyed with the Air, by Respiration, into the Lungs, and from thence communicated, by means of the Circulation of the Blood, first to the Heart, and, from that, to the whole Body;] 'tis this Spirit, I say, that Coagulates the Fluid Blood into the solid substance of that Part, and is the true Efficient of all the Vital Functions belonging to it. [Those Animals that are destitute of Lungs, are nevertheless endowed with Organs of Resparation of an equivalent use. For that excellent Anatomist, Malpigius, has happily discovered, that those blackish Points, which we observe in Infects, all along the length of their Body, on both sides, are really the Orifices of so many Tracheas or Wind-Pipes, which convey the Air into the Stomach, Spinal Marrow, and all the other Bowels, as well as the Heart, so that the Air has immediate access to seed the Vital Spirit that resides in each of them, because there is no Circulation of the Alimentary Juice in these Animals; or if there be, it is too slow to convey sufficient supplies of the Universal Spirit from any one Part to all the rest, as it doth from the Heart and Lungs in perfect Animals. And the constant ingress and egress of the Air by these little Holes, is so necessary to the life of Infects, that if you immerge their whole Body into Oil, or but anoint these little spots with it, they presently die; whereas if you anoint only the Intervals with Oil, without touching these little Holes, they receive no harm. And tho' Fishes have no Lungs nor Air Pipes, because they live in the Water; yet instead thereof they have gills, which are Dilated and Contracted by a perpetual Reciprocation, to give ingress and egress to the Water, as the Lungs of other Animals are to Inspire and Exspire the Air. Nor can Fishes live without Water, any more than Land-Animals can do without Air. Whence 'tis highly probable, that the former receive constant supplies of some vital substance from the Water, as well as the later do from the Air: especially if we farther consider, that the Vital Liquor Circulates through the gills of the one by the Ramifications of their Arteria Bronchialis, as well as it does through the Lungs of the other by those of the Arteria Pulmonaris. Wherefore, if in Land-Animals the said Vital Liquor divide itself into little Rivulets in its passage through the Lungs, that every part thereof may at each Circulation receive fresh supples of Vital Spirit from the Air, that is diffused through the whole substance of those Respiratory Organs, by the numerous Ramifications of the Windpipe; if this be so, I say, (as we formerly proved it to be) we may very reasonably suppose, that in Fishes the same Vital Liquor Circulates in like manner through the gills, that it may receive constant fresh supplies of a vital substance from the Water, that washes the gills perpetually. N. B. The gills of Crusted Fish, as Lobsters, etc. and of Shellfish, as Oysters, etc. are spongious, and not only receive the Water into all their innermost parts (where it communicates with the numerous Vessels, that diffuse the Vital Liquor through the whole substance of the gills) but give it a Passage also into all the Internal Cavities of the Body, where it is laid up as in Bottles, to supply the foresaid Fishes with Vital Spirit, when the Ebbing of the Sea leaves them in sicco: whereas the gills of sanguineous Fishes that live constantly in the Water, are not spongious, and the Water washes only their outward surfaces without penetrating any farther. But instead of enlarging any more upon this point, I shall refer the curious Reader to Dr. Willis's Book of the soul of Brutes, Chap. 3. where he will find it very fully and accurately handled.] 4. The Existence of an Universal Spirit is evident from what has been said concerning the Growth of Vegetables. For 'tis a Particle of this Spirit in the seed, excited, strengthened and maintained by the Sun's Vital Influence, that Explicates the Seminal Idea, and Coagulates the Water into solid substances, as Wood, Bark, etc. which could never be produced out of simple Water without this Coagulating Spirit. 5. The same Argument may with equal, if not greater, force be applied to Minerals, and especially to Metals, which, tho' they be the solidest substances yet known, are nevertheless made of Mercury, which of all Liquors is the most fluid.  
