much like the surface of the Earth we inhabit and that there may be Mountains Rocks different sorts of earth and consequently inexhaustible Mountains of Salt in a Million of places at the bottom of the Sea whence it receives its Brackishness And it may be there are Waters which after taking Salt from several earths do at last discharge themselves into the sea through an infinite number of subterranean channels which do much contribute likewise to making sea-Sea-water salt That which confirms me in this opinion is because there are Lakes in Italy Germany Egypt the Indies and many other places which are as Salt as the Sea and can have no other cause but that their waters have hapned to run through Mines of Salt I doubt not but many will be apt to object against my Opinion that the Sea being of so prodigious boundless an extent all the Salt I have spoken of would not be able to salt it as it is but if they please to consider that this great extent of the Ocean may meet with Mines of Salt in abundance of places and what is once dissolved can never be separated from it I am perswaded their doubt will soon vanish Add to what is said that Sea-water does not contain so great a quantity of Salt as is commonly imagined and this is easily prov'd if you take the pains to evaporate some of it over the fire or dissolve salt in that water for it will receive a considerable quantity into it which is a certain sign that the water was not so salt before as it might have been for if it had been impregnated with as much as it could 't would have dissolved no more Therefore we have good reason to believe that the Sea which may be called a large Lake becomes Salt through the Mines that are therein and the Salt Currents that in several places empty into it Add to Pag. 7. Lin. 30. It may be objected that Salt-peter is found in places where no Acid liquor can be thought to come but no body can doubt but that there is an Acid in the Air which though a very insensible body is able enough to enter into Stones and Earths the truth whereof is seen every day in Earths that have lost their Salt as much as could be drawn by Art which upon being exposed some time to the open air get new additions of Salt and encrease their weight considerably Now the liquor that I speak of which runs in some places of the earth receives its Acidity from this Acid Spirit of the Air which condenses in some places better than in others by reason of the coolness or some other disposition it finds there I conceive therefore that Salt-peter is form'd in Stones and Earths by the Acid Spirit of the Air after the same manner as Sal Gemme in Mines by an Acid liquour and that this Aerial Acid entring insensibly into the body of Stones produces a Salt at first much like Sal Gemme but afterwards new Acid Spirits still coming and mixing with it makes it of a middle nature between Volatile and Fixt And it is for this reason that a great deal of Salt-peter is taken from old ruined buildings for the Stones there continuing a long time exposed to the Air receive greater quantity of Spirits than other stones it is likewise to be found in Cellers and other places where the Sun casts no heat because the Spirit of the Air does there easily condense by reason of the coolness and moisture Add to Pag. 8. line 3. All Earths being impregnated with an Acid Salt as I have said 't is not hard to conceive how that the Salt of Vegetables is communicated to them from the earth wherein they grew Their Growth must needs have proceeded from a Salt juice of the Earth they grew in which having opened the Seed through the Fermentation it caused infinuates and filters it self into the Fibers that constitute the Plant and the leaving grounds Fallow some years is in order to preserve and retain the Salt that is continually encreased in them by the Acid Spirit of the Air. Likewise Dung and other matters which are said to fatten and fructifie Lands do so by nothing else but their Salt Neither need we wonder at the barrenness of Sandy and stony soils for that the Acid of the Air cannot unite and fix with them in sufficient quantity to render them fertile Nevertheless 't is worth observation that there are Lands which remain barren too through too great an abundance of Salt they contain and for this reason in Egypt they are forced to temper their grounds with Sand after the Ebbing of the River Nile to make them Fertile because the Earth 'till that is done is so full of Salt that its pores are quite choaked up with it So that instead of causing any Fermentation in the Seed the Salt fixes and depresses it that it can't have its motion free enough to rarifie and raise a stalk but now when Sand is mingled with it it is able to divide and extend the Salt which not having then such power of fixing the Seed it Ferments and rises into a Plant. Whence it may be seen that too much Salt is as Offensive to the Earths fertility as too little and that it is the same thing with other Fermentable matters as it is with Earths they come to ferment by means of a moderate quantity of Salt mixed with them for if you add too much the Fermentation will be spoil'd Again every kind of Salt is not fit to fertilize lands it must be a Volatile Salt or approaching to the nature of Salt-peter to serve for Vegetation a Salt too fixt would rather spoil it and it has been observ'd that places which should fructifie have brought forth nothing when Sea-salt has been sprinkled upon them the reason of which is for that this Fixt Salt hinders the Fermentation that was necessary to produce fertility Nevertheless it sometimes happens that the Ashes of Vegetables though full of a fixt salt do serve to fertilize and this Countrey men are well acquainted with who in some places where they find their Lands too lean and barren to yield any thing without assistance of Art do use at certain seasons of the year to burn Fern and Turfs upon them and spread about the Ashes Now it is by reason of a Lixivious salt in the Ashes that the Lands are hereby improv'd But this happens for the same reason as I said before for the fixt salt of Vegetables that lies in the Ashes is very Porous as I shall prove hereafter and so does very well mix with the Spirits or Acid Salts of the Air and turns easily into Salt-peter as when the Spirit of Salt-peter mixt with an Alkali salt makes a good Salt-peter As for sea-salt possibly it might happen that if it were left in the Earth for some considerable time 't would impregnate with the Spirit of the Air and so being at length Volatilized would
are altogether uncapable of any sober admonition and they shut their ears to any thing than can be said to disabuse them so that all other Philosophers that are not besotted with their fantastical opinions are by them thought and called Prophane reserving to themselves the name of the only True Philosophers or Philosophers paramount But the saddest consideration of all is to see a great many of them who have spent all the flower of their years in this desperate concern in which nevertheless they pertinaciously run on and consume all they have at last instead of recompence for their miserable fatigues reduced to the lowest degree of Poverty Penotus will serve us for an instance of this nature among thousands of others he died a hundred years old wanting but two in the Hospital of Yverdon in Switzerland and he used to say before he died having spent his whole life in vainly searching after the Philosophers stone that if he had a mortal Enemy he did not dare to encounter openly he would advise him above all things to give up himself to the Study and Practice of Alchymy Though I deny not absolutely that some certain Artist by a particular method might have got the way of making Gold heretofore nor that some body may be as lucky in time to come yet there is more appearance of Impossibility than Possibility in the case because of the small knowledge that any of us have of the Natural Composition of this Mixt for seeing that Gold as well as Sylver is drawn from Mines environed with Waters it is very probable that these Waters do bring along with them some Saline Principles that congele and incorporate in Earths of a particular composition and whose Pores are disposed in such a manner as 't is impossible for Art to imitate Nevertheless in order to make Gold a perfect knowledge of the Salts that the Waters of the Mines do convey is very requisite as well as the disposition of the Matrixes or Earths in which they do congeal Thus we see that working after Gold is working in the dark and Alchymy seems very well defined by one thus Ars sine arte cujus principium mentiri medium laborare finis mendicare an Art without any Art whose beginning is Lying middle is nothing but Labour and whose end is Beggery Gold taken inwardly is thought to be a most potent Cordial because Astrologers tell us it receives its Influence from the Sun which is as it were the Heart of the World and by the communication of those Influences to the Heart it serves to fortifie