Subtil ases

The blood being carried through the narrow infoldings and divarications of the vessels as it were through the serpentine chanels of an alembick is made extremely subtile, as much as it may be, in its liquor. . ... 

The climax of French iatrochymistry was the work of Nicholas Lemery, whose Cours de chymie of 1675 will be treated in Chapter Three. But two other chymists of the mid-century deserve comment. Le Fevre identified them as The subtil van Helmont, and the laborious Glauber, the two Beacons and Lights which we are to follow in the Theory of Chymistry, and the best practice of it. These two, Johann Glauber and Joan Baptista van Helmont, are significant exceptions to the textbooks tradition of seventeenth century chemistry. Both maintained an extraordinary emphasis on experimental observations, even while returning to mystical philosophical positions. 

Macbride was cognizant of the earlier work of Van Helmont and he recognized that his gas sylvestre was the same as fixed air. He also cites the term gas subtile of early chemists as a synonym, and he uses the simple word gas as synonymous.10 Macbride also was thoroughly acquainted with the work of Hales and of Black, whose results he understands and thoroughly appreciates. 

The Air, Water and the Earth are only the same matter, more or less tenuous and subtilized, in proportion as it is more or less rarefied. The Air, as the principle most approaching rarefaction, is the... 

In the Alchemical Theory, says Albert Poisson, the four Elements, not any more than the three Principles, represent particular substances they are simply states of matter, simple modalities. Water is synonymous with the liquid state, Earth with the solid Air with the gaseous and Fire with that of a very subtle gaseous state, such as a gas expanded by the action of heat.. . Moreover, Elements represent, by extension, physical qualities such as heat, (Fire) dryness and solidity, (Earth) moisture and fluidity, (Water) cold and subtility, (Air) Zosimus gives to their ensemble the name of Tetrasomy. 

As Water is of a nature closely approaching that of the First Matter of the World, it becomes easily its symbol, or image. The chaos, whence all was derived, was like a vapor, or a humid substance, similar to a subtle smoke. Light having rarefied it, the heavens were formed of the most subtilized portion the Air of that which was less so the elementary Water of that which was a little more terrestrial and the Earth, of the densest, and as feces, (Raymond Lully, Testam, Anc. Theor.). Therefore Water partaking of the nature of the Air and Earth, is placed in the middle. Lighter than the Earth and heavier than Air, it is always mixed with both. At the least rarefaction it seems to abandon the Earth to take the nature of the Air it is condensed by the least cold, it quits the Air, and unites itself with the Earth. 

Oxyrase.. We must also consider the Oxyrase svstem for o.xvgen removal. This is presently derived from Escherichia coli or Bacillus subtil is, but could be derived from other sources too, such as various yeasts (J. Copeland, Oxyrase Inc., personal communication), making the system potentially suitable for use in foods. Because of the diversity of enzymes in this system, the presence of such substrates as lactic acid, succinic acid, formic acid, or a-glveerophosphate, tound in virtually any biological tissue, can effect deoxygenation and attendant stabilization or restriction on 1 he growth of aerobic oiganisms. 

The Golden Chain of Homer" provides one of the clearest descriptions of this process. The text describes the Universal Fire generating "an invisible and most subtle humidity" which consequently undergoes a gentle fermentation to generate the Universal Acid — "a most subtil, spiritual Incorporeal Niter Spiritus Mundi." As this Universal Acid enters the atmosphere, it becomes more material and meets an Alkaline, passive principle, whereupon it becomes fixed as native Niter. 

Lemery made the procedural roots of the five principles clear. From his discussion of each principle one can easily infer the concrete types of substances obtained in the distillation of vegetables and animals. The Spirit which is called Mercury was a subtile, piercing, light substance that appeared when chemists made the Anatomy of a Mixt Body. Like other principles, it could not be drawn pure. When it was involv d in a little Oil, it appeared in the form of volatile spirit, such as spirit of wine. When it was detained by some salts, which check its Volatility, it appeared as fixed spirit, like the acid spirits of vitriol, alum, and... 

Betrachtung und zulanglicher Beweiss von den Saltzen, dass dieselbe aus einer Zarten Erde, mit Wasser innig verbunden bestehen (Halle, 1723) translated by Baron d Holbach as Traite des Sels, dans lequel on demonstre quHls sont composes d une terre subtile intimement combinee avec de Veau (Paris Vincent, 1771). For a list of Stahl s works, see J. R. Partington, A History of Chemistry (London MacMillan, 1961-1972), volume 2, 659-662. 

Some organisms can become more resistant to heat when encapsulated in particles, such as B. subtil is. 

Mycosubtilins were isolated by Peypoux et al. in 1976 as antifungal metabolites from B. subtil is. The constituent amino acids of mycosubtilin D are the same as those of iturin A, but the peptide sequences differ(Fig. 

The vulture flying through the air, and the toad creeping upon the ground, re the emblems of our magistery. When therefore gently and with much care, you seperate the earth from the water, that is from the fire, and the thin from the thick, then that which is pure will seperate itself from the earth, and ascend to the upper part, as it were into heaven, and the impure will descend beneath, as to the earth. And the more subtile part in the superior place will take upon it the nature of a spirit, and... 

In this Spiritu mercurii is lodged a subtile oil, the red volatile Gold of the Philosophers, the volatile Fire of Nature, which we extract as well, out of our Central-Salt through moderate distillation and sublimation. 

It is a highly subtile ethereal Corpus, a coagulated Mercury, wherein the Fiery Anima is locked up, as in a prison. When this Radicalsap receives a profusion of moisture, then it is the seed or the prima materia of the Body if it is, however, cooked more intensely, it then becomes the Mercurius corporeus. 

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