In the next place, To evince that the Sun is the chief Fountain of this Universal Spirit, I need only put the Reader in mind of what was formerly observed concerning vegetable seeds; namely, that they would be perpetually barren, if their Native Spirit were not actuated by that vital substance which is every where diffused with the Rays of the Sun. But to confirm this a little farther, 'tis evident beyond contradiction, that the Growth of Vegetables depends upon the Influences of the Sun, since the different Seasons of the Solar Year have so constant and so powerful Effects upon them. For in Winter the Influence of the Sun is very weak, because of the Obliquity of his Rays, and the shortness of the days: and therefore Seeds lie dormant in the Earth without any motion: Herbs fade and wither, or die totally: Trees are deprived of their Leaves and lively Verdure, shoot forth no Twigs, produce no Blossoms, bear no Fruit, and in a word cease from all Vital Actions. Yea many Animals themselves lose much of their Vigour, and some of them (such as Flies, Frogs, Swallows, etc.) lie dead, as it were, all the Winter long, in Chinks of Walls, or in Cavities of the Earth, or under Water, without any motion, Sense, or the least appearance of Life: But when the Sun comes to be more vertical, and the Days grow longer, every thing capable of Life is quickened or revived; and the whole Face of the Earth, that looked dead and lifeless before, appears fresh, verdant, lively, and quite new, insomuch that 'tis astonishing to behold so vast an alteration: the Vital Spirit remaining in the Roots of such Herbs, as did not quite die in the preceding Winter, being Revived, Excited to Motion and Corroborated, falls to work afresh, and produces new Stalks, Leaves, Flowers, Seed, Fruit, etc. the Vital Spirit that had in a great measure retired from the Branches of Trees into their Roots and Body, explicates itself anew, restores their fresh and lively Verdure, and adorns them with new Leaves, Twigs, Buds, Blossoms, Fruit, etc. Finally the Vital Spirit of the forementioned Animals, that had Concentred itself in the middle of their Body, actuates the Members anew which it had before deserted, and restores to them Sense, Motion, and the Exercise of all their Vital Functions.  
Lastly, The Universal Spirit appears to be of an Igneous Nature, 1. Because it flows from the Sun, which is an actual Fire. Yea the Solar Rays themselves, which diffuse this Vital Substance through the Visible World, being Collected by a Burning Glass into a Centre, produce all the Effects of our Actual Culinary Fire. [2. The Vital Spirit of Animals is fed by the Universal Spirit, as has been evidently proved, and by consequence is of the same Nature with it. Now this Vital Spirit, in Hot Sanguineous Animals, has all the Essential Properties of an Actual Flame: For it constantly diffuses a sensible Heat through all the Members of the Body: it is maintained by constant fresh supplies of sulphureous Fuel from the Aliments, that are taken into the Stomach and thence conveyed to the Blood, where this subtle Flame invisibly burns; and of an Aerial Pabulum from the Air, that is taken into the Lungs by Inspiration, and there communicated to the same Liquor: it constantly emits Fuliginous Effluvia, both through the Windpipe also through all the Pores of the Skin, which are like so many Chimneys appointed to ventilate this vital Fire: It is kindled first in the Seminal Liquor, either by another vital Fire, as in viviparous Animals; or by the Intestine Motion of the Sulphureous Parts, excited and cherished by a continued External Warmth, as in Oviparous Animals: but so long as the Foetus is included in the Womb or Egg, it burns very faintly, and never breaks out into an actual Flame till the Air have free nccess to it by Respiration: finally it dies as soon as it is deprived of Sulphureous Fuel, of Aerial Pabulum, or of Ventilation. Now these Properties seem to be peculiar to Flame: and particularly there is nothing we know of in the World besides Life and Fire, whose Motion is instantly suppressed by withdrawing the Air. See Willis de Accentione Sanguinis.]   

Prop. 19  
The Universal Spirit, that Coagulates Elementary Water into Solid Substances of the Animal Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms, consists of Acid Particles.  
