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
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
Acid parts of Vinegar are sufficient to impregnate four ounces and two drachms of Lead to reduce it into Salt but the strangest thing that happens to it is the great change that Acids do give it insomuch that 't is not to be known again in the least The Augmentation that the Lead in the Retort does here receive is as plain as may be for six drachms are taken out of it at last more than were put in of Salt of Saturn besides an ounce and six drachms of liquor that were drawn out So that we must necessarily conclude that the four ounces and two drachms of Lead are grown encreased two ounces and an half 'T is probable enough that the more rarified the Lead becomes the more capable 't will be of igneous particles for although the Salt of Saturn is not suffer'd to remain long in the fire yet the Lead encreases apace Possibly it may be that as fast as the Acids go out of it igneous bodies enter in their place and open likewise the Pores of Lead by their nimble motion but these Pores must needs be so disposed as to shut again like valvules and hinder the return back of those fiery parts When this Calx is Calcined in an open fire in a Crucible without stirring it the parts of Lead close together and expel the fiery particles so that the Lead revives as it was before and recovers its Natural gravity The matter when shut up in the Retort would never be able to revive let the fire be made never so strong because the igneous particles would find no liberty to get out The Yellow earth that 's found in the Crucible seems to be of a Golden colour 't is a terrestrious and bituminous impurity that the Lead is separated from There should be indeed but two drachms of it because four ounces of Lead are drawn off wherefore the Augmentation must needs be from the fiery parts that remained in it as in a Calx Add to pag. 61. Chap. 6. lin 7. Of Copper Because Copper contains in it a Corrosive quality I would advise no body to use it inwardly Copper takes Rust very easily for if you leave but a drop of Water some hours upon a piece of it it creates a Verdegrease Have a care of drinking water that has lain in Copper vessels for it always dissolves some portion of it which appears easily from the taste it leaves in it 'T will not be altogether amiss to make mention here of an effect that is no less strange than usual 'T is that Water or any other liquor that 's heated or boil'd in a Copper vessel for a whole day together savours not at all or not so much of the Copper provided 't is not remov'd off the fire all the time as other Water warm'd in a like vessel and put from the fire but an hour for whereas water alone can dissolve something of the Copper it would seem that being aided with the heat of the fire it should partake of its nature the more easily Now in my opinion this is the most rational explication that can be given of this matter Every body may perceive that when the water begins to heat in a Bason or other Copper vessel that 's set over the fire little Atoms do rise at bottom like the stirring of a powder and these Atoms do encrease according as the water receives more heat so that at length they make it boil a high these little Atoms can have no other cause than the fiery particles which passing through the Bason do drive the water upwards apace and rarifie its parts for this reason 't is that the water is not able to dissolve any of the Copper for being continually raised upwards it can make no impression upon the bottom of the Bason Perhaps some will tell me the liquor might take the impression of the Copper at the sides of the Bason but it is easie to imagine that though there don't pass through the sides so many fiery particles as do at the bottom there do pass nevertheless enough to hinder the liquor from sticking to or dissolving any particles of the vessel But now on the contrary the Bason being remov'd from off the fire and the motion of the igneous particles being quite ceased the liquor impregnates of the Coppery nature with ease nay and so much the more easily as the fire has rarified the metal and rendred it the more proper for dissolution Every thing seems to confirm this Opinion for if any liquor is put boiling over a strong fire in a Copper vessel 't will not impregnate in the least but if you place it upon a small fire and leave it so for some time then because there will not pass enough fiery particles to cover all the surface of the vessel and raise up the liquor 't will take some taste of Copper but this taste will not be so strong as if you had left it the same length of time in such a vessel off the fire after it had been warm'd Liquors that are full of Salts do take the impression of Copper much more easily than those that are not Thus Confectioners do take notice of what I have mentioned for though they boil their Confections in vessels of Copper for a considerable time they find 'em taste nothing of the Copper but they know that if they should leave them but half an hour in the vessel taken off the fire they would be tainted with a most loathsom Copper taste We may learn from this Discourse not to use a Copper vessel when we have a mind to boil or heat a liquor gently and when we do think