and cleanse it from all impurities upon which ground a great many Operations have been invented in order to open this Metal and separate its Sulphur from its Salt Moreover this Operation by way of bravery is called Aurum Potabile because this Salt or this Sulphur dissolving in a Liquor can be taken by way of Potion And because this Aurum Potabile can be thought to be distributed into all parts of the body they fancy it can drive out every thing that interrupts the Functions of Nature that it can free him that takes it from all fear of any Diseases for a long time and can prolong life But this Opinion is built upon a weak foundation and Experience does not confirm any of these great effects for what assurance can one have or what Evidence is there that the Sun is such a great friend of Gold or that it bestows more Influences on it than other mixt bodies 't is a thing that can never be prov'd and we see that the Sun casts it light and heat in general upon all bodies without making any difference Who can understand that the Pores of Gold are so disposed as to have a greater facility of retaining the Suns Influences than other Metals or things This will be full as hard to prove as the other But though we should grant the Astrologers this supposition concerning the Suns Influence on Gold the consequence they draw from it that therefore it Fortifies the Heart would be ne're a whit the truer for all that we are able to apprehend in Gold is that it is a most compact and weighty body the union of whose Principles is extraordinary close which is proved from hence that no Art can instruct us to dissolve it Radically so as to separate its salt and its sulphur This Gold being beaten into the thinnest Leaves that can be imagined and taken inwardly receives not the least change in our bodies and is voided the very same it was before excepting when Quicksylver has been taken before-hand for it unites with that as I have said Wherefore we must conclude that if Gold has received more Influence from the Sun than other Metals yet it is never the fitter to dissolve in our Bodies nor to produce those rare effects that are talkt of I know that stories are told to prove that Gold does communicate virtue to the bodies of those who have taken it and that it loses in the body some of its quantity and among other stories 't is said that several persons who had fed upon Capons nourished with a Paste made of a mixture of Vipers and Gold together have been cured that way of several Diseases but there 's a great deal more reason to attribute this effect rather to the Vipers than Gold for we know by experience that Vipers taken inwardly without any thing else do use to produce diverse sensible effects whereas we observe none at all in Gold when 't is given alone As for the Loss of Gold in bodies they prove it by their gathering together all the Excrements of those Capons and Calcining them for they could obtain again but the fourth part of the Gold that was used in the Paste the Capons had fed upon But this proof is as weak as the former for the Excrements of the Capons being full of a Volatile Salt that Salt may have Volatiliz'd and carried away the greatest part of the Gold during the Calcination after the same manner as we see several Volatile liquors to sublime Gold I know well enough by my own Experience that there are such Volatiles as are able to carry away Gold for having one day mixed three ounces of Gold with about three pounds of matter consisting of diverse Volatile Ingredients I put the mixture about a moneth afterwards into the Coppell and the Gold appeared very resplendent in the middle of the mixture but blowing as we use to do in its purification I was astonished to see it Exalt away by little and little into the air until there was not a grain of it left Thus no body can be assured that Gold did nourish those Capons but besides though some of it should be dissolved in the body as it does in Aqua Regalis which is very hard to conceive though some of it should exalt nay though some should plainly glitter in the Chyle here 's no proof nevertheless that it produces such
and besides all Natural salts of which Aliments are full are known to be Acid and there is no other salt in nature but the Acid as is at large proved in the following Treatise So that Acids have their use and benefit beyond question But it is the frequent and continual use of Artificial Acids such as are drawn by fire and become of a fiery nature that I presume to tax and question A Citron in a Feaver may be of greater help and comfort and allay the boiling Heat and resist the prevailing malignity more than can be thought The Juyce of Lemmons not that crude Juyce which is commonly vended and of which the Syrop is too too often made but the Juyce of good Lemmons and so of Oranges might be put into Juleps to give them an Acidity instead of Spirit of Vitriol and no harm done But a few drops forsooth of that suspected Spirit are more gentile and neat and for the great honour of Chymistry are grown into common use almost as much as salt for our meat Natural Remedies will prevail when we have tried as many pretty conceits as we please Nature will provide us Herbs and Roots when Chymists and Chymistry as to great part of it are dead and buried and have undergone the same Fate that all particular Remedies of Hectors and great Boasters have hitherto done by the wise disposal of all-seeing Providence They dye commonly with their Masters or if they do out-live their thread of time they soon decline more and more till they come to lose all their Esteem Nevertheless upon urgent occasions when Symptoms are exceeding violent and are not to be conquer'd with ordinary means Acid Spirits may and perhaps ought to be used As in a Pox or Gonorrhea when Defluxions are violent and Symptoms accidentally high when the Patient is almost in despair and frightned with unusual Symptoms we must have recourse to Mercury let us say what we will and exhibite that quantity which otherwise we should not if the person had been rightly treated at first as we are forced to use Actual Cauteries to prevent Gangrenes and burn to the purpose when there 's a necessity for it So in cases of the like nature the disguised fire in Acids may be given inwardly with safety enough Pestilential Feavers where the Bloud is wholly fluid and the Fibres that gave it consistence and made it condense when grown cold are destroyed by the Subtile Malignity may perhaps require better or stronger Acids than Vinegar can give Having spoken thus much in reference to Acid fiery Spirits it may well be enquired whether or no in the Distillation of such Spirits there is any addition of weight as there is most sensibly in the instances forenamed To which I Answer that Acid Spirits come forth with such Heat and Violence that it is almost Impossible to lute the Junctures so exactly well as not to lose some of them they are so exceeding fiery and of so piercing a nature that some of them will break out do what you can How will a room smell of Nitrous Spirits while they are a Distilling they 'l try what Lungs you are made of let the Receiver be never so big or thick And this is the reason that the Ingredients weigh no more than when they were first put in for as fast as the fire comes in through the Retort some Spirits break out at the Junctures To prove the nature of these Spirits to be as Hot as I say I could here instance an Experiment of this Author 'T was in short this he Distilled Vitriol three dayes and three nights together and there came forth an Acid Spirit as it uses to do when the vessels were cold he found in the Receiver nothing but a Mass of salt or Oyl of Vitriol congealed This salt was so exceeding Caustick that if he offered to touch the least part of it it burnt like fire and he was fain immediately to put his hand in water and when he threw a little of it into the water it made just such a hissing noise as burning coals do it likewise made the water very hot hotter than common Oyl of Vitriol will do See p. 94 95. And now I have done with Acids it will be expedient to speak something of Alkali's Knife and Sheath go together Alkali salts whether they be made by burning Plants into Ashes or by Calcination in a Retort or Crucible and so making of them a Lixivium c. they all lose the nature they were endowed with at first and from Natural Acid Salts become Porous the fire by opening them drives out the Acid part and leaves them full of Pores ready to receive and make an Ebullition with any Acids they shall afterwards meet with they are partly the remaining terrestrious and fixt part of what they were and partly an additional supplement of fire Now there are Natural Alkali's though not Alkali salts which perform the good effect of Alkali's such as Perle Coral Crabs-eyes c. and these may be used to answer the Indication of sweetning Acids without any need of having recourse to those productions of fire to wit Alkali salts unless there be extraordinary occasion as I