which must have a very small hole in them no bigger then that a pins head may go in into a vessell of cold water and they will presently suck in the water of which then being full turne the noses thereof towards the candle or fire which you would have blown As for the figure C it must have a mouth drawne up round and hanging out an inch from the face which mouth the whole compasse of the face being heated first you must dip in cold water and it will suck in water as the noses of the former did This then you must hold-close to the fire that it may be heated and it will blow exceedingly as otherwise it will not viz. if it be cold If you put sweet water into such a vessell you may perfume a chamber exceedingly for a little quantity thereof will be a long time breathing forth Note that these kindes of vessels must be made of copper and be exceeding well closed that they may have no vent but by their noses An excellent invention to make a fire This fire is durable sweet not offensive by reason of the smoake or cinder as other coale fires are beautifull in shape and is not so costly as other fire burnes as well in a chamber even as Char-coal This fire may either serve for such distillations as require a strong and lasting heat or for ordinary uses either in the Kitchen or chambers A new invention for Bathes Seeing by bathing and sweating most diseases are cured especially such as proceed from wind hot and distempered humours or cold and congealed humours because all these are rarified and evaporated by transpiration in sweating or bathing I thought it a thing much conducing to mans health to set downe such a way of bathing and sweating that might be very effectuall and appropriated to any particular disease or distemper I shall therefore here commend to you a way of bathing by distillation the manner of which you may see by these ensuing vessels A Signifies a hot still with two pipes going into two wooden vessels In this Still you may put either hearbs spices with water or with Spirits and distill them by which meanes they that are in the vessels will presently be forced into a sweat by vertue of the subtlety of the vapours And this indeed is as good and effectuall a way for sweating as any can be invented You may by this meanes appropriate your ingredients to the nature of the diseases B A vessell wherein a man sits in the bath Now this vessell hath in it a door for the easier going into it which fashion is farre better and more convenient then to be open only at the top C A long vessell where a man that is weak and not able to fit up lies and is bathed Now you must note that these vapours most not be hotter then the patient can beer also if the vapour come forth too hot upon the body of the patient he may by putting a pipe upon the end of the pipe that comes into the vessell divert the hot vapour from his body and so it will not offend him that way Note that the patient assoon as he begins to be faint must come forth or else he will suffer more prejudice then good by his bathing and also to prevent him from fainting let him take some Cordiall or cold Beer which will much revive him and make him endure his bathing longer as also make him sweat the more Assoon as the patient comes forth let him goe into a warm bed and sweat as he is able to beare it and take some posset drink or broth or such like warme suppings as also some good Cordiall if he be very faint The patient may according as his strength will bear and his disease require bathe more seldome or oftner An artificiall hot Bath from the same principles as the naturall Bath is Before I set down the processe of making an artificiall hot Bath I shall premise some things concerning the true nature and originall of a hot Bath Now the clearest and best account that I ever heard or read of the cause of the heat in Bathes is that which is given by Mounsier de Rochas and that in a demonstrative way His words are these As I was saith he with some of my companions wandring in Savoy I found in the valley of Luzerne betwixt the Alps a hot spring I began to consider the cause of this heat and whereas the vulgar opinion is that the heat of fountains is from mountains fired within I saw reason to think the contrary because I saw snow upon a mountaine from whence this hot spring came unmelted which could not possibly but have been dissolved by the hot fumes of the mountains had they been fired Whereupon being unsatisfied I with my companions and other labourers whom I could very hardly perswade to undertake such a businesse by reason they were affraid that fire would thereupon breake forth out of the ground and consume us got tools and set upon digging to find out the true cause of the heat of this fountain After we had digged 15. dayes having before perceived the water to be hotter and hotter by degrees as we came neerer to the source we came to the originall of the heat where was a great ebullition In three houres more we digged beyond this place of ebullition and perceived the water to be cold yet in the same continued stream with the other that was hot upon this I began to wonder much at the reason of these things Then I carryed to my lodging some of this hot water which was both saltish and acid and evaporated it and of forty ounces I had in the bottome five drams of saltish matter which I then yet farther purified and extracted thence three drams of pure nitrous Hermetick salt the other two ounces being a slimie sulphurous substance Yet with this I was not satisfied but with my labourers went again to the place and digged twelve days more and then we came to a water which was insipid as ordinary fountain Water yet still in a continued stream with the saltish and hot water At this I wondered much whereupon I digged up some of the earth where the cold and saltish stream runned carried it home with me and our of a hundred weight thereof I extracted a good quantity of nitrous salt which was almost fluxile When I had extracted as much as I could I laid the earth aside and in 24. houres it was all covered over with salt which I extracted and out of a hundred weight of this earth which I call virgin earth I had four pound of this kind of salt which is contracted in the aforesaid 24. houres and so it would doe constantly Now this satisfied me concerning one doubt for before I was unsatisfied how there could be a constant supply of that salt which made the water saltish seeing there was but a little distance betwixt the insipid water and the
Salt armoniack as hornes bones and such like for little fixed salt can be extracted from them only volatile and armoniack An ounce of any of these volatile salts as of hornes bones amber and such like reduced into an acid Liquor by distillation condenseth and indurateth a pound of Oily matter An easie and cheap powder like unto aurum fulminans Take of salt Tartar one part Salt-peter three parts Sulphur a third part grind these well together and dry them A few graines of this powder being fired will give as great a clap as a musket when it is discharged To make an Antimoniall cup and to cast divers figures of Antimony Take the best crude antimony very well powdered Nitre of each a poâ—nd of crude Tartar finely powdered two pound mix them well together and put them into a crucible cover the crucible and melt them and the regulus will fall to the bottome and be like a melted metall then pour it forth into a brasse mortar being first smeared over with Oil. Or Take two parts of powdered Antimony and four parts oâ— powder of crude Tartar melt these as aforesaid This regulus you may when you have made enough of it melt again and cast it into what moulds you please you may either make cups or what pictures you please and of what figures you please You may cast it into formes of shillings or halfe-crowns either of which if you put it into two or three ounces of wine in an earthen glazed vessell or glasse and infuse in a moderate heat all night you may have a Liquor in the morning which will cause vomit of which the dose is from two drams to two ounces and half Note that in the Wine you may put a little Cinamon to correct and give a more gratefull relish to it It is the custome to fill the Antimoniall cup with Wine and to put as much Wine round about betwixt that and the little earthen cup where it stands and so infuse it all night and then drink up all that Wine but I fear that so much Wine will be too much as being three or four ounces when as we seldome exceed the quantity of two ounces of the infusion of Antimony These cups or pictures will last for ever and be as effectuall after a thousand times infusion as at first and if they be broken at any time as easily they may being as brittle as glasse they may be cast again into what formes you please Note that he that casts them must be skilfull in making his spawde as also in scouring of them and making them bright afterwards for if they be carefully handled they will look even as bright as silver BOOK VI. The Spagyricall Anatomy of Gold and Silver together with the Curiosities therein and chiefest preparations thereof I Shall first endeavour to shew whence Gold had its originall and what the matter thereof is As Nature saith Sandivogius is in the will of God and God created her so nature made for her selfe a seed i. her will in the elements Now she indeed is one yet she brings forth divers things but she operates nothing without a Sperme whatsoever the Sperme will nature operates for she is as it were the instrument of any artificers The Sperme therefore of every thing is better and more profitable then nature her self for thou shalt from nature without a Sperme doe as much as a goldsmith without fire or a husband without grain or seed Now the Sperme of any thing is the Elixir the balsame of sulphur and the same as Humidum Radicale is in metalls but to proceed to what concernes our purpose Four elements generate a Sperme by the will of God and imagination of nature For as the Sperme of a man hath its center or the vessell of its seed in the kidneys so the foure elements by their indesinent motion every one according to its quality cast forth a Sperme into the center of the earth where it is digested and by motion is sent abroad Now the center of the earth is a certaine empty place where nothing can rest and the four elements send forth their qualities into the circumference of the center As a male sends forth his seed into the womb of the female which after it hath received a due portion casts out the rest so it happens in the center of the earth that the magnetick powder of a part of any place attracts something convenient to it selfe for the bringing forth of something and the rest is cast forth into stones and other excrements For every thing hath its originall from this fountain and there is nothing in the world produced but by this fountaine as for example set upon an even table a vessell of water which may be placed in the middle thereof and round about it set divers things and divers colours also salt c. every thing by it selfe then poure the water into the middle and you shall see the water to run every way and when any streame toucheth the red colour it will be made red by it if the salt it will contract the tast of salt from it and so of the rest Now the water doth not change the places but the diversity of places changeth the water In like manner the seed or sperme being cast forth by the foure elements from the center of the earth unto the superficies thereof passeth through various places and according to the nature of the place is any thing produced if it come to a pure place of earth and water a pure thing is made The seed and sperme of all things is but one and yet it generates divers things as it appears by the former example The sperme whilest it is in the center is indifferent to all forms but when it is come into any determinate place it changeth no more its forme The sperme whilest it is in the center can as easily produce a tree as a metall and an hearb as a stone and one more precious then another according to the purity of the place Now this sperme is produced of elements thus These foure elements are never quiet but by reason of their contrariety mutually act one upon another and every one of its selfe sends forth its own subtilty and they agree in the center Now in this center is the Archaeus the servant of nature which mixing those spermes together sends them abroad and by distillation sublimes them by the heat of a continuall motion unto the superficies of the earth For the earth is porous and this vapour or wind as the philosophers call it is by distilling through the pores of the earth resolved into water of which all things are produced Let therefore as I said before all sons of Art know that the sperme of metals is not different from the sperme of all things being viz. a humid vapour Therefore in vain do Artists endeavour the reduction of metals into their first matter which is only a vapour Now saith Bernard
