n by Mercury? And is it not for the same
reason that Iron requires more _Aqua fortis_ to dissolve it than Copper,
and Copper more than the other Metals; and that of all Metals, Iron is
dissolved most easily, and is most apt to rust; and next after Iron,
Copper?

When Oil of Vitriol is mix'd with a little Water, or is run _per
deliquium_, and in Distillation the Water ascends difficultly, and
brings over with it some part of the Oil of Vitriol in the form of
Spirit of Vitriol, and this Spirit being poured upon Iron, Copper, or
Salt of Tartar, unites with the Body and lets go the Water; doth not
this shew that the acid Spirit is attracted by the Water, and more
attracted by the fix'd Body than by the Water, and therefore lets go the
Water to close with the fix'd Body? And is it not for the same reason
that the Water and acid Spirits which are mix'd together in Vinegar,
_Aqua fortis_, and Spirit of Salt, cohere and rise together in
Distillation; but if the _Menstruum_ be poured on Salt of Tartar, or on
Lead, or Iron, or any fix'd Body which it can dissolve, the Acid by a
stronger Attraction adheres to the Body, and lets go the Water? And is
it not also from a mutual Attraction that the Spirits of Soot and
Sea-Salt unite and compose the Particles of Sal-armoniac, which are less
volatile than before, because grosser and freer from Water; and that the
Particles of Sal-armoniac in Sublimation carry up the Particles of
Antimony, which will not sublime alone; and that the Particles of
Mercury uniting with the acid Particles of Spirit of Salt compose
Mercury sublimate, and with the Particles of Sulphur, compose Cinnaber;
and that the Particles of Spirit of Wine and Spirit of Urine well
rectified unite, and letting go the Water which dissolved them, compose
a consistent Body; and that in subliming Cinnaber from Salt of Tartar,
or from quick Lime, the Sulphur by a stronger Attraction of the Salt or
Lime lets go the Mercury, and stays with the fix'd Body; and that when
Mercury sublimate is sublimed from Antimony, or from Regulus of
Antimony, the Spirit of Salt lets go the Mercury, and unites with the
antimonial metal which attracts it more strongly, and stays with it till
the Heat be great enough to make them both ascend together, and then
carries up the Metal with it in the form of a very fusible Salt, called
Butter of Antimony, although the Spirit of Salt alone be almost as
volatile as Water, and the Antimony alone as fix'd as Lea