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-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
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-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
render a place fertile But because it is a very compact body and its parts closely united the Volatilizing of it would be a tedious business and so the present requisite Fermentation failing the place would remain barren too long to gratifie our expectations 'T is very likely that the Volatile or Nitrous salt meets in the Earth with some Sulphurous or fat matter that is continually raised by the Subterranean heat toward the Surface of the Earth and unites with it This mixture of a Volatile salt and Sulphur together may much contribute towards explicating the manner of Vegetation for just as the mixture of Sulphur and Salt-peter does excellently dispose to an Exaltation by heat which will not happen while they are separated so the Bituminous or fat part of the earth mixing with Salt-peter which all Earths have the subterranean heat exalts them much more easily than if the Salt were alone And now let us see what happens from this Exaltation to the production of Plants Some part of this Sulphurous salt meeting with seed in the earth proper to grow does enter into the seed and cause a Fermentation that is to say suppling the parts of the seed disposes it to open it self Now 't is very certain and what has been sensibly demonstrated by Microscopes that each grain of seed contains in little the whole Plant with all its parts Wherefore this opening the body of the seed is by reason that the sulphurous salts entring at the pores of the Root of this small Plant and by their Volatile quality insinuating all along the Fibres which constitute the Plant do orderly display before us what was before but very confused in respect of us These salts do never enter at the head of the Plant and so descend to the Root though often the Root of the Seed lies uppermost and the head or stalk downwards because the Pores of the stalk are not of such a Figure as is proper to receive them whereas those of the Root have a proper contexture The Volatility of these Salts does also cause the stalk though seated downwards to rise upwards and follow their tendency which is always up and this is that which by extending and enlarging the Fibres of the Plant makes it grow to that height which their nature requires 'T is probable that this fat part of earth insinuating with the salt as I have said does make the Oyl of a mixt body for we find that those matters which help best to fertilize are full of Volatile salt and Oyl as Dung Vrine and Plants corrupted 'T is fit to observe here that the salt does act after another-guise manner than the Oyl in hindring the Fermentation or corruption of the matter 't is mixed with for it does not only stop the pores and hinder the air from entring but fixes it likewise by its hooked parts that it can neither have motion nor rarefaction for which reason 't is that Meat is salted in order to keep it sweet and does thereby remain firm and compact for some time Three kinds of salt are drawn from Vegetables an Acid salt called Essential a Volatile and a Fixt salt The first is like Salt-peter and sometimes like Tartar according as it contains more or less earth this salt is drawn from the juice of the Plant as I said before for after expression and purifying this juice 't is set in a vessel in some cool place a few daies without stirring and the salt shoots into Crystals all about This Acid salt may be said to be the true salt that was in the Plant because the means that are used in drawing it are Natural and such as cannot change its nature but this can't be said of those others because the violent fires that are used about them make impressions of another nature and their effects are very different so that the fire seems to alter and disguise them as I shall shew in the following discourse The second salt or the Volatile salt of Plants is usually drawn from seeds or fruits Fermenting While it remains in the Vegetable it differs from the Essential salt only in this that being driven up higher by Spirits it becomes more Volatile The Fermentation that is caused in fruits by beating and bruising them does very much assist in Volatilizing the salt for it sets the particles at work and disposes them for an easier separation but it happens that in the great circulation or continual motion this salt is in it unites so strongly with the Oyl that Fruits and Seeds are full of that they can't be separated by Crystallizing the juice as they can in drawing them from other parts of the Plant. We must therefore have recourse to the help of fire The Fruit or seed which contains the Volatile salt as I shall prove in its proper place is Distilled by a Retort and Water comes forth in the first place then an Oyl and lastly a most keen ill scented Salt that easily flies away upon encreasing the fire to purpose is driven into the Receiver Now 't is plain that fire has changed or else added some thing to this salt for when 't was in the Plant it had no manner of smell like that it gets by distillation But to shew there 's a strange Alteration in this salt as soon as 't is mixed with an Acid there presently appears an Ebullition or Effervescency which remains until the Acid has throughly entred into the salt Which circumstance does not happen to it in its Natural being 't is this Ebullition that gave it the name of a Volatile Alkali to distinguish it from a Fixt Alkali of which I shall speak hereafter The Chymists will needs have this Volatile Alkali to be in the Plant just the same as when it is drawn that is to say they make this a different species of salt lying hid under the Acid until it is laid open by the force of fire But this opinion is founded on no credible experience for Anatomize the Plant how you think fit without using fire and you shall never find any other but an Acid salt Doubtless 't will be said that all other ways of diffecting Plants even into their salts prove too weak without the assistance of this grand dissolvent fire But if we consider impartially how fire acts we shall be forc'd to acknowledge that it rather destroyes and confounds the greatest part of the bodies it opens and does not leave them in the natural state they were in before and especially when 't is driven with that force which is necessary to draw this salt So that I see no reason why the Species of things should be multiplied without necessity by admitting many kinds of salts in Plants and I conceive with much more probability that the Volatile Alkali salt is a part of the Acid Essential salt I spoke of which having been first disposed to a Volatile nature and afterwards driven by the force of fire draws along with it a portion of
