A Defense of the Introduction to a True and Unheard-of Physics

...he says; it is the Salt of nature altered : Salt of nature is water altered into the form of fire by art original: per artem; referring to the "Art" of Alchemy, the deliberate manipulation of substances by the chemist. : Therefore, because Sulfur comes from Salt, Salt from Fire, and fire from water : Therefore, Sulfur is most certainly an Element. Therefore, the staff stands in the corner! original: baculus stat in angulo; a proverbial expression used here sarcastically to mock a supposedly "unanswerable" but actually flawed argument, akin to saying "and so the case is closed!" Therefore! For there is a profound difference between being produced from an Element and being an Element : or if you prefer, between matter that is unaltered and matter that is altered. Because alteration imparts a different quality, from which one cannot argue back to the previous state. For example: The Devil is an altered good Angel, Therefore; the Devil is a good angel. Illness is altered Health, Therefore, illness is Health. It is foolish to argue in this manner. For when sweet and life-giving original: constituens; meaning the constituent or foundational part of a living thing. water is altered into caustic and destructive fire, it becomes entirely deadly original: mortifica; literally "death-making." and utterly degenerate: in which state it cannot be, nor be called, an Element.

§. 9. That well-worn philosophical maxim: Our Stone does not dye unless it is dyed original: Lapis noster non tingit nisi tingatur; a fundamental rule in alchemy meaning the Philosopher's Stone must be "fermented" or joined with the metal it is meant to produce (like gold) before it can transform other metals. : does not confirm the opinion of the anonymous author. For it signifies nothing else than that the Stone, when duly prepared, does not dye metals unless joined with gold, which is the purest Sulfur of metals—