said before concerning the use of Natural Acids unless the greatness of Symptoms required the Artificial Speaking to this purpose to a most Ingenious Physician he was pleased to ask me whether I did not Roast and Boil the meat that I eat or whether that did terrifie me from eating my meat But I think there 's a great deal of difference between a warmer sort of Infusion as Boiling is and heat at a distance which in aleasure tract of time dries and prepares meat to be fit for the Stomach which insinuates gently and which loses the destructive quality of fire by reason of the distance as is the manner of Roasting there 's a vast difference I say between these Heats and turning Ingredients into a Coal fire as is done both in Retorts and Crucibles in the making of Artificial acids and alkali's And as for meat I cannot much approve and few Physicians I think do that which is Broil'd on the Coals and so nearly partakes of the Impression of fire it digests ill I am sure and breeds Melancholick unwholsome nourishment Chymical Digestions are of most excellent use to draw out the True and Natural virtue of things they are made in a Sand-heat or else in a Balneum mild and tender wayes of opening bodies and the Remedies lay no such force upon Nature as upon the Disease Remedies were at first ordered by Nature so well as to need but little of our help they were intended to help those poor harmless souls who knew no better than to make an ordinary fire to keep themselves warm by and these could gather a proper Herb to heat or boil in a little water and there often came rare feats of it too Volatile Spirits and Salts do rise with a gentler fire and may for that
much noise and suddenness as Alkali's is because that Oyls consist of pliant parts that yield and make no resistance to the points of Acids as a piece of Wool or Cotton will yield and give way to needles that are thrust into it Thus methinks two sorts of Fermentations may be admitted of the one of an Acid with an Alkali which may be called Ebullition and the other when an Acid does by little and little rarifie some softish matter as Dow or clear and Sulphurous as Muste Syder and all other juices of Plants This last sort may rather be called Fermentation 'T is further remarkable that the Acid and Alkali do so destroy one another in their conflict that when as much Acid has been by degrees poured as is necessary to penetrate the Alkali in all its parts it is then no more an Alkali nor can it be so again though you wash it to carry off the Acid because it has no longer that disposition of Pores which is requisite in an alkali and the Acid breaks and loses its points in the contest especially when the alkali is pretty compact and solid so that if you would recover your Acid again you 'l find it has in a manner lost all its acidity and retains only a sharpness But the Sulphur or Oyl consisting of supple yielding parts does only receive some Acid impression and no such close union so that it can be drawn from Sulphureous bodies much the same as when it was mixt The Salt of Animals does differ but little from the Volatile salt of Seeds and Fruits both which are drawn in a Retort they have the same kind of smell taste and other virtues The Volatile salt of animals keeps dry a longer time than the others because it carries away with it more fixt salt than those others As for fixt salt animals do yield but a very little of it and in some animals you shall find none at all it is drawn as the fixt salt of Plants they are both alkali's There is no salt that can be called alkali to be found in the parts or humors of animals until they have passed the fire a Saline serosity may be observed in them but that salt is acid and it proceeds doubtless from the Aliments that are taken for nourishment Now as I have shewn that there is only an acid salt in Earths and Vegetables so I may say the same of Animals and the rather because no other kind of salt can be found in them in their Natural state the alkali salts that are drawn from them are only several mutations of an Acid salt made by fire which mingles with them earthy particles after the manner I have spoken of treating of the Alkali's of Plants But it is observable that whereas there is a greater proportion of Spirits in Animals than Seeds these Spirits do serve to exalt all the Salt which is the reason that less fixt salt is to be found in Animals than Plants As for what many do say that Choler causes an Effervescency like an alkali when an acid is cast upon it 't is a mistake through want of right Observation for no Ebullition at all happens for some time Nevertheless I will not say that an Acid produces no Fermentation in Choler Bloud and other parts of the body for it does very often really do that but that is no more than uses to be done in New Wine Beer and other liquors of the like nature I have already explicated this sort of Fermentation We should not omit speaking of the Coagulation that 's made in Milk after a Fermentation caused either by Heat or some Acid put into it Methinks here is no need at all of supposing an Alkali salt that ferments with the Acid of this liquor as many suppose for explicating this Effect since if we consider but the natural composition of Milk we shall find nothing but a Creamy substance swimming on the Serum and mixed only superficially with it by the intermixture of some salt so that it is in a fitting state of separation as soon as the salt gains a little more motion than it had whether it be by Fermentation or by encreasing its activity by an acid of its own nature Thus when the Heat of the Summer or fire has stirred up the acid that is in the Milk or else some acid is poured into it the edges of the acid do cut and divide the Creamy part to gain a free motion in the Serum and separate into Curd all the Butter and Cheese Now there 's no strangeness in the Precipitation of the Curd especially when an acid has been poured upon the Milk for besides the weight it gains by thickning some part of the acids do mix with it and encrease its weight for according as the acid that was mingled is stronger or weaker the Curd does Precipitate more or less Perhaps some will say for as much as acid is always the cause of Coagulation in Milk there 's no great likelihood that a salt of the same nature should be the instrument of uniting the several parts of Milk But it must be considered that although there is an acid in Milk as no body can doubt seeing it sowres of it self when stale this acid is as it were tyed up in the ramous parts of the Oyl so that there it loses all its motion and can't come to action but by rarifying the Oyl and making it fit to mix with the serous part 't is the due proportion of this salt Oyl and serum that makes the Butter and Cheesy part of Milk Now I hope I have said enough to establish what I have affirmed that there 's no salt in nature besides the acid out of which all other salts are made and that the Alkali salt has no Natural existence in mixt bodies My discourse will be the better conceiv'd of speaking of the Operations of Chymistry and you 'l find that by this Principle which I may call the most Natural and disengaged of all that have been laid 'till now I shall be able to give account of many Phaenomena's that have never been explicated by common Principles Add to Pag. 19. lin 1. Of Minerals Whatsoever is found Petrified in the Earth or on its surface is called Mineral Petrification is made by a Coagulation of acid or salt spirits that are found in the pores of the Earth This Petrification differs according to the divers dispositions or different nature of the Earth and according to the time that Nature uses in its perfection The growth of Minerals proceeds from an accumulation or from several veins of congeled Waters that do as it were glue together and these veins are the cause that all the adjacent parts have their Sinus and meetings a travers one another and not running directly downwards These Sinus like so many joints are of great help to Labourers to cut in the Quarries for by those cavities the stones are in great measure separated before-hand whereas 't
