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Grave; and a Council held foon after, forbad this 1'rcmjla- tion to be made a Precedent.
However, the lame Church allow'd of fome legitimate Cauies of TranJiatioM ; as, the apparent Advantage of the Church : Under which Pretence, Tran/lations ibon became i'o frequent, that for 500 or 600 Years laft pail, they have been eiteem'd a Kind of Common Law. See Bishop.
The Tranflation of a Religious from one Order to ano- ther, cannot bs effected without the Confent of the Pope : 'Tis added, that it is not allow'd to tranjlate from a feverer Rule to a laxer one.
Translation is alfo us'd for the Verficn of a Book, or Writing out of one Language into another. See Version. Irmijlators frequently endeavour to excufe themfelves at the Expence ot their Language ; and ask Pardon tor [t t as if it were not rich and copious enough to exprefs all the Force and Beauties of the Original.
Thus is the Enghft Tongue accus'd of the Poverty and Drynefs which is in the Tranflatof* own Genius ; and the Faults charg'd on that, which mould only lie at their own Doors.
The Italians have a Proverb, Traduttore, Traditore : A Tranftatcr, a Traytor.
TRANSMARINE, Transmarinus, fomething that comes from, or belongs to, the Parts beyond Sea. See Foreign and Exotic.
TRANSMIGRATION, the Removal or Tranflation ot a whole People into fome other Country, by the Violence of a Conqueror.
Some tranftate the leading of the Children of Tfrael Cap- tive into 'Babylon-, the Trauf migration of the Ijraelites t &c. See Migration,
Transmigration is particularly us'd for the Patlage of a Soul out of one Body into another ; the fame with what we otherwife call Metempsychosis.
The Siamefe, F. I'acbard informs us, from a Belief of the tfranfmigration of Souls into other Bodies, forbear killing any Beatis ; left, by that Means, they lliould difpoflels the Souls of their deceas'd Relations,
TRANSMISSION, in Opticks, $$c. the Act of a tranfparetit Body paffmg the Rays of Light through its Subft;ince, or fuffering them to pafs 5 in which Senfe the Word fhnds in Opposition to Reflection. See Reflection. Tranfmijfion is alfo frequently us'd in the fame Senfe with Refra&iou, by Reafbn moft Bodies in transmitting the Rays, do alio refract them. See Refraction,
For the Caufe of Tranfmijpon, or the Reafon why fome Bodies tranjhiit, and others reflect the Rays. See Trans- parency and Opacity.
The Rays of Light, Sir Jfaac Neivton obferves, are iub- iecl: to Fits of eafy Tranfmijjlon and each Refleaion. See Ray and Light.
TRANSMUTATION, the Act of transforming, convert- ing or changing one Nature into another. See Conversion and Transformation. ■ .
The Term is chiefly us'd in Chymiftry and Medicine: 'Tis oreatly queftion'd, whether the j'ranfmutation of Silver into Gold, and of Tin into Silver, fo much fought by the Chymifts, be poffible or not. S:e Gold, &C.
The pureft and fubcileft Parts of the Food are transmuted or afumulated into the proper Subltance of the Body. For the Manner how, fee Nutrition.
Nature, Sir Tfaac Newton obferves, feems delighted with 'franfmutatiom : He goes on to enumerate feveral Kinds of Natural Trmfnmtatim ; grofs Bodies and light, he fufDects, may be mutually transmuted into each other ; and adds, That all Bodies receive their active Force from the Particles of Light which enter their Compofition. Sec Light and Fire. For all fiVd Bodies, when well heated, emit Light as long as they continue fo 5 and again, Light intermingles itfelf ancf inheres' in Bodies as often as its Rays fall on the fo lid Particles of thofe Bodies. See Opacity.
A<niin, Water, which is a fluid, volatile, taftlefs Salt, is by Heat tranfm'ite.i into Vapour ; which is a kind of Air ; and by Cold, into Ice, which is a cold, tranfparent brittle Stone, eafily d'iffolvable ; and this Stone convertible again into Water by Heat, as Vapour is by Cold. See Water, Vapour, Ice, &c.
Earth, by Ffeat, becomes Fire ; and by Cold, is turned into Earth aaain : Denfe Bodies, by Fermentation, arc ratified into various kinds of Air ; and that Air by Fermentation alfo, and fometimes without, reverts into grofs Bodies. See Air,
Quickfllvcr fometimes puts on the Form of a fluid Metal ; fometimes it appears in Shape of a pellucid, fragile Salt, called Sublimate % fometimes of a pellucid volatile, white, taftlefs Earth, called Mercurial c Dalch ; by Diftillation it becomes Vapour, and by Agitation in vacuo, /nines like Fire, X$C- See Mercury and Phosphorus.
All Bodies, Beafts, Fiflies, Infects, Plants, l$c. with all their various Parts, grow and increase out of Water, and aqueous and fa line Tinctures 5 and by Putrefaction, all of
them revert into Water or an aqueous Liquor again. See Water.