the former discourse upon its effects and operations in the Pox vindicated modestly to be the Authors own invention 45. It is proved to be an Alkali though it contains no alkali salt 46. Objections against its being an alkali and the venom of the Pox an acid answered 47 48. K. Not half the Spirit of Niter requisite to dissolve it as is for the same weight of Bismuth 49. a difficulty about its making a sublimate corrosive in the body answered 50 51. why Mercurius Dulcis in a Flux does not fill the Brain with Vloers as it does the mouth 49. its White Precipitate by sublimation becomes as sweet as Mercurius Dulcis and may be then given in as great a Dose 52. its Red Precipitate the less 't is Calcined and the less Red it is the more Corrosive 't will prove 53. why spirit of Vitriol upon its Red Precipitate makes a clear dissolution without any Ebullition 54. why spirit of Salt upon its Red Precipitate makes a curious white 55. why the Colour turns so soon from Red to White ib. its Red precipitate will sublime if you continue it on the fire too long 53 54. other Precipitates of Mercury 56. and remarkable Observations upon them 57 58 59. why the Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack does so much help the Precipitation of Mercury 52. Milk whence its Coagulation 18 19. Minerals how they grow 20. Myrrhe what 132. its liquid Gum anciently called Stacten ib. how chosen and what it is good for 133. its Tincture how drawn ib. why spirit of Wine draws it best 134. its Tincture better than the Extract ib. its Oyl per Deliquium how made ib. N. Niter not at all inflammable 76. No Sulphur in Saltpeter 77. Spirit of Niter how dulcified 79. in the Fixation of Saltpeter into an alkali salt why the Crucible must be but half full 82. The Detonation from Saltpeter and Coals why greater than from Saltpeter and common Sulphur 82. why more Fixt Salt get by the use of common saltpeter than by that which is Purified 83. How to make Grey fixt Niter become exceeding White 84. Fixt Niter why an Alkali ib. No Alkali salt in saltpeter ib. why the liquor of Fixt Niter that is made with common saltpeter being kept a year or so loses its alkali nature whereas that which is made with purified Saltpeter never loses being an Alkali 84 85. Fixt Niter an Acid salt rendred porous by the Alkali of Coals 85. Liquor of Fixt Niter called by some Alkaest or Vniversal dissolvent 85. Niter excellently well proved not to be inflammable ib. O. Opium what it is good for 127. its Operation proved to proceed from Narcotick Vapours shutting the channels of the Spirits and Humours 128. and not from any proportion of salt and sulphur or secret Ferment 129. Opium observed to be Sudorifick ib. Oyl nothing else properly said to be inflammable 1. that which caused its Flagration must be a Volatile or Essential salt ib. this proved from common sulphur and a mixture of saltpeter with sulphur 2. Oyl of Bricks why called by Chymists the Oyl of Philosophers 70 71. Oyl of Peter Jet and Coals supposed to be from a distillation in the Earth but falsly 97. 98. P. Petrification how 20. Philosophers-stone the several methods of searching after it related and pleasantly discoursed of 24 25. the misery of those men that seek after it 26. the possibility of the Philosophers-stone granted but accounted next to an impossibility and the reason why ib. Q. Quicklime in the making of it the fire must be kept at an equal height to the end of the work 65. its Corrosion caused by Igneous bodies 66. no Acid in it to cause its Ebullition in water 67. S. Sal Armoniack how made Artificially at Venice 85. eight ounces of it do contain at least four ounces and a half of Volatile salt 88. its Volatile spirit only a dissolution of Volatile salt in Water ib. its spirit sensibly proved to be Sudorifick by a proper instance 89. whence it is that a Coagulation happens from the mixture of spirit of Wine with the Volatile spirit of Sal Armoniack ib. Sal Polychrestum not fit to be used until it is made very white 77. why more of it is made with common Saltpeter than that which is Purified 78. an Ebullition falsly said to rise when spirit of Sulphur is cast upon it or upon Salt-peter 78. Salt that of Vegetables proceeds from a salt juice of the Earth they grow in 5. too much salt as bad for Lands as too little an instance of those near the River Nile 6. 't is a Volatile or at least a saltpetrous salt that fertilizes Lands ib. yet the Ashes of Vegetables though full of a fixt salt do well to this purpose 7. Three sorts of salt drawn from Vegetables an Acid or Essential a Volatile and a fixt salt 9. the acid salt the only true salt in nature 9 10 11. Salt decrepitated exposed to the Air to be distilled without addition yields only a Phlegm rather than spirit 74. Monsieur Seignet's Distillation of spirit of Salt without addition of Clay to separate its parts vindicated to be good and an admirable Operation 74 75. how all alkali Fixt salts are made very white 113. and why they are Aperitive 114. its spirit not good to bathe bodies with that are to be Embalmed 116. salt-Salt-water in the Sea caused by Mines of Salt therein contained 3 4. Sea-salt how made at Rochel 71. when Crystallized it makes no Ebullition with Oyl of Tartar 72. Saltpeter vide Niter Sulphur its white Flowers made with Sal Polychrestum 97. T. Tartar why its Crystals will not dissolve in cold water 108. why its Crystals boiled with its salt do raise an effervescency in hot water which they cannot do in cold 109. its soluble Tartar only the Cream of Tartar made soluble in cold water ib. it s Chalybeated or martial Crystals ib. soluble Tartar how chalybeated 111. soluble Emetick Tartar may be made with Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack instead of Spirit of Vrine but then there will be no Ebullition and why 112. how this Emetick is prepar'd another way ib. why water thrown upon its salt newly Calcined does come to heat like unslack't Lime 113. Salt of Tartar not to be Calcin'd with Sulphur ib. nor Niter 114. its Volatile salt why made of Lees of Wine rather than Tartar 124. very hard to keep its Volatile salt dry and yet how that may be done ib. its Volatile salt made alkali by the fire but was not of that nature either in the Plant or in the Lees ib. the Salt of its Lees proved to be Acid 125 126. this Volatile salt no better than others 126. some fixt Alkali salt to be found in the Lees remaining in the Retort 127. Tartarum Vitriolatum distilled in a Retort yields not so strong a spirit of Vitriol as it was at first 115. during the Ebullition of Acid and Alkali in this Operation a great many dashes of water fly about enough to put out a Candle ib. Tartarum Vitriolatum made with Rectified Oyl of Vitriol is not so white as that made with the Spirit 114. but when Oyl of Vitriol is used the Ebullition is the greater 115. V. Vegetation from a mixture of Volatile salt and Sulphur 7 8. the fixt salt that lies in the ashes of Vegetables does fructifie by being Porous 