The Sceptical Chymist: or Chymico-Physical Doubts & Paradoxes, Touching the Spagyrist's Principles Commonly call'd Hypostatical; As they are wont to be Propos'd and Defended by the Generality of Alchymists. Whereunto is præmis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same Subject

About this book

Robert Boyle’s early chemistry treatise challenges the alchemists’ account of matter, using a conversation to argue that their three principles do not adequately explain mixed bodies. It is for readers interested in testing chemical claims rather than accepting inherited labels. In one experiment, camphor heated in glass rises almost entirely to the vessel’s top, leading Boyle to question whether fire reveals a substance’s true ingredients. He also argues that earth and water should count as elements if they help compose bodies, whether or not alchemists deem them useful.