But before I descend to the Mention of Particulars belonging to my Fourth Consideration, I think it convenient to premise a few Generals; some of which I shall the less need to insist on at present, because I have Touched on them already.
And first I must invite you to take notice of a certain passage in Helmont;Illud notabile, in vino esse Spiritum quendam mitiorem ulterioris & nobilioris qualitatis participem quā qui immediatè per distillationem elicitur diciturque aqua vitæ dephlegmata, quod facilius in simplici Olivarum oleo ad oculum spectatur. Quippe distillatum oleum absque laterum aut tigularum additamento, quodque oleum Philosophorum dicitur, multum dissert ab ejus oleitate; quæ elicitur prius reducto oleo simplici in partes dissimilares sola digestione & Salis circulati Paracelsici appositione; siquidem sal circulatum idem in pondere & quantitatibus pristinis ab oleo segregatur postquam oleum olivarum in sui heterogeneitates est dispositum. Dulce enim tunc Oleum Olivarum ex oleo, prout & suavissimus vini spiritus a vino hoc pacto separantur, longéque ab aquæ vitæ acrimoniâ distinctus.—Helmont. Aura vitalis, pag. 725. which though I have not Found much heeded by his Readers, He Himself mentions as a notable thing, and I take to be a very considerable one; for whereas the Distill’d oyle of oyle-olive, though drawn per se is (as I have try’d) of a very sharp and fretting Quality, and of an odious tast, He tells us that Simple oyle being only digested with Paracelsus’s sal circulatum, is reduc’d into dissimilar parts, and yields a sweet Oyle, very differing from the oyle distill’d, from sallet oyle; as also that by the same way there may be separated from Wine a very sweet and gentle Spirit, partaking of a far other and nobler quality then that which is immediately drawn by distillation and call’d Dephlegm’d Aqua vitæ, from whose Acrimony this other spirit is exceedingly remote, although the sal circulatum that makes these Anatomies be separated from the Analyz’d Bodies, in the same weight and with the same qualities it had before; which Affirmation of Helmont if we admit to be true, we must acknowledge that there may be a very great disparity betwixt bodies of the same denomination (as several oyles, or several spirits) separable from