less impression to liquors than the others Add to pag. 68. lin 6. Chap. Of Iron Iron is found in many Mines in Europe in form of a Stone or Marcassite which much resembles the Loadstone but this last is more heavy and brittle than Iron The Loadstone is also found in Mines of Iron and may be reduced into Iron by a strong fire Iron for its part does easily acquire the virtue of the Loadstone as every body knows so that these bodies do seem to differ only in the figure of their Pores as has been very well observed by our Modern Philosophers Iron in the stone is melted in large Furnaces made on purpose both to purifie it from some earth and to bring it into the Form we desire Having continued some time in Fusion it Vitrifies as it were and much resembles an Email of several colours and it enters indeed into the composition of ordinary Emails with Lead Tinn Antimony Sand the Saphire the Stone of Perigord a Province in France Gravelled ashes and the ashes of a Plant called Kali Although Mars does contain an Acid Vitriolick Salt yet it ceases not being an Alkali for it ferments with Acids and no body needs wonder at this effect when they consider there is more Earth than Salt in this Metal and this Earth confining this Salt within it retains Pores enough to receive the Points of Acids when thrown upon it and so do the office of an Alkali for as I have said speaking of the Principles it is sufficient for a body to be called an Alkali if it has its Pores so disposed as that the Acids may be able through their motion violently to divide whatsoever stands in their way Mars is almost always Astringent by Stool by reason of its Terrestrious parts and Aperitive by Vrine not only by reason of its piercing Salt but also because when the body is bound the humidities do more easily filter by way of Vrine Add to pag. 70. The last line of the Remarks upon Opening Saffron of Mars Seeing some persons have pleased to contradict the Remarks I have made upon the Effects of Mars and particularly concerning the preference I have given Iron to Steel for Physical uses I have thought it not convenient to end this Chapter before I have laid down and Answered all their Objections First then they say that because the different substances of Mars cannot be separated as those of Animals and Vegetables can 't is in vain an Aperitive virtue is attributed to its Salt Answer I grant all the substances of Mars can't be separated so easily as those of Animals and Vegetables but because we find Salts to be Aperitive and commonly Remedies that are so are full of Salts and that water in which Rust of Iron has steeped for some time is proper to open by way of Vrine it seems to me rational enough to attribute this effect of Mars principally to its Salt for if the water has carried off any taste or penetrating quality from Iron there 's nothing at all in Mars that is able to contribute such a virtue to it besides the Salt therein dissolved Secondly they say the Earth and Salt of Mars being united and in a manner inseparable cannot act but by consent of both and receive together joyntly the good or bad impressions that may happen to them I Answer there 's no reason to think the Salt of Mars absolutely inseparable from the Earth for the water in which this Metal has steeped or boiled after Filtration does contain a Vitriolick taste and Aperitive quality Now 't is the effect of Salt to dissolve imperceptibly in Water and drive by Vrine as I have said but if any body would take the pains to steep and boil gently the rust of Iron a good while in water then Filter it and so Evaporate the liquor over a small fire to a Pellicule he 'l by Crystallization or by an entire evaporation of the humidity gain a small quantity of Salt and 't is probable enough there was much more in the water as may be collected from the strong taste it had of Mars but it being of a pretty Volatile nature if fum'd away in the Evaporation I do not say nevertheless that the close connexion of Earth with the Salt of Mars is altogether unuseful for this effect on the contrary I do conceive that this Earth rendring the Salt more heavy than otherwise it would be does help to drive it forwards and causes the Mars sometimes to penetrate as much by its gravity as by its Salt but we must attribute the principal virtue to the Vehicle which is Salt since without that the Earth would be a dead matter and would have no more action than other Earths bereaved of their Salts Thirdly They object we must not think the hardness of the parts of Steel above Iron whose Pores are more open does render it less proper for all sorts of Preparations seeing Spirit of Vitriol and many other Acids are found to dissolve with the same ease both Iron and Steel I Answer that if Corrosive Spirits do dissolve Steel they can dissolve Iron more easily and whereas a smaller quantity of them can operate upon Iron than Steel a better effect does thence follow Fourthly 'T is objected that the solidity of Steel may be an advantageous circumstance to it for the better fixing the dissolving Juices that are in the stomach and that for Metals the pure are to be chosen before those that are not so I Answer that instead of the solidity of Steels being helpful to the stomach 't is certainly of great prejudice to it as well as to those other parts 't is distributed into for the juices that are found in the stomach being but weak dissolvents are not able to penetrate nor rarifie this metal if it is too hard so that they leave it crude and indigest heavy and incommodious to this part Wherefore it passes away by Stool without any good effect as often happens But now if a little of this Steel does happen to pass along with the Chyle it rather causes than takes away Obstructions for by insinuating into small vessels it stops in the narrow passages and causes grievous pains For what is said concerning the Purity of metals it is of great use to Tradesmen for they by Purifying metals from their more rarified and Volatile parts do make them the less Porous and so the less liable to suffer prejudice from the Air or time Thus Steel is much fitter for Vtensils than Iron because its Pores are closer laid together and it takes not rust so soon as Iron but in Remedies 't is not the same thing for those metals that are more Rarified and are easilier dissolved in the Body are such as we find best effects from for the reason I have given So that what Workmen call Purity is often but an impurity in Remedies Fifthly They say if one would hope to find a distinct Salt in Mars 't would be more
makes me think that the points of Spirit of Salt are necessary to make a sublimate very Corrosive The reason why it will sublime is because the Mercury being discharged of a great many Acid Spirits that held it fixed has power to rise with those that remain But because these remaining Spirits do moderate a little its Volatility it makes a stop in the middle of the Viol. Some do put Red Precipitate into an Earthen Pot and pour upon it Spirit of Wine well Rectified then fire it and when the Spirit is consumed they add more and burn it as before they repeat Spirit of Wine and burn it six times together and then they call this Preparation Arcanum Corallinum The Spirit of Wine by burning does carry off some edges of the Precipitate and joyns it self to the rest so that this Precipitate is sweetned and rendred fit to be taken inwardly If by way of curiosity you pour Spirit of Vitriol upon common Red Precipitate such as I have described a Dissolution will soon follow because Spirit of Vitriol joyning with the Spirit of Niter that remained in the Precipitate an Aqua Fortis must happen from their union which is able to dissolve imperceptibly the parts of Mercury but this Dissolution will happen without any Ebullition because the Mercury has been already rarified by an acid so that the Spirit of Vitriol does only dissolve them without making any commotion The Dissolution is clear like other Dissolutions of Mercury without any manner of appearance of Redness and the same Preparations may be made with it as are used to be done by the Dissolution of Quicksylver in Aqua fortis If instead of Spirit of Vitriol you pour Spirit of Salt upon the Red Precipitate it turns presently into a curious white because the Spirit of salt breaks the force of the Spirit of Niter that was in the Red Precipitate and the same thing must happen here as when Spirit of salt is poured upon the Dissolution of Quicksylver for although Red Precipitate is a Dry body yet it is nothing else but a mixture of Quicksylver and Spirit of Niter As for the sudden change of Colour it is indeed somewhat strange that a matter which is grown Red by Calcination should in a minutes time turn so exceeding white This Effect can be attributed only to the dislocation which the Acid Spirit of salt does cause in the parts of Red Precipitate and to the disposition it puts them anew into so that their Superficies is put into a capacity of Reflecting the Light in a right line to our eyes to give the appearance of a white colour for if by means of another sort of liquour or else by fire and some Alkali body the Disposition of the parts of your Precipitate is again changed it will obtain some other Colour or else it will return and revive into Quicksylver If you pour the Volatile spirit of Sal Armoniack upon Red Precipitate it turns into a grey powder but if you throw a great deal of water upon it it becomes a milk though none of the whitest The same thing happens when you drop Spirit of Sal Armoniack into the dissolution of Quicksylver made with Spirit of Niter for soon after the Effervescency is over a grey powder is seen to Precipitate and if you add to it water it becomes a milk of the same whiteness as the other Common Red Precipitate therefore is subject to the same alterations as the Dissolution of Mercury the Red colour giving no particular