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222 The received Doéftrine Book IV* 
oo ES EE Sed eT 
Se UE am 
Of the received Doftrine of Mixture. 
SIRST, As to the received DoGrine of Mixtures not to 
trouble you with tedious quotations of what Ariftotle, Ga- 
9 len, Fernelius, Scaliger, Sennertus, Riverius, and other 
So Learned men fay hereof; we tay fuppofe the whole fummed 
upinthat Defwition which Ariftoile himfelf hath given of 
it,and which the greater number of his Followers, have almoft religioufly 
adhered to 5 wz. that ‘tis, way wueray drraabévrey evens. that ‘tis, 
Vib. 1. de Mifcibilium alteratorun unio, Which Definition, as it is ufually expli- 
Cenerat. cated, is both Uxintelligible, and Oxufeful. 
Corrupt. 2. $. Two things are unintelligible; what they mean by Alferati- 
Cap.ult. 05 and what by Uviow. In this Alteration, they fay, That the very 
Forms of the Elements are altered. And therefore lay it down for an 
Axiom, Quod in Mixto, Forme Elementares tantum fint in potentia, But 
let us fee the confequence. For ifina mixed body, the Forms of the 
Elements ave but in potentia; then the Elements themfelves are but iz 
potentia: for we all fay, Forma dat effe. And if the Compounding 
Elements, are only 72 potestias then the Compounded Body it {elf can 
be only iz potentia : yet to fay it is no more, is moft abfard. 
3. §. As for the Union of Elements in amixed Body; they make 
it fuchs as brings themat laft to aflert, the Penetration of Bodies, and 
that the Union of mixed Bodies is nothing elfe. For they fay it is made 
in fuch fort, that every particle of the mixed Body, partaketh of the 
Nature of the whole. Which Nature, arifeth from the contempera- 
ted Qualities of the four Elements, Whence they conclude, That 
every particle of the mixed Body, containeth in it felfall the four Ele- 

4. §. Whence it follows, That it is 
who can make any ufe of that which he underftandeth not > And the 
experience of fo many years, wherein it hath been ventilated by the 
difputes of men, proveth as much: Scarce any of them, except the 
Learned Sexnertus, daring to venture upon Experiment, for fear they 
thould come to underftand themfélves. 
5. §. It isconfeffed, that many gallant things have been found out 
by artificial Mixture. But no thanks to this Definition of it. For ds 
an Leworant Man may make bad Work, and a good Rule be never the 
worle5 {0 one that is Ingenious may make good Work, anda bad Rule 
be never the better. The queftion isnot, what have men done? but 
what have they done upon this foundation, Quod Mixitio [it mifei- 
‘bilinm alteratorum unio. Had this ever taught them to do any thing, 
even fo much as to make the Ivke wherewith they have wrote, all 
their Difputes 5 T confek, they would have had fomething to fhew for 
it. But the ruth is, their xotions of Mixture, have been fo far from 
doing us any good, that they have done us much harm : being, through 
their feeming fubtlety, but real abfardity, as fo many phantaftick 
Spettrums, ferving only to affright men from coming near them, or the 
Subject whereof they treat. 6. $. 