fit to use it to be sure to keep a good brisk fire underneath and not to let what we have boil'd cool afterwards in a vessel of this nature Another difficulty does here offer it self on this subject and it is to know why a Kettle that has been taken off the fire is not so hot at bottom as at the sides so that assoon as 't is removed from off the fire one may touch it at bottom without burning ones finger which can't de done at the sides without present scalding The reason of which is that the fiery particles tending upwards through the bottom of the kettle which is flat in a direct line don't make any stop in passing through having but a little distance to conquer before they come into the liquor but those that rise on the sides finding a longer space to make upon the kettle do many of them stop in the pores of the Copper 'T is not the same thing in Kettles that are made in another form whose bottom is Globular because the fiery particles rising up in an indirect line do find more to do to pass it through than in a flat bottom and so by consequence more of them do stop in the vessel it self Yellow Copper is a mixture of Lapis Calaminaris and Copper and vessels that are made of it give
sulphurs of Antimony A Liver of Antimony is prepared with equal quantities of Antimony Niter and Sea-salt decrepitated and because these salts do give it a Red colour like unto the Opale this Preparation has been called Magnesia Opalina it is less Emetick than the other by reason of the addition of sea-salt which fixes the saline sulphur of antimony Several other ways of preparing the Liver of antimony have been invented but I am well enough satisfied in having given you the best of all and the easiest to prepare If you use ordinary salt-peter in this Operation you 'l obtain eight ounces and two drachms of Liver of antimony but if you use Purified salt-peter you 'l get but six ounces and a half This difference of quantity proceeds from the nature of salt-peter for the more Volatile parts this Mineral salt contains the more apt it is to carry off some parts of the antimony Now Purified salt-peter is much more Volatile than the common sort wherefore the Liver of antimony where it is used is in lesser quantity The Liver of antimony that 's made with common salt-peter is the Redder and comes nearer to the colour of an Animals Liver than that which is made with Purified salt-peter this happens through the fixt-salt which is in this Preparation more than in the other for common salt-peter contains much fixt salt as I shall shew in its proper place this salt does likewise make the matter the heavier As for the virtues of these Livers of antimony the difference is not very great but only that which is made with Purified salt-peter is a little more Emetick than the other I cannot pass by here the false imagination of some men who think that Preparation of the Liver of antimony of which half a drachm or two scruples may be given is much better than that whereof 3 or 4 grains perform the same effect for there 's no doubt but the taking so great a quantity of antimony will give an impression to the stomach that a lesser quantity is not able to do Furthermore seeing these Preparations do commonly open the antimony but little or half fix the saline sulphurs it is to be feared lest some salt they may meet with in the Stomach should open them too much or Volatilize them and so produce unhappy consequences Add to pag. 141. Chap. 11. Of Quick-lime When the stone that Quick-lime is made of is grown red hot in the Furnaces the Workmen have a special care to keep up the fire at an equal height until the stone is quite Calcin'd for if the flame which has begun to burn among the stones should be suffered to lessen for a while and so the heat be check't before the end of the work they would never afterwards be able to make Quick-lime with those stones any more though they should be at the charge of burning fifty times as much Wood as is commonly required and this because in that interval of heat the Pores of the stone which were begun to be opened do close and shut and the matter sinks down in a lump to the destruction of the whole And then again the Flame can't rise in it any more for it finds none of those interstices or spaces between which were frequent before for it to pass through The matter therefore is rendred uncapable of receiving the fire any more because all the small cells that were useful for it are shut up and destroyed in this confusion 'T is Objected that if igneous bodies were they that caused the Corrosion of Quick-lime Tiles Bricks and all Stones that are not of the nature of Lime-stone and Iron Copper Silver Gold and many other bodies should be as Caustick as Quick-lime after having endured the fire as long if not longer than it But this does not follow for Tiles and other Calcined stones have not the Pores disposed like those of Quick-lime to retain fiery particles and if some metals are found to impregnate with them during their Calcination they are known to retain them so well by the solidity of their parts that neither the heat nor moisture of the flesh are able to draw them out of the places they are fixt in to cause a Corrosion upon the part It is easie here to give you an example for if you take the Calx of Lead that