from the fubftantial form of the concrete, and may, as juftly as the qualities PHYSICS, of other inanimate bodies, be employ'd to prove fuch a form: yet, in our vitriol, made with fpirit of falt, the fame qualities were produced by the af fociation of two ingredients, fingly deftitute of them; which enabled it to affect our organs of fenfe, and work upon other bodies, after the manner of common vitriol. Indeed, it is fo far from appearing, that any fubftantial form is here generated a-new, that there is not fo much as an exquifice mixture made for both the ingredients retain their nature, and may easily be feparated by diftillation; fo that there is here but a juxta-pofition of the metalline and faline particles; only they are fo affociated, as by the manner of their coalition to acquire that new texture, which denominates the magiftery they compofe, vitriol. But tho' the exact and curious figures, into which vitriol, and other falts, The curious fi are apt to fhoot, be made arguments of the prefence, and great inftances of gures of falts depend not upon the plastic skill of substantial forms, and feminal powers; yet, I am not fo fubstantial fully fatisfy'd in this matter, as the modern philofophers appear to be. It forms. is not that I deny Plato's Yup, to be applicable to thefe exquifite productions of nature; for tho' God has thought fit, to make things after a more intelligible way, than by the intervention of fubftantial forms; and tho' the plastic power of feeds, feems unneceffary in our cafe; yet the divine geometry is, nevertheless, to be acknowledged, for having endowed the primary corpufcles of falts and metals, with a peculiar fitnefs for fuch concretions. And, tho' I fee no neceffity for afcribing fuch productions to a plaftic power; yet, the more elaborate and curious fabric of animals, may be afcribed to an higher origin. But my conjectures about the figures of falts, will be fupported by thefe confiderations. 1. By a bare affociation of metalline and faline corpufcles, a concrete, as finely figured as other vitriols, is producible; as we have already fhewn. 2. The figures of these falts are not conftantly the fame, but differently varied, as they happen to shoot more or lefs haftily, or in different proportions of liquor; as is manifeft from the difference in cryftals of vitriol, when large quantities are taken out of the great coolers. And, accordingly, where Agricola defcribes the several ways of making vitriol in large quantities, he compares the concretions indifferently to cubes, or clusters of grapes. I have fo ordered a pure lixivium of alkalizate falts, from which ufed to be obtained only a white calx, that it has fhot into tranfparent cryftals, almoft like white fugar-candy. And, having diftilled a certain quantity of oil of vitriol, with a strong folution of fea-falt, the refidue, diffolved in fair water, fhot into cryftals, fometimes of one figure, and fometimes of another, as the quantity and strength of the oil of vitriol, and other accidents, determin'd. From spirit of urine and of nitre, I have fometimes obtained, fine long cryftals, fhaped like falt-petre; and tho' filver, diffolved in Aqua fortis, or fpirit of nitre, ufually fhoots into exceeding thin plates, almoft like Muscovy-glafs; yet, I have ob tained lunar crystals, of a different figure; each crystal being compofed VOL. I. K k of PHYSICS. of many fmall folids finely fhaped, and adhering fo fitly to one another, as to have one furface common to them all. 3. Infenfible corpufcles of different exquifite fhapes, and endowed with plain, fmooth fides, will conftitute bodies variously, but all very finely figured. And, first, tho' harts-horn, blood, and urine, may well be fupposed to have their fubftantial forms deftroy'd, by the action of the fire, in their analysis; yet their faline particles will leifurely fhoot into crystals of very curious furfaces, and regular figures. And of these finely fhaped crystals, of various fizes, I have obtained feveral from other diftill'd acid' liquors; and particularly, with a menftruum that would diffolve fome gems, and with a folution of coral, made in fpirit of verdigreafe. For the fame reafon, when I try'd, whether the particles of filver, diffolved in Aqua fortis, would not, without coagulating with the falts, convene, upon account of their own fhapes, into little concretions of smooth and flat furfaces; Lfound, that having diluted one part of the folution with a great many parts of diftill'd rain-water, a plate of copper being fufpended in the liquor, and fuffered to lie quiet a while, there would fettle about it, fwarms of little metalline bodies, fhining in the water, like the fcales of fmall fifh; but formed into little plates extremely thin, with furfaces not only flat, but exceeding glossy : and among thofe, feveral of the larger were prettily figured at the edges. And the corpufcles of gold are fufficiently difpofed to convene, with thofe of fit falts, into concretions of determinate shapes, as I have found in the crystals obtained from it in Aqua regis: and, alfo, when, by a more powerful menftruum,. I had fubdivided the body of gold into fuch minute particles, as to be fublimable, these volatile particles, with the falts, wherewith they were elevated, afforded plenty of crystals, refembling one another in fhape. I have, indeed, fometimes try'd to procure compound figures from the fhootings of different falts