impression to it which truly is a good proof that Colour is no real thing but wholly depends upon the modification of the parts Other Precipitates of Mercury Mix 7 or 8 ounces of Sublimate Corrosive powdered in a glass or marble Mortar with 16 or 18 ounces of warm water stir them about for half an hour then let the liquor settle and pour it off by Inclination filter it and divide it into 3 parts to be put into so many Viols Pour into one of these Viols some drops of the Oyl of Tartar made per Deliquium there falls immediately a Red Precipitate Drop into another of these Viols some Volatile spirit of Sal Armoniack and you have a white Precipitate Pour into the last of these Viols about a spoonful of Lime-water you have a Yellow-water that is called Phagaedenick-water or a water for Vlcers because it is good to cleanse and heal Vlcers the Chirurgeons do very frequently use it especially in Hospitals if you let the liquor settle 't will let fall a Yellow precipitate To obtain these three Precipitates you have only to pour off the water by Inclination wash them and dry them apart Red precipitate may be used like that I described before but it is not so strong 't is the truest Red precipitate of any White precipitate has the same virtues as the other Yellow precipitate may be used in Pomatums for the Itch half a drachm or a drachm of it is mixed with an ounce of pomatum The Sublimate which remains at the bottom of the Mortar being dried may be used in pomatums for the Itch like Yellow precipitate Remarks Sublimate being mercury loaded with Acids common water is able to dissolve some of it because these Acids do rarifie it and make a kind of salt of it but because there are not Acids enough in it to dissolve all the mercury the most compact part of it remains at bottom the liquor is filtred to clear and purifie it the more it is as clear and transparent as Fountain water If by further way of Curiosity you should drop into the Viol of Red precipitate that I now described some spirit of Sal Armoniack and would shake the liquor a little it would presently turn white and your precipitate would be white but if instead of Spirit of Sal Armoniack you would use spirit of Vitriol an Ebullition would rise in it and the Red liquor would become clear and transparent as common water Because the Oyl of Tartar is an Alkali salt dissolved it breaks the edges of the Acid which held up the mercury imperceptible and serv'd as Swimmers to it in the Water so that this mercury having nothing left to bear it up must needs precipitate by its own weight The same thing happens when the Spirit of Sal Armoniack is thrown upon the other part of the Dissolution of sublimate Corrosive For this spirit being in like manner an Alkali produces the same effect as the Oyl of Tartar But although Alkali's do all agree in this that they all break and destroy Acids nevertheless there is always some difference in their action And this evidently appears in those differently coloured precipitates for this diversity can be attributed only to this that they having in several manners wrought upon Acids do dispose and modifie the parts of the precipitated body so as they may be capable of making different Refractions of Light These precipitates are no longer poisons though they come from
sulphurs of Antimony A Liver of Antimony is prepared with equal quantities of Antimony Niter and Sea-salt decrepitated and because these salts do give it a Red colour like unto the Opale this Preparation has been called Magnesia Opalina it is less Emetick than the other by reason of the addition of sea-salt which fixes the saline sulphur of antimony Several other ways of preparing the Liver of antimony have been invented but I am well enough satisfied in having given you the best of all and the easiest to prepare If you use ordinary salt-peter in this Operation you 'l obtain eight ounces and two drachms of Liver of antimony but if you use Purified salt-peter you 'l get but six ounces and a half This difference of quantity proceeds from the nature of salt-peter for the more Volatile parts this Mineral salt contains the more apt it is to carry off some parts of the antimony Now Purified salt-peter is much more Volatile than the common sort wherefore the Liver of antimony where it is used is in lesser quantity The Liver of antimony that 's made with common salt-peter is the Redder and comes nearer to the colour of an Animals Liver than that which is made with Purified salt-peter this happens through the fixt-salt which is in this Preparation more than in the other for common salt-peter contains much fixt salt as I shall shew in its proper place this salt does likewise make the matter the heavier As for the virtues of these Livers of antimony the difference is not very great but only that which is made with Purified salt-peter is a little more Emetick than the other I cannot pass by here the false imagination of some men who think that Preparation of the Liver of antimony of which half a drachm or two scruples may be given is much better than that whereof 3 or 4 grains perform the same effect for there 's no doubt but the taking so great a quantity of antimony will give an impression to the stomach that a lesser quantity is not able to do Furthermore seeing these Preparations do commonly open the antimony but little or half fix the saline sulphurs it is to be feared lest some salt they may meet with in the Stomach should open them too much or Volatilize them and so produce unhappy consequences Add to pag. 141. Chap. 11. Of Quick-lime When the stone that Quick-lime is made of is grown red hot in the Furnaces the Workmen have a special care to keep up the fire at an equal height until the stone is quite Calcin'd for if the flame which has begun to burn among the stones should be suffered to lessen for a while and so the heat be check't before the end of the work they would never afterwards be able to make Quick-lime with those stones any more though they should be at the charge of burning fifty times as much Wood as is commonly required and this because in that interval of heat the Pores of the stone which were begun to be opened do close and shut and the matter sinks down in a lump to the destruction of the whole And then again the Flame can't rise in it any more for it finds none of those interstices or spaces between which were frequent before for it to pass through The matter therefore is rendred uncapable of receiving the fire any more because all the small cells that were useful for it are shut up and destroyed in this confusion 'T is Objected that if igneous bodies were they that caused the Corrosion of Quick-lime Tiles Bricks and all Stones that are not of the nature of Lime-stone and Iron Copper Silver Gold and many other bodies should be as Caustick as Quick-lime after having endured the fire as long if not longer than it But this does not follow for Tiles and other Calcined stones have not the Pores disposed like those of Quick-lime to retain fiery particles and if some metals are found to impregnate with them during their Calcination they are known to retain them so well by the solidity of their parts that neither the heat nor moisture of the flesh are able to draw them out of the places they are fixt in to cause a Corrosion upon the part It is easie here to give you an example for if you take the Calx of Lead that encreased its weight in the Calcination as I have said before and steep it in water the water will not act at all upon it and the Calx may be taken from the water in the same weight it was put in you must melt it by fire if you would separate the igneous bodies but now as for common Quick-lime a small matter of moisture is able to separate the tender parts of the stone and drive out the fiery particles in abundance 'T is said likewise that the boiling of the water which happens when flung upon quick-lime must not be imputed to fiery bodies seeing neither spirit of Wine nor Oyl when thrown upon it do hear or stiâ— as all although they are both of them Inflammable bodies nay on the contrary they are observed to quench the hear that uses to happen to quick-lime when water comes to it I Answer that these effects do proceed from this that Oyl spirit of wine and other Sulphureous liquors of the same nature instead of separating the parts of quick lime as water does do rather hinder any separation from being made by stopping up the Pores That which withdrew me from the Sentiment of those who will have all the effects of quick-lime derived from its salt was that I could never find any of it though I sought after it with care enough for some through a mistake do take a certain Bituminous scum which often swims upon the Lime-water for a Salt Neither can I be of the opinion of those who will needs have an Acid to be in quick-lime which being drawn out by the water and meeting an Alkali does cause the Effervescency which is observed when water is poured upon quick-lime for although according to appearance an acid does enter into the Natural composition of the stone that quick-lime is made of this acid has lost its nature noâ— only by breaking its poiâ—â—â— in its strict union with earth at the Petrification but also in the violent Calcination that is given to this stone to reduce it to a Calx So that we may here say the same thing happens to the acid which enters into the composition of the stone as I have said did happen to the salt of Vegetables and other mixt bodies which though naturally an acid salt changes into an alkali by means of its union with earth and the fiery particles in time of the Calcination there is only this difference between them both the acid of the stone is mixed with more earth than the salt of Vegetables Add to pag. 152. chap. 13. Of the stone Haematites The stone Haematites is called the Bloud-stone either from its stopping bloud or
