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177
The Story of Alchemy and the Beginnings of Chemistry
·
M. M. Pattison Muir
118
When
the
product
of
heating
a
substance,
for
example,
tin
or
lead,
weighed
more
than
the
substance
itself,
Boyle
supposed
that
the
gain
in
weight
was
often
caused
by
the
"matter
of
fire"
adding
itself
to
the
substance
which
was
heated.
He
commended
to
the
investigation
of
philosophers
this
"subtil
fluid,"
which
is
"able
to
pierce
into
the
compact
and
solid
bodies
of
metals,
and
add
something
to
them
that
has
no
despicable
weight
upon
the
balance,
and
is
able
for
a
considerable
time
to
continue
fixed
in
the
fire."
Boyle
also
drew
attention
to
the
possibility
of
action
taking
place
between
a
substance
which
is
heated
and
some
other
substance,
wherewith
the
original
thing
may
have
been
mixed.
In
a
word,
Boyle
showed
that
the
alchemical
assumption--fire
simplifies--was
too
simple;
and
he
taught,
by
precept
and
example,
that
the
only
way
of
discovering
what
the
action
of
fire
is,
on
this
substance
or
on
that,
is
to
make
accurate
experiments.
"I
consider,"
he
says,
"that,
generally
speaking,
to
render
a
reason
of
an
effect
or
phenomenon,
is
to
deduce
it
from
something
else
in
nature
more
known
than
itself;
and
that
consequently
there
may
be
divers
kinds
of
degrees
of
explication
of
the
same
thing."
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