7. Vinegar it s Alkalized or Radical spirit proved to be only the more Phlegmatick part of distilled Vinegar 107. Vipers their venom caused by Acid salts 135. the natural acidity of the bloud not capable of causing any such Venemous Coagulation as Vipers do 135 136. their Volatile salt how Rectified and why 136. Vitriol the Redness of it Calcin'd proved not to proceed from any Copper therein contained 91 92. some of its Spirit always flyes away through the Junctures use what care you can 93. German Vitriol yields more but not so good spirit as the English 93. its Oyl being mixed with its Acid Spirit or with water or some Ethereal Oyl as Oyl of Turpentine why it causes so violent a Heat and Ebullition 93 94. This not to be explicated by the notions of Acid and Alkali but by fiery particles contained in the Oyl 94. an excellent Experiment to prove its Oyl full of fiery parts 94 95. Volatile salts when proper to be used and when not 126. many of these Volatile salts drawn Acid as they were in the mixt 139. W. Water Queen of Hungaries water how readily made upon the spot 105. the Rosemary Flowers in it though Volatile in their nature yet require a Digestion to draw out their virtue 106. why plain water can Precipitate Bismuth Lead and Antimony but can't precipitate Gold Sylver or Mercury 32. Wax its spirit an Acid Volatile salt like the Salt of Amber 138. This Distillation and that of Amber prove all the Salt of mixt bodies to be naturally Acid and Alkali's to be nothing but mutations made by fire 139. Wine that which is clear and freed from Lees and Tartar will sowre and turn into a weak Vinegar but this by reason of a Tartar contained in its Principles 106. and the Air thought to communicate some Acidity to Wine 107. The Authors way of drawing its Spirit vindicated 103 104. FINIS
wonderful effects Now although I have asserted that Gold taken alone does not receive any change as for health yet I value very much several preparations of Gold made with Spirits for 't is these Spirits that give certain determinations to Gold according to their nature and make it operate as it does When I speak of Aurum Fulminans I shall give an instance of what I now say Add to Pag. 29. The last line of the Remarks upon Aurum Fulminans We need not fear lest Aurum Fulminans taken inwardly and heated by the stomach should cause such a Detonation there as it does when set over the fire in a spoon for so much the more moisture as comes to it so much the less noise does it make Now it can't be question'd but there is liquidity enough in the stomach besides the liquid vehicle 't is usually given in There is no need then of calling in the acids of the stomach as some do to unite with the salts of Aurum Fulminans and drive them out of the body of this Metal for besides that the most clear and disinterested Explications and such as fall most under our sense ought always to be preferr'd 't would be too hard a matter to maintain that 't is true if you wet Aurum Fulminans with the spirit of Vitriol or Salt or Sulphur the Fulmination is thereby hindred but this happens from the acids fixing by their weight the Volatility of those Salts that remain in the Pores of the Gold In the Chapter of Gold I could reckon up several other Preparations that have been invented but because they are out of use I shall not swell this Book with an account of them Add to pag. 51. Remarks upon the Magistery of Bismuth You must use a large Bolt-head to dissolve the Bismuth in because the great Ebullition that happens as soon as Spirit of Niter is cast upon it requires room to move in You must likewise have a care as much as you can of receiving the Vapours at your Nose or Mouth for they are very offensive to the breast This quick and violent Ebullition proceeds from the acids quick penetration of the large pores of Bismuth as soon as thrown upon it and the acid violently divides all that opposes its motion It happens also that the Bolt-head grows so hot that one can't endure ones hand upon it because the points of the Menstruum do chafe against the solid body of Bismuth with such force that you may observe from thence much the same heat as when two solid bodies are rub'd against one another Add to this that the great store of igneous particles contained in Spirit of Niter may much increase this heat If the Dissolution becomes turbid through some impurities in the Bismuth you must pour into it about twice as much Water and filter it for if you should go to filter it without Water it would coagulate like salt in the Filter and not pass through This Coagulation proceeds from the acid spirits of Niter that are included in the particles of Bismuth which finding too little liquor to swim in and disperse do gather together into Crystals when the dissolution is cold This Magistery may be made by pouring in great quantity of Fountain water without any salt into the dissolution but it is made the quicker when you use salt and the Precipitation is the better because salt does encounter and break some of the acids that water alone was not able to weaken sufficiently Now some difficulty appears here in conceiving how plain water alone comes to precipitate Bismuth Lead Antimony which the acid had dissolv'd and yet can do nothing at all to the Precipitating Gold Sylver or Mercury without the assistance of some salt or other body I do imagine that the former having large Pores Acids can stick so close in them that water may force them out but Gold Silver and Mercury having finer Pores in comparison than the other do retain acids so very closely that the weak impulses of water alone can make no separation some more active body is requisite to do it The Augmentation which happens to Bismuth when made into a Magistery does come from some part of Spirit of Niter that remains still in it notwithstanding the Precipitation and Lotion Add to pag. 52. Chap. Of Lead Lead serves to Purifie Gold and Sylver and may be said to act in the Coppell much after the same manner as the white of an Egg does in Clarifying a Syrop that 's boyled in a Bason for as the gross and terrestrious impurities of a Syrop do stick to the white of an Egg by reason of its glutinous nature and are driven to the sides of the Bason in the stirring so do the Hetèrogeneous parts that were mixt with Gold and Sylver stick unto the Lead and by the fire are driven to the sides of the Coppell like unto a Scum Add to pag. 53. Remarks upon Calcination of Lead There happens an observation in the Calcination of Lead as well as several other things which very well deserves some reflection 'T is that although the Sulphurous or Volatile parts of Lead fly away in the Calcination which loss should indeed make it weigh the less nevertheless after a long Calcining 't is found that instead of losing it increases in weight Some trying to explicate this Phaenomenon do say that as long as the violence of the flame