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thus becomes much stronger and more acrid than the wine it- 

 self w iH likewise spirit of wine proportionally exceed itself 

 in strength by another distillation ? But the repetition also of 

 experiments may deceive ; thus here the second exaltation does 

 not equal the excess of the first ; and frequently, by repeating 

 an experiment after a certain pitch is obtained, nature is so far 

 from going farther, that she rather falls back. Judgment, 

 therefore, must be used in this affair. So quicksilver put into 

 melted lead, when it begins to grow cold, will be arrested, and 

 remain no longer fluid; but will the same quicksilver, often 

 served so, become fixed and malleable ? 



For an example of extension, water made pendulous above, 

 by means of a long glass stem, and dipped into a mixture of 

 wine and water, will separate the water from the wine, the wine 

 gently rising to the top, and the water descending and settling 

 at the bottom. Now, as wine and water, being two different 

 bodies, are separable by this contrivance, may likewise the 

 more subtile parts of wine, which is an entire body, be separated 

 from the more gross by this kind of distillation, performed as 

 it were by gravity, so as to have floating atop a liquor like 

 spirit of wine, or perhaps more subtile ? Again, the loadstone 

 draws iron in substance, but will loadstone plunged into a solu- 

 tion of iron attract the iron and cover itself with it ? So the 

 magnetic needle applies to the poles of the world ; but does it 

 do this after the same course and order that the celestial bodies 

 move ? Suppose the needle held at the south point, and then 

 let go, would it now turn to the north by the west or east ? 

 Thus gold imbibes quicksilver contiguous to it ; but does the 

 gold do this without increasing its own bulk, so as to become a 

 mass specifically heavier than gold ? Thus men help their 

 memories by setting up pictures of persons in certain places ; 

 but would they obtain the same end if, neglecting their faces, 

 they only imagined the actions or habits of the persons ? 



An experiment may be transferred three ways ; viz., By nat- 

 ure or chance into an art ; 2. from one art or practise to an- 

 other; and, 3. from one part of an art to another. There are 

 innumerable examples of the transferring of experiments from 

 nature or chance to arts, as nearly all the mechanical arts owe 

 their origins to slender beginnings afforded by nature or acci- 

 dent. It is authorized by a proverb, that grapes among grapes 

 ripen sooner. And our cidermakers observe the rule for they 