Further, Water expos'd a while to the open Air, puts on a Tincture, which in Procefs of Time has a Sediment and a Spirit; and before Putrefaction, yields Nourilhment both for Animals and Vegetables. See Nutrition and\ r EGETATioN.
Transmutation, in Alchymy, the Act of changing or exalting imperfect Metals into Gold or Silver. See Me- tal, Gold, &c.
This is alio call'd the Grand Operation, and is to be effect- ed with the Philofhphers Stone. See Philosophers^???.
Some AlcbymitU hold, that the Q I ran [mutation ihould rather be call'd the i Perfeiho7i of imperfect Metals $ as hold- ing all Metals intended by Nature to arrive equally at this Perfection, inafmuch as they are compos'd of the lame Mat- ter ; and that 'tis only the Impurity of their Matrices, that is, of the Place wherein they are form'd by Nature, that has prevented their arriving thereat. See Metal.
The Elixir being projected on any of thofe Metals, it is fuppos'd to purge, and ieparate the impure Parts from the pure, and to join itfelf wholly to the Mercury (which is the pure ParrJ as being of the fame Nature- See Projection.
Whether or no Metals are transmit able into one another, is a Point flrongly difputed among the Philofophers ; the Alchymifts ftrenuoufly aiFerting the Affirmative. See Al- chymy.
Some Metals 'tis commonly allow'd may be chang'd into others, e.gr. Iron into Brafs or Copper, and Lead into Tin $ but Cardan and fome others deny even this, and argue fur- ther, that tho' Iron and Brais, as being nearly alike in Weight and Tenacity, &c. provided their Colour and Hard- nels could be chang'd, might be converted into one another, either really, or, at leaft, apparently, yet would the trans- muting or ripening of other Merals into Gold or Silver be ftill impoflible ; both as thofe Metals are all to be firft cal- cin'd, after which they can never be brought again to their priftine Purity $ and as there is a Generation requir'd, which is not the Work of Art, but Nature.
Cardan de Met all. Lemery-, %)icke'rtfo'/i 7 and others, give us Accounts of the various Impoftures of Adepti in the Bu- finefsof Tranfmutation $ fome, for lnftar.ee, fixing Mercury with Verdigreafe, and then heightening the Colour with Cadmia, Turmeric, &c. But this, if try'd with the Coppel, all goes off* in Fumes - ? and, in effect, nothing produe'd this Way ought to be adjudg'd true Gold, unlets it endure Cop- pelling, Cementation, Purification, wirh Antimony and the Depart. See Purification, Essayinc, &c.
Add, that it mutt have the Malleability, extreme Ducti- lity, and fpecific Gravity of Gold, which is to Water as 18 and half to 1. See Weight.
The Trick of tranfmutivg Cinnabar into Silver is thus: The Cinnab.u being bruis'd grofsly, is ftratify'd in a Cruci- ble with granulated Silver, and the Crucible plac'd in a great Fire i and after due Time tor Calcination, taken off"; then the Matter being pour'd out, is found to be Cinnabar turn'd into real Silver, tho" the Silver Grains appear m the Num- ber and Form they were put into the Crucible ; but the Mif- chief is, coming to handle the Grains of Silver, you find them nothing but light friable Bladders, which will crumble to Pieces between the Fingers.
Mr. 'Boyle in his Scept. Chymift. tells us, that two Friends of his did, by urging Mercury in a fkilfuily ma- nag'd Fire, turn it almoft Weight for Weight into Water j but does not fay what was the fpecific Gravity of the pro- due'd Water, nor of the remaining untranftnuted Mats of Mercury. — He likewife affures us, that Rain Water being diftill'd and re-diftltl'd by a Friend of his, near 200 times, did, after each Diftillation, leave, at the Bottom of the Glafs Body, a confiderable Quantity of a white Earth ; and that more plentifully in the latter Diftillation than the former.
This he believ'd to be a certain Quantity of Water actu- ally transmuted into Earth $ adding, that it. was above twice as heavy fpecifically as common Water, and of to fix'd a Nature, that it lay a confiderable Time in a red hot Cru- cible, without lofing any thing of its_ Weight, or emitting any Smoak.
Transmutation, in Geometry, the Reduction, or Change, ot one Figure or Body into another of the fame Area, or Solidity, but of a different Form 5 as a Triangle into a Square 5 a Pyramid into a Parallelopiped, i£c. S,ee Figure, $£c.
Transmutation, in the higher Geometry, is us'd for the Converting a Figure into another of the lame Kind and Order, whole refpective Parts rife to ihe fame Dimenfions in an Equation, admit the fame Tangents, $$c. See Transformation.
If a rectilinear Figure be to be tranfmuted into another, 'tis fufficient that the Interiections of the Lines that compofe ir, be transferr'd $ and Lines drawn thro' the fame in the new Figure. See Reduction.
If the Figure to be tranfmuted be Curvilinear, the Points, Tangents, and other right Lines, by means whereof the
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