does open and divide the parts of the Calx of Lead the acid of the Wood or other matter that burns does insinuate into the pores of this Calx where 't is stopt or fixt by the Alkali but this reason will not hold when 't is considered that this Augmentation comes to pass as well when Lead is Calcin'd with Coals as Wood for Coals contain only a fixt Salt that rises not at all 'T is better therefore to refer this effect to the disposition of the pores of Lead in such a manner that part of the fire insinuating into them does there remain imbodied and can't get forth again whence the weight comes to be encreased If you would revive this Calx of Lead by way of Fusion its parts do squeez and express the igneous particles that were inclosed and the Lead does thereby weigh less than it did when reduced into a Calx for by this means the Sulphureous parts are separated and lost Add to pag. 60. Remarks upon the Burning Spirit of Saturn If you use six ounces of Salt of Saturn in your Distillation you 'l draw an Ounce and six drachms of liquor and there will remain in the Retort six ounces and six drachms of a blackish and yellow matter and if you put this matter into a Crucible setting it in the fire 't will melt and you 'l regain four ounces of Lead and half an ounce or it may be six drachms of a yellow earth coloured like Litharge of Gold 'T is evident from this Operation that an ounce and six drachms of the 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
as well by reason of the different nature of the salts it is compounded of as the Oyly earth that holds them together but it will dissolve in distilled Vinegar and several other Acid liquors and then an Effervescency rises because the Acid does penetrate the salt of Tartar whose parts sea-salt had no power to separate Add to pag. 169. lin 30. Remarks upon Spirit of Salt Since I writ of Monsieur Seignett's particular way of drawing spirit of salt some have Printed that if common salt well decrepitated and kept a good while over the fire were exposed to the Air for some daies and distilled without addition of any thing to it it would yield a spirit much like that I have spoken of and in full as great a quantity But if we examine the sharp liquor which is drawn this way we shall find it of so weak a nature that it may more reasonably be called Phlegm than spirit and the salt remains entire in the Retort whereas M. Seignett's spirit of salt is full as strong as common spirit of salt has the very same qualities nay I conceive it somewhat better as not having so great an Impression from fire as the other Again some say it does not deserve the name of spirit of sea-salt nor ought this Preparation to be look'd upon as any great mystery because the same incorporation and augmentation happens to divers other salts exposed to the Air after drawing off their spirit I grant this augmentation proceeds from the spirit of the air and I conceive it is the same spirit which produces all manner of things according to the Matrixes or different pores of the earth it uses to meet with as I have explicated in my Remarks upon the Principles But because this spirit of the air has met with Pores in our matter ready disposed to make a salt much like unto common salt and a spirit is drawn from it much like unto that which is drawn from common salt I see no reason to doubt why this spirit should not be a true spirit of salt all the difference is this the salt I now speak of is not so throughly united to its earthy part as common salt is and therefore its spirits do separate with more ease for they are drawn without Addition of any thing else and with a gentle fire whereas those of common salt are so fixt that they can't be driven out without mixing a great deal of earth in order to separate all its parts and without a very great fire As for the Augmentation which happens to many other bodies exposed to the Air after their spirits are drawn off I don't question the matter of fact nor that these same substances do return into what they were before by impregnating again with spirits of the Air in considerable time but it is rarely found that any of them do yield as strong spirits and as easily as our salt and herein lies the mystery Add to pag. 170. lin 12. in the same Remarks Some have written that the Precipitation which is made by spirit of salt of any matter held up by Aqua fortis must not be imputed to the gravity nor force of spirit of salt nor to any conflict or jogg that this spirit gives to Aqua fortis or the matters dissolved but rather to the conjunction of the Acidity of this spirit with the Volatile and Sulphureous Alkali of Aqua fortis or spirit of Niter which Acid hereby forces this last to abandon the metal it had dissolved But this is the same as to explicate an obscure matter by another more obscure for what likelihood is there that the Volatile spirit of Aqua fortis is an alkali and how comes it to continue in so great a motion with the fixt Acid spirit of this water without being destroyed this can't easily be understood Again suppose this spirit were an alkali we must come to explicate mechanically by what reason this Alkali does leave the body of the metal to betake it self unto the spirit of salt for to say simply that by the conjunction of these two spirits the Aqua fortis is compelled to abandon the metal it held dissolved does give no light at all to the question unless we had power enough to bestow intelligence upon these spirits wherefore we must needs at last have recourse to joggs and conflicts Add to pag. 171. lin 16. Chap. 15. Of Niter or Salt-peter The great and violent flame which happens as soon as Salt-peter is flung upon the Coals and the red vapours which it uses to yield when reduced into a spirit have induced the Chymists generally to believe that this salt is inflammable and consequently full loaded with Sulphur because sulphur is the only Principle that flames but if they had suspended their judgments herein until they had got more experience on this Subject they would not only have known that Salt-peter is not at all Inflammable by nature but they would e'en have doubted whether or no any sulphur does enter into the natural composition of this salt for if Salt-peter were Inflammable of it self like sulphur it would burn in places where there is no sulphur for example in a Crucible heated red hot in the fire but it will never flame therein use what quantity of it you please and let the fire be never so great It is true indeed if you throw Salt-peter upon kindled coals it makes a great flame but this is only through the Sulphureous Fuliginosities of the coals which are violently raised and rarified by the Volatile nature of Niter as I shall prove in the Operation upon fixt Niter As for any sulphur that is thought to be contained in Salt-peter it can't be demonstrated by any Operation whatever for the red vapours that come from