together; but find, we must not expect, that in all cafes, they fhould be totally compounded: for they often are of fuch different natures, that one will fhoot much fooner than another; and then a large proportion of that will be first cryftallized in its own fhape, as is vifible in refining impure, or Barbary nitre, from the common fait wherewith it abounds. And, as Agricola obferves, where a vitriolate matter is mixed with alum, thofe two kinds of falt will fhoot feparately in the fame veffel:: in which cafes, all that can be expected, is, that the remaining part of the mixture fhould afford crystals of compounded folid figures. Tho' the Ve netian borax, fold in the shops, be a known factitious body, compounded of feveral falts; yet fome of it being diffolved in a large quantity of fair water, and made to coagulate very leifurely, I thence obtained cryftals, upon whole furfaces, I could perceive very exquifite and regular figures. We may add, that tho' the Caput mortuum of common Aqua fortis confifts of bodies very different in nature; yet barely by frequent folutions and coagulations, the faline particles will fhoot into very fine figures; as triangles, hexagons, rhomboids, &c. no lefs. exact than thofe of the finest nitre or vi triol: fome, moreover, "terminate in bodies, almost like pyramids, conGifting of several triangles, that niect in one point at the vertex, as admi rably rably shaped as the fairer fort of Cornish diamonds. And I have not only ob- PHYSICS. tain'd new shapes by compounding faline bodies, fuch as fea-falt, and faltpetre, but found them, alfo, producible in fome natural and chymical falts, diffolved together; and, also, in saline spirits made by distillation: but only thofe are fit for this purpose, which work upon one another with ebullition: for in that conflict, the faline corpufcles affociate together, and, by their newly acquired figure, lofe much of their former volatility; fo that upon evaporation of the fuperfluous liquor, they will not fly away, as, otherwise, they might, but coagulate together into finely-fhaped cryftals; as I have tried with the fpirits of urine and nitre, oil of vitriol, &c. And, what is farther remarkable, fpirit of urine fatiated with spirit of falt, has often afforded me crystals, exceedingly different in fhape, from those obtained with fpirit of urine, fatiated, either with oil of vitriol, or with spirit of nitre. For that falt, compounded of the two fpirits, of urine and of common falt, ufually confifts of one long rod, whence, on both fides, iffue out far fhorter crystals, fometimes perpendicular to that, and parallel to one another, like the teeth in a comb; and, fometimes, fo inclining, as to make the whole appear, almost like a feather; which is the more remarkable, because I have obferved fal-armoniac, made of crude urine and common falt, with a proportion of foot, will, if warily diffolved and coagulated, shoot into crystals of the like fhape. How far the unknown figure of a falt may poffibly be guess'd at, by that of the figure, which it makes with fome other falt, whofe figure is already known, I leave others to discover. 4. Confidering that vitriol was but a magiftery, made by the coagulation of the corpufcles of a diffolved metal, with those of the menftruum; I thought the magifteries of other metals might, without inconvenience, be added, as other vitriolate concretes, to the green, the blue, and white vitriol, which are, without fcruple, referred to the fame fpecies: but oil of vitriol being not a fit menftruum to diffolve several metals, nor even all those that it will corrrode; and there being the like unfitnefs, alfo, in common fpirit of falt, I pitch'd upon Aqua fortis, or fpirit of nitre, as the menftruum, most likely to afford variety of vitriols; and, accordingly, found, that befides a curious one from copper, that liquor would, with quickfilver, afford one fort of crystals, with filver another, and with lead a third; all which crystals of vitriol, as they differ'd from each other in other quali ties, fo they did very confiderably differ in fhape; the crystals of filver fhooting into exceeding thin plates, and thofe of lead and quick-filver obtaining figures, tho' different from each other, yet of a far greater depth and thickness, and lefs remote from the figure of common vitrio!, or feafalt: yet all these vitriols, especially that of crude lead, fuccefsfully made, had fhapes curious and elaborate, as well as thofe we admire in common vitriol or fea-falt *. If. cuticle, "lar Sir Ifaac Newton gives the following line liquor is evaporated to a account of cryftallization. "When any fa- " and let cool, the falt concretes in reguKk 2 PHYSICS. If then thefe curious fhapes, which are fuppofed the strongest proofs of fubftantial forms, may be the refults of texture; and if art can produce vitriol itself, as well as nature; are not substantial forms unnecessary in folving the ordinary phenomena; fince matter, with a convention of accidents, is alone fufficient for that purpofe? And why fhould we wilfully exclude thofe productions of the fire, wherein the chymift is but a fervant to nature, from the number of natural bodies? Indeed, fince there is no certain diagnostic agreed on, whereby to difcriminate natural and factitious bodies, and conftitute the fpecies of both; we might certainly draw arguments from the qualities and operations of feveral of thofe, which are called