( 6o ) 
III. Davidis von der Beck, M/W^/ii,Experimenta & Meditati- 
ones circa NA rUKAhlUM RERUM PRINCIPIA, 
&c. Hamburgi, 1674» ^^i^^tci Uthe Royal So- 
ciety* 
BEfore any thing be faid here, about the particulars contain- 
ed in this Treaeife,tte Publifher thinks himfcif cb.iged to 
obferve to the Reader a great miftake which the Learned Auchor 
of this Book commits in adfcribiiig fhefe Philofophical1rmJa£H- 
pmto the Royal Society ^z^ 'if thofeof that lliuftrious Body were 
the Authors and Compbfers of them ; whereas *cis well known, 
and hath been feveral times declared ard inculcated in hefe very 
*SeeNumb.i2.p.2i3.Numb, 2/^^?^*, that 'tis far otherwife,and that 
36.p.5o47v none but one particular Member of the 
faid Society,is the Compofer and Publifher of the fame. V/hich 
be^ngthus premifed/twill not be amifs , further to take notice 
here of the occafion,that hath been given to our Author of writ- 
ing this Book, which feems to have been the laft Claufe of the De- 
fcription,formerly given in Numh.<)2. of thefe tracts p. 5192. 
concerning the Pre-exiftence of the Fixt and Alcalifare Saks in 
MiKts before Calcination,and theCaufes of Volatilization,both 
treated of by our Author in his Epi^le to Dr. hmgelot^ abbre- 
viated in the faid J\75^/«^. Wh chdodrineof his, that he might 
clear up tiie better, he thought fit ro deliver his opinion about 
the firft Principles of Naturd Things; which he endeavours to 
do in this TreatifejF/V/^jby rejefting the FomPeripatetique Ele- 
mems^u\d the xtctlv^dFrincipks of the Chymifis^ from being the 
firft Principles of Natural bodies,'^ 5^« 
Z''^olT.^:t7:ruh ««^//,by afferting ElemenUry Water, 
Sceptical Chymifi: through- and ie'^'^/jto be the true Principles of 
^'^'/r^nd^^^ ^^^"'^ and making fuch Water the fo^e 
"'^ ' ■ ' • i^aterial^zx\dt\\^ Seeds hodiQ^^^ the 
fo!c Formal Principle ; and affirming thefe two fo to concurr to 
the conO itution of all Corporeal beings, that the former is the 
Matter cop.imon to them all, andthe/^^/rr the Formdiverfifying 
that indifferent Matter into an innumerable variety of Bodies,by 
means of an llniverfal Celeftial Acid, the proper feat of all 
Seeds, and coagulating this E'ementary water into the 
various 