it are no more Inflammable than the Niter when they are not mixt with some Sulphureous matter and it is far more probable that this salt contains no Sulphur if we consider its cleanness transparency acidity and cooling quality which have no manner of affinity with the effects of Sulphur which are commonly to make a body opace to joyn with its acidity and to heat it Add to pag. 177. l. 26. Remarks upon Sal Polychrestum Sal Polychrestum must by no means be used until it is made very white and very pure for when there remains any gross portion of Sulphur Vertigoes are to be feared and stupefaction of the Nerves and nauseonsness of the stomach If you used sixteen ounces of purified Salt-peter and so much sulphur in this Operation you 'l have at last but three ounces and a half of Sal Polychrestum very fine but if you use common Salt-peter instead of purified you 'l have five ounces of Polychrestum as white as the other This difference of weight proceeds from common Salt-peters containing more fixt salt than purified salt-peter Sal Polychrestum may be Crystallized like salt-peter and other salts Its Crystals are very small and much like those
end of the Operation because there remain but few Volatile parts of Niter the Detonation is much the less and so is the flame until at last the Coals finding nothing more in salt-peter for it to raise do burn only just as they use to do all alone If you make use of common salt-peter for this Operation you 'l have occasion to use but three ounces and a half of Coals and you 'l get twelve ounces of Purified salt but if you use fine salt-peter you must spend seven ounces of Coals and will get but three ounces of purified salt This difference of weight proceeds from the fine salt-peters containing more Volatile parts than the other likewise a great deal more Coals is required to raise them and there remains the less fixt salt for the same reason The fixt Niter being prepared as I have shewed it is a little grey colour'd now to make it white you must Calcine it in a great fire stirring it in the Crucible all the while with a spatule when it shall have continued Red hot for above an hour it will become exceeding white You must then dissolve it in water filter the dissolution and evaporate the water and thus you have a very pure and white salt This salt is an Alkali being a mixture of the salt of Coals which is an Alkali and fixt salt-peter these two salts are so strictly united and mixed together in the Calcination that they make a Porous salt and such as is much like unto the fixt salt of Plants Not that there is an Alkali salt in salt-peter as Chymists will have it for give what Calcination or other Preparation you please to this Mineral salt without adding any thing to it not the least Alkali can be drawn from it and all that ever we can see in it is Acid. It is further Observable that the liquor of fixt Niter which has been made with common salt-peter being kept a year or a year and a half loses most of its activity as an Alkali so that it is no longer able to cause any such Ebullition with Acids as it could before it was so stale This accident can have no other cause than that the Pores of salt contained in the liquor do close up by little and little and the Acid salt of Niter does absorbe and destroy the Alkali which kept the Pores open But the same thing does not happen where the liquor of fixt Niter was made with Purified salt-peter because whereas a great deal of Coals was used in the fixing it and but little salt of Niter remained in it the Alkali must there predominate so powerfully that the Acid is not able to regain its strength This Experiment seems plainly to demonstrate that fixt Niter is only an Acid salt rendred Porous by the Alkali of Coals Some Chymists have thought fit to call the liquor of fixt Niter Alkahest that is an Vniversal dissolvent thinking it is capable to draw out the sulphureous substance of all mixt bodies Add to pag. 185. Chap. 16. Of Sal Armoniack The Artificial sal Armoniack is made at Venice and divers other places with five parts of Vrine one part of sea-salt and half a part of Chimney soot these three are boiled together and reduced into a Mass which being put into subliming Pots over a gradual fire it sublimes into a salt in the form we commonly see sal Armoniack Now in this sublimation the Volatile Alkali salts of Soot and Vrine do carry up as much sea-salt as they are able and do joyn so strictly together with this Acid salt that the mixture seems to be fixt The reason of this close union is that sea-salt being in form of points does insinuate into the Alkali salts and because it has not motion enough to separate the parts of these salts it gets within 'em and fills their Pores Add to pag. 190. the end of the Remarks upon Aqua Regalis It is Objected that if there is any heavy matter as it were intercepted between the Pores of Gold it must needs Precipitate of its self after the action of Aqua Regalis upon this metal which is a thing that does not happen I Answer that if the parts of Gold are heavy the Dissolvent is a gross body and very well proportioned to hold up those heavy parts and hinder them from Precipitating Others have opposed this Explication and have writ that if Aqua Regalis dissolves Gold and can't dissolve Sylver the reason of it is that the gross points of spirit of Niter or Aqua fortis are subtilized by the mixture of sal Armoniack and are rendred fit to enter into the small pores of Gold whereas the delicate Fabrick of these same points does not leave the necessary force nor motion to divide the parts of Sylver whose pores are a great deal bigger But this way of arguing does not agree with Experience for what likelihood is there that the points of spirit of Niter are so subtilized by the penetration and division of the parts of sal Armoniack or where shall we find any Example that after a considerable Effervescency of two salts met together in conflict the Acidity grows sharper than it was before this is a thing that can never be proved On the contrary every body knows well enough that no Effervescency happens but the acid is partly blunted or broken thereby Moreover the Argument supposes that spirit of Niter does break its subtilest points in violently contending with the sal Armoniack whereas in sal armoniack there are Alkali salts whose property it is to destroy acids I could further add here that the conjunction of salt with spirit of Niter should of necessity render its points more gross than they were and that the Crystals which are drawn by the use of aqua Regalis have their shape not so sharp as those that are drawn by aqua Fortis But that which I have said is so probable in its self and so easie to be convinced of if one takes never so little pains to consider it that I should but amuse the Reader to little purpose if I should offer to give any more proofs of it Neither do I find it convenient to make a long discourse in Explicating how Sylver which has lesser Pores is more susceptible of the impressions of Air and Fire than Gold which has larger seeing I have already supposed that the matter intercepted between the Pores of Gold is more compact and consequently more hard to separate than that of Sylver Add to pag. 194. Remarks upon another Preparation of the Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack together with its Flowers and Fixt Salt against Feavers You see by this Operation that eight ounces of Sal armoniack do contain at least four ounces and a half of Volatile salt The Volatile Spirit of Sal armoniack is only a dissolution of Volatile salt in water and if there is not Phlegm sufficient to dissolve all the Volatile salt there remains some part of it