then it is fit for medicine The processe of the Elixir according to Divi Leschi Genus Amo. TAke of oâ—r earth through eleaven degrees eleaven graines of our gold and not of the vulgar one graine of our lune not of the vulgar graines two but be thou admonished that thou take not the gold and silver of the vulgar for they are dead but take ours which are living then put them into our fire and there will thence be made a dry Liquor First the earth will be resolved into water which is called the Mercury of Philosophers and in that water it will resolve the bodies of the Sunne and Moone and consume them that there remaine but the tenth part with one part and this will be the Humidum Radicale Metallicum Then take the water of the salt Nitre of our earth in which there is a living streame if thou diggest the pit knee deep take therefore the water of it but take it clear and set over it that Humidum Radicale and put it over the fire of putrefaction and generation but not such as was that in the first operation Governe all things with a great deale of discretion untill there appeare colours like to the taile of a Peacock govern it by digesting of it and be not weary till these colours cease and there appeare throughout the whole a green colour and so of the rest and when thou shalt see in the bottome ashes of a fiery colour and the water almost red open the vessell dip in a feather and smeere over some iron with it if it tinge have in readiness that water which is the menstruum of the world out of the spheare of the Moone so often rectified untill it can calcine gold put in so much of that water as was the cold aire which went in boyl it again with the former fire untill it tinge again The processe of the Philosophers stone according to Pontanus TAke the matter and grinde it with a physicall contrition as diligently as may be then set it upon the fire and let the proportion of fire be known viz. that it only stirre up the maâ—ter and in a short time that fire without any other laying on of hands will accomplish the whole work because it will putrefie corrupt generate and perfect and make to appeare the three principall colours black white and red And by the meanes of our fire the medicine wil be multiplied if it be joyned with the crude matter not only in quantity but also in vertue Withall they might therefore search out this fire which is minerall equall continuall vapours not away except it be too much stirred up partakes of sulphur is taken from elsewhere then from the matter pulleâ—h downe all things dissolveth congealeth and calcines and is artificiall to find out and that by a compendious and neer way without any cost at least very small is not transmuted with the matter because it is not of the matter and thou shalt attaine thy wish because it doth the whole work and is the key of the Philosophers which they never revealed The Smaragdine table of Hermes from whence all Alchymie did arise TRue without all falsity certaine and most true That which is inferiour is as that which is superiour and that which is superiour is as that which is inferiour for the accomplishing of the miracles of one thing And as all things were from one by the mediation of one so all things have proceeded from this one thing by adaptation The Father therefore is the Sun and the Mother thereof the Moon the wind carried it in its belly The Nurse thereof is the earth The father of all the perfection of the whole world is this The vertue thereof is entire if it be turned into earth Thou shalt separate the earth from the fire the subtle from the thick sweetly with a great deale of judgement It ascends from the earth up to heaven and againe descends down to the earth and receives the powers of superiours and inferiours So thou hast the glory of the whole world Therefore let all obscurity fly from thee This is the strong fortitude of the whole fortitude because it shall overcome every thing that is subtle and penetrate every solid thing as the world is created Hence shall wonderfull adaptations be whereof this is the manner wherefore I am called Hermes Trismegistus having three parts of the philosophy of the whole world It is compleat what I have spoken of the operation of the Sun FINIS THE London-Distiller Exactly and truly shewing the way in words at length and not in mystesterious CHARACTERS and FIGURES to draw all SORTS OF SPIRITS AND STRONG-WATERS To which is added their Vertues with Additions of many Excellent WATERS LONDON Printed by E. Cotes for Thomas Williams at the Sign of the Bible in Little-Britain 1652. THE DISTILLER OF LONDON OR Rules and Directions for extracting and drawing of Low-Wines and Spirits to be redistilled into Rich-Spirits Strong-Waters or Aqua-vitae WHereas some of the Professours of Distillation in and about London have heretofore usually drawn Strong waters and Aqua vitae c. out of Wines Low wines and Small Spirits c. by one alone immediate extraction operation or distillation contrary to the most approved form of working in this our Art and have been so opinionated of their own hereditary erroneous wayes that they have esteemed the manner and order here taught to be altogether unnecessary and improvident in that there is here required Redistillation which they have ever thought to be superfluous Not considering that what they save by their seeming thrift they lose double in the excellency of their Wares and otherwise Wherefore that such may not onely acquit themselves of an aspersion of ignorance not undeservedly cast upon them but also vindicate both their own the Companies reputation for time to come The directions following are henceforth by them and every Member of the Company and their Successours duly and exactly to be observed and practised from time to time for ever hereafter That all Wines Lees of Wines Low Wines and Spirits under proof whatsoever intended for making of rich or high Spirits Strong Waters or Aqua vitae c. be first distilled extracted or drawn into strong Proof-Spirit whereâ—y they may be corrected and cured of their natural harsh distasteful unsavory or evil qualities before they be compounded with ingredients or extracted and drawn into rich or high Spirits Strong waters or Aqua vitae according to Art and as is required in the ensuing Rules And because many grosse absurdities have been frequently practised in adulterating some and abusing others of the materials used in Distillation and otherwise by Distillers by such as onely respect their own particular gain regarding neither the profit or credit of Distillers that have been necessitated to make use of such their il-conditioned Wares Wherefore that these grievances may be removed for time to come the Directions following are strictly to be
of the more unskilfull and therefore of my self without exception to be polished by the more expert Artist I rejoyce as at the break of the day after a long tedious night to see how this solary art of Alchymie begins for to shine fâ—rth out of the clouds of reproach which it hath a long time undeservedly layen under There are two things which have a long time eclipsed it viz. the mists of ignorance and the specious lunary body of deceit Arise O Sun of truth and dispell these interposed fogs that the Queen of Arts may triumph in splendour If men did beleeve what this Art could effect and what variety there is in it they would be no longer straightned by nor bound up to or jurare in verba Galeni vel Aristoâ—elis but would now subscribe a new engagement to be true and faithfull to the principles of Heâ—mes and Paraceâ—sus as they stand established without Aristoâ—le their prince and Galen and Hippocrates their lords and masters They would no longer stand dreaming forth Sic dicit Galenus but Ipse dixit Hermes I desire not to be mistaken as if I did deny Galen his due or Hippocrates what is his right for indeed they wrote excellently in many things and deserved well thereby That which I cannot allow of in them is their strict observation of the quadruplicity of humours which in the schoole of Paracelsus and writings of Helmont where the Anatomy of humours hath been most rationally and fully discussed hath been sufficiently confuted and their confining themselves to such crude medicines which are more fit to be put into Spagyricall vessels for a further digestion then into mens bodies to be fermented therein Certainly if men were lesse ignorant they would preferre cordiall essences before crude juices balsamicall Elixirs before flegmatick waters the Mercury of philosophers before common quicksilver But many men have so little insight in this Art that they scarce believe any thing in it beyond the Distilling of Waters and Oils and extracting of Salts nay many that pretend to Philosophy and would be accounted Philosophers are so unbeleeving that as saith Sandivogius although he would have intimated the true Art to them word by word yet they would by no meanes understand or beleeve that there was any water in the Philosophers sea And as he in this case so I in another know divers that will not beleeve that common quicksilver can of it selfe be turned wholy into a transparent water or that glasse can be reduced into sand and salt of which it was made saying that fusio vitrificatoria est ultima fusio or that an hearb may be made to grow in two hours and the Idea of a plant to appear in a glasse as if the very plant it selfe were there and this from the essence thereof and such like preparations as these the two former whereof may be done in half an hour but the latter requires a longer time but yet possible And for the possibility of the Elixir you shall assoon perswade them to beleeve they know nothing which is very hard nay an impossible thing to do then to beleeve the possibility thereof If there be any such thing say they why are not the possessors thereof infinitely rich famous do many miracles and cures and live long These Objections especially