CHAP. IL 
Of the QUANTITIES afforded by the Parts of fes 
veral Plants diftinttly calcin d. 
SHALL next fet down fome Tryals, upon one Part 
ofa Plant, as well Organick , as Content, feparated 
from the reft 5 in anfwer to thefe fuppofed Queries. 
Quer. 1. What Proportion doth the Lixivial Salt 
of the Pith or Pithy Part of a Plant, bear to that of 
the Fibrous, or of the Woody Part 2 Or whether is 
d @ there a Fixed Salt always found in either of them? A 
fuficient Anfiver to which, muft be built upon many Tryals. At pre- 
fent I hall mention only Two; one upon Starch, anfwerable to the 
Pithy Parts the other upon Flax, confifting almoft wholly of the 
Nervous or Tomy Fibres: of the Volatile parts whereof, chiefly, Ihave 
$. 50, 51, given fome account in the foregoing Idea. 
52 Of Starch, tbj yieldeth about tb; not of Afhes, but of Black Coal, 
For though it be expofed in a Calciming Furnace to a vehement fire, for 
5 or 6 hours, which is longer then will ferve to calcine molt Bodies: 
yet would it not in the leaft part, be reduced to 4/hes5 but to the laft 
continued (though the fierceneß of the Fire confumed part of it ) as 
black, as when it was firft burnt. So ftrangely was the remaining part 
of the Sulphur fixed to the Earths that in flying away, it did volati- 
lize and carry that away with it. In this Coal or Cinder, there is not 
the leaft of a Lixivialor other Ta/?e. And although, upon Tryal 1 find, 
That the Pith of many Plants, as of aCabbage Stalk, will yield fome 
quantity of Lixivial Salt; yet it is probably, that generally, it yields 
lefs than the Wood. 
OF Flax, tbj yields not above 50 Grains of Caput Mortunm or white 
Afbes, which are Salt, According to vulgar conceit, it would feem 
to be a very dry Body: yet of 153 parts, 152 are volatile, and being 
diftilled would have been colleéted into Liquor. Hence alfo appears 
the great and unexpected Variety in the Proportion of the Earthy Parts, 
as well as the other Principles of Bodies. Or elfe, that there are di- 
vers kinds of Earths, even in Plants, of which, as well as of Salts &c. 
fome are volatile. For of lbj of this Plant, there remaineth fixed but 
50 Grains: whereas of tbj of Rhubarb, there will remain near 1920 
Grains, 7. e. 88 times as much as the former. 
Quer. 2. Lz what proportion is the Lixivial Salt found in the Gumms 
of Plants? and whether is it yielded, more or lefi, by all? For anfwer to 
which, I caufed the Eleven following, of each two Ounces, to be a 
calcin'd, and fo obferved, RN 
That Common Rofin, yields but one Grain and 3 of Caput Mortuum: » 
So that 1bj will yield but 12 Grains. In this Caput Mort. there is not 
the Icaft particle of Salt, it being altogether infipid. 4 
Maftick yields gr. 12 of Cap. Mort. But not the lcaft part of Salt, EN 
Of this Rof», it is obfervable ; That being fet, in a Crucible, mian 
the 
