(says he) _Colorum similis ratio est: De quibus brevem institutionem hanc
attendite, quod scilicet colores omnes ex Sale prodeant. Sal enim dat
colorem, dat Balsamum._[19] And a little beneath. _Iam natura Ipsa colores
protrathit ex sale, cuique speciei dans illum, qui ipsi competit_, &c.
After which he concludes; _Itaque qui rerum omnium corpora cognoscere vult,
huic opus est, ut ante omnia cognoscat Sulphur, Ab hoc, qui desiderat
novisse Colores is scientiam istorum petat à Sale, Qui scire vult Virtutes,
is scrutetur arcana Mercurii. Sic nimirum fundamentum hauserit Mysteriorum,
in quolibet crescenti indagandorum, prout natura cuilibet speciei ea
ingessit_. But though _Paracelsus_ ascribes to each of his belov'd
Hypostatical Principles, much more than I fear will be found to belong to
it; yet if we please to consider Colours, not as _Philosophers_, but as
_Dyers_, the concurrence of Salts to the striking and change of Colours,
and their Efficacy, will, I suppose, appear so considerable, that we shall
not need to quarrel much with _Paracelsus_, for ascribing in this place
(for I dare not affirm that he uses to be still of one Mind) the Colours of
Bodies to their Salts, if by Salts he here understood, not only Elementary
Salts, but such also as are commonly taken for Salts, as Allom, Crystals of
Tartar, Vitriol, &c. because the Saline principle does chiefly abound in
them, though indeed they be, as we elsewhere declare, mix'd Bodies, and
have most of them, besides what is Saline, both Sulphureous, Aqueous, and
Gross or Earthy parts.

[19] Paracelsus de Mineral. tract. 1. pag. m. 243

But though (_Pyrophilus_) I have observ'd a Red and Green to be produc'd,
the former, by Acid Salts, the later by Salts not Acid, in the express
Juices of so many differing Vegetable Substances, that the Observation, if
persued, may prove (as I said) of good Use: yet to show you how much e'vn
these Effects depend upon the particular Texture of Bodies, I must subjoyn