io8 Mayow 



action of contrary salts. But such things as have not 

 nitro-aerial particles contained in them, such as the 

 mass of the blood, all saline-sulphureous minerals, and 

 likewise such things as ferment from extraneous 

 moisture and heat, effervesce only when nitro-aerial 

 particles reach them from the air. And this is the 

 reason why the fermentation of the blood subsides im- 

 mediately when the air is withdrawn. 



But the reason why blood quickly coagulates when 

 drawn off, although exposed to the air, is because it is 

 necessary for the fermentation, and therefore also for 

 the preservation of the fluidity of the blood, that nitro- 

 aerial particles should be mixed densely and in very 

 minute parts with its saline-sulphureous particles, as 

 takes place in the lungs. And yet even blood that 

 has been shed effervesces at its surface, that is, where 

 it is mixed with the air, as was previously shown. 



From what has been already said, it is I think in 

 some degree made out that the fermentation of the 

 blood, and hence also its heat, arises from nitro- 

 aerial particles fermenting with its saline-sulphureous 

 particles ; so that we do not need to have recourse to 

 an imaginary Vital Flame that by its continual burn- 

 ing warms the mass of the blood, much less to affirm 

 a degree of heat in the blood intense enough to produce 

 light, from the rays of which, transmitted to the brain, 

 the Sensitive Soul is supposed to be produced. I 

 know not what the ancients dreamed about certain 

 feral fires hidden in the urns of the dead, but now 

 for the first time the vital flame, if such a thing can 

 be, is kindled in the viscera of animals, so that we all 

 now burn like Ucalegon, and there is no reason why 

 we should any longer wonder at a Salamander living 

 in the midst of flames. But really fire seems to be 

 better adapted for the dissolution and destruction of 