some of them scarce deserve an answer yet I shall to shew the vanity of them make some reply thereunto Did not Artesius by the help of this medicine live 1000. yeares Did not Flammell build fourteen Hospitals in Paris besides as many in Boleigne besides Churches and Chappels with large revenews to them all Did not Bacon do many miracles and Paracelsus many miraculous cures Besides what saith Sandivogius I have saith he incurred more dangers and difficulties by discovering my self to have this secret then ever I had profit by it and whensoever I would discover my selfe to the great Ones it alwayes redounded to my prejudice and danger Can a man that carrieth alwaies about him 10000. pounds worth of Jewels and gold travel every where up and downe safe and not be robbed Have not many rich money-mongers been tortured into a confession where their money was concealed Did you never heare of a vapouring fellow in London that portending to the knowledge of this Mystery was on a suddaine caught aside by money-thirsters and by them tormented with tortures little lesse then those of hell being forced thereby if he had knowne it into a discovery of it To say nothing of being in danger of being subjected and enslaved to the pleasure of Princes and of becoming instrumentall to their luxury and tyranny as also being deprived of all liberty as once Raimundus Lullius The truth is the greatest matter that Philosophers aime at is the enjoyment of themselves for which cause they have sequestred themselves from the world and become Hermites Well therefore and like a Philosopher spake Sandivogius when he said Beleeve me if I were not a man of that state and condition that I â—m of nothing would be more pleasant to me then a solatary life or with Diogenes to live hid under a tub for I see all things in this world to be but vanity and that deceit and covetousnesse prevail much that all things are vendible and that vice doth excel vertue I see the better things of the life to come before mine eyes I rejoice in these Now I do not wonder as before I did why Philosophers when they have attained this medicine have not cared to have their daies shortned although by the vertue of their medicine they could have prolonged them for every Philosopher hath the life to come so cleerly set before his eyes as thy face is seen in a glasse Thus much by way of reply to the frivolous objections of those that beleeve not the verity of this Art and not onely so but will not beleeve it If you should discover to them the processe of the Philosophers stone they would laugh at your simplicity and I will warrant you never make use of it Nay if you should make projection before them they would think that even in that there were a fallacy so unbeleeving are they so I finde them and so I leave them and shall for ever finde them the same There is another sort of men by whom this Art hath been much scandalized and they indeed have brought a great Odium upon it by carrying about and vending their whites and reds their sophisticated oils and salts their dangerous and ill prepared Turbithes and vitae's And indeed it were worth while and I might do good service for the Nation to discover their cheats as their sophisticating of Chymicall oils with spirit of Turpentine and salts with salt extracted out of any wood-ashes and such like but here is not place for so large a discourse as this would amount to I shall only at this time relate to you how Penotus was cheated with a sophisticated Oil of gold for saith he I gave
Copper B The head C The barrell filled with cold water to refrigerate and condensate the water and oile that runs through the pipe or worm that is put through it D A pipe of brass or pewter or rather a worm of Tin running through the barrell E The Alembick set in the furnace with the fire under it How to make Aqua vitae out of beer TAke of stale strong-beer or rather the grounds thereof pu it into a Copper Still with a worm distill it gently or otherwise it will make the head of the Still fly up and there wil come forth a weak spirit which is called low wine of which when thou hast a good quantity thou mayest distill it again of it self and there will come forth a good Aqua vitae And if thou distillest it two or three times more thou shalt have as strong a spirit as out of wine and indeed betwixt which and the spirit of wine thou shalt perceive none or very little difference How to rectifie spirit of Wine or Aqua vitae DIstill it in Balneo untill the last drop that comes off be hot and full of spirit Note that every time there will remain in the bottome a quantity as weak as water Note also that every time thou distillest it when thou perceivest that a very weak water comes over thou shalt then end that distillation To make the Magistery of Wine which will be one of the greatest Cordials and most odoriferous Liquor in the world TAke good old rich Canary Wine put it into a glass vessell that it may fill the third part thereof nip it up and set it in a continuall heat of horse dung for the space of four months then in frosty weather set it forth into the coldest place of the air you can for the space of a month that it may be congealed And so the cold will drive in the true spirit of the wine into the Center thereof and separate it perfectly from its flegm That which is congealed cast away but that which is not congealed esteem as the true spirit of Wine Circulate this in a Pelican with a moderate heat for the space of a month and thou shalt have the true magistery or spirit of Wine which as it is most cordial so also most balsamicall exceeding all balsames for the cure of Wounds The form of a Pelican The mattter must be put in at the top which afterwards must be closed up To make another Magistery of Wine that a few drops thereof shall turn Water into perfect Wine TAke of the best Canary Wine as much as you please let it stand in putrefaction forty dayes then distill it in Bâ—lneo and there will come forth a spirit and at last an oil separate the one from the other and rectifie the spirit Set the oil again in putrefaction forty dayes and then distill it The feces that are left after the first Distillation will yeeld a volatile salt which must be extracted without Calcination with the flegm of the spirit purifie it well then impregnate the salt with its spirit and digest them then adde the oil and digest them together till they become a red powder which you may use as it is or else set it in a cellar till it be dissolved into a liquor and a few drops thereof will doe as above said To make an oil of Wine TAke weak spirit of Wine distil it in a Vessel of a long neck then pour on this spirit again upon the flegm distill it again do this severall times and you shall see the oil of the Wine swim on the flegm which flegm you must separate from the oil by a tunnell If this oil be afterward circulated for a month it will thereby become most odoriferous and of singular vertue and good being both very cordiall and balsamicall To extract the spirit out of Wine by the spirit of Wine PUt spirit of Wine well rectified upon Canary on Rhenish Wine so cautiously that it may not mix with but swim upon the Wine let them stand without stirring the space of 48 hours Then will the spirit that is in the Wine rise up and join it self to the spirit that swims on the top which you shall perceive by the weakness of the flegm which you must let run out at a tap which must be made in the bottome of the vessell for that purpose and so be separated from the spirit To make a very subtill spirit of Wine at the first distilling TAke white or wheaten bread as soon as it comes forth of the Oven break it in the middle i. e. the upper side from the lower side and hang it in a Glass vessell over Canary Wine but so that it touch not the wine then cover the vessel and let it so stand untill the bread swell and be sufficiently impregnated with the Spirit of Wine which it will attract from the Wine then take out that bread and put in more till you have a considerable quantity of bread thus moistned Then put this bread into a glass body and distill it in Balneo and you shall have a a very subtile spirit which you may yet rectifie by Circulation By Furnaces and Vessels made after this ensuing figure there may be made four Rectifications of any spirit at once These Vessels may either stand in ashes or in Balneo The manner of Distilling in wooden Vessels A Signifieth the vessel wherein the copper vessell lyeth B The copper vessel part of which is in the Furnace and part in the vessel of wood C The vessel of wood wherein the matter must be that is distilled D The cooling vessel with the worm E The Receiver F The Trefoot whereon the vessell standeth Note that the greater the Copper vessell is and the lesse the woodden is the sooner will the liquor boil This Furnace shews how to draw forth spirits and waters out of vegetables and animals with little cost and in short time A Balneum and a boiling Vessel made of Wood. The vessell on the left hand is for a Balneum the holes in the cover thereof are either to set in vessels over the fume of the water or for the necks of the glasses set in the Balneo to pass through The vessell on your right hand is to boil water in for any use also to brew in The Spirit of any Vegetable is made thus TAke of what vegetable you please two pound macerate it in six Gallons of Aqua vitae or low Wines or Sack for the space of 24. hours then let them be distilled by an Alembick or hot Still putting to every pound of the spirit two ounces of most pure sugar Note that the two first pints may be called the stronger spirit and the rest the weaker spirit or indeed the water but if they be both mixed together they will make an excellent midling spirit for the former hath more of the spirit of wine and the latter more of the vertue and odour of the vegetable