from its red colour It is commonly found in iron Mines and it contains something of that metal the best is that which is clearest and has blackish raies It is prepared by grinding it on a marble with a little Plantain water it is Desiccative and astringent it is used for spitting of bloud and other Haemorrhagies the dose is from fifteen grains to two scruples it is also used outwardly in Vnguents A little acid spirit that partakes of the nature of Iron may be drawn from this stone by distilling it like Vitriol in a Retort this spirit is a very good Aperitive for all Obstructions the dose is to an agreeable acidity Sublimation of the stone Haematites Powder and mix together equal quantities of the stone Haematites and sal Armoniack put this mixture into an Earthen Cucurbite or glass one luted at bottom set a Head upon it and fitting to it a small Receiver and Luting well the Junctures place it in a Furnace over a very small fire at first to warm the vessel then encrease your fire by little and little until it is very strong continue it in this condition for some hours or until the heat of the head lessens then let the vessels cool and unlute them you 'l find in the head and at top of the Cucurbite Yellow Flowers drawing towards Red and in the Receiver a Volatile Vrinous Yellowish spirit keep the spirit and the Flowers apart in bottles well stopt They are both of them very good to procure Sweat and to open Obstructions they may be used in Malignant Feavers Apoplexies Palsies and in the Scurvy in Bolus or in proper liquors the dose of the Flowers is from six grains to four and twenty and of the Volatile spirit from twelve drops to two scruples In the bottom of the Cucurbite is found a mass that may be distilled in a Retort with a gradual fire encreased to the highest degree of all in a Reverberatory Furnace there will come forth an acid spirit of much the same virtues as the fixt spirit of Sal Armoniack of which I shall speak hereafter Remarks Sal Armoniack is here mixt that the Volatile parts may carry off the more soluble portion of the stone Haematites for it would never be able to sublime if it were not driven by some such like Vehicle This salt being also incorporated with it serves very much to give it the sudorisick quality by reason of its Volatility The Cucurbite is set in an open fire that it may be heated the more and the Flowers be the more tinctur'd for the more heat there is the sal armoniack does the more easily sublime the parts of the stone the Volatile spirit is only some portion of the Flowers drawn into liquor The mass that remains in the Cucurbite is a mixture of the more fixt part of the stone and sal armoniack All that is drawn from the stone Haematites is accounted of some use and chiefly so by reason of the Iron it contains Many other Preparations of this stone have been invented but these are the best and choicest Add to pag. 154. Remarks upon the Oyl of Bricks The ancient Chymists called this Oyl the Oyl of Philosophers and have given the Epithete Philosophical to all Preparations that are made with Bricks The reason that can be given for it is that because they call themselves the only True Philosophers or Philosophers by way of excellence they thought they were obliged to confer some influences of this mighty name upon Bricks because they are the materials where with they build their Furnaces to work at the High and mighty Operation or the Philosophers stone for they pretend it is by this Operation alone that True Philosophy can be obtained Add to pag. 165. chap. 14. Of Common Salt Sea salt is made at Rochell in salt marshes which are places that must be of a lower situation than the sea and the ground must be Clayie for otherwise they would not be able to retain the salt-water that has been let into them Thus all places near the sea are not alike proper to make salt marshes When the Season of the year begins to grow hot which commonly happens in May all the water is emptied that was put into the marshes for better preserving them during the Winter then the sluces are opened to let in as much salt-water as they think fit 't is made to pass through a great many Channels wherein it purifies and heats and then is let into places that are made flat smooth and fit to Crysâ— allize the salt This salt is made only during the great heats of Summer the Sun does in the first place evaporate some part of the Water and because after the great heat a small Wind does use to blow as is usual near the sea the coolness of this Wind does condense and Crystallize the salt But if it happens to rain but two hours during the hot weather there can no salt be made for a fortnight afterwards because the marshes must be again emptied of all the water to let in more in its place so that if it chances to rain but once again in the next fortnight they can make no salt Besides the Purification of salt by evaporation it may be further purified if instead of Evaporation of the humidity you set some of it a Crystallizing in a cool place for very fine pure salt is found at bottom of the vessel which salt may be separated from the water and dried you may then evaporate again some part of the salt liquor and set it in a Celler a Crystallizing and so continue your Evaporations and Crystallizations but at last you must be fain to evaporate the liquor to the consumption of all the humidity because at last it will Crystallize no longer the reason whereof is that the remaining salt is full of a fat bituminous matter which is in a manner inseparable from it and this 't is that hinders the Crystallizing at last 'T is probable that this fat matter comes from the earth of those marshes that were spoken of The first Crystallized salt being put into Oyl of Tantar or some other Alkali salt dissolved does mix with it without making any Ebullition because although sea-salt is Acid yet its points are too gross and have too little motion to separate the parts of the Alkali The last salt being dried over the fire and mixed with some Alkali salt rendred liquid such as Oyl of Tartar makes a Coagulation and Precipitation of a substance that appears saline and Oyly this Coagulation does proceed from the mixture and adhesion of Bituminous earth with sea-salt and Tartar for these salts do easily embrace Oyly substances and in them lose their activity Many Acid Bituminous salts which are drawn by the Evaporation of certain Mineral waters such as those of Baleruc in Languedoc and Digne in Provence do perform the same effects when they are mixed with Oyl of Tartar This Coagulum does not dissolve in water
at bottom of the Receiver and that may likewise be turn'd into Spirit by only adding enough water to dissolve it Thus the Spirit becomes as strong as it can be made for the Pores of the water being filled with as much salt as they can contain it can receive no more But if there happens more water than the proportion of Volatile salt requires then the Spirit proves weak and must be given in a larger Dose This Spirit is Sudorifick but you may perceive more sensibly the effect of Sal armoniack to cause Sweat by dissolving six or eight grains of this Salt and the same quantity of Salt of Tartar each separately in two small Doses of some proper liquor and giving them to a Patient one presently after the other for the salt of Tartar working upon the Sal armoniack in the stomach after the same manner as it does when they are mixt together in a Mortar the Spirits do separate from the latter with more force and act more powerfully than when they have been separated before they were given by a preceeding mixture for the small violence that the Volatile Spirits do use in their separation from sea-salt does leave them the more activity and disposes them the better to pass through the Pores Again it is not incredible that in the former Effort which these Spirits made in their separation from the fixt part when Sal armoniack was mixt with salt of Tartar in a Mortar the more subtle part flies away first and is lost now 't is this subtle portion that is most proper to Rarifie the humours and to drive them out by Transpiration If you mix in a Viol equal quantities