facti. tious bodies, to fhew how much may be afcribed to, and performed by the mechanical characteristics or ftamps of matter. And, if we admit these productions into the number of natural bodies, they will afford us a multitude of inftances to fhew, that bodies may acquire many noble qualities, barely, by having mechanical properties introduced by outward agents into their matter, or destroy'd there. Even thofe, who embrace Aristotle's principles, confefs, that a flight change of texture, without the introduction of a fubftantial form, may not only make a specific difference betwixt bodies; but so vast an one, that they shall have differing genus's, and (as the chymists speak) belong to different kingdoms. For coral, whilft it grows at the bottom of the fea, is a real plant, and hath often been there found foft, tender, and juicy; it, alfo, propagates its fpecies, as well as other shrubs; yet, being gathered, and removed into the air, it turns to a stony concretion. And a much stranger thing may be seen in the island of Sombrero in the EastIndies, not very far from Sumatra, if we may believe Sir James Lancaster, who relates it as an eye-witness; for which reafon, I fhall add the story in his own words. "Upon the coaft of Sombrero," fays he, "we found "the fand, by the fea-fide, a small twig growing up to a young tree; and "offering to pluck up the fame, it fhrunk down into the ground, and "finketh, unless hold very you hard. And being plucked up, a great "worm is the root of it; and look how the tree groweth in greatness, the "worm diminisheth. Now as foon as the worm is wholly turned into the "tree, it rooteth in the ground, and fo groweth to be great. This tranf "formation was one of the greatest wonders I faw in all my travels. This "tree being plucked up a little, the leaves ftripped off and the peel, by "that time it was dry, turned into an hard ftone, much like to white co"ral: fo that this worm was twice transformed into different natures. Of thefe we gathered, and brought home many." Pifo, in his hiftory of Brefil, appeals to a multitude of witneffes, for the ordinary transformation of a fort of animals, not much unlike grafhoppers, into vegetables, at a "lar figures; which argues, that the par- upon certain feafon of the year. And Father Michael Boym affirms, that he faw in PHYSICS. a fmall fhallow fresh-water lake of the island Hainan, (which belongs to China) crabs, or craw-fifh, which, as foon as they were drawn out of the water, loft both life and motion in a moment, and became petrified; tho' nothing appeared to be changed, either in the external, or internal figure of their bodies. SECT. V. Having dispatch'd the firft argument, whereby. I propofed to confirm Experiments the origin of forms, from the manner, by which fuch a convention of to shew the origin of forms, accidents, as deferves to pafs for a form, may be produced; I proceed to from the rethe fecond proof I defign'd of the fame, drawn from the re-production of a nerving of bophyfical body. And this argument of the two is the most conclufive. For dies. if we can re-produce a body, which has been deprived of its fubftantial form, it feems more than probable, that the form, which gives being and denomination to a concrete, may be, in fome bodies, but a modification of the matter they con fift of, whofe parts, by a peculiar difpofition to each other, conftitute fuch a determinate fubftance, with particular properties; whereas, if the fame parts were otherwife difpofed, they would conftitute other bodies of very differing natures from that of the concrete, whofe parts they formerly were; and which may again refult, or be produced after its diffipation, and feeming deftruction, by the re-union of the fame component particles, affociated in their former manner. But tho' an adequate renewal of a body, chymically analyzed, be difficult, because of the diffipation of fome parts in the procefs; yet fuch a re-production as is practicable, may fuffice for our purpose. For even in fuch experiments, it appears, that by the bare re-union of fome parts, the very fame matter, without addition, may be brought again to conftitute a body of the like nature with the former, tho' not of equal bulk. In this manner we attempted the diffipation and re-union of the parts of common amber: and tho' chymifts, for fear of breaking their veffels, when they commit it to distillation, add fand, brick-duft, &c. thereto, yet we found, that if the retort were not too full, and the fire flowly and warily applied, the addition of any other body was needlefs. Wherefore, having put into a glass-retort, four or five ounces of amber, and applied a gentle, gradual heat, we obferved the amber to melt and bubble; and having ended the operation, and sever'd the veffels, there was come over, in the form of oil, fpirit, phlegm, and volatile falt, near half the weight of the concrete: upon breaking the retort, we found in the bottom of it, a cake of coal-black matter, whofe upper furface was fo exquifitely polifhed, as to fit it to ferve for a looking-glafs, and this fmooth mafs being broken, the larger fragments appeared with an excellent luftre. All these parts of the amber, being again put together, into a glafs-body, with a blind head luted to it, were placed in fand, to be incorporated by a gentle heat; but the fire having been raised too high, it forced the veffel out of the fand, and broke off the top, |