commonly called the spirit of Roses Take of Damask or Red Roses being fresh as many as you please infuse them in as much warm water as is sufficient for the space of twenty four hours Then strain and press them and repeat the infusion severall times with pressing untill the liquor become fully impregnated which then must be distilled in an Alembick with a refrigeratory or Copper Still with a worm let the spirit which swims on the water be separated and the water kept for a new infâ—sion This kind of spirit may be made by bruising the Roses with Salt or laying a lane of Roses and another of Salt and so keeping them half a year or more which then must be distilled in as much common water or Rose water as is sufficient Oils are made out of seeds thus Take of what seeds you please bruised two pound of spring water twenty pints let them be macerated for the space of 24. hours and then be distilled in a copper Still with a worm or Alembick with its refrigerating The oil extracted with the water being separated with a tunnell keep the water for a new Distillation This Water after three or four distillations is a very excellent water and better then is drawn any way out of that vegetable whereof these are seeds I mean for vertue though not always for smell After the same manner are made oils out of spices and aromaticall woods Oils are made out of Berries thus Take of what Berries you please being fresh 25. pound bruise them and put them into a wooden vessell with 12 pints of spring water and a pound of the strongest leaven let them be put in a cellar the vessel being close stopped for the space of three months then let them be distilled in an Alembick or copper Still with their refrigeratory with as much spring water as is sufficient After the separation of the oil let the water be kept for a new distillation Note that the water being used in two or three Distillations is a very excellent water and full of the vertue of the Berries Oil is made out of any solid Wood thus Take of what Wood you please made into gross powder as much as you will let it be put into a Retort and distilled in sand The oil which first distils as being the thinner and sweeter must be kept apart which with rectifying with much water may yet be made more pleasant the acid water or spirit which in distilling comes first forth being separated which also being rectified from the flegm with the heat of a Balneum may be kept for use being full of the vertue of the wood After the same manner are made the oil and spirit of Tartar but thus much note that both are more pure and pleasant being made out of the Crystals then out of the crude Tartar To make a most excellent oil out of any Wood or Gummes in a short time without much cost Take of what Wood you please or Gumme bruised small put it into a vessel fit for it then pour on so much of spirit of salt as will cover your matter then set it in sand with an Alembick make the spirit boil so all the oil flyeth over with a little flegm for the spirit of salt by its sharpnesse freeth the oil so that it flyeth over very easily The spirit of salt being rectified may serve again To make vegetables yeeld their oil easily Distill them being first bruised in salt water for salt freeth the oil from its body Let them first be macerated three or four days in the said water Oil or Spirit of Turpentine is made thus Take of Venice Turpentine as much as you please of spring water four times as much let them be put into an Alembick or copper Still with its refrigeratory then put fire under it so there will distil a thin white oil like water and in the bottom of the vessel wil remain a hard gum called Colophonia which is called boiled Turpentine That white oil may be better and freer from the smell of the fire if it be drawn in Balneo with a gourd and glass head Common oil Olive may be distilled after this manner and be made very pleasant and sweet also most unctious things as Sperma ceti Oil of Gums Refines fat and oily things may be drawn thus Take of either of these which you please being melted a pound mix it with three pound of the powder of tiles or unslaked lime put them into a Retort and extract an oil which with plenty of water may be rectified Note that the water from whence the oil is separated is of excellent vertue according to the nature of the matter from whence it is drawn Oil of Camphire is made thus Take of Camphire sliced thin as much as you please put it into a double quantity of Aqua fortis or spirit of Wine let the glasse having a narrow neck be set by the fire or on sand or ashes the space of five or six hours shaking the glasse every half hour and the Camphire will all be dissolved and swim on the Aqua fortis or spirit of Wine like an oil Note that if you separate it it will all be hard agâ—in presently but not otherwise Another way to make Oile of Camphire that it shall not be reduced again Take of Camphire powdered as much as you please put it into a glass like a Urinal put upon it another Urinal-glass inverted the joints being close shut sublime it in ashes inverting those Urinals so often till the Camphire be turned into an oil then circulate it for the space of a month and it wil be so subtle that it will all presently vapour away in the air if the glass be open Another way to make oil of Camphire Take two ounces of Camphire dissolve it in four ounces or pure oil olive then put them into four pints of fair water distiâ— them all together in a glass gourd either in ashes or Balneo and there will distil both water and oil which separate and keep by it self All these kinds of oil of Camphire are very good against putrefaction fits of the Mother passions of the heart c. A few drops thereof may be taken in any liquor or the brest be anointed therewith Also the fume thereof may be taken in at the mouth A true Oil of Sugar Take of the best white Sugar-candie imbibe it with the best spirit of Wine ten times after every time drying it again then hang it in a white silken bag in a moist cellar over a glass vessell that it may dissolve and drop into it Evaporate the water in Balneo and in the bottome will the oil remain This is very excellent in all distempers of the Lungs Oil of Amber is made thus Take of yellow Amber one part of the powder of flints calcined or the powder of tiles two parts mingle them and put them into a Retort and distill them in sand The oil which is
stink thereof is fixed by the acid spirit of the Salt for acid Spirits and volatile Salts are contrary the one to the other and spirit of Urine or any volatile Salt will precipitate any metall as well as salt of Tartar These oyls will remain clear and have far more vertue then the ordinary sort of oyls have As for common ordinary distilled oyls they need not if they be well separated from the water with which they were distilled any rectifying at all and if you goe about to rectifie them you will lose good part of them and make that which remains not at all the better But if there be any better then another for rectifying of them it is by digestion by which means there will be a separation of what is flegmatick which you may separate afterwards and by this means you shall lose none of the oyls Of Compound Waters and Spirits BOOK II. A Dissolving Menstruum TAke Cyprus Turpentine and the best spirit of wine of each two pound distill them in a glass gourd either in Balneo or Ashes Separate the oil from the spirit with a tunnel or separating glass distill the spirit agaim and so often untill it favour no more of the oyl of Turpentine and then it is sufficiently prepared This Menstruum dissolves any hard stones presently and extracts the tincture of Corall A Glass Gourd with its head Another dissolving Menstruum or acetum Philosophicum Take Honey Salt melted of each a pound of the strongest spirit of Vineger two pound digest them for the space of a fortnight or more then distill them in ashes Cohobate the Liquor upon the feces three or four times then rectifie the spirit Note that they must be done in a large glass Gourd This is of the same vertue as the former if not more powerfull Another dissolving Menstruum Take of the best rectified Spirit of Wine with which imbibe the strongest unslaked lime until they be made into a paste then put them into a glass gourd and distill off the spirit in ashes This spirit pour on more fresh Lime and doe as before do this three or four times and thou shalt have a very subtile spirit able to dissolve most things and to extract the vertue out of them Paracelsus his Elixir Subtilitatis Take oil Olive Honey rectified spirit of Wine of each a pint distill them all together in ashes then separate all the flegm from the oyls which will be distinguished by many colours put all these colours into a Pelican and adde to them the third part of the Essence of Balm and Sallendine digest them for the space of a month Then keep it for use This Liquor is so subtile that it penetrateth every thing Vsque-bath or Irish Aqua vitae is made thus Take a Gallon of smal Aqua vitae put it into a glass vessel put thereto a quart of Canary sack two pound of Raisins of the Sun stoned but not washed two ounces of Dates stoned and the white skins thereof pulled out two ounces of Cinnamon grossely bruised four good Nutmegs bruised an ounce of the best English Licorish sliced and bruised stop the vessels very close and let them infuse in a cold place six or eight days then let the Liquor run through a bag called Manica Hippoeratis made of white cotton This Liquor is commonly used in surfets being a good Stomach water Aqua Celestis is made thus Take of Cinamon Cloves Nutmegs Ginger Zedoary Galingall Long-pepper Citron-pill Spicknard Lignum-aloes Cububs Cardamums Calamus aromaticus Germander Ground-pine Mace White Frankincense Tormentill Hermodactyls the pith of Dwarf Elder Juniper Berries Bay Berries the seeds and flowers of Motherwort the seeds of Smallage Fennell Annise the leaves of Sorrell Sage Felwort Rosemary Marjoram Mints Penny-royall Stechados the flowers of Elder Roses red white of the leaves of Scabious Rue the lesser Moonwort Egrimonie Centory Fumitary Pimpernell Sowthistle Eye-bright Maiden-hair Endive Red Saunders Aloes of each two ounces Pure Amber the best Rhubarb of each two Drams dryed Figs Raisins of the Sun Dates stoned Sweet-Almonds Grains of the Pine of each an ounce Of the best Aqua vitae to the quantity of them all of the best hard Sugar a pound of white Honey half a pound then adde the root of Gentian flowers of Rosemary Pepper-wort the root of Briony Sowbread Wormwood of each half an ounce Now before these are distilled quench gold being made red hot oftentimes in the foresaid water put therein oriental Pearls beaten small an ounce and then distil it after 24 hours infusion This is a very Cordiall water good against faintings and infection Aqua imperialis is made thus Take of the rind of Citrons dryed Take of the rind of Oranges dryed Nutmeg Cloves Cinnamon of each two ounces the roots of Flower-de-luce Cyprus Calamus aromaticus Zedoary Galingall Ginger of each half a pound of the tops of Lavender Rosemary of each two handfull the leaves of the Bay-tree Marjoram Balm Mints Sage Thyme flower of Roses white Damask of each half a handfull Rose-water four pints the best White-wine a gallon Bruise what must be bruised then infuse them all 24 hours after which distill them This is of the same vertue as the former Aqua Mirabilis is made thus Take of Cloves Galingall Cubebs Mace Cardamums Nutmegs Ginger of each a dram the juice of Salendine half a pint Spirit of Wine a pint White-wine three pints Infuse all these 24 hours and then distill off two pints by an Alembick This water is very good against wind in the stomach and head Dr. Stephens water is made thus Take a Gallon of Gascoign Wine Ginger Galingale Cinnamon Nutmegs Grains Anniseeds Fennell seeds Carroway seeds of each a dram Sage Red Mints Red Roses Thyme Pellitory Rosemary Wild Thyme Camomil Lavender of each a handfull Beat the spices small and bruife the Hearbs letting them macerate twelve hours stirring them now and then distill them by an Alembick or copper Still with its refrigeratory keep the first pint by it self and the second by it self Note that the first pint will be the hotter but the second the stronger of the ingredients This water is well known to comfort all the principal parts A famous Surfet Water Take of red Poppie cakes after the water hath been distilled from them in a cold Stil not over dryed two pound pour upon them of the water of red Poppie a gallon and 〈◊〉 Canary wine three pints adde to them of Coriander seeds bruised four ounces of Dill seed bruised two ounces of cloves bruised half an ounce of Nutmegs sliced an ounce of Rosemary a handful three Orenges cut in the middle distill them in a hot Still to the water put the juice of six Orenges and hang in it half an ounce of Nutmegs sliced and as much Cinamon bruised two drams of cloves a handfull of Rosemary cut small sweet Fennell seeds bruised an ounce of Raisins in the Sun stoned half a pound being all put into
