a quality supposed to flow from the heavenly bodies, either with their light or heat; to which astrologers idly ascribe all sublunary events.

Alchemists also, who to this ascribe the philosophers stone, tells us, that every thing in nature is produced by the influence of the stars, which, in their passage through the atmosphere, imbibe many of its moist parts, the grossest whereof they deposit in the sands and earths where they fall; that these, filtrating through the pores of the earth, descend even to the centre, whence they are driven, by the central fire, back again to the surface; and in their ascent, by a natural kind of sublimation, as they find earths duly disposed, they form natural bodies, as metals, minerals, and vegetables, &c. Thus, it is pretended, that chemistry, consisting consisting of an artificial imitation of these natural operations, and in applying active principles to passive principles, can form natural bodies, make gold, &c.