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Show WA of the Earth and other Faces may be feparated from it, and this is what we muft be content to call Pure Water. Mr. Boyle indeed relates, That a Friend of his, bydiftilling a Quantity of ater an hundred times, found at length that he had got fix Tenths of the Quantity in Earth ; whence he concludes, that the whole /ater, by the further profecuting the Operation, might be converted into Earth. But it fhould be confider’d, that the Water cannot be removed or poured into a Veffel without the Mixture of fome Duft with it ; fo neither can the Luting of the Veffel be diftill'd without lofing fomething every time: Therefore Dr. Boerbaave rather concludes, That the Water thus often diftill’d, might acquire new Earth from the Duft floating in the Air, and the Inftruments employ’d in the Operation. That Author affures us, That after he had Wa Wa Nutriment of the Vegetable Kind, as Vege- it would yield Sparks of Fire ; yet this very from a fimilar Experiment ; and the Whole is countenane’d by Sir I/aac Newton, who obferves, that Water ftanding a few Days in the open Air, yields a Tinéture, which, like that of Malt, by ftanding longer, yieldsa Sediment and a Spirit ; but before Putrefaction, is fit Nourifhment for Animals and Vegetables. But Dr, Woodward endeavours to fhew, that they were both miftaken; by proving, that Water contains in it divers extraneous Corpufcles, and that fome of thefe are the proper Matter of Nutrition, Water being found to afford fo much the lefs Nourifhment the more thereof. Mr. Boyle, by Dittillation, found that Eels yielded tome Oil, Spirit, and volatile Salt befides the Caput mortuum ; yet all thefe were fo difproportionate to the Water, that they feemed to have been nothing but that coagulated. i‘ The fame Author, from human Blood itfelf, as {pirituous and elaborate a Liquor as it is reputed, did, by Diftillation, out of {even diftill’d fome very pure Water by a gentle Fire for the Space of four Months, it appear’d per- Ounces and a halt, draw near fix of Phlegm, fetly pure, and yet leaving it toreft in Vetfels before ever any other of the Principles began perfectly clos’d, it conceiv’d a certain kind of to rife. Vipers, though they are efteem’d hot in weedy Matter, fomewhat like'the Stamina of Plants, or the little Tufts of a Mucilage; and Operation, and will in a convenient Air furyet it is related, that Schottus faw Water in vive for fome Days the Lof oftheir Heads Kercher’s Mufeum, that had been kept ina and Hearts, yet it is furprizing howgreat a Veffel hermetically fealed, upwards of fifty Share of Water theyyield by Diftillation. Some have been of the Opinion, that /Years, and yet it ftill remain’d clear and pure, and ftood to the fame Height in the Veffel ter was the common Matter of all Bodies. as at the firft, without the leaft Sign of Sediment. Dr. Boerhaave adds, That he is convinc’d no body ever faw a Drop of pure Water ; that the utmoft of its Purity known, only amounts to its being free from this and that Sort of Matter, and that it can never, for Inftance, be quite depriy’d of its Salt ; fince Air will always accompany it, and that has always Salt. Waterfeems to be diffus’d every where, and to be prefent in all Space where there is Matter. There is not a Bodyin all Nature but will yield Water. And Zhales, with fome other Philofophers, have held, that all Things were made of Water ; which Opinion, probably, had its Rife from the Writings of Mo/es, where he {peaks of the Spirit of God moving upon the Face of the Waters. But Mr, Boyle does not conceive the Water here mention’d by Mofes, as the univerial Matter, to be our elementary Water ; {ince though we fhould fuppofe it to have been an agitated Congeries, confifting of a great Va- riety of {eminal Principles, and of other Corpuicles fit to be fubdu’d and fafhiond by It is alfoafferted, that even them, it yet might be a Body fluid, like Fire itfelf is not without Water. A fingle Grain of the moft fiery Salt, which in a Mo~ ment’s Time will penetrate through a Man’s Hand, readily imbibes half its Weight of Water, and melts even in the drieft Air imaginable. Thus Salt of Tartar, placed near the hotteft Fire, will attract or imbibe Water, and bythat means increafe confiderably its Weight in a {mall Time: So in the drieft Summer’s Water, in cafe the Corpuicles it was made up of were, by their Creator, made {mall enough, and put into {uch an actual Motion as might make themall roll and glide over one another, However, Bafil Valentine, Paracelfi Helmont, Centivoglio, and others, have tain’d on his Principles, that Wafer is the €le- mental Matter, or Stamen of all Things ; an¢ Day, a pewter Veffel with Ice in it, brought that it furffices for the Production ofall Things: up from fomecold fubterraneous Place, into the hotteit Room, will immediately be cover’d over with little Drops of Water, gather’d from Which Helmont endeavours to prove from the following Experiment. , He burnt a Quantity of Earth in a Potter's Veffel, till fuch timeasall the Oil it contain'd the contiguous Air, and condens’d by the Coldnefs of the Ice. Even dry Bodies do afford a plenteous Stock was quite confum’d ; then mixing it up with Water, he drew out all the Salt: The Earth being expos’'d a long Time to a violent Fire, to feparate all the Water from it, as much as as is us’d by Gardeners, and took Care that nothing but Rain-water could enter into the few Minutes, contraét frefh Water, {o faft this Earth, grew up to a confiderable Height 5 whence he concluded, that Vater was the only of Water. Dr. Boerbaave fays, Oil of Vitriol thus prepar’d, he put in an Earthen Por, iuca poffible, did afterwards, by only ftanding a fame: And yet a Willow