rectified Spirit of Wine three pints Let them be digested in a Glass two parts of three being empty stopt close with a bladder and Cork two dayes in warm ashes then distill the spirit in Balneo and keep it in a glass close stopt If you would make it stronger take a pint of this spirit and an ounce of the powder of Castoreum put them into a glasse and digest them into a cold place for the space of ten dayes and then strain out the Spirit This spirit is very good against fits of the Mother passions of the heart which arise from vapours c. Bezoard water is made thus Take of the leaves of the greater Sallandine together with the roots thereof three handfuls and a half Rue two handfuls Scordium four handfull Dittany of Crete Carduus of each a handfull and half Root of Zedoary Angelica of each three drams The outward rind of Citrons Lemmons of each six drams The flower of Wall-gilly-flower an ounce and half Red Roses the lesser Centory of each two drams Cinnamon Cloves of each three drams Andromachus his Treacle three ounces Mithridate an ounce and half Camphire two scruples Trochisces of Vipers two ounces Mace two drams Lignum aloes half an ounce Yellow Sanders a dram and half The seeds of Carduus an ounce Citron six drams Cut those things that are to be cut and let them be macerated three days in the best Spirit of Wine and Muscadine of each three pints and half vinegar of Wall gilly-flowers and the juice of Lemmons of each a pint let them be distilled in a glazed vessell in Balneo After half the Liquor is distilled off let that which remains in the vessell be strained through a linnen cloth and vapoured away to the thickness of honey which may be called A Bezoard Extract This water is a great Cordial and good against any infection To make a specificall Sudorifick Take of Ginger a pound long Pepper and black Pepper of each half an ounce of Cardamums three drams of Grains an ounce powder them and put them into a glass with half an ounce of the best Camphire distilled vinegar two pound digest them a month then separate the vinegar by expression which must putrefie a month and then be circulated for the space of a week then filter it and thou hast as powerfull a Sudorifick as ever was or can be made The dose is from a dram to half an ounce and to be drank in a draught of posset-drink Treacle-water is made thus Take of the juice of the green shales of Walnuts four pound the juice of Rue three pints Carduus Marygold Balm of each two pints the root of Butter-burre fresh a pound and half Burre Angelica Master-wort fresh of each half a pound the leaves of Scordium four handfull old Andromachus treacle Mithridate of each eight ounces the best Canary twelve pints the sharpest Vinegar six pints the juice of Lemmons two pints Digest them two days in horse dung the vessell being close stopped then distill them in sand Aqua Mariae is made thus Take of Sugar candid one pound Canarie Wine six ounces Rose water four ounces Make of these a Syrup and boil it well to which adde of Aqua Imperialis two pints Amber gryse Musk of each eighteen grains Saffron fifteen grains yellow Sanders infused in Aqua Imperialis two drams The Mother water commonly called Hystericall water is made thus Take of the juice of the root of Briony four pound the leaves of Rue Mugwort of each two pound Savin dryed three handfull Mother-wort Nippe Penny-royall of each two handfull Garden basill Cretensian Dittany of each a handfull and half the rind of yellow Oranges fresh four ounces Myrrhe two ounces Castoreum an ounce the best Canary wine twelve pints Let them be digested four dayes in a fit vessell then distill them in Balneo A vomiting water is made thus Take of the best Tobacco in leaves cut small four ounces Squils two ounces Nutmegs sliced half an ounce put these into three pints of spring water a pint of White wine vinegar distill them in a hot Still or Alembick If thou wouldst have it stronger thou mayest put this water on fresh ingredients and distill it again A little quantity of this water is a most safe and effectuall vomit and may be taken from the eldest to the youngest if so be you proportion the quantity to the strength of the Patient You may dulcifie it with sugar or syrup if you please A vomiting Water made by Platerus Take green Walnuts gathered about Midsummer Radish roots of each bruised two parts of distilled Wine vinegar four parts digest them five dayes then distill them in Balneo This being taken to the quantity of two spoonfull or three causeth easie Vomiting A distilled water that purgeth without any pain or griping Take of Scammony an ounce Hermodactyls two ounces the seeds of Broom of the lesser Spurge of Dwarf Elder of each half an ounce the juice of Dwarf Elder of wild Asses cucumber of black Hellebore the fresh flower of Elder of each an ounce and half Polypodium 6 ounces of Sene 3 ounces Red sugar 8 ounces common distilled Water 6 pints Let all these be bruised and infused in the water 24 hours then be distilled in Balneo This water may be given from 2 drams to 3 ounces and it purgeth all manner of humours opens all obstructions and is pleasant to be taken and they whose stomachs loath all other physick may take this without any offence After it is distilled there may be hanged a little bag of Spices in it as also it may be sweetned with sugar or any opening syrup A specificall Liquor against the tooth-ach Take of oil of Cloves well rectified half an ounce in it dissolve half a dram of Camphire adde to them of the Spirit of Turpentine four times rectified in which half a dram of Opium hath been infused half an ounce A drop or two of this Liquor put into a hollow tooth with some lint easeth the tooth-ach presently Of MINERALS BOOK III. Spirit of Salt is made thus TAke of the best Bay-salt as much as you please let it be dissolved in spring water and filtred mix with this brine in a Copper vessell of the powder of Bricks or Tiles twice or thrice as much as the Salt before its dissolution was in weight let the water vapour away over the fire continually stirring of it untill it be dry Then put this powder into a glass Retort well luted or an earthen Retort and put it into a Furnace a large Receiver joined to it according to art then give fire to it by degrees untill it will bear an open fire for the space of 12 hours Thou shalt have a very acid oil or spirit in the Receiver That Liquor being put into a little Retort in sand may be rectified by the vapouring away of the flegm then keep it for use in a glass very well stopt that no air goe in Spirit of Salt
is made thus Take of Vitriall calcined two parts of Nitre one part grind and mix them well together and put them into a glasse Retort coated or earthen Retort that will endure the fire and set them into the Furnace in an open fire and then having fitted a large Receiver distill it by degrees the space of 24 hours then rectifie the water or spirit in sand Aqua Regia or Stygia or a strong Spirit that will dissolve Gold is made thus Take of Nitre two parts Salt Armoniack one part the powder of flints three parts put them into a glass Retort coated or earthen Retort that will endure the fire distill them by degrees over a naked fire for the space of 12 hours take it out and rectifie it This water will dissolve gold Another Aqua regia is made thus Take of spirit of Nitre as much as you please put a dram of crude Nitre to every ounce of it and it will be as strong as any Aqua regia This water will dissolve gold To make a most strong and vehement Aqua fortis Take of the strongest Aqua fortis that you can get and well rectified a pound of Mercury sublimed four ounces salt Armoniack twenty ounces mix all these together Oil or Butter of Antimony is made thus Take of crude Antimony as much as you please of sublimed Mercury a like quality make them both into a very fine powder and mix them and put them into a glass Retort the neck whereof must be large Give fire by degrees in a close reverberatory or let the Distillation be made in sand There will distill into the Receiver a fatnesse part whereof sticking to the neck of the Retort will melt by a light fire being put to it That fatness may be rectified in a Retort and either be kept by it self as it is or set in a cellar or moist place and be resolved into a Liquor This oil might be washed in good store of water and then there will settle to the bottome a white powder which being oft washed in fair water till all the sharpness is gone is then called Mercurius vitae six or seven grains whereof is an excellent vomiting medicine A Furnace for a close Reverberation furnished with its Retort and Receiver A Shews the Furnace B The Retort C The Receiver D The Vessell filled with cold water How to make a water out of Antimony whereof a few drops shall purge or sweat and which hath neither smell or scarce any taste Take flowers of Antimony sublime them with salt Armoniack six or seven times then wash away the Salt with warm water and dry the powder which then lay thin on a Marble in a cellar till it be dissolved which will be in six weeks time This water if it be taken to the quantity of twenty drops will purge if in a lesser quantity it will sweat To make an oil or quintessence of Metals Dissolve what Metall or Minerall you please in a strong spirit of Salt except silver which must be dissolved in Aqua fortis draw off the flegm in Balneo pour on rectified spirit of Wine digest them so long till a red oil swim above which is the quintessence of metals and minerals and is a very great secret The true Spirit of Antimony is made thus Take of the subtile powder of the Regulus of Antimony as much as you please sublime it of it self til it wil sublime no more stil putting what is sublimed to that which remains at the bottom or with salt Armoniack six or seven times remembring that then you must dulcifie it with warm water by dissolving therewith the salt and dry the Precipitate afterwards Set this fixed powder in a cellar laying it very thin upon a marble stone and in about six weeks or two months it will all be dissolved into water which must be filtred Then evaporate part of this water and let it stand two or three dayes in the cellar to crystallize These Crystals purifie and dry Mix them with three times the quantity of the gross powder of Tiles and distill them in a Retort and there will come forth first a white spirit and then a red which you may rectifie in Balneo The true Oil or Essence of Antimony is made thus Take of the foresaid Crystals dissolve them in good rectified spirit of wine digest them two months in Balneo or horse dung then evaporate the spirit of wine and there will remain in the bottom the true oil or essence of Antimony Then take new Crystals of Antimony and let them imbibe either this oil or the foresaid spirit till they will imbibe no more then digest them two months in sand and they will become a flowing fixt salt and of excellent vertue The aforesaid spirit this oil and essence of Antimony may be equalized to Aurum potabile to all intents and purposes according to a Medicinall use especially the sixt Essence The dose is five or six grains A burning Spirit made out of Lead most fragrant and Balsamicall Take the Calx of Saturn or else Minium pour upon it so much spirit of Vinegar that may cover it four fingers breadth digest them in a warm place the space of twenty four hours often stirring them that the matter settle not too thick in the bottome then decant the Menstruum and pour on more digest it as before and this do so often untill all the saltness be extracted Filter and clarifie all the Menstruum being put together then evaporate it half away and set the other part in a cold place till it crystallize These Crystals dissolve again in fresh spirit of Vinegar filter and coagulate the Liquor again into Crystals and this doe so often untill they be sufficiently impregnated with the salt Armoniack of the Vinegar as with their proper ferment Digest them in a temperate Balneo that they may be resolved into a Liquor like oil Then distil this Liquor in sand in a Retort with a large Receiver annexed to it and well closed that no spirits evaporate together with the observation of the degrees of the fire then there wil distil forth a spirit of such a fragrant smel that the fragrancie of all flowers and compounded perfumes are not to be compared to it After Distillation when all things are cold take out and cast away the black feces which is of no use Then separate the yellow oil which swims on the top of the spirit and the bloud red oil which sinks to the bottome of it Separate the flegm from the spirit in Balneo Thou shalt by this means have a most fragrant spirit that even ravisheth the senses and so balsamical that it cures all old and new sores inward and outward and so cordiall that the dying are with admiration revived with it They that have this medicine need scarce use any other either for inward or outward griefs How to turn Quick-silver into a water without mixing any thing with it and to make thereof
