Foul smell and corruptive fumes

Meaning

Puanteurs, stinking fumes and the statement that a thing smells bad serve as sensible signs of corruptive matter. In II.3.25 the author associates combustible, sulphurous impurity with what fire can consume, while coarse earthly dirt answers to water’s cleansing role. Smell belongs to this twofold classification, not an independent proof of a modern chemical identity. The preserved intermediate between the impurities is not itself condemned as another impurity. These observations are reported historical judgments, not an invitation to burn, inhale or sample a material.