298 Translation of Key's Essai/s. 



without difference of parts, without organs, and without any 

 vital effect or action ? If it move downwards, so does ceruse, 

 which is only its corpse; if it be cooling (rafraischit), so is 

 ceruse. Then how could it preserve this life, under a million 

 of forms, that it may be made to assume and to cast off, yet 

 always continuing to be lead ? How, in the furnace (which 

 would be a much greater wonder), where it may be kept in 

 fusion a day, a month, or a whole year? It must have a very 

 tenacious soul to undergo so much without being dislodged ! 

 Moreover, all the world is agreed, that from death to life there 

 is no return. Yet the chemists assure us, if we moisten the 

 calx of lead, and mix it with water in which samphire (salicot) 

 has been dissolved, then, having dried it, put it in a crucible 

 with a small vent, and heat strongly and quickly, that we shall 

 reduce it to its original state. With regard to the celestial heat 

 making bodies light, Scaliger* very properly objects that the 



* " In lapide, iiiquis, vita. — Quia ubi calor, ihi anima. Ubi anima, ibi 

 vita. Igitur in lapide vita. Ostende mihi tu in lapide calorem, et ego 

 osteudam tibi calorem sine anim^. Fortasse negabis iu igne calorem ; 

 anima carere non negabis. Nam quod ais, omneni actionem ab animA pro- 

 venire, si verum est, dabis animam etiam cerusK. Descendit enim. Ergo 

 per terrae formam, quae est ibi terrae anima, qui movetur. Sic enim et 

 sapis, et scribis. At ais, mortuam cerusam, quia facta est e plumbo, a quo 

 calor ille coelestis exbalavit. Calorem hunc, inquam, ostende nobis. Nam 

 calor, non nisi tactu cognosci potest. Equidem lapidis contactu nimquam 

 pilo factus sum calidior. EfFectionem, deces, nempe descensionem. Nego 

 tibi fieri a calore. Si enim a calore fieret dcscensio, a calore non fieret, 

 ascensio. Exemplum ver6 de cerusa ridiculum. Cerusa, inquis, plumbo 

 gravior : quia calor abiit coelestis ille. Ergo ccelum habet levitatem, et 

 erit quintum corpus cum aliis univocum. Namque viventia, O '. subtilis- 

 simc Philosophonim, non propter animam levia sunt, sed propter calorem 

 clementarcm. Alioqui omnia tua entia essent levia. Quippe vivunt om- 

 nia. Vivunt autem propter formam. Forma ilia anima, anima ilia calor. 

 Calor ille autor levitatis. Levia igitur omnia, quia materiae forma domi- 

 natur : et coelestia potiora, atque efficaciora. Tactu autem percipimus 

 calorem elementarem. Qiiera in plumbo qui sentit tactu, sentiat etiam in 

 igne frigus. At plumbum absumptis partibus aereis gravius fit. Qua de 

 causa later quoque coctus crudo gravior. At contra, arundo combusta 

 leviorfit. Vere tamen ilia, atque sine controversii viveb At ejus abiit 

 anima ; ita de aliis arboribus dicendum. Igitur auima neque gravis, nc- 



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