Selected quad for the lemma: sense_n
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A42035
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Curiosities in chymistry being new experiments and observations concerning the principles of natural bodies / written by a person of honour ; and published by his operator, H.G.
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Person of honour.; Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.
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1691
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Wing G1877; ESTC R9237
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46,575
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122
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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 't was this same Seminal Sulphur that when the Gold was produc'd did Coagulate it self 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 endow'd 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 establish'd the Material and Formal Principles of Natural Bodies the Efficient only remains to be consider'd 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 subtil Spirit of an Igneous nature diffus'd through the whole visible World but chiefly treasur'd up at the Center 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 endow'd 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 Center 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 fixt Stars we see is the Center and Sun as 't were of a distinct Vortex So 't is 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 Authors Hypothesis concerning the Anima Mundi or Vniversal Spirit may be applicable in the sense newly explain'd 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 contain'd 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 knowledg of the other Parts of the World and that little we have is very superficial 3. This Vniversal 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 when-ever 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 Vniversal Spirit and came Originally from the Sun 4. This is the Spirit that mov'd 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 endow'd 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 Mov'd 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 contain'd 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 suppos'd to imply that the Vital Spirit which God had Created did as 't were sit upon and move it self in the Waters to actuate the Seeds they contain'd and by this means Hatch'd as 't were and brought forth the after-mention'd Bodies 5. Tho' this Spirit by Coagulating the Elementary Water into several Bodies was it self Coagulated and Incorporated together with it and tho' it has been propagated to all sorts of Bodies that have been produc'd by Generation ever since the Terraqueous Globe was first Created so that every fruitful Seed has a Particle of this quickning 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 maintain'd corroborated and multipli'd by constant fresh supplies from that Inexhaustible Treasure of this Vital Fire which is plac'd in the Sun and thence diffus'd with the Rayes of that glorious Body to all Parts of the visible World and particularly to the Terraqueous Globe where it maintains and actuates the fore-mention'd 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 it self indifferently with all Seeds But when 't is once united it loses its indifferency and is specifi'd 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 streightly does the Vniversal Spirit unite it self 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 Vniversal Spirit As for the Proof of the Proposition hitherto explained the Vniversal 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 convey'd to sublunary Bodies shall be prov'd hereafter So that it must be the Vniversal Spirit cloath'd with Air that is constantly receiv'd 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 Vniversal Spirit to Corroborate Maintain and Multiply its own Particular Spirit For the
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 Rayes and the shortness of the dayes and therefore Seeds lye dormant in the Earth without any motion Herbs fade and wither or dye totally Trees are depriv'd 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 loose much of their Vigour and some of them such as Flyes Frogs Swallows c. lye 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 Dayes grow longer every thing capable of Life is quickn'd or reviv'd and the whole Face of the Earth that look'd dead and lifeless before appears fresh verdant lively and quite new insomuch that 't is astonishing to behold so vast an alteration the Vital Spirit remaining in the Roots of such Herbs as did not quite dye in the preceeding Winter being Reviv'd Excited to Motion and Corroborated falls to work afresh and produces new Stalks Leaves Flowers Seed Fruit c. the Vital Spirit that had in a great measure retir'd from the Branches of Trees into their Roots and Body explicates it self anew restores their fresh and lively Verdure and adorns them with new Leaves Twigs Buds Blossoms Fruit c. Finally the Vital Spirit of the forementioned Animals that had Concentred it self 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 Vniversal Spirit appears to be of an Igneous Nature 1. Because it flows from the Sun which is an actual Fire Yea the Solar Rayes themselves which diffuse this Vital Substance through the Visible World being Collected by a Burning Glass into a Center 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 prov'd 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 maintain'd by constant fresh supplies of sulphureous Fuel from the Aliments that are taken into the Stomach and thence conveyed to the Blood where this subtil 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 Wind-Pipe 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 continu'd 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 dyes as soon as it is depriv'd 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 Vniversal 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 prov'd to consist of Acid Particles put into a rapid Motion 2. All Chimists 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 perform'd 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 Chymists abusively call it by Oyl of Vitriol Oyl of Sulphur or Oyl 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 it self 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 reviv'd into running Mercury by being distill'd from Salt of Tartar Quick-lime 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 prov'd to be Acid may penetrate Glass and many times increase the weight of the inclosed Bodies as Mr. Boyle 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 Volatil urinous Salts are so powerfully fix'd 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 obtain'd 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 Vrine 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 Vertue of an Internal Acidum joyned with the Salt of Urine and being mixt with Gravel by Fermentation concentrates into a Concreate Substance We found by a Stone being taken out of a Humane Bladder and Anatomized by Distillation to consist of Oyl 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 Pidgeons in St. Paul's Church-yard 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. Horatii 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