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 and so very well attested (q). So many Men, methinks, could not have cheated the World successfully so long, if some had not been sincere: And, to use a Proverb in their own Way, so much Smoak could scarce have lasted so long without some Fire. Till the seminal Principles from which Metals are compounded, are perfectly known, the Possibility of the Operation cannot be disproved: Which Principles, as all other real Essences of things, are concealed from us. But as a wise Man cannot, perhaps, without Rashness disbelieve what is so confidently asserted, so he ought not to spend much Time and Cost, about trying whether it will succeed, till some of the Adepti shall be so kind as to give him the Receipt.

By what has been said it is evident, what Opinion one ought to have of the Chymical Skill of the ancient Egyptians: Though it is most probable that the Art owes its Original to them, from whom it receives its Name: But this Original is much too late to do Sir William Temple's Hypothesis any Service.

But it is high Time to leave the Egyptian Physick, and therefore, I shall only add One or Two Instances of their Skill