Page:Philosophical Transactions - Volume 004.djvu/251

 Jewels, though they seem strong enough to hold out a Platonical Revolution, do nevertheless naturally tend to a Terrestrial Dissolution. And some of the Antient Philosop ersPhilosophers [sic] have conceived, that Water is the Mother to Earth itself, And they seem to have the greatest Authority, as Well as good Reasons on their side, And Honourable Mr Boyle hath by choice Experiments taught us, that Water may have her turn to put in her claim for a Maternal right; and to be as much a Principle, as any of the other which we call Elements. And it seems to hold a kind of Middle Station between Earth and Air; apt to be condensed into the former or to be expanded into the latter; and to have a nearer allyance to running Metals, splendid Gems, and transparent Minerals, than Earth can have.

But Tachenius in your Numb. 50. offers more closely, the Various Salts, especially of the Alcaly's, and Acids, to be the Principles of all mixt Bodies. I cannot doubt, but that they are generally necessary Ingredients and powerful Agents for Generation: And perhaps there are as many kinds of Salts, as there are Earths, Minerals, Stones, Metals, Vegetables, Tasts, &c. from the sweetest Sugar to the most dispatching Menstruum; Yet many of them by their expedit Volatility, and some by byby [sic] their inclination to unite firmly with water, as in Glass, do shew a more than ordinary congeniality and friendly agreement with the purest liquids, Air and Water.

But to decline intricate Theory's, and therewithal the subtilties and difficulties of determining, Whether Salt or Water be the nearer or more original Principle; or the more copious, more active, or more influencing in this or that Body: This we have before our eyes; The Birch and Alder feed more kindly on a thin uliginous moisture, the Elme, Pine, Firr, Pitch, and Cypress, chuse a stronger liquor; yet these and many more of the widest difference, are sometimes seen to draw their whole sustenance, bulk and ornaments, whether annual or perennial, from the liquors they find in the same piece of ground, and from the ambient Air, and Dews; when as yet by our best diligence we cannot distinguish the Liquors or Salts closely approaching their several Roots. And we may exchange all the Earth totally from the Roots of Trees, whose Barks, Sap, Fruit, and