being plancedin as foonto afford it, as plenteoufly as atfirlt. , 2. Asto Salts, Salt of Tartar well calcin’d, being laid to liquify in Air, will depofite an tables are of the Animal. The fame Thing Mr. Boyle likewife argu’d Earth ; and if it be then committed to Diftil- And that Hartfhorn that had been kept for forty Years, and was as hard and dry as any Metal, fo that if ftruck againft a Flint Hartfhorn being put in a Glafs Veflel and diftill’d, afforded him one Eighth of its Quantity of Water. He adds, We have known Bones dead and dry’d twenty-five Years, and thus become almoft as hard as Iron, which yet by Diftillation afforded half their Weight of Water ; and the hardeft Stones ground and diftill’'d, do always difcover a Portion Nutrimest WA it is purify’d : ‘Thus Mint planted in Water, purify’d by Diftillation, will not grow fo faft as if put in Water not diftil’d ; and if the Waterbe diftill’d three or four times over, the Plant will fcarce grow at all, or receive any Nourifhmentfrom it. So that Water, as fuch, is not the proper Nu- triment of Vegetables, but only the Vehicle thereof, which contains the nutritious Particles, andcarries them along with it through all the Parts of the Plant ; fo that a Water-Plant, e. g. a Water-Cre/s, being put in a Glafs Veffel full of Water, will be found to contain the more Salt and Oil. In effect, Water nourifhes the lefs, the more it is purg’d of its faponaceous Salts: Inits pure State it may fuffice to extend, or fwell the Parts, but affords no newvegetable Matter. Helmont, however, carries his Syftem farther, and imagines that all Bodies may be converted into pure elementary Water. He affirms, that his Alkaheft adequately refolves Plants, Animals and Minerals into one Liquor or more, according to their feveral internal Differences of Parts; and that the Alkaheft being abftraéted from thefe Liquors, in the fame Weight, and with the fame Virtues, as when it diffolved them, the Liquors may, by frequent Cohobations from Chalk, or fome other proper Matter, be totally depriv’d of their feminal Endowments, and return at laft to their firft Matter, infipidater. Tt is certain, that from mix’d Bodies we can draw Water, Oil, Spirit, Spirits cannot be better Alcohol of Wine ; which be fo united with Water, Salt and Earth. Now reprefented than by He/mont affirms, may as to become Vater itfelf. Tho’ Spirit of Wine exquifitely rectify’d feems of all Liquors the moft free from Water, yet even this is by Helmont affirmed to be materially /ater, under a fulphureous Dilguife ; for, according to him, in making Paracelfus’s Balfamus Samech (which is nothing, but Sal Tartari dulcify’d by diftilling Spirit of Wine from it till the Salt be fufficiently faturated with its Sulphur, and till it fuffers the Liquor to be drawn off as {trong as it was poured on), when the Salt of Tartar from which it is diftill’d, hath retain’d or depriv’dit of its fulphurcous Parts of the Spirit of Wine, the reft, which is incomparably the greateft Part of the Liquor, will turn to Phlegm. lation, will yield a confiderable Quantity of infipid Water ; infomuch, that if it be urged with a vehement Fire, the Salt will almoft all vanifh, and nothing faline remaineither in the Water or the Earth: Whence Helmont concluded, that all Salts might be converted into Water. As to the Converfion of acid Salts into Water, Sea-Salt, recover’d from its own acid Spirit and Oil of Tartar, melts into /Vater as much asinto Oil of Tartar. Mr, Boyle tells us, That corrofive Spirits abound in Vater ; which maybe obferv’d by intangling and fo fixing their faline Parts, as to make them corrode fome proper Body ; or elfe by mortifying them with fome contrary Salt, which will turn them into Phlegm. Laftly, Oi/s runin great meafure into Water, and “tis probable might be converted wholly into the fame. Of the Fluidity of Water. Water, {ays Dr. Boerhaave, is fluid ; but the Fluidity is not natural thereto ; for naturally it is of the cryftalline Kind, and accordingly where-ever a certain Degree of Fire is wanting, there we fee the /Vater become Ice. That this Ice is the proper Effect of the Want of Heat, and not of anyadditional Spicw/a introduc’d into the Water, as Mariotte and others contend, isevident enough, wereit only hence, that on this Suppofition it could not penetrate the Subftance ofall Bodies, as we find it does, and even that of Metals, This Water, in its State of Solution, never remains at reft, its Parts are in perpetual Motion ; as was firft difcover’d by the French with the Help of Microfcopes ; and is farther confirm’d by this, that if a little Saffron be fufpendedin the Middle of a Veffel full of 7ater, the Saffron Colour will in a little Time form, as it were, a kind of Atmofphere around, and at length be diffus'd through the whole Water. Nowthis could no way be effected without a Motion of the watery Particles among each other. Add, that if you caft a Quantity of the drieft Salt in the coldeft Weather into Water, it will foon be diffolv’d ; which argues the continual Motion of the Particles of that Element. He adds, that he had morethan oncefill’d alarge wide Veffel with Water, and narrowly watch’d it with a good Microfcope, but could never pefceive it without fome Sort of undulatory Motion. Water {carce ever continues two Moments exa@tly of the fame Weight, but is always varying more or lefs, by reafon of the Air and Fire contain’d in it, Thus, if you lay a Piece of pure limpid Ice ina nice Balance, you will never find it continue in Equilibrio. ‘The Expanfion of Waterin Boiling, fhews what Effect the different Degree of Fire has on the Gravity of Water. This Uncertainty makesit difficult to fix the fpecifick Gravity of Water, in order to fettle 9 K its |