man after having drunk a great deal of fair water, to spurt it out again in
the form of Claret Wine, Sack, and Milk, that they have suspected the
intervening of Magick, or some forbidden means to effect what they
conceived above the power of Art; yet having once by chance had occasion to
oblige a Wanderer that made profession of that and other Jugling Tricks, I
was easily confirm'd by his Ingenious confession to me, That this so much
Admir'd Art, indeed consisted rather in a few Tricks, than in any great
Skill, in altering the Nature and Colours of things. And I am easy to be
perswaded; that there may be a great deal of Truth in a little Pamphlet
Printed divers years ago in English, wherein the Author undertakes to
discover, and that (if I mistake not) by the confession of some of the
Complices themselves, That a famous Water-drinker then much Admir'd in
_England_, perform'd his pretended Transmutations of Liquors by the help of
two or three inconsiderable preparations and mixtures of not unobvious
Liquors, and chiefly of an Infusion of Brazil variously diluted and made
Pale or Yellowish, (and otherwise alter'd) with Vinegar, the rest of their
work being perform'd by the shape of the Glasses, by Craft and Legerdemane.
And for my part, that which I marvel at in this business, is, the Drinkers
being able to take down so much Water, and spout it out with that violence;
though Custome and a Vomit seasonably taken before hand, may in some of
them much facilitate the work. But as for the changes made in the Liquors,
they were but few and slight in comparison of those, that the being
conversant in Chymical Experiments, and dextrous in applying them to the
Transmuting of Colours, may easily enough enable a man to make, as ev'n
what has been newly deliver'd in this, and the foregoing Experiment;
especially if we add to it the things contained in the XX, the XXXIX and
the XL. Experiments, may perhaps have already perswaded You.

_EXPERIMENT XLV._