encreased its weight in the Calcination as I have said before and steep it in water the water will not act at all upon it and the Calx may be taken from the water in the same weight it was put in you must melt it by fire if you would separate the igneous bodies but now as for common Quick-lime a small matter of moisture is able to separate the tender parts of the stone and drive out the fiery particles in abundance 'T is said likewise that the boiling of the water which happens when flung upon quick-lime must not be imputed to fiery bodies seeing neither spirit of Wine nor Oyl when thrown upon it do hear or stiâ— as all although they are both of them Inflammable bodies nay on the contrary they are observed to quench the hear that uses to happen to quick-lime when water comes to it I Answer that these effects do proceed from this that Oyl spirit of wine and other Sulphureous liquors of the same nature instead of separating the parts of quick lime as water does do rather hinder any separation from being made by stopping up the Pores That which withdrew me from the Sentiment of those who will have all the effects of quick-lime derived from its salt was that I could never find any of it though I sought after it with care enough for some through a mistake do take a certain Bituminous scum which often swims upon the Lime-water for a Salt Neither can I be of the opinion of those who will needs have an Acid to be in quick-lime which being drawn out by the water and meeting an Alkali does cause the Effervescency which is observed when water is poured upon quick-lime for although according to appearance an acid does enter into the Natural composition of the stone that quick-lime is made of this acid has lost its nature noâ— only by breaking its poiâ—â—â— in its strict union with earth at the Petrification but also in the violent Calcination that is given to this stone to reduce it to a Calx So that we may here say the same thing happens to the acid which enters into the composition of the stone as I have said did happen to the salt of Vegetables and other mixt bodies which though naturally an acid salt changes into an alkali by means of its union with earth and the fiery particles in time of the Calcination there is only this difference between them both the acid of the stone is mixed with more earth than the salt of Vegetables Add to pag. 152. chap. 13. Of the stone Haematites The stone Haematites is called the Bloud-stone either from its stopping bloud or
of sea salt but only they are keener Add 10 pag. 179. Remarks on Salt of Sulphur Some have presumed to write that when spirit of sulphur is poured upon Sal Polychrestum dissolved in Water there rises an Effervescency as great as when the same Acid spirit is cast upon salt-peter but doubtless they took but little care in what they maintained for there happens no manner of Effervescency neither with Sal polychrestum nor with salt-peter for both of them are Acid salts Nor do I see any reason to believe that if the mixture of salt-peter and spirit of Sulphur is drawn in a Retort the spirit of Niter will come forth and leave the spirit of Sulphur in union with the fixt part of salt-peter for although red vapours are seen to come forth of the Retort this does not prove that they are purely Nitrous those of the spirit of Sulphur are mixt with them but they are hid in the redness like Water in Wine Add to pag. 182. after Spirit of Niter Spirit of Niter Dulcified Put into a large Boulthead eight ounces of good spirit of Niter and so much spirit of Wine well dephlegmated set your Boulthead in the Chimney upon a Round of Straw the liquor will grow hot without coming near the fire and half an hour or an hour afterwards it will boil very much have a care of the red vapours that come out a-pace at the neck of the Boulthead and when the Ebullition is over you 'l find your liquor clear at bottom and to have lost half what it was pour it into a Viol and keep it this is the sweet spirit of Niter It is good for the Wind Cholick and the Nephritick for Hysterical distempers and for all Obstractions its Dose is from four to eight drops in Broth or some other convenient liquor Remarks You must leave the Boulthead open for the Vapours would either carry away the Stopple if there were one or else they would break the vessel the Boulthead is so hot during the Ebullition that one can't endure ones hand upon 't The Heat and Ebullition begin sooner or later according as the Spirits that are used have been more or less dephlegmated This Effect is very strange for spirit of Niter being a strong Acid and Spirit of Wine a sulphur it can't be said that there 's here any alkali to cause the Ebullition with Acid according to the common maxime And this Operation shews us that every thing can't be explicated by the sole Principles of Acid and alkali as some do pretend This Operation has much resemblance with that which happens when Oyl of Turpentine is put into a bottle with Oyl of Vitriol for the mixture of these liquors does heat and boil much alike I shall say something of this last mixture hereafter There is this difference notwithstanding that spirit of Niter being more Volatile than Oyl of Vitriol causes a greater Effervescency In order therefore to explicate this Ebullition two things must be