The Sceptical Chymist: or Chymico-Physical Doubts & Paradoxes, Touching the Spagyrist's Principles Commonly call'd Hypostatical; As they are wont to be Propos'd and Defended by the Generality of Alchymists. Whereunto is præmis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same Subject.Boyle, Robert
Philosophy
The Sceptical Chymist: or Chymico-Physical Doubts & Paradoxes, Touching the Spagyrist's Principles Commonly call'd Hypostatical; As they are wont to be Propos'd and Defended by the Generality of Alchymists. Whereunto is præmis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same Subject.
Boyle, Robert
Chemistry -- Early works to 1800
But to deal Candidly with You, _Eleutherius_, I must not conceal from
You the Event of another Experiment of this Kind made this present
Summer, wherein the Earth seems to have been much more Wasted; as may
appear by the following account, Lately sent me by the same Gardiner,
in these Words. _To give You an Account of your Cucumbers, I have
Gain'd two Indifferent Fair Ones, the Weight of them is ten Pound and
a Halfe, the Branches with the Roots Weighed four Pounds wanting two
Ounces; and when I had weighed them I took the Earth, and bak'd it in
several small Earthen Dishes in an Oven; and when I had so done, I
found the Earth wanted a Pound and a halfe of what it was formerly;
yet I was not satisfi'd, doubting the Earth was not dry: I put it into
an Oven the Second Time, (after the Bread was drawn) and after I had
taken it out and weighed it, I found it to be the Same Weight: So I
Suppose there was no Moisture left in the Earth. Neither do I think
that the Pound and Halfe that was wanting was Drawn away by the
Cucumber but a great Part of it in the Ordering was in Dust (and the
like) wasted: (the Cucumbers are kept by themselves, lest You should
send for them.)_ But yet in this Tryal, _Eleutherius_, it appears that
though some of the Earth, or rather the dissoluble Salt harbour'd in
it, were wasted, the main Body of the Plant consisted of Transmuted
Water. And I might add, that a year after I caus'd the formerly
mentioned Experiment, touching large Pompions, to be reiterated, with
so good success, that if my memory does not much mis-inform me, it did
not only much surpass any that I made before, but seem'd strangely to
conclude what I am pleading for; though (by reason I have unhappily
lost the particular Account my Gardiner writ me up of the
Circumstances) I dare not insist upon them. The like Experiment may be
as conveniently try'd with the seeds of any Plant, whose growth is
hasty, and its size Bulky. If Tobacco will in These Cold Climates Grow
well in Earth undung'd, it would not be amiss to make a Tryal with it;
for 'tis an annual Plant, that arises where it prospers, sometimes as
high as a Tall Man; and I have had leaves of it in my Garden neer a
Foot and a Halfe broad. But the next time I Try this Experiment, it
shall be with several seeds of the same sort, in the same pot of
Earth, that so the event may be the more Conspicuous. But because
every Body has not Conveniency of time and place for this Experiment
neither, I made in my Chamber, some shorter and more Expeditions
[Transcriber's Note: Expeditious] Tryals. I took a Top of Spearmint,
about an Inch Long, and put it into a good Vial full of Spring water,
so as the upper part of the Mint was above the neck of the Glass, and
the lower part Immers'd in the Water; within a few Dayes this Mint
began to shoot forth Roots into the Water, and to display its Leaves,
and aspire upwards; and in a short time it had numerous Roots and
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