For 1. IT is of an Igneous nature; and Fire has been proved to consist of Acid Particles put into a rapid Motion. 2. All Chemists agree that the Concretion of Bodies depends upon the Saline Principle. Now Acaline Salts are apt rather to Dissolve Bodies, than either to Coagulate or be Coagulated: Whereas we have a multitude of Instances of Coagulation and Fixation performed by Acid Salts; which tho' they Corrode (and so Dissolve) many Bodies, yet their Property is to Concoagulate with the Bodies they have Corroded. [Thus Quicksylver is Fixed and Coagulated by the Acid Particles of common or Antimonial Sulphur, into Cinnabar; by those of Salt and Vitriol into Sublimate Corrosive; by Spirit of Nitre into Red Precipitate, as the Chemists abusively call it; by Oil of Vitriol, Oil of Sulphur, or Oil of Alum into Turbith Mineral, finally by the Acid Particles of Fire into Precipitate per se. These Instances are the more pertinent to our purpose, because Mercury is a more Fluid Body than Simple Water itself. And the last of them, tho' at first it appear somewhat Paradoxical, yet upon better examination it seems to be very reasonable; since Precipitate per se, as well as the rest of the newly mentioned Preparations of Quicksilver, may be revived into running Mercury, by being distilled from Salt of Tartar, Quicklime, or such other Alcalisate Bodies as are very apt to be wrought upon by Acid Salts, and thereby to disengage the Quicksilver that was Coagulated with them: and since the Particles of Fire (which have been proved to be Acid) may penetrate Glass, and many times increase the weight of the enclosed Bodies, as Mr. boil has undeniably evinced by a great many Experiments: and finally since Fire is the only Agent in this Preparation.] The Sulphur of Lead deprives Quicksilver of its Fluidity. Volatile urinous Salts are so powerfully fixed by Acid Spirits as to endure an open Fire for some time; but they recover their former volatility, as soon as they are disengaged from the Acid Salts that fixed them, by the addition of any Alcalisate Body. All sorts of Acid Salts do coagulate Milk: and the Coagulation of the Creamy parts of Milk into Butter, depends upon the internal Acid of the Milk; for if you throw any Alcalisate Salt into it, there can be no Butter obtained from it. The Acid Salts of Nitre do so powerfully fix the vomitive Sulphur of Antimony, as to render it a good Diaphoretic. [The Acid of Spirit of Wine instantly Coagulates Spirit of Urine; for, if both these Liquors be highly rectified, as soon as ever you have mingled them, the whole mixture loses its Fluidity, insomuch that tho' the Glass be inverted, not one drop will fall out: yea our Author affirms that] if Spirit of Wine highly rectified be kept for some months upon Salt of Urine in a gently digestive heat, they will unite together into a Calculus of a reddish Colour: and (which is yet more strange) four parts of this Stone will convert one part of new Spirit of Urine into its own Substance, and four parts of this one more, and so on without any end: and that the Stone in the may be Generated after the same manner by the Plaistick Virtue of an Internal Acidum, joined with the Salt of Urine, and being mixed with Gravel by Fermentation, concentrates into a Concreate Substance. We found by a Stone being taken out of a Humane Bladder, and Anatomised, by Distillation, to consist of Oil, Spirit, and Volatile Salt, with a very large Caput Mortuum: but of this we shall say no more at present, but leave the Reader to judge what may be gathered by the foregoing Experiment; so that it's believed, the Universal Spirit that Coagulates Elementary Water, as well as other Bodies into solid Substances, consists of Acid Particles.   
FINIS.   


Some Books Printed for and sold by Stafford Anson, at the three Pigeons in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1691.  
1. DIctionarium Historicum, Geographicum, Poeticum: Opus admodum utile & apprime necessarium. A Carolo Stephano Inchoatum. Ad incudem vero revocatum, innumerisque pene locis auctum & emaculatum per Nicolaum Lloydium, Collegii Wadhami in Celeberrima Academia Oxoniensi socium. Editio novissima. In qua Historico Poetica, & Geographica seorsim sunt Alphabetice digesta; & Liber totus tum emendationibus, tum additamentis (recentioribus tredicem Annorum Lloydii Elucubrationibus, manuque ultima) ita adornatur, ut novus ac plane alius videripossit. Cui accessit Index Geographicus, ubi hodierna & vernacula Locorum nomina Antiquis & Latinis proponuntur.  
2. The History of the Council of Trent; containing eight Books. In which, besides the ordinary Acts of the Council, are declared many notable Occurrences which happened in Christendom, during the space of forty years and more, and particularly the Practices of the Court of Rome, to hinder the Reformation of their Errors, and to maintain their Greatness. Written in Italian by Pietro Soave Polano; and faithfully translated into English by Sir Nathaniel Brent, Knight. Whereunto is added the Life of the Learned Author, and the History of the Inquisition, in Folio.  
3. Dionysii orbis Descriptio, Annotationibus Eustathii, & Hen. Stephani, nec non Guil. Hill commentario Critico & Geographico, ac Tabulis illustrata, 8vo.  
4. P. Virgilii Maronis opera, Interpretatione & notis Illustravit Car. Ruaeus, ad usum Delphini. Juxta Editionem novissimam Parisiensem, 8vo.  
5. Horatij opera ad Vsum Delphini, 8vo.  
6. Phaedri Fabulae, ad Vsum Delphini, 8vo.  
7. Virgilii operacum Annotationibus Johannis Minellii.  
8.—— Id. cum Notis. T. Farnabii, 12ves:  
9 P. Terentii Comoediae cum notis. T. Farnabii, 12ves:  
10. Isocratis Orationes duae. 1. Ad Demonicum. 2. Ad Nicoclem. Nova methodo & apprime utili, quoad verbum & sensum Latine redditae: Graecismis Phrasibus & sententiis in quibus maxima vis Rei consistit,