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
slimy humors which caused Obstructions and it is for the same reason that Salt of Tartar does correct Senna and hinders it from griping for the substance of Senna being Viscous this does Rarifie it and make it work the quicker it may also serve to dissolve some viscous Phlegm that sticks to the Intestines which as it is going off causes griping pains Add to pag. 272. the last line in Remarks upon Magistery of Tartar or Tartar Vitriolated If you use two ounces of Salt of Tartar in this Operation you 'l draw two ounces and a half of Tartarum Vitriolatum This Augmentation comes from the more heavy and strong part of the Vitriol for the humidity that is Evaporated is very Phlegmatick You may here use the Rectified Oyl of Vitriol instead of the Spirit and then the less is requir'd because it is a stronger Acid but the Tartarum Vitriolatum will not be so white as when Spirit of Vitriol is used by reason of some Tincture that always remains with Oyl of Vitriol Rectifie it as much as you please Though some have written that if Tartarum Vitriolatum should be put into a Retort and actuated by fire one might draw Spirit of Vitriol as good as it was at first nevertheless 't is certain 't will not be so strong a Spirit for it has lost the most subtle part of its Acidity by encountring with the Alkali which may be easily judged both by the Taste and the Effects If by way of Curiosity you would search a little narrowly into this Operation and observe what happens during the Ebullition of Acid and Alkali you 'l find that a great many little dashes of water do fly about especially if the vessel is not placed too low and you hold a lighted Candle near it for they will be apt to put it out This Effect can have no other cause than the violent separation of the parts of Alkali by Acid which makes the watry part of this liquor sprinkle it self upwards it being on all sides furiously driven If you use Oyl of Vitriol the Ebullition is the greater and the heat the more considerable because its Acid being stronger it separates the parts of the Alkali body with more ease Now considering the Ebullition which happens between Acid and Alkali I have the less opinion of a Method that some follow which is to bathe a little the bodies that are to be Embalmed with Spirit of salt and then to put Salt of Tartar into the Embalming Powder for it is very likely that this Spirit of Salt which is an Acid by mixing with the Alkali salt of Tartar produces a Fermentation which may stir up the remaining humidity of the Carkass and make it enter into the Ingredients of the Powder and so instead of Preserving the dead body intire we may have reason to fear lest this Fermentation should rather hasten the dissolution of its parts Add to pag. 274. lin 27. in the same Remarks Leaven does encrease the Fermentation in Dough as being a Paste it self whose salts are made free by a long Fermentation these salts do joyn with those of the other Paste and assist them both to rarifie and dissolve The same thing may be said of divers other Acids which do cause a Fermentation But when the Acids have rarified the matter as much as they can they there lose their motion and then there happens a kind of Coagulation that is to say the matter returns into its first dimensions Again there is one effect of Acids which seems different from those I mentioned before and it is that they can preserve certain bodies that are put into them as salt preserves meat Thus when young Cucumbers Saxifrage Capers c. are set a steeping in Vinegar there happens no Fermentation at all and consequently no Corruption The reason of which is that the parts of Cucumbers and other things I mentioned being of a viscous nature the Acids do insinuate into them for to dissolve them but they have not motion there free enough to make their attacks and separate the parts so that the Acid of Vinegar does only fix it self in the Pores of these bodies and there Coagulate It is this Coagulation that hinders the Cucumbers from corrupting for these Acids do stop up their Pores and serve as so many little Peggs to keep the parts firm and quiet Sea-salt which is an Acid does preserve meat and several other things for the same reason but I have spoken something of that in the Remarks upon the Principles Add to pag. 276. the end of the same Remarks Another Objection may be made to what I have said touching Digestion it is that whereas I maintained that Acids do Dissolve when they abound and Coagulate when there are but few in a great deal of matter it should happen that Spittle should then be apter to Coagulate the Aliments in the stomach and cause indigestion than would a greater quantity of Acids for it seems according to my Discourse the more acids are found in a matter the more liable it must be to dissolve To resolve this difficulty which seems to be very considerable we must observe that the natural acids of Aliments taken into the stomach are sufficient to rarifie and dissolve those bodies which hinder their motion when they have been stirr'd up by Mastication or by some salt of the spittle which serves as a Leaven to them much after the same manner as the salts of Meal do rarifie the Paste when they are actuated by means of Trituration and Leaven together but now if there happens to be too much acid in the Aliments that are taken into the stomach they will have the same effect as Cucumbers and those other things I mentioned which preserve in Vinegar The acids will indeed endeavour to cut in pieces what stands in their way but having to do with parts too viscous and heavy they will soon lose all their motion and fix by their quantity and by their gravity the natural salt of these aliments as Vinegar fixes that of Cucumbers for whereas the acids do shut the Pores of the matter and keep them firm and quiet the natural salt can't be able to exalt so as to cause Fermentation or Digestion The reason then why a small portion of acids will cause Digestion in the stomach and a greater quantity will hinder it is that the small quantity will joyn with the natural salt of aliments and have its operation without stopping the Pores of the matter whereas a great store of acids will quite stop up the Pores of this same matter and hinder the motion of the natural salt for it is not enough that there are a great many acids to cause a dissolution these acids must have room to move in and make their attacks Thus these Effects make nothing against what I asserted concerning acids for a greater quantity of them will always have more disposition and tendency to a dissolution but if this great quantity does