specificall liquor A Water and Oyl made out of Hair Fill an earthen Retort with hair cut small set it over the fire and fit a Receiver to it and there will come over a very stinking Water and Oyl This water and Oyl is used in Germany to be sprinkled upon fences and hedges to keep wild and hurtfull Cattle from coming to do harm in any place for such is the stink of this liquor that it doth affright them from coming to any place near it Water of Milk is made thus Take of what Milk thou pleasest a gallon in it dissolve half a pound of salt and put to it two handful of Plantain and an ounce of Licorish sliced then distil it in a hot Stil with a gentle fire This water is of excellent use in hot distempers of the Lungs and Kidneys You may put in other ingredients according to the use you would have it for An excellent compound water of Milk for any inflammations in the eyes Take of womans milk a pint of white Copperas a pound distil them in ashes Note that assoon as thou perceivest any sharp spirit to come off then cease Let inflamed eyes be washed three or four times in a day with this water and it helpeth them wonderfully Spirit of Vrine is made thus Take of the Urine of a young man drinking much wine as much as you please let it stand in glass vessels in putrefaction 40 dayes then pouring it from its feces distil it in a glass gourd in sand til all be dry then cohobate the said spirit on the Caput Mortuum three times then distill it in a gourd of a long neck and there will ascend besides the spirit a crystalline salt which thou mayest either keep by it self being called the volatile salt of Urine or mix it with its spirit which will thereby become very penetrating if they be digested for some days together Note that the pipe of the head must be wide or else the volatile salt will soon stop it Note that this salt is so penetrating that it penetrateth the body of the glass This Spirit by rectification may be made so pure and subtle that it will burn as fire and dissolve gold and precious stones This being often applyed to any place pained with the gout easeth it presently it also quickens any part that is benummed The salt volatile is Helmonts famous Medicine for the Jaundies A compound Spirit of Vrine Take of Hungarian Vitriall a pound the Urine of a Boy that is healthy four pints put these into a glass vessel well closed that three parts of four may be empty digest them in Balneo for the space of a month then distil them in ashes til all be dry This spirit is of great vertue in the Epilepsie Gout Dropsie Convulsions being taken from two drams to half an ounce in some specifical Liquor To make a spirit of Honey Take good strong stale Mead otherwise called Metheglin as much as thou pleasest distil it in a Copper Stil or Alembick with its refrigeratory and it wil yeeld a spirit like Aqua vitae The quintessence of honey is made thus Take of the purest Honey two pound of Fountain water one pound boyl these together til the water be boyled away taking off all the scum that riseth then take the Honey and put it into a glass four parts of five being empty close it well and set in digestion a whole year and thou shalt have the essence of Honey swimming on the top in form of an Oyle being of as fragrant smel as any thing in the World the flegm wil be in the middle and the feculent matter in the bottome of a dark colour and stinking smel Some make the quintessence of Honey after this manner Take as much Honey as thou pleasest of the best put it into a gourd of glass first distil off the flegm in Balneo then extract the tincture out from what remains with the said water then calcine the remaining feces and extract from thence the salt with the foresaid water being distilled off from the tincture calcine the salt and melt it in a crucible then let it dissolve in a cellar then again evaporate it away and thou shalt have a most white salt which let imbibe as much of the tincture as it will digest them for three months and thou shalt have an essence of Honey An essence of Honey may be made thus Take of Honey wel despumated as much as you please pour upon it as much of the best rectified spirit of Wine as will cover it five or six fingers breadth digest them in a glass vessel wel closed the fourth part only being ful in a temperate Balneo the space of a fortnight or til the spirit be very wel tinged then decant off the spirit and put on more til all the tincture be extracted then put all these tinctures together and evaporate the spirit till what remains begin to be thickish at the bottome and of a golden colour This is a very excellent essence of Honey and is of so pleasant an odour that scarce any thing is like to it It is so cordial that it even revives the dying if two or three drops thereof be taken in some cordial water A most strong Spirit of the Vinegar of Honey Take a pound of Honey put to it of the best White wine vinegar six pints an ounce of white Pepper bruised smal of the strongest Mustard-seed bruised three ounces put these into a glass vessel that three parts of four may be empty digest them in a temperate Balneo or set the vessell in the sunne for the space of a fortnight then distil them in Balneo and thou shalt have a spirit farre sharper then the common spirit of Vinegar This spirit is stronger and better then any common distilled Vinegar for the dissolving of hard things and extracting the tinctures out of things Oyl or quintessence of Wax Take of the best Wax a pound as much of pure sand well washed from al its impurity and again dryed First melt the wax and then mix the sand with it very exactly then put them into a glass Retort well coated fit a strong Receiver to it and set it in sand give it fire by degrees continuing it four days which at last must be very strong and there wil come off a spirituous oyl which must be rectified seven times in a glass Retort every time changing the Retort and you shal have a subtle oyl of a golden colour This oyl extracts the vertues out of all flowers presently being set in the sun it is wonderful Balsamical for the cure of wounds or ulcers both inward and outward it also being applyed outwardly easeth all pains quickens any deaded member as in the palfie Water is made out of any flesh thus Take what flesh you please the bloudiest part thereof unwashed being cut very smal and then bruised or if it be a feathered fowl take it being chased up and down until it
with a gentle fire distil off the water till no more will distill A compound water of the Sperm of Frogs Take of the sperm of Frogs gathered in March about the new of the Moon four pound of Cow dung fresh six pound mix them well together and let them stand the space of a day then distil them in ashes This water allays all hot pains both inward and outward especially of the Gout Another compound water of the sperm of Frogs Take of the Sperm of Frogs gathered in March two pound and half the Urine of a young man three pints new Treacle two ounces and a half white Vitrial Salt Allum of each four ounces then distil them and put to the water an ounce and half of the Salt of Vitriall Camphire and Saffron of each an ounce This water being applyed outwardly helpeth all pains especially of the Gout and such like also allayeth hot or cold swellings It also stancheth bleeding A Miscellany of Spagyricall Experiments and Curiosities BOOK V. The Spagyricall Anatomie of Water WAter seems to be a body so very Homogeneall as if neither Nature or Art could discover any Heterogeneity in the parts thereof thus indeed it seems to the eye of the vulgar but to that of a Philosopher far otherwise as I shall endeavor to make credible by presenting to your consideration a twofold process of the discovering the dissimilary parts thereof whereof the one is naturall only and the other artificiall But before I speak of either it must be premised that in the element of Water there is great plenty of the spirit of the World which is more predominant in it then in any other element for the use and benefit of universall nature and that this spirit hath three distinct substances viz. Salt Sulphur and Mercury Now by salt we must understand a substance very dry vitall and radicall having in it the beginning of corporisication as I may so call it by Sulphur a substance ful of light and vital heat or vivifying fire containing in it self the beginning of motion by Mercury a substance abounding with radical moisture with which the Sulphur of life or vital fire is cherished and preserved Now these substances which are in the Spirit of the World make all Fountaines and Waters but with some difference according to the predominancy of either This several predominancy therefore is the ground of the variety of productions I say of productions because all things are produced out of Water for Water is both the Sperme and the Menstruum of the World the former because it includes the seed of every thing the latter because the Sperme of Nature is put refied in it that the seed included in it should be actuated and take upon it the divers Formes of things and because by it the seed it self and all things produced of seed grow and are encreased Now this being premised I shall shew you what the naturall processe is which I shal make plain by instancing in three several productions viz. of the spawn of Frogs of Stones and of Vegetables The Spawne of Frogs is produced after this manner viz. The Sulphur which is in the Water being by the heat of the Sun resolved and dissolved is greedily and with delight conceived by the Element of Water even as the Sperme of a Male is by the Matrix of the Female and that upon this account The Water wants siccity which the Sulphur hath and therefore exceedingly desiring it doth greedily attract it to it self Sulphur also wants humidity and therefore attracts the humidity of the Water Moreover the humidity of the Water hath the humidity