of Volatile spirit of Sal armoniack and Spirit of Wine and shake them a little together they 'l cause a Coagulum This Coagulation proceeds from that the Spirit of Wine which is a Rarified Oyl does unite with the Spirit of Sal armoniack which is a salt liquor and 't is but the same thing as happens from stirring Oyl and some salt liquor in a Mortar in order to make an Vnguent called Nutritum By this incorporation together the salt is shut up in the ramous parts of the sulphur and these same sulphureous parts are checkt or as it were fixed by the salt so that neither of them have any more freedom of motion and from this repose of these parts results the Coagulum Add to pag. 197. Chap. Of Vitriol If you dissolve a little white or green Vitriol in water and write with the Dissolution the writing will not be seen but if you rub the Paper with a little Cotton dipt in the Decoction of Galls it will appear legible then if you wet a little more Cotton in Spirit of Vitriol and pass it gently over the Paper the Ink will disappear again and yet at last if you rub the place with a little more Cotton dipt in Oyl of Tartar made per Deliquium it will again appear legible but of a Yellowish colour The reason that I can give for these Effects is this the Spirit of Vitriol dissolves a certain Coagulum which is made of Vitriol and Galls but the Oyl of Tartar breaking the force of this Acid Spirit the Coagulum resumes it self and appears again but because it now contains Oyl of Tartar too it acquires a new colour If you should throw the dissolution of Vitriol or Vitriol only powder'd into a strong Decoction of dried Roses it will turn as black as common Ink if you pour some drops of spirit of Vitriol into it this Ink will turn red and if you add to it a little Volatile spirit of Sal Armoniack 't will turn grey These changes of colour do proceed from the spirit of Vitriols dissolving the Coagulum which the Vitriol it self had made and rendring it invisible the liquor recovers a fresher Red colour than it had before the Vitriol was put into it because the same Spirit does separate the parts of the Rose which were dissolved in the liquor and renders them more Visible The Volatile spirit of Sal Armoniack which is an Alkali does partly break the Acid edges of the spirit of Vitriol so that the parts of the Rose having nothing more to hold them Rarified do close together and consequently the liquor changes colour By this Experiment may be seen that the dried Rose may serve to make Ink with as well as Galls Indian Wood and divers other things will do the same Add to pag. 199. the end of the Remarks upon Galcination of Vitriol If one should resolve to dry as exactly as one can sixteen pounds of green Vitriol there would remain but seven pounds of white Vitriol But in order to do this exactly you must powder the white Mass of Calcined Vitriol after you have broke the Pot and stir it for a long time in an Earthen Pan over a little fire until there rises no more Fume from it or until there remains in it no more Phlegm If you should Calcine this white Vitriol to a Redness you 'd have five pounds and a half of Cholcothar Some have affirmed in writing that the Red colour which appears after a long Calcination of English Vitriol was an undoubted proof that that there was Copper in it after the same manner as the Red colour which happens to Verdigrease calcined is a certain proof that it contains in it some particles of Copper But that which is here said to pass for a thing undeniable is no proof at all for first of all those Vitriols which are thought most to partake of Copper do give no greater Redness in their Calcination that the others which partake least of it Secondly let Copper be Prepared which way you please you can never make it Redder than the Cholcothar of English Vitriol whose Redness must be thought to proceed from some particles of this Metal contained in it And thirdly we see plainly that Iron Lead Mercury and divers Mineral bodies do acquire a Red colour in their Calcining without granting they contain any Copper Add to pag. 201. the bottom of the Page Remarks upon Spirit of Vitriol If you Distil eight pounds of white Vitriol at sixteen ounces to the pound you 'l draw off seventeen ounces of Phlegm and two and twenty ounces and a half both of the Sulphureous and the Acid spirit of Vitriol Of these two and twenty ounces and a half there will be five ounces of Sulphureous spirit You 'l find in the Retort five pounds five ounces of Cholcothar Use all the care you can possible to preserve all the liquors which come from Vitriol and yet it will be impossible for you to hinder it from losing some through the Junctures during the Distillation If you should use German instead of English Vitriol you 'd draw off a little more spirit than the quantity I named but it would have some smell of Aqua Fortis and the matter which remains in the Retort would be of a brown colour drawing towards
taken the pains to make the Experiment of it they would have found that with two or three of these Vessels they might have drawn as much Spirit of Wine as they could be able to do with their great Machine and that this Spirit is not liable to the Impression which might be communicated to it from Copper or Tin vessels As for the difficulty that there is pretended of finding these Glass vessels there is none at all that I know of but only for such as will not take the pains to visit the Glass-houses for there they would find enough for their turn and though I use a great many of them in my Courses of Chymistry I never was to seek for any yet But suppose there were none to be found ready made methinks they might as easily bespeak 'em and have 'em made at the Glass-houses as well as bespeak those grand Copper or Tin Machines that are commonly used I know those that are better pleased with making a Fair shew than with the effects of things and who measure the goodness of an Operation by the trouble it gives one and by the greatness of Vessels and Furnaces will find here but little to their satisfaction But I am very little concerned at such mens exceptions I never at all endeavoured to follow their Road way My design is simply to facilitate the means of working in Chymistry and to despoil it as much as lies in my power of those things which render it mysterious and dark Add to pag. 258. Remarks upon Spirit of Wine Tartarized A sign that the Spirit of Wine has carried along with it some of the Salt of Tartar is this if you dry gently the Salt of Tartar that remains in the Cucurbite and weigh it you 'l find it diminished an ounce and a half You may again put this Spirit of Wine Tartarized to half a pound of more Salt of Tartar in a Limbeck and distil it as before but I have found that it is ne'r a-whit the better for it This way of Tartarizing Spirit of Wine is the very best and shortest of all that have been invented whether you desire to make it Pure or to impregnate it with salt of Tartar and I may venture to say that all the many long and tedious descriptions that have been given of this Operation have been only invented to cast a dust into the eyes of Novices for it is easie for any to observe who give themselves a little to examine things that after all their long turnings and windings and circumstances to no purpose the Spirit of Wine is not so well Tartarized as by the plain Method that I have described Add to pag. 259. Remarks on the Queen of Hungary's Water The Oyl or Essence of Rosemary may be made as the Oyl of Cinnamon and some drops may be put into Spirit of Wine and thus we have a Queen of Hungaries Water presently made upon the spot The Water of the Queen of Hungary sometimes gives ease to the Tooth-ach being snufft at the Nose or applied to the Gums with a little Cotton Some endeavouring to Criticize to little purpose do say it is altogether useless to digest Rosemary Flowers with Spirit of Wine because their substance being of a very Volatile nature it easily dissolves without any Digestion But this Circumstance is very necessary if we desire to have a Water well impregnated with the Essence of the Flowers for although there is a Volatile substance in Rosemary yet good part of the Oyl in which consists principally the Smell is involved in the other Principles and it cannot be well Rarified mixed and Exalted but only by a Digestion and thus we find a very good Effect from it Add to pag. 260. last line Chap. Of Vinegar Perhaps it will be Objected that Wine separated from Tartar and Lees grows sowre when kept a long time in a vessel without any dissolution of Tartar But we must consider that Wine let it be as clear and pure as may be does always retain the more salt and subtile part of Tartar which exalts and easily smells when by the Fermentation it gets the predominancy of the Sulphureous Spirits which held it as it were involved and thus clear wine sowrs when alone but it does not sowr so fast and the Vinegar is not so strong as when it is made upon Tartar Furthermore if we consider the