United States or Cambodia ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Whereby it is plain that men follow not exactly the patterns set them by nature, when they make their general ideas of substances; since there is no body to be found which has barely malleableness and fusibility in it, without other qualities as inseparable as those.
But a man, not knowing wherein that real essence consists, the connexion in his mind of malleableness is not truly with an essence he knows not, but only with the sound gold he puts for it. VI. Putting them for the real Essences of Substances.
What I have said here of the nominal essence of gold, supposed to consist of a body of such a determinate colour, weight, and fusibility, will hold true, if malleableness, fixedness, and solubility in aqua regia be added to it.
But yet this property has no necessary connexion with that complex idea, or any part of it: and there is no more reason to think that malleableness depends on that colour, weight, and hardness, than that colour or that weight depends on its malleableness.
For the words they have a long time been used to, remaining firm in their minds, it is no wonder that the wrong notions annexed to them should not be removed. Fifthly, by setting them in the place of what they cannot signify. That gold, i.e. what has the real essence of gold, is malleable; which amounts to thus much, that malleableness depends on, and is inseparable from the real essence of gold.
For example: he that shall make malleability, or a certain degree of fixedness, a part of his complex idea of gold, may make propositions concerning gold, and draw consequences from them, that will truly and clearly follow from gold, taken in such a signification: but yet such as another man can never be forced to admit, nor be convinced of their truth, who makes not malleableness, or the same degree of fixedness, part of that complex idea that the name gold, in his use of it, stands for.
Thus when we pronounce concerning gold, that it is fixed, our knowledge of this truth amounts to no more but this, that fixedness, or a power to remain in the fire unconsumed, is an idea that always accompanies and is joined with that particular sort of yellowness, weight, fusibility, malleableness, and solubility in AQUA REGIA, which make our complex idea signified by the word gold.
Should there be a body found, having all the other qualities of gold except malleableness, it would no doubt be made a question whether it were gold or not, i.e. whether it were of that species.
As Saturn steps to its regeneration, so know that in like manner, as common Water is forced by the natural coldness, by the change of the Heavens, whereby it becomes a coagulated Ice, in like manner is it to be made evident, that by reason of the great coldness which is found to be in the Salt of Saturn above other Salts; Saturn is also coagulated and made corporal; Ice dissolves into water by heat; so likewise the coagulated Saturn is made fluxible by Fire, it hath most of Mercury in it, but it is inconstant and volatile; it hath least of Sulphur, and therefore according to its small quantity its cold body cannot be made warm; it hath little Salt, but fluxible, otherwise Iron would be more fluxible and malleable than Lead, if the Salt alone could cause a malleableness and fluxibleness, because Iron contains more Salt than any other Metal: Seeing then there is a difference to be found in this point, you must therefore observe and remember the difference, and how to distinguish between Metals.
Thus our idea of gold may at first be a yellow colour, weight, malleableness, fusibility; but upon the discovery of its dissolubility in aqua regia, we join that to the other qualities, and suppose it to belong to the substance as much as if its idea had from the beginning made a part of the compound one.
Word Of The Day