attain unto this oyle the later Physitians took great paines but all in vaine because they did not understand at all the Ancients about the preparing of this oyle but thought to get it by the force of fire and so using violent distillation they got no sweet oyle but such as was very sowre and corrosive which in taste efficacy and vertue was not comparable at all to the former However they ascribed unto it though falsely the same vertues which the ancients according to truth did unto theirs But daily experience sheweth that the oyle of vitriol as it is found ordinarily cureth no falling sickness nor killeth worms whereas this Philosophical doth it very quickly Whence it appeareth that the other is nothing like unto the true medicinal oyle of vitriol neither is it to be compared to it I must confess indeed that per descensum out of common vitriol by the force of the fire there may be got a greenish oyle which yet is not better then the other because it proveth as sharpe in taste and of as corroding a quality as if it had been distilled through a Retort Those that found out this oyle as Paracelsus Basilius and some few others did alwayes highly esteem it and counted it one of the foure maine pillars of Physick And Paracelsus saith expresly in his writings that its viridity or greenness must not be taken away or marred which indeed a very little heat can do by the fire for saith he if it be deprived of its greenness it is deprived also of its efficacy and pleasant essence Whence it may be perceived sufficiently that this sweet green oyle is not to be made by the force of the fire as hitherto by many hath been attempted but in vaine And it is very probable that the ancients which did so highly praise the oyle of vitriol happily knew nothing of this way of distilling which is used by us now a dayes for they only simply followed Nature and had not so many subtle and curious inventions and wayes of distilling But however it is certain that such a sweet and green oyle cannot be made of vitrioll by the force of the fire but rather must be done by purification after a singular way for the Ancients many times understood purification for distillation as it is evident when they say Distill through a filtre or through filtring paper which by us is not accounted for distillation but by them it was However this is true and very sure that a great Treasure of health or for the health of man lyeth hidden in Vitriol yet not in the common as it is sold every where and which hath endured the heat of the fire already but in the Oare as it is found in the earth or it s mine For as soon as it cometh to the day light it may be deprived by the heat of the Sun of its subtle and penetrating spirit and so made voyde of vertue which spirit if by Art it be got from thence smelleth sweeter then musk and amber which is much to be admired that in such a despicable mineral and gross substance as it is deemed to be by the ignorant such a royal medicine is to be found Now this preparation doth not belong to this place because we treat here only of spirits which by the force of fire are driven over Likewise also there doth not belong hither the preparation of the green oyle because it is made without the helpe of fire But in regard that mention hath been made of it here I will though I kept it alwayes very secret publish it for the benefit of the poor patients hoping that it will do much good to many a sick man For if it be well prepared it doth not only cure perfectly every Epilepsie or Convulsion in young and old and likewise readily and without faile killeth all worms within and without the body as the Ancients with truth ascribed unto it but also many Chronical diseases and such as are held incurable may be happily overcome and expelled thereby as the plague pleuresie all sorts of feavers and agues what ever they be called head-ach colick rising of the mother also all obstructions in the body especially of the spleen and liver from whence Melancholia Hypochondriaca the scurvy and many other intolerable diseases do arise Also the blood in the whole body is by the means thereof amended and renewed so that the Pox Leprosie and other like diseases proceeding from the infection of the blood are easily cured thereby Also it healeth safely and admirably all open sores and stinking ulcers turned to fistula's in the whole body and from what cause so ever they did proceed if they be anoynted therewith and the same also be inwardly used besides Such and other diseases more which it is needless here to relate may be cured successefully with this sweet oyle especially if without the loss of its sweetness it be brought to a red colour for then it will do more then a man dare write of it and it may stand very well for a Panacea in all diseases The preparation of the sweet oyle of Vitriol COmmonly in all sat soyles or clayie grounds especially in the white there is found a kinde of stones round or oval in form and in bigness like unto a pigeons or hens-egg and smaller also viz. as the joynt of ones finger on the outside black and therefore not esteemed when it is found but cast away as a contemptible stone Which if it be cleansed