sulphureous matters are drawn Acid as they were de facto in the mixt because being cloathed with soft and ramous parts which give way easily to their motion they do not break their natural keenness in endeavouring to separate when they are forced by fire and so they do not receive so much terrestrious and fiery matter as is requisite to make them Porous like Volatile Alkali's Methinks this Operation and the Distillation of Amber which I have described do much confirm what I said before in my Remarks upon the Principles that all the salt of mixt bodies is naturally Acid and that Alkali is nothing else but a mutation made by fire Besides all sorts of Experiments do seem to me to confirm and establish this Opinion but yet I am not so peremptory in the vindication of it but would gladly give place to another if I could be shewed that it is better than mine for I seek after nothing else but real Truth Neither would I have it thought I am so full of Vanity as to vaunt my self for the first Author of this Opinion of many other thoughts and of all the wayes of Operation that are to be found in my Book as if for certain they were never writ before for although I can assure my Reader that they are dictates of my own conception and that I have not searched into any Author whatsoever to find them out it may have hapned nevertheless and I am willing to think so that many others besides my self may have thought and written the same things that I have done and with more order and decorum All the glory therefore that I am desirous to reserve unto my self upon this occasion is that I have had the fortune to fall into the same reflexions as many Ingenious persons have done before me without consulting any of them FINIS AN INDEX OF THE MORE Material REMARKS IN THIS APPENDIX A ACid and Alkali their nature discoursed of at large Page 14 15. All Bodies that Ferment with Acids are not compounded of an Alkali salt as Pearle Coral c. but are themselves Alkali's 13. An Alkali after its conflict with Acids remains no longer Alkali 16 17. No Alkali salt in Animals 17. Choler no Alkali 18. The notions of Acid and alkali cannot explicate the Heat and Ebullition which proceeds from mixing spirit of Niter with spirit of Wine 80. The Oyl of Turpentine with Oyl of Vitriol occasions the same difficulty ib. How these Ebullitions are to be explicated 81. Why Acids can preserve certain bodies put in them as Salt preserves meat 116 117. Alchymy an excellent definition of it 27. Aloes its Tincture how drawn 130. Alom its spirit as good and strong as spirit of Vitriol 96. Amber where found 97. its Tincture how made 98. its Volatile salt how drawn 99. Ambergrease where found 101. Antimony Emetick by reason of a saline sulphur it contains 59 60. its Regulus Calcined weighs more than it did before 60. and this Augmentation from the addition of Fire into its body ib. whence proceeds the Star that is seen in its Martial Regulus 61 62 63. Aqua-Fortis its spirit no wayes alkali 75. Arcanum Corallinum how Prepared 54. Astrological Fancies about the correspondence of Metals and the Planets divers of them confuted 22 23. Judicial Astrology censur'd 62. Aurum Fulminans why it may be taken inwardly 30. B. Bismuth why in making its Magistery the Ebullition is so great and the Boulthead grows so hot 31. its Magistery may be made without using Salt in the Water but the Precipitation is better and quicker with Salt 32. C. Colour proved to be no real thing but only to depend on the Modification of parts by divers Experiments on Red Precipitate 55 56 several Experiments upon Colours 95 96. Copper why Water or other liquor that 's heated or boiled in Copper vessels a whole day together if not remov'd from off the fire savours not so much of the Copper as other Water boil'd in a like vessel and remov'd from the fire but an hour 36 37 38. what liquors take its Impression sooner than others 38. Cautions in the use of Copper vessels ib. why a Kettle newly taken off the fire is not so hot at bottom as on the sides 39. Crocus Metallorum a certain sort called Magnesia Opalina 64. in the Preparation of the common sort of it ordinary Salt-peter being used yields more Crocus than the Purified Salt-peter and the reason why 64. that made with common Salt-peter is the Redder and nearer the colour of an Animals Liver 64. the preparation of it that may be given in a greater Dose not better than that which is given in a less 65. D. Digestion an Objection concerning it answer'd 117 118. Dissolvents to be used of the same nature with the substance you desire to dissolve 98 99. E. Emails what they are made of 40. Extractum Panchymagogum better drawn with a watry Menstruum than Spirit of Wine 131. In what Extracts Spirit of Wine should be used 132. F. Feavers and their principal symptoms explicated by what is spoken concerning acids 119 120. How Intermittent Feavers or Agues come to return regularly by Fits 121 122. G. Goddards Drops some account of their Process in the Preface Gold thought to be the end that Nature aims at in all her Mines 23. taken inwardly no real Cordial 27. nor receives any Influence from the Sun more than other things do ib. Stories to prove it a Cordial refuted 28 29 30. That there are Volatiles which can Sublime it away 29. Gold purified by Lead as the White of an Egg Clarifies a Syrop 33. the intercepted heavy matter between its Pores does not Precipitate of its self 86. an Objection answer'd 86 87. Guaiacum though a dry body yet yields much liquor 201. H. Hartshorn Burnt no Cardiack but only an alkali 137. Philosophically prepared it is but an ill Medicine ib. Haematites or the Bloud-stone how prepared 68. an Acid Spirit drawn from it ib. Sublimation of this stone 69. I. Ink how made to appear and disappear several times in Paper 90. Dried Roses with Vitriol will make as black an Ink as that made with Galls 90. and so will divers other things 91. Iron differs from the Loadstone but only in the figure of its Pores 40. Though it is an Acid Vitriolick Salt yet it remains an Alkali ib. Divers objections to prefer Steel before Iron for Physical uses answered at large 41 to 45. its Aperitive virtue partly from its salt and partly from its gravity 42. L. Lead though it loses much by its Calcination yet weighs heavier at last by addition of fiery particles into its body 33 34. in the distillation of its Burning spirit called Burning spirit of Saturn six drachms are taken out of the Retort more than were put in besides an ounce and six drachms more of liquor thence distilled 34 35. its Calx how revived 36. M. Metals how different from Minerals 21. seven in number ib. Mercury
