The Sceptical Chymist

The Sceptical Chymist, by Robert Boyle

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Title: 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 pr?mis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same Subject.
Author: Robert Boyle

Release Date: October 8, 2007 [eBook #22914]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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Transcriber's Notes:
This e-book was prepared from a facsimile of the 1661 first edition and contains spelling, capitalization, and punctuation inconsistencies typical of the era. These have been preserved as they appear in the original.
Printer errors have also been preserved. Those mentioned in the Errata at the end of the book are noted with [Errata: corrected text]. Other obvious printer errors are noted with [Transcriber's Note: corrected text] where the meaning might be unclear without the correction. See also the printer's note preceding the Errata, which contains material omitted from the text (the place where it should be inserted is marked in the text with a Transcriber's Note).
There are a number of sidenotes in this book, most of which function as footnotes (e.g., citations to other works) and some of which function as true sidenotes. For the sake of clarity, sidenotes functioning as footnotes have been converted to numbered footnotes, with number markers at appropriate places in the text.
A character with a macron is represented by an equal sign. E.g., [=a] indicates "a" with macron.
A table of contents has been provided for the reader's convenience.

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 pr?mis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same Subject.
BY
The Honourable ROBERT BOYLE, Esq;
LONDON,
Printed by J. Cadwell for J. Crooke, and are to be Sold at the Ship in St. Paul's Church-Yard.
MDCLXI.

CONTENTS
A Pr?face Introductory
Physiological Considerations
The First Part
The Second Part
The Third Part
The Fourth Part
The Fifth Part
The Sixth Part
The Conclusion
Printer's Note
Errata

A
PR?FACE
INTRODUCTORY
To the following Treatise.
To give the Reader an account, Why the following Treatise is suffer'd to pass abroad so maim'd and imperfect, I must inform him that 'tis now long since, that to gratify an ingenious Gentleman, I set down some of the Reasons that kept me from fully acquiescing either in the Peripatetical, or in the Chymical Doctrine, of the Material Principles of mixt Bodies. This Discourse some years after falling into the hands of some Learned men, had the good luck to be so favourably receiv'd, and advantageously spoken of by them, that having had more then ordinary Invitations given me to make it publick, I thought fit to review it, that I might retrench some things that seem'd not so fit to be shewn to every Reader, And substitute some of those other things that occurr'd to me of the trials and observations I had since made. What became of my papers, I elsewhere mention in a Preface where I complain of it: But since I writ That, I found many sheets that belong'd to the subjects I am now about to discourse of. Wherefore seeing that I had then in my hands as much of the first Dialogue as was requisite to state the Case, and serve for an Introduction as well to the conference betwixt Carneades and Eleutherius, as to some other Dialogues, which for certain reasons are not now herewith publish'd, I resolv'd to supply, as well as I could, the Contents of a Paper belonging to the second of the following Discourses, which I could not possibly retrive, though it were the chief of them all. And having once more try'd the Opinion of Friends, but not of the same, about this imperfect work, I found it such, that I was content in complyance with their Desires; that not only it should be publish'd, but that it should be publish'd as soon as conveniently might be. I had indeed all along the Dialogues spoken of my self, as of a third Person; For, they containing Discourses which were among the first Treatises that I ventur'd long ago to write of matters Philosophical, I had reason to desire, with the Painter, to latere pone tabulam, and hear what men would say of them, before I own'd my self to be their Author. But besides that now I find, 'tis not unknown