To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
I Presume, it will not be difficult to discern, that much of what has been said about the Imperfection of the vulgar Chymical Doctrine con∣cerning Qualities, may with easie va∣riations be applied to some other Hy∣potheses that are of kin to that Do∣ctrine, and particularly to their
Theory, that would derive both the Qualities of Bodies and the rest of the Phaenomena of Nature from what they call Acidum and Alcali. For though these two differences may be met with in a great number and variety of bodies, and consequently the Consideratin of them may frequent∣ly enough be of good use, (especial∣ly to Spagyrists, and Physitians, when they are conversant about the secon∣dary and (if I may so call them) Chy∣mical Causes and Operations of di∣vers mixt bodies;) yet I confess I can∣not acquiesce in this Hypothesis of Al∣keli and Acidum, in the latitude, wherein I find it urged and applied by the Admirers of it, as if it could be usefully substituted in the place of Matter and Motion.
The Hypothesis, being in a sort sub∣ordinate to that of the tria prima, in ascribing to two contrary saline Prin∣ciples what vulgar Chymists do to their Salt, Sulphur, and Mercury; most of the objections we have made a∣gainst the vulgar Chymical Doctrine,
may, as I lately intimated, be applied, by a little variation, to this, and there∣fore I shall need but to touch upon the main things that keep me from ac∣quiescing in this Hypothesis.