of the Salt laid up occultly in it also the Sulphur cherisheth the humidity of the fire and desires nothing more then the humidity of the Salt that is in the Water Sulphur also contains the siccity of the Salt whence it is that Salt requires a siccity from the Sulphur And thus do these attractive vertues mutually act upon each others subject Now by this means there is a conception made in the water which now begins to be turgid puffed up and troubled as also to be grosser and more slimie until out of the spermatick vessels the spermes be cast upward in which spermes after a while appeare black specks which are the seed of the Frogs and by the heat of the Sun are in a short time turned into the same by which it appears there are dissimilary parts in Water 2 Stones are produced out of Water that hath a Mucilaginous Mercury which the Salt with which it also abounds fixeth into Stones This you may see cleared by putting stones into the water for they wil after a time contract a mucilaginous slimy matter which being taken out of the water and set in the Sun becomes to be of a stony nature And whence come those stones gravel and sand which we see in Springs they are not washed down out of the Mountains and Hils as some think from whence the waters spring neither were they in the earth before the Springs brake forth as some imagine and now appear by washing away of the earth from them for if you dig round about the springs even beyond the heads of them you shal find no stones at all in the earth only in the veins thereof through which the water runs Now the reason of the smalnesse of these stones is the continual motion of the water which hinders them from being united into a continued bignesse I shall make a further confirmation of this in the artificial processe of manifesting the Heterogeneity of Water I shal here only adde the assertion of Heâ—â—ont saying that with his Altahest all stones and indeed all things may be turned into Water If so then you know what the Maxime is viz. All things may be resolved into that from whence they had their beginning 3 Vegetables are produced out of Water as you may clearly see by the Waters sending forth Plants that have no roots fixed in the bottome of which sort is the Heart called Duck-weed which putteth forth a little string into the Water which is as it were the root thereof For the confirmation of this that this Heart may be produced out of meer Water there is a Gentleman at this time in the City of no small worth that saith he had fair water standing in a glass divers yeares and at last a Plant sprang out of it Also if you put some Plants as Water-mint c. into a glass of fair water it wil germinate and shoot out into a great length and also take root in the Water which root will in a short time be so encreased and extended as to fill up the glass but you must remember that you put fresh water into the glasse once in two or three dayes Hereunto also may be added the experiment of Helmont concerning the growth of a tree For saith he I took two hundred pound weight of earth dryed in an oven and put it into a vessel in
hot water and the constant stream of water washed away the salt which was in that little space for I perceived that this kind of earth attracts this universall salt of the world partly from the aire in the cavities of the earth and partly from the vapours that constantly passe through the earth After this I tooke some of that earth where the ebullition was and carried it home and proved it and I perceived it to be a sulphur mine into which the former acid saltish water penetrating caused an ebullition as doe salt of Tartar and Spirit of Vitriall being mixed together and also water poured on unslaked lime After this I began to question how it was that this sulphur mine was not consumed seeing so much matter passeth from it daily but when I began to understand how all things in the earth did assimilate to themselves whatsoever was of any kind of affinity to them as Mines convert the tooles of miners into their owne substance in a little time and such like experiments of that nature I was satisfied And after all this I understood how this universall salt of the world was to be had and I could at any time mix it with water and pour that water upon sulphur and so make an artificiall hot bath as good as any naturall bath whatsoever Note that no salt in the world but this nitrous salt will do it as I often tryed And this salt is to be found in all hot bathes and to be prepared artificially Thus farre Mounseur de Rochas Something like unto this Helmont seems to hold forth saying that there is a Primum ens salium or semina salium which are all seated in waters and vapours and give them an acidity but as yet have no saline tast untill they meet with such principles and be received into certain matrixes in the earth which may make them put forth this potentiall saltnesse into act and according to this diversity of places that this water or vapours being impregnated with those seeds of salt goe through ariseth the diversity of salts as Alum sea-salt Nitre c. Then upon this account the earth through which the cold acid saltish water abovesaid run through did specificate that potentiall salt which was both in the water and vapours into a nitrous salt by which meanes was that kind of salt in that place but whether this primum ens salium be so unspecificated or quid Hermaphroditicum as he asserts or no it matters not much to my purpose it sufficeth if that earth through which that acid nitrous water runs attracts and multiplies an acid nitrous salt with which the water being impregnated and running through a sulphurous mine causeth an ebullition All this being premised I shall now endeavor to illustrate how nature may in this be imitated as that an artificiall hot bath may be made by such like principles as the naturall hot bath consists of being artificially prepared Now these principles are the sulphur mine and the acid nitrous salt the former requires no further preparation as saith Mounseur de Rochas if it be pure the latter is to be prepared two manner of wayes for either it is to be extracted as saith the aforesaid author out of the waters of the bath by evaporating them away or by condensing the nitrous aire for indeed as many judicious philosophers are of opinion the air is wholly nitrous as it appears by the condensation of it in cold places into Nitre which his virgins earth did doe into a salt which was acid and almost fluxil Now when I say that the nitrous salt is to be thus prepared I do not say that this is the full preparation thereof for indeed it is yet further to be prepared and that is by giving it a greater acidity I question much whether or no the salt being prepared after the aforesaid wayes do retaine that acidity which is required for that ebullition I spake of and which the nitrous acid water had before it came to the Mine of Sulphur For indeed the aforesaid author when he affirmed that he could at any time make an artificiall hot bath did not say he used the salt prepared only after the 2. former wayes viz. by extracting it out of the waters of the bath and making it with his virgin earth which did attract and condense the nitrousnesse of the aire but withall by making it so acid that it might cause an ebullition when it came to be joyned with a sulphur Mine Now then how to give this Nitre a sufficient acidity is the great question For the better effecting of this we must consider whence that nitrous water above mentioned in the earth had the greatest part of its acidity As to that it must be remembred that the virgin earth through which the acid nitrous water did run did condense the nitrous air or vapours into a nitrous salt and withall it is to be considered that before this nitrous aire or vapour before it be condensed even when it is neer unto condensation is acid and part of it before condensation is mixed with the water and so renders it acid Now that waters have great part of their acidity from the acid vapours of acid Mineralls both Henricus ab Heer 's and Jordan upon Minerall waters affirme and that salts unbodied are far more acid then when they have assumed a body is clearly manifest in this viz. that spirits of salts which I call salts unbodied because they have lost their body are become very acid because unbodied if so in Spirits that have lost their bodies why not after some proportion in those that have not yet assumed a body as vapours of Nitre or nitrous air being neer to congelation and bodying and impregnant with Spirits of Nitre Now I say that nitrous vapours or nitrous air being a salt unbodied are not so acid as Spirits of Nitre because they are more phlegmatick and crude which flegme they lose by being congealed into a salt yet for all this they are far more acid then the body of salt and this is that which Helmont understands when he saith that the esurine salt being incorporificated is far more active in giving tast and odour then when it hath received its body by becoming a specificated salt Furthermore how Nitre shall become sufficiently acid for the aforesaid operation is the great matter to be required into We must therefore consider which way we may unbody Nitre seeing it is scarse possible to get it before it hath received its body and that is done two wayes either by forcing of it into a most sharp Spirit which is too acid for our intension or by digesting the whole substance of Nitre into a Liquor moderately acid which indeed serves for our purpose and the processe is this Take the purest Nitre you can get dissolve it in rain water so as that the water imbibe as much of it as it can Then put this nitrous water into a common earthen
earth If you put a few drops of this Liquor into a glasse full of fountaine water it will give it the odour and tast of Epsome water that you shall scarce discerne them asunder either by that odour or operation This water is purgative and indeed purgeth especially all sharp burning humours cools an inflamed and opens an obstructed body cleanseth the kidneys and bladder cureth inward ulcers and impostumes is a very good preservative against the consumption c. Fountaine water made acid with this Liquor may be taken from a pint to six or eight but by degrees and after it moderate exercise must be used and fasting till the water be out of the body only some thin warme suppings may be taken to helpe the working thereof Some take this water warm To make artificiall precious stones of all sorts of colours Take Crystalline white pibble-stones that are very white throughout and have no mixture of any other colour which you shal find in fountaines and on the sands of the sea Put them into a crucible make them glowing hot covering the crucible then cast them into cold water by which means they will crack and be easily reduced into a powder Take the powder thereof and put the like quantity of pure salt of Tartar thereto which salt must not be made in any metalline but glasse vessells that it may have no mixture of any other colour To this mixture you may adde what colour you please which must be of a minerall or a metalline nature then put them into a very strong crucible which must be but half full and then covered and there melt them in a strong fire till they become like glasse Note that when this mixture is in melting you must put an iron rod into it and take up some of it if there appear no cornes of gravell in it it is enough If