from the earth and beaten to peeces lookes within of a fair yellow and in streaks like a gold Marcasite or a rich gold Oare but there is no other taste to be perceived in it then in another ordinary stone and although it be made into powder and boyled a long time in water yet it doth not alter at all nor is there in the water any other taste or colour then that which is had first when it was powred upon the stone to be perceived Now this stone is nothing else but the best and purest Minera or Oare of Vitrioll or a seed of Metals for Nature hath framed it round like unto a vegetable seed and sowed it into the earth out of which there can be made an excellent medicine as followeth Take this Oare or Minera beaten into peeces and for some space of time lay or expose it to the coole aire and within twenty or thirty dayes it will magnetically attract a certain saltish moysture out of the aire and grow heavy by it and at last it falleth asunder to a black powder which must remaine further lying there still untill it grow whitish and that it do taste sweet upon the tongue like vitriol Afterward put it in a glass-vessel and poure on so much faire â—aine water as that it cover it one or two inches stirr it about several times in a day and after a few dayes the water will be coloured green which you must powre off and powre on more faire
are suddenly killed and most miserably destroyed What nimbler poyson then could there be invented I beleeve there is none who will not acknowledge it to be such And seeing that the ancient Philosophers and Chymists were alwayes of opinion that the greater the poyson is the better medicine may be made of it after it is freed from the poyson which with us their posterity proved true by many experiences as we see by Antimony Arsenick Mercury and the like minerals which without preparation are meer poyson but by due prepartion may be turned into the best and most effectual medicaments which though not every one can comprehend or believe yet your Chymists know it to be true and the doing of it is no new thing to them And because I treat in this second part of medicinal spirits and other good medicaments and finding that this which can be made out of the gunpowder is none of the least I would not omit in some measure and as far as lawfully may be done to set down its preparation which is thus performed How to make a spirit of Gunpowder YOur distilling vessel being made warm and a great receiver with sweet water in it being applyed to it without luting put a dish with gunpowder containing about 12. or 15. grains a peece one after another into it in the same manner as above was taught to do with gold For if you should put in too much of it at once it would cause too much winde and break the receiver As soon as you have conveighed it into the vessel shut the doore and the gunpowder will kindle and give a blast that it maketh the receiver stir and a white mist or steam will come over into the receiver As soon as the powder is burnt you may cast in more before the mist is settled because else the distilling of it would cost too much time and so you may continue to do untill you have spirit enough Then let the fire go out and the furnace grow coole and then take off the receiver poure the spirit with the water that was poured in before the flores being first every where washed off with it out of the receiver into a glass body and rectifie it in a B. through a limbeck and there will come over a muddy water tasting and smelling of sulphur which you must keep In the glass body you will finde a white salt which you are to keep likewise in the glass-body Take out the Caput Mortuum which remained in the distilling vessel and looks like gray salt calcine it in a covered crucible that it turn white but not that it melt and upon this burnt or calcined salt pour your stinking water which came over through the limbeck and dissolve the calcined white salt with it and the feces which will not dissolve cast away Filtre the solution and poure it upon the white salt which remained in the glass body from which the sulphureous spirit was abstracted before and put the glass body with a limbeck luted upon it into sand and abstract the sulphureous water from it which will be yellowish and smell more of sulphur then it did before This water if it be abstracted from the salt several times will turn white almost like unto milk and tast no more of sulphur but be pleasant and sweet It is is very good for the diseases of the lungs Also it doth guild silver being anoynted therewith although not firmely and by digestion it may be ripened and reduced into a better medicine The salt which remained in the glass body urge with a strong fire such as will make the sand wherein the glass standeth red hot and there will sublime a white salt into the limbeck in taste almost like unto salt Armoniack but in the the midst of the glass body you will finde another which is yellowish of a mineral taste and very hot upon the tongue These sublimed salts as well the white which did ascend into the limbeck as the yellow which remained in the glass body are good to be used in the plague malignant feavers and