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
would be extream hard working them out if nature had not so concurred The growth of Minerals is very different from that of Vegetables and Animals for whereas the former does happen through an agglutination of congeled waters as I have said the latter is performed by means of juyces that insinuate and spread in the vessels and fibres that Animals and Plants do consist of Metals do differ from Minerals in being malleable which the others are not They are counted seven Gold Sylver Iron Tinn Copper Lead and Quicksylver this last is not malleable of it self but is so mingled with the others but because this is thought to be the Seed of Metals 't is numbred with the rest Astrologers have conceited that there was so great an affinity and correspondence between the Seven Metals before named and the seven Planets that nothing happened to the one but the other shared in it they made this correspondence to happen through an infinite number of little bodies that past to and from each of them and they suppose these corpuscles to be so figured that they can easily pass through the pores of the Planet and Metal they represent but cannot enter into other bodies because their pores are not figured properly to receive them or else if they do chance to get admittance into other bodies they can't fix and stay there to contribute any nourishment for they do imagine that the Metal is nourished and perfected by the Influence that comes from its Planet and so the Planet again the same from the Metal For these reasons they have given these seven Metals the name of the seven Planets each accordingly as they are governed and so have called Gold the Sun Sylver the Moon Iron Mars Quicksylver Mercury Tinn Jupiter Copper Venus and Lead Saturn They have likewise fancied that each of these Planets has his day apart to distribute liberally his Influence on our Hemisphere and so they tell us that if we work upon Sylver on Munday Iron on Tuesday and so of the rest we shall attain our end much better than on other daies Again they have taught us that the seven Planets do every one govern some particular principal part of our bodies and because the Metals do represent the Planets they must needs be mighty specifick in curing the distempers of those parts and keeping them in good plight Thus they have assigned the Heart to Gold the Head to Sylver the Liver to Iron the Lungs to Tinn the Reins to Copper and the Spleen to Lead Thus you see in short what some of the soberest Astrologers do fancy concerning Metals and they draw consequences from hence which 't would be too long here to relate I have told you what the soberest among them say for nothing can be so absurd as what some of them would have us believe 'T is no hard matter to disprove these conceits and shew how groundless they are for no body ever yet got near enough to the Planets to satisfie himself whether they are really of the same nature with Metals or whether any Effluviums of bodies do fall from them to us Nevertheless some can conceit that these things are proved by Experience but in truth there 's nothing to confirm their Opinion and we find it every day plain enough that the Faculties and Virtues are utterly false which they do attribute to the Planets and Metals the Metals indeed are of good use in Physick and excellent Remedies may be drawn from them but their effects may better be explicated by Causes near at hand than the Stars Add to Pag. 19. Lin. 10. Gold is found in Mines in several places both in Europe and other parts of the World it is usually attended with Water and very hard stones such as are extream hard to dig there are likewise several stones that contain particles of Gold such as are called Golden Marcassites the Lapis Lazuli and Lapis Armenus Covetousness that has always prevail'd on the minds of men has not forborn to possess the Chymists in hopes to make Gold they have conceited that the production of Gold was the End that Nature always aims at in all her Mines and that she 's hindred in her design as oft as she produces other Metals which are called Imperfect And upon this fancy they have spared no time nor pains nor cost in exalting and perfecting these other Metals and turning them into Gold this is that which they call the Grand Operation of all or the search after the Pholosphers stone Some of them to compass their End do make a mixture of Gold with such other matters as serve to purifie them from their grosser parts and work their Preparations with great fires others do put them a Digesting in Spirituous liquors in imitation of Nature that always uses a gentle Heat in her Operations and so do reduce them into a state of Corruption to draw thereby their Mercury which they think to have the aptest disposition to turn into Gold Others again do search after the seed of Gold in Gold it self and these make no doubt to find it there as the seed of a Vegetable is more likely to be found in the Vegetable it self than otherwhere in order to this they open the body of Gold by proper Dissolvents then set it a digesting either by a Lamp-fire or the heat of the Sun or that of Dung or some other degree of Fire to be kept all along at an equal height and such as is nearest to a Natural heat and this to draw out the Mercury of Gold for they are perswaded that if they could once obtain this same Mercury sowing it in the Earth it would bring forth Gold as certainly as a seed does a Plant. Another sort of these men do take wonderful pains to find out the seed of Gold in Minerals as in Antimony for example thinking there 's a sulphur and Mercury in it as like to those in Gold as can be Others hope to find it out in Vegetables and things that come from them as in Honey Manna Sugar Wine Rosa solis Rosemary spleenwort And others are hot after it in Animals and in their Gums Bloud Urin. But the most Curious and delicate of all who think all the rest but Fools in comparison with them do hunt after the seed of Gold in the Sun and in the Dew for the wisdom of Astrologers has found out that the Sun is a Body all of Gold melted in the Center of the World and Coppel'd by the fire of the stars that environ it about nay they dare affirm that this same Gold when it was a purifying did sparkle as Gold does in the Coppel I should never make an end of this subject if I should speak of the labours and pains watchings vexations and frettings and especially the cost these unfortunate men do plunge themselves into in following their several fancies they are so extremely prepossessed with the conceit of becoming Rich all of a sudden that they