otherwise you must melt it longer The especiall mineralls and metalls that give colours are these viz. Copper iron silver gold Wismut Magnesia and granats Common copper makes a sea-green copper made out of iron a grasse-green granats a smaragdine-green iron yellow or a Hyacinth colour silver white yellow green and granat colour gold a fine skie colour Wismut common blew magnesia an amethyst colour And if you will mix two or three of these together they will give other colous For copper and silver mixed together give an amethyst colour copper and iron a pale green Wismut and magnesia a purple colour silver and magnesia divers colours like as an Opall If you would have this masse not to be transparent but opac you may adde the calx of tin to it when it is in melting as if you would make Lapis lazuli then â—o your mixture coloured with Wismut adde the calx of tin and this mixture when it is almost ready to congeal cast into a mould where some powder of gold hath been scattered and by this means it wil become full of golden veins very like true lapis lazuli which is very pleasant to behold You may by these foresaid preparations cast what formes or figures you please of what colour you please The Metals and Minerals for the making of colours ought to be thus prepared viz. Plates of copper must be made red hot and then quenched in cold water of which then take five or six graines and mix them with an ounce of the aforesaid mixture and melt them all together and they will colour it sea-green Iron must be made into a Crocus in a reverberatory fire and then eight or ten grains thereof will tinge the mixture into a yellow or hyacinth colour Silver is to be dissolved in Aqua fortis and precipitated with Oil of flints then dulcified with water and afterward dryed of this five or six graines give a mingled colour Gold must be dissolved in Aqua regis and precipitated with the Liquor of flints then sweetened and dryed and five or six grains thereof giveth the finest saphir colour to an ounce of the mixture If gold be melted with regulus martis nitrosus five or six graines thereof give to an ounce of the masse a most incomparable rubine colour Magnesia may be powdred only and then ten or twelve grains thereof make an amethyst colour Wismut must be dissolved in Aqua regis and precipitated with Liquor of flints then sweetened and dryed and then of this foure or five graines turne an ounce of the masse into a saphir colour but not so naturall as gold doth Granata may be powder only and then ten or fifteen grains thereof tinge an ounce of the masse into a fine green colour not unlike to the naturall Smaragdine To prove what kinde of metall there is in any Ore although you have but a very few graines thereof so as that you cannot make proofe thereof the ordinary way with lead Take two or foure graines if you have no greater quantity of any Ore that you have put it to halfe an ounce of Venice-glasse and melt them together in a crucible the crucible being covered and according to the tincture that the glasse receiveth from the Ore so may you judge what kinde of metall there is in the Ore for if it be a copper Ore then the glasse will be tinged with a sea-green colour If copper and iron a glasse-green If iron a darke yellow If tin a pale yellow If silver a whitish yellow If gold a fine skie colour If gold and silver together a Smaragdine colour If gold silver copper and iron together an amethyst colour A pretty observation upon the melting of Copper and Tin together First make two bullets of red copper of the same magnitude make also two bullets of the purest tin in the same mould as the others were made weigh all four bullets and observe the weight well then melt the copper bullets first upon them being melted put the two tin bullets and melt them together but have a care that the tin fume not away Then cast this molten mixture in the same moulds as before and it will scarce make three bullets but yet they weigh as heavy as they did before they were melted together I suppose the copper condenseth the body of the tin which before was very porous which condensation rather addes then diminisheth the weight thereof A remarkable observation upon the melting of Salt Armoniack and Calx vive together Take Salt armoniack and Calx vive of each a like quantity mix and melt them together Note that Calx of it selfe will not melt in lesse then eight houres with the strongest fire that can be made but being mixed with this salt melts in half an houre and lesse like a metall with an indifferent fire This mixture being thus melted becomes a hard stone out of which you may strike fire as out of a flint which if you dissolve again in water you shall have the Salt armoniack in the same quantity as before but fixed Note that hard things have their congelation from
observed and practised by all the Members of this Company and their Successors from time to time for ever That no Afterworts or Wash made by Brewers c. called Blew John nor musty unsavory or unwholesome Tilts or Dregs of Beer or Ale nor unwholesome or adulterated Wines or Lees of Wines nor unwholsome Sugar waters musty unsavory or unwholesome returned Beer or Ale nor rotten corrupt or unsavory Fruits Drugs Spices Hearbs Seeds nor any other il-conditioned materials of what kind soever shall henceforth be distilled extracted or drawn into Small Spirits or Low Wines or be any other wayes used directly or indirectly by any the Members of this Company or their Successors at any time hereafter for ever And whereas of late times the Small Spirits or Low Wines made and sold as well in and about London as elsewhere in this Commonwealth have been generally complained of for their mean weak and poor condition whereby many inconveniences have faln upon most of the Distillers in general And that not through the alone practises of such as have no just title to or interest in this incorporation but even by some of the Distillers themselves who notwithstanding their pretences of being necessitated thereunto have justly deserved reproof for yeelding to be Actors in a thing of such ill consequence to Distillers in general Wherefore that those abuses and disorders may now be taken away and the like prevented for time to come the ensuing Rule is duly to be observed and practised That no Small spirits or Low wines shall henceforth be distilled extracted or made and be allowed to be sold put to sale or used by any of the Members of the Company or their Successors but such onely as out of which by one alone redistillation extraction or operation may be produced in quantity at least one third part thereof of good strong Proof-spirit such as is required in the Rules ensuing for making rich or high Spirits Strong waters or Aqua vitae c. under such pains penalties and punishments as by the Laws of the Commonwealth Ordinances or Orders of the Company or otherwise may be imposed or inflicted on the contemners neglecters or opposers of these Directions Rules and Directions for THE COMPANY OF DISTILLERS OF LONDON in general But more especially for such of them as now do or hereafter shall make VINEGARS c. WHereas upon due examination it hath plainly appeared That many insufferable inconveniences have of late-faln upon this Company and their Trade in general by reason of the disorderly and abusive expence and employment of Brewers After-worts called Wash Insomuch that thereby not onely those of this Company that have had no hand herein but even the Distillers themselves that have been the Delinquents have intolerably suffered both in their Reputation and great decay of their Trades by these their alone inconsiderate practises For Reformation of the present disorders and abuses and future prevention of the like these ensuing Admonitions and directions are strictly to be observed and practised viz. That no Member or Members of this Company or their Successors nor any of them at any time hereafter for ever by any way or means whatsoever directly or indirrectly shall or may use dispose convert or imploy any After-worts or Wash made by the Brewers or others into Vinegar Bear-eager or Ale-eager or either of them or to or for any other use or imployment whatsoever except onely to distil the same into Low wines or Spirits to be â—edistilled into Proof-spirit for the uses aforesaid according to the true intent and meaning of these Directions as they and every of them respect their Oaths by them taken when they were made free and received into this Incorporation And will undergo the penalties provided or to be provided by the Ordinances of this Company or otherwise to be imposed or inflicted on the Contemners Neglecters or Opposers hereof Rule I. PRovide three sweet Tuns or smaller Casks place them orderly on Scantlings provide good sound white Rape and such well conditioned liquid Materials as are proper for this use what suffâ—ceth not musty in any case Then number your Tuns 1 2 3. Fil Tun 1 with Rape within six inches of the Bungue stop the Bungue with Cork or Wood very close and let it stand and in few days it will gather heat then being conveniently hot fill up the vessell within three inches of top full with your liquid Materials without Drâ—gs stop it close again And at that instant in like manner as before fill Tun 2 with Rape after a few dayes that will be hot as the former was then finding it conveniently hot draw off Tun 1 and put it into Tun 2 and stop both close At the present fill Tun 3 with Rape and order it in every respect as you did the former And when Tuns 1 and 3 have gathered heâ—t sufficient fill up Tun 1 with fresh Liquor as at first and draw off Tun 2 and put it into Tun 3 and so let Tun 2 gather sufficient heat again Then draw off Tun 1 and put it into Tun 2. And at that present you may draw off Tun 3 and put it into a store Cask for having passed three times through the Rape it is thereby become to be good merchantable Ware And so in like order supply one Vessell from another till you have finished your work according to Art When all your liquid Materials are spent so that you have no more to continue your work then be sure your Tuns stand neer ful til you are provided of more Liquor to put upon your Rape for if your Rape standing dry should wax hot you having nothing proper to supply the same your Rape wil soon decay and be utterly spoiled In Summer or warm weather the Rape will gather sufficient heat in two or three days but in Winter it will require more time Rule II. TAke 20 Quarters of good sound Mault convert it into 100 Barrels of good serviceable Ware at the most you must allow to this quantity good sweet Hops at least 56 pound And being well wrought according to Art put it into sweet Cask Sweet-Oyl-Buts are best fill them within 8 inches of the Bungues being laid upon Scantlings in the Sun let not the Head work over at the Bungues and it will sink to the bottom Prepare little covers of wood fit to cover the Bungues and larger covers to lay over them to defend it from Rain falling into the Cask Let the Bungues stand open only when the Sun shines hot upon the Cask but in close or wet weather and nights let both covers be alwayes kept on When the first Head of the Liquor is faln then draw it from the Lee into another clean sweet Cask and so afterward from Cask to Cask as there shall be cause till it come to perfection Then draw it off into another sound Cask and so house it for use The largest Cask are the fittest to house and keep Wares in for