170 A Trertife of BODIES. Chap. 1 y. 



porate it, you Will find a pure wince ftibftance remaining: 

 Which L>y it* bulk fhcweth itfeif to be very earthy, and by ns 

 pricking, and corrofive tafte, will inform you much fire is in ir, 

 anci by ks cafie difloludon in a moift place, that water had a 

 greit {hare in the production of it. And thus the files of bodies 

 are made and extracted. 



Now as water, doth diffolvefaltjfo by the incorporation and 

 -h virtue of that corrofive fubftancc it doth more then fair it fclf 



ia!:, hccomtli Gan do:for bavins gotten acrimony, and more weight by the 



a molt power- j -/-r , rr i i i /- i r . 



fiiii figt to mixture and dnloiution or (alt in t, it maketh it felt a way into 

 lodic VC thcr flide bodies, even into metall^ as we fee in braffe and iron ; 

 which areeafily ruftcd by fa.lt diflolving upon diem. And ac- 

 cording as the falts arc Wronger* fo thij corrofive virtue encreaf- 

 cth in diem, even fomuchj as neither fjlvcr nor gold arc free 

 from their eating quality. But they, as well as the reft, arc 4- 

 vided into inoft imall parts, and are made tofwimmein \vater, 

 in K-ch fort as we hare explicated above, and whereof every or- 

 dinary Alchyrnift teacheth the pra&ife. 



But this is not all ; falts do help as well to melt hard bodies 



and rnctalls, as to corrode them : for fome fufible fairs flowing 



upon them by the hett of the fire, and others dilTolved by the 



fleam of the metall that incorporated with them; as foon as 



they are influxe, they mingle with the naturall juice of the me- 



tall, and penetrate them deeper, then without them the fire 



couW do, and iwell them and make them fit to run. 



i Thefeare the principal! wayes of the two laft infhuments in 



onilcau r fcd. ai diflblving of bodies ; taking each of them by it fclf. But there 



remaincth one more of very great importance, as well in the 



works of nature as of art 5 in which, both the former arc ;oyn- 



cd and do concurre : and that is putrefaction. Wfcofewayof 



working is by gentle heat and moifture to wet and pierce the 



body it workcth upon ; whereby, it is made to fwcll : and the 



hot parts of it, being loofcned, they arc at length drunk up and 



drowned in the moirr, ones (from whence, by fire they are cafi- 



ly feparated as we have already declared ; ) and thofe moi/l 



parts, afterwards leaving it, the fubftancc remaineth dry, and 



fallcth in pieces, for want of the gicvv that held it together. 



CHAP. 