considered First that spirit of Niter contains a great many fiery parts lock't up in its Acidity but which still retain some motion for 't is they that make spirit of Niter to Fume as it does The second is that spirit of Niter is more Inflammable than salt-peter when mixed with any sulphureous body and the reason thereof is that it is more rarified than salt-peter Thus when this Acid spirit is mixt with spirit of Wine which is a sulphur very much exalted and very susceptible of motion the Volatile part of the spirit of Niter joyns its self to this sulphur and the mixture becomes ready to take flame likewise after this mixture the fiery bodies that were in Spirit of Niter do by striving to mount upwards put the liquor into so great a motion that it e'en almost flames and would without all question quite flame if there were not some Phlegm always mixed with these spirits let 'em be drawn never so pure which serves to allay the activity of the fiery particles so that there must needs follow a very great Ebullition This Effervescency therefore proceeds from this that spirit of wine and spirit of Niter which are as it were a salt-peter and highly exalted sulphur have been almost kindled into a flame by the fiery bodies that were in spirit of Niter and that which further proves this conception is a noise or kind of Detonation during the Effervescency which is much like that which happens when sulphur and salt-peter are burnt together The great diminution of the liquor proceeds from the Evaporation of the more Volatile parts of the Spirits of wine and Niter through the neck of the Boulthead during the Ebullition That which remains is a well sweetned spirit of Niter for not only its points are soundly blunted in the Ebullition but the spirit of wine being a sulphur unites and imbodies with those that remain so that they have no longer any Corrosive quality Add to pag. 182. Remarks upon Aqua Fortis The mixture of Vitriol and salt-peter has quickly some smell of Aqua fortis because Vitriol contains a great deal of sulphur which easily insinuates into the Volatile part of salt-peter and exalts some little of it which causes the smell it is this sulphur in Vitriol which by volatilizing the Red spirit of Niter makes it come forth faster and with a less fire than when salt-peter is distilled with Clay Add to pag. 184. Remarks upon the Fixation of Salt-peter into an Alkali Salt The Crucible must be but half full of salt-peter because the Detonation is so great that the matter would be driven out of the Crucible if too much be put in When the Crucible is not very strong it breaks in pieces about the middle of the Operation and some part of the matter is lost by it This Detonation is more violent than that which is made with a mixture of salt-peter and common sulphur because the sulphur of Coals is more Rarified than common sulphur Niter will never be able to flame when set over the fire alone in a Crucible though you make your fire never so strong and coals though loaded with fuliginous or Oyly parts do send forth but only a small blew flame but when these two bodies come to be mixt together the Volatile parts of Niter joyning with the Coals which are Oyly do rarify and exalt the Coals with such a violence that they produce a very great flame Now this Operation confirms my Opinion that salt-peter does only serve here to Rarifie the flame of sulphur but cannot send forth the least flame of its self seeing that as soon as ever the coals you put into the Crucible are burnt the flame goes out and appears no more until you throw in more Coals with which a convenient proportion of the Volatile parts of salt-peter that still remained does joyn and Rarifie them into a flame Thus new Coals are successively thrown into the Crucible until it flames no longer but toward the
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
black This Colour proceeds from sulphureous Fuliginosities which rise more from this Vitriol than the other because it partakes of Copper for this Sooty vapour finding no vent to get out at falls down again upon the matter and blackens it There 's one thing happens about the Oyl of Vitriol when 't is very strong which is very strange indeed it is that if you mix it with its Acid Spirit or with water or else with an Ethereal Oyl such as the Oyl of Turpentine this mixture grows hot to that degree that sometimes it breaks the Viol 't was put into and often it produces a considerable Ebullition I should quickly give account of this heat and Ebullition if I would suppose an Alkali in the Oyl of Vitriol as those do who pretend to explicate every thing that happens by the notions of Acid and Alkali but not comprehending how an Alkali should be able to remain so long a time with so strong an Acid as is the Oyl of Vitriol without being destroyed I had rather give a reason that seems to me abundance more probable I conveive therefore that if water or Spirit of Vitriol or the Ethereal Oyl of Turpentine do heat the Oyl of Vitriol it is by setting in motion a great many fiery particles which the Oyl of Vitriol had drawn with it in the Distillation for these little fiery bodies being environ'd with salts that are exceeding heavy and hard to Rarifie they drive about vehemently whatsoever stands in their way and when they have