7/28/2019 Bacon : Experiments Touching Sulphur and Mercury
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Francis Bacon - Experiments touching
Sulphur and MercuryThis section on the making of gold is
included Century IV of Francis Bacon's Sylva Sylvarum, or a
Naturall Historie in ten Centuries... London, 1627, which was
part of Bacon's unfinishedInstauratio Magna.
This text was transcribed by Marcus Williamson.
Experiments in Consort touching Sulphore andMercury, two
ofParacelsusPrincipals.
There bee two GreatFamilies ofThings; You may terme them by
severall Names; Sulphureous and
Mercureall, which are the Chymists Words: (For as for theirSal,
which is their Third Principle, it is
a Compound of the other
two;)Inflammable,andNotInflammable;Mature and Crude;Oily and
Watry. For wee see that in Subterranies there are, as theFathers
of theirTribes,Brimstone and
Mercury: In Vegetables, andLivingCreatures there is Waterand
Oile: In theInferiourOrderof
Pneumaticalls there isAire andFlame : And in the Superiour,
there is theBody of the Starre, and
thePureSky. And these Paires, though they be unlike in the
Primitive Differences of Matter, yetthey seeme to have many
Consents: ForMercury and Sulphure are principall Materialls
ofMetalls;
Waterand Oyle, are principall Materialls ofVegetables,
andAnimals; And seeme to differ but in
Maturation, orConcoction:Flame (in Vulgar Opinion) is
butAireIncensed; And they both have
Quicknesse of Motion,and Facilitie of Cession, much a like: And
theInterstellarSky, (though the
Opinion be vaine, that the Starre is theDenserPartof his Orbe,)
hath notwithstanding so much
Affinity with the Starre, that there is a Rotation of that, as
well as of the Starre. Therefore, it is one
of the greatestMagnaliaNaturae, to turne WaterorWatryIuyce into
Oile orOily Juyce: Greater in
Nature, than to turne Silver, orQuick-silver, into Gold.
The Instances we have,wherein Crude and Watry Substance turneth
intoFatand Oily,are of foure
kindes. First in theMixture ofEarth and Water; which mingled by
the help of the Sunne,gather a
Nitrous Fatnesse, more than either of them have severally; As we
see, in that they put forthPlants,
which need both Juyces.
The Second is in theAssimilation ofNourishment, made in
theBodies ofPlants, andLiving
Creatures; WhereofPlants turne the Juyce of meere
WaterandEarth,into a great deale ofOily
Matter:LivingCreatures, though much of theirFat,andFlesh,are out
ofOilyAliments,(asMeat,and
Bread,)yet they Assimilate also in a Measure
theirDrinkofWater,&c. But these two Wayes of
Version ofWaterinto Oyle,(namely byMixture,and byAssimilation)
are by many Passages,and
Percolations,and by long Continuance of softHeats,and by
Circuits of Time.
The third is in theInception ofPutrefaction;As in
WaterCorrupted; And theMothers ofWaters
Distilled; Both which have a kinde ofFatnesse, orOyle.
The Fourth is in theDulcoration of someMetalls; As
SaccharumSaturni, &c.
The Intension ofVersion ofWaterinto more OylySubstance, is
byDisgestion; ForOile is almost
Nothing else but WaterDisgested; And thisDisgestion is
principally byHeat; WhichHeatmust be
eitherOutward,orInward: Againe, it may be by Provocation, or
Excitation; Which is caused by the
Mingling of Bodies already Oily,orDisgested; For they will
somewhat Communicate their Nature
with the rest.Disgestion also is strongly effected by
directAssimulation, ofBodiesCrude into
BodiesDigested; As inPlants,andLivingCreatures,whose Nourishment
is farre more Crude thantheir Bodies: But thisDisgestion is by a
great Compasse, as hath beene said. As for the more full
Handling of these two Principles, whereof this is but a Taste;
(the Enquiry of which is one of the
