A word or two touching the foure Elements. The foure Elements are Fire, Aire, Water, and Earth. But the division which the Chymists of these times plead for touching the Elements, Josephus Quercitanus expresseth in these words following: saith he, The whole world is* 1.1 divided into two Globes, to wit, into the superiour Heaven, which is Aetheriall and Aery, and into the inferiour Globe which containeth the Water, and the Earth. The superiour Globe which is Aetheriall, hath in it fire, lightning, and brightnesse, and this fiery Heaven is one formall and essentiall Element; the water and earth are the other two Elements▪ so he concludes, there is but three, and with him all the Chymists of latter times subscribe, affirming that number most per∣fect which agreeth with the everlasting Trinitie.
Paracelsus in a Treatise of his, called Meteorum, cap. 1. mentioning the difference betwixt foure and three Elements, hath these words. Touching fire; saith he, fire which is esteemed▪ one of the foure Ele∣mente, can stand with no reason so to be: but as touching the Earth, the Water, and the Aire, they are truly Elements; for they give Ele∣ment ••o man, but as touching fire, it giveth no Element, it hath no part in the breeding of man-kind, for it is well possible for a man to be bred, and to live without fire; but neither without aire, water, nor earth can man live, for in truth from the heavens, by help of the other two Elements doth proceed Summer and Winter, cold and heat, and all nourishment and increase whatsoever without the help of fire. Therefore are the heavens the fourth Element, yea and the first, for the sacred Word sheweth us that in the beginning God made Heaven and Earth, shewing that Heaven was the first made, and in the outward heavens are included the water and earth, which▪ saith Para∣celsus, may be compared to wine contained in a vessel, for wine is not gathered and prepared without a vessel first had and ready, proving also many wayes that the fire is included within the Element of Aire, and is no Element of it self. To prove the like opinion, touching the foure Elements, I could rehearse the names of many famous Writers if I had leisure, and that the occasion were worth it, but the question little concerneth the cure of diseases by young Chirurgions, where∣fore I will conclude this point my self, intending neither to quarrel for to prove three, nor four, let there be four or three, either of both shall contentme.