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The Anatomy Book VL 

Lib. 2.P.2. 
$. 31, &e. 
3. §. Now of thefe, [have formerly, and as I conceive upon good 
ground, fwppofed, the chief Governing Principle, to be the Saline, 
whether Alkaline, Acid, or of any other Kind: being in fome fort as 
the Mold ofa Button, to which the other Principles, as its Attire, do 
all conform. Or the Salés are, as it were, the Boxes; the other Priz- 
ciples, as the Flea which covers them. 
4. ¢. A farther Argument hereof may be deduced from the Cuti- 
cular and other Concretions, commonly called Mothers, in Diftill'd We-' 
ters, Vinegar, and other Liquors. For in thefe Concretions, there is all- 
ways a tendence to Vegetation ; and many of them are true Vegetables 
in their Kind ; as fhall hereafter be feen. Now the Liquors, in which 
thefe are generated, do always, wholly or in part, lofe their Taf? and 
Swell, and fo become Vapid. The more fenfible Principles therein 
having made their Tanfit from the Fluid, into the Concrete Parts. So, 
Ehave known, fometimes, Vizegar it felf, to become by thefe Coxere- 
tions, almoft as Taftle/s as Common Water. Whereby it feems evident, 
That of Vegetable Principles, there are fome, more Mafterly than others: 
and that of thefe, the Saline isthe chief. The fame is likewife argued, 
from the frequent Experiment of many good Husband-men 5 that moft 
Bodies which abound with Salt, are the greatelt Nowrifhers of Plants. 
5. §. This saline Principle, as is above. hinted, is to be under- 
ftood, a Gezerik Name, under which divers Species are comprehen- 
ded ; and of fome whereof, it is always compounded, asin other Bodies, 
fo in Plants. As {hall be made to appear, by divers Experiments, when 
we come, hereafter, to fpeak of Vegetable Salts. Whereby we are con- 
ducted, yet further to enquire, What are the Prizcimples of this Pria- 
ciple 2 
+ §.. NOW thefe feem to be Four ; a Nitrous, an Acid, an Alka- 
line, and a Marine. The Admixture of the Firft, is argu’d from the 
Place, which Nature hath affigned for the Gezeration and Growth of 
moft Plants, fe. neither in Caverys under Ground, as for Minerals ; nor 
above it, as for Avimals but the Surface of the Earth, where this 
Sort of Salt is copioufly bred. And doth therefore prove, not only a 
Mixture, but a good Proportion hereof with the other Principles of a 
Plant. Hence it is,that Dew or Water on Windows or Plain and Smooth 
Tables, by virtue of a Nitro-Aerial Salt, is often frozen into the refem- 
blance of little Shrubs. And the like Figure I have often feen in a well 
filtred Solution of the salt of any of our Purging Waters, as of Epfom, 
&c, being fet to fhoot. Produced, as1 conceive, by the Nitre, which 
with the Ratz or other Waters, is wafhed down from the Surface ofthe 
Earth, and fo mixed with the Mizeral Salts. 
7. §. The other Three Salts are exhibited, by the feveral ways of 
Refolving the Principles of a Plant. Many Plants,even in their Natural - 
Effate, do yield an Acid Fuyce. And the Fuyces of many more, by Fer- 
mentation, will become Acid. And molt, by Diftilation in a Sand- 
Furnace, yield an Accid Liquor. 
8. §. By Calcination, all Sorts of Plants, yield more or lef, both of 
a Fixed and a Volatile Alkaly : the former, in the Afhess the latter, in the 
Soot. And, at leaft the generality, by Fermentation allo, yield a Volatile 
one 5 or fuch a kind of Salt, which, whether we call an Urixous, or 
otherwife, hath the like Odour and Taf? with that of Urine, Harts- 
Horn, Sgot, and the like. 
go § 