caused an Ebullition and find they can't get out a-top of the Viol they break it to pieces with the bussle they make at bottom and on the sides Perhaps it will-be said I do here suppose gratis that the Oyl of Vitriol does contain fiery particles but if we consider the great violence of fire and the time that is spent in drawing this Acid 't will be no such hard matter to grant me this supposition Besides it will be hard to explicate the great and burning Corrosion of Oyl of Vitriol without admitting these fiery parts for the Vitriol contains nothing in it self of this Caustick nature 't is true indeed that it contains Phlegm Sulphur and Earth but it is a thing impossible but this Acid should discover it self more than it does if it were as Corrosive in the Vitriol as it is in the Oyl Once it hapned to me that putting into my Furnace a Retort whose two thirds were filled with German Vitriol dried in order to draw off its Spirits I Distilled first of all the Phlegm and sulphureous spirit which I took out of the Receiver I then fitted it again to the Retort and by a great fire continued for three dayes and three nights I distilled off the Acid Spirit as we are used to do When the Vessels were grown cold I admired to find in my Receiver nothing but a Mass of Salt or Congeal'd Oyl of Vitriol This Salt was so exceeding Caustick and burning that if I offer'd to touch the smallest part of it with my finger I presently felt an insufferable scalding and was fain to put my hand immediately into water it continued to fume still and when a little of it was thrown into water it made the same hissing noise as a fire-coal put into water would do Besides it heated the water very much and much more than common Oyl of Vitriol could If you fill a Glass Viol with the Decoction of Nephritick Wood clarified and observe it turning toward the Light it will appear Yellow but if you turn your back to the Light it will appear Blew if you mix with it some dregs of Spirit of Vitriol it will appear Yellow on every side but if you again and about as much more Oyl of Tartar it will return unto its first colour If you take a Blew or Violet tincture made in water such as is drawn out of the Sun-Flower or Violet Flowers and pour upon it some drops of Spirit of Vitriol it will presently turn Red but if you throw into it some Alkali salt it will recover again its former colour On the contrary if you pour an Alkali liquor such as Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack upon the Blew tincture it will presently turn Green and if you again pour upon it a little Spirit of Vitriol it will change this colour into an obscure Red. The Decoction of Indian Wood is very Red if you drop into it a little Spirit of Vitriol it will turn Yellow and if you still add some Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack it will become black All these changes of colour which the Spirit of Vitriol or other Acids and Alkali's do make proceed only from the different position of bodies dissolved in the liquor and from its disposition to modifie the Light different wayes Add to pag. 208. Remarks upon Distillation of Alom Some have written that Alom yields but very little Acid yet if they 'l but take the pains to keep up a strong fire under it for three dayes together they 'l find that this Spirit does not give place in strength or quantity to that of Vitriol Nor are we at all obliged to distinguish as they would have us the Acrimonious Corrosive salt of Alom from its Acid seeing that there is nothing either Acrimonious or Corrosive in this Mineral salt which will not turn into an Acid Spirit when it is driven forcibly by fire Add to pag. 211. Remarks upon Flowers of Sulphur If you mix one part of Sal Polychrestum with two pounds of Sulphur and sublime them together as those I have described you 'l have white Flowers of Sulphur which are thought to be better for distempers of the Breast than those others they are given in the same Dose This Whiteness proceeds from a very exact Attenuation which Sal Polychrestum gives to the Sulphur the Sal Polychrestum which remains at bottom of the Cucurbite may be Calcined and if you afterwards Purifie it by Dissolution Evaporation and Filtration it will be full as good as before Add to pag. 216. Chap. Of Amber Amber is to be found near the Baltick-sea in the Dutchy of Prussia and no where else Some do think Petroleum or Oyl of Peter to be nothing but a liquor drawn from Amber by the means of subterranean fires which make a distillation of it and that Jet and Coals are the remainders of this distillation This Opinion would have some resemblance of truth if the places where this Oyl is found were not so far distant the one from the other for Petroleum is usually found only in Italy as in Sicily and in Provence this Oyl Distills through the clefts of rocks and it is very probable to be the Oyl of some Bituminous matter which the subterranean fires had raised Tincture of Amber Powder finely five or six ounces of Yellow Amber and put it into a Boult head pour upon it spirit of wine four singers height stop this Boult-head with another to make a Circulatory
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
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-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