PHLOGISTIC THEORY. 139 



again, "This work obtained very little reputation 

 or estimation, or, to speak ingenuously, as far as I 

 know, none whatever." In 1671, Beccher published 

 a supplement to his work, in which he showed how 

 metals might be extracted from mud and sand. He 

 offered to execute this at Vienna ; but found that 

 people there cared nothing about such novelties. 

 He was then induced, by Baron DIsola, to go to 

 Holland for similar purposes. After various delays 

 and quarrels, he was obliged to leave Holland for 

 fear of his creditors ; and then, I suppose, came to 

 Great Britain, where he examined the Scottish and 

 Cornish mines. He is said to have died in London 

 in 1682. 



Stahl's publications appear to have excited more 

 notice, and led to controversy on the "so-called 

 sulphur." The success of the experiment had been 

 doubted, which, as he remarks, it was foolish to 

 make a matter of discussion, when any one might 

 decide the point by experiment ; and finally, it had 

 been questioned whether the substance obtained by 

 this process were pure sulphur. The originality of 

 his doctrine was also questioned, which, as he says, 

 could not with any justice be impugned. He pub- 

 lished in defence and developement of his opinion 

 at various intervals, as the Specimen Beccherianum 

 in 1703, the Documentum Theories Beccheriance, a 

 Dissertation De Anatomia Sulphur is Artificialis ; 

 and finally, Casual Thoughts on the so-called Sul- 

 phur, in 1718, in which he gave (in German) both 