Principles that Wine consists of we shall find that neither the Oyl nor Earth nor Water are capable of yielding any Acidity and that nothing but the Salt is able to give it Now it can't be doubted but that the Salt of Wine is in the Tartar It may be added here that the Air to which Wines are exposed by leaving the vessel open when they would have them turn into Vinegar does likewise communicate a little of its Acidity to the Wines in the stirring up and rarifying the Acid of Tartar Add to pag. 262. Remarks on Distillation of Vinegar Some having dried and calcined the sweet extract that remains at the bottom of the Cucurbite after the Distillation of vinegar and having by Dissolution Filtration and Coagulation separated an Alkali fixt salt much like unto that which is drawn from Tartar they do mix it with Spirit of vinegar and Distil and Cohobate it divers times until say they the spirit has carried off all the Salt and then will needs have it called Spirit of vinegar Alkalized or Radical spirit of vinegar and they assert that this being much more pure and entirely united with its proper salt is much more powerful in dissolving Metals But far from the Distilled vinegars becoming the stronger through this Preparation I can demonstrate that it breaks and loses the greatest part of its points in contending with the Alkali salt with which it is mixt for 't is the property of this salt to sween Acids Neither is it necessary to believe that by Distillations is drawn the Alkali salt of Vinegar for it remains fixt at bottom of the Retort with the Acids it is impregnated with so that this same Spirit of Vinegar to which so many great names and uses have been appropriated is properly the more Phlegmatick part of distilled vinegar Add to pag. 264. Remarks on Crystals of Tartar I see no reason so much to wonder as some do why Tartar will not dissolve in cold water for although it does contain a great deal of Salt this salt is involved in Earth and Oyl which must needs hinder this dissolution and there 's no need of having recourse for an explication of this to a proportionate Union of Volatile salts and Acids Add to pag. 264. Soluble Tartar Powder and mixe together eight ounces of Crystals of Tartar and four ounces of the fixt salt of Tartar put this mixture into a glazed earthen Pot and pouring upon it three pints of common water boil the matter gently for half an hour then letting it cool filter and evaporate the liquor until it is dry and
there will remain at bottom eleven ounces six drachms of a white salt keep it in a Viol 't is both a good Aperitive and Laxative it is good for Cachexies Dropsies and all Diseases that proceed from Obstructions the Dose is from ten grains to two scruples in Broth or some proper liquor Remarks This Operation is nothing but a Dissolution that the Salt of Tartar has made of Cream of Tartar so that it can dissolve in cold water which it could not do being alone the Cream of Tartar also being an Acid insinuates into the Pores of the Alkali salt and sweetens it If you Boil Cream of Tartar in water and put into it some salt of Tartar there will happen an Effervescency between 'em but if you mix these two Ingredients together in cold water there will be no Effervescency the reason of which is that the Acid Spirits of Cream of Tartar being involved in other Principles can have no active power to penetrate the Alkali unless they be actuated by fire I use to filter the Dissolution in order to separate some terrestrious part of the Cream of Tartar which could not dissolve this salt comes near to Tartar vitriolated for virtues some do call it Vegetable salt Chalybeated or Martial Crystals of Tartar Powder and mix a pound of good white Tartar and three ounces of Rust of Iron boil this mixture in an Iron Kettle with five or six quarts of water for half an hour or so much time as is requisite to dissolve the Tartar pass the liquor hot through a warm cloth then let it alone to settle in an Iron or Earthen Pot ten or twelve hours it will shoot into brown Crystals at the sides and bottom of the Pot pour off the liquor by Inclination and gather the Crystals then evaporate over the fire about half the liquor in the same Pot then let the remainder settle and take out the Crystals as before continue these Evaporations and Crystallizations until you have drawn out all your Tartar dry the Crystals in the Sun and so keep them It is a good remedy for Obstructions of the Liver Mesentery Spleen it is given in Cachexies and for Melancholy and the Quartan Ague the Dose is from fifteen grains to two Scruples in Broth or some other liquor proper to the Distemper Remarks This Preparation is boil'd but little that the Tartar may dissolve only the more Saline part of Iron the liquor is made to pass through a cloth to free it from the Impurities of the Tartar and Iron that could not dissolve but you must pass it very hot for if it were a little cool the Tartar would Coagulate in the Cloth and so none of the liquor would pass Instead of Crystallizing the dissolved Tartar you may evaporate all the liquor and so obtain a brown powder which has the same virtues as the Crystals When you would exhibite this Chalybeated Crystal of Tartar you must make it just boil in the liquor you give it in for otherwise it will not dissolve and you must be sure to give it as hot as they can take it for fear it should Crystallize at the bottom of the Poringer or Cup. Soluble Tartar Chalybeated Put into an Earthen Pan or Glass vessel four ounces of soluble Tartar and sixteen ounces of Tincture of Mars prepared according to the description that I have given set the vessel in sand and with a small fire evaporate the humidity of the liquor until there remains a black powder shut it in a viol well stopt and keep it you 'l have eight ounces of it This Martial Tartar has the same virtues as the Tincture of Tartar it is good to remove all Obstructions wherefore 't is very properly used in Cachexies Dropsies retention of the Menstrua in Nephritick Colicks and difficulties of Vrine the Dose is from ten grains to half a drachm in some proper liquor or else made into Lozenges Remarks This Preparation of Chalybeate or Martial Tartar is not only more convenient for use than the former in that it dissolves or mixes in a cold liquor but has much more virtue in it for the Tincture of Mars contains only the more salt part of Tartar Add to pag. 265. Remarks on Soluble Emetick Tartar Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack may be used instead of that of Vrine but then there will appear no sensible Ebullition the reason of which is because the salt of this Spirit is not so open as the Spirit of Vrine by reason of some impression it has of the Acid sal Armoniack with which it was mixt insomuch that the Crystals of Tartar whose Acid is not separated from the Earth has points too gross and too unactive to insinuate into the Pores of this salt and divide its parts so easily as those of the salt that 's contained in Spirit of Vrine whose Pores are bigger Another sort of Soluble Emetick Tartar may be made by boiling in Water an ounce of the Glass of Antimony in Powder with four ounces of Soluble Tartar for seven or eight hours then upon Filtring and evaporating the liquor there will remain a grey Powder of the same virtues as the other and to be given in the same Dose Add to pag. 268. Remarks upon the Fixt Salt of Tartar and its Oyl I commonly use to draw this way four ounces of very white and well Purified salt of Tartar from each pound of Red Tartar a little more may be drawn from white Tartar but it is no better than the other I have observed that when water is thrown upon the Mass of Tartar newly Calcined it heats much like unslack't Lime when wetted the reason of which is the same that I have given to explicate the Ebullition of Quick-lime in water all the difference is this that Tartar Calcined containing a great deal of Salt does more easily imbibe water than Quick-lime Some do Calcine salt of Tartar with a little sulphur to hinder it from dissolving so easily by the Air and to whiten it the more but this is no good practice because the Acid Spirit of sulphur destroyes some part of the Alkali and this does come to happen by reason that the Pores of this Salt by being thus Calcined are not so open as they were and the Air therefore cannot so easily melt it If you would desire to make Salt of Tartar and other Alkali fixt salts very white indeed you must Calcine them all alone in a great fire until they become white and then Purifie them by Dissolation Filtration and Coagulation As for their proneness to dissolve this accident is Natural to Alkali salts and it cannot be taken from them but by destroying their nature Nor can I approve the addition of some quantity of Niter to the Calcination of Tartar as some will do because the Volatile parts of Niter being exalted the fixt do remain and by their Acidity do diminish the virtue of Salt of Tartar Alkali salts are Aperitive in that they dissolve those