other diseases where sweating is required for they doe mightily provoke sweating they comfort and do cleanse the stomach and cause sometimes gentle stools But what further may be done in Physick with it I do not know yet In Alchymie it is also of use which doth not belong to this place upon the remaining salt which did not sublime you may pour rain water and dissolve it there in the glass body if it be whole still else if it be broken you may take out the salt dry and dissolve and filtre and coagulate it againe and there will be separated a great deal of saeces This purified salt which will look yellowish melt in a covered crucible and it will turn quite blood red and as hot as fire upon the tongue which with fresh water you must dissolve again and then filtre and coagulate by which operation it will be made pure and clear and the solution is quite green before it be coagulated and as fiery as the red salt was before its dissolution This grass green solution being coagulated again into a red fiery salt it may be melted again in a clean and strong crucible and it will be much more red and fiery N. B. And it is to be admired that in the melting of it many fiery sparks do flye from it which do not kindle or take fire as other sparks of coales or wood use to do This well purified red salt being laid in a cold and moist place will dissolve into a blood red oyle which in digestion dissolveth gold and leaveth the silver this solution may be coagulated and kept for use in Alchymie There may also a pretious Tincture be extracted out of it with alcolized spirit of wine which Tincture guildeth silver but not firmely And as for use in Physick it ought to be kept as a great Treasure But if the red fiery salt be extracted with spirit of wine before gold be dissolved therewith it will yeild likewise a faire red Tincture but not so effectual in Physick as that unto which gold is joyned And this Tincture can also further be used in Alchymie which belongeth not hither because we onely speak of medicaments Of the use of the medicine or Tincture made of the Gunpowder THis Tincture whether with or without gold made out of the red salt is one of the chiefest that I know to make if you go but rightly to work and prepare it well for it purifieth and cleanseth the blood mightily and provoketh also powerfully sweat and urine so that it may safely and with great benefit be used in the plague feavers epilepsie scurvy in Melancholia Hypochondriaca in the gout stone and the several kinds of them as also in all obstructions of the spleen and liver and in all diseases of the lungs and it is to be admired that of such a hurtful thing such a good medicine can be prepared Therefore
the subtlest spirits will come over and after them the phlegme at last a sowre vinegar together with the oyle whereof you must get each by it self But if you desire to have the subtle spirit which came over first more penetrating yet then you must take the Caput Mortuum that stayed in the retort and make it red hot in a crucible and abstract the spirit once more from it and the calcined Tartar will keep the remaining moystness or phlegme and onely the subtlest spirit will come over which is of a most penetrating quality whereof from half a dram to an ounce taken in wine or any other liquor provoketh a quick and strong sweat and it is a powerful medicine in all obstructions and most approved and often tryed in the plague malignant feavers scurvy Melancholia Hypochondriaca colick contracture epilepsie and the like diseases And not onely these mentioned diseases but also many others more which proceed from corrupt blood under God may successefully be cured with it The phlegme is to be cast away as unprofitable the vinegar cleanseth wounds the oyle allayeth swelling and pains and doth cure scabs and disperseth knobs that are risen upon the skin as also other excrescencies of the same if it be used timely and the use thereof be continued N. B. If the black stinking oyle be rectified from the calcined Caput Mortuum it will be clear and subtle and it will not only asswage very speedily all pains of the goute but also dissolve and expel the conglobated gravel in the reines applyed as a plaster or unguent In like manner it will dissolve and extract the coagulated Tartar in the hands knees and feet so that the place affected will be freed and made whole thereby because in such a despicable oyle there lyes hid a volatile salt which is of great vertue But if you desire experimentally to know whether it be so then poure upon this black stincking oyle an acid spirit as the spirit of common salt or of vitriol or salt nitre or only distilled vinegar and the oyle will grow warm and make a noyse and rise as if Aqua fortis had been powred upon salt of Tartar and the acid spirit will be mortified thereby and turne to salt And this well purified oyle doth dissolve and extract the Tartar out of the joynts unless it be grown to a hard stony substance even as sope scowres the uncleanness out of cloths or to compare it better even as like receiveth its like and is easily mixed with it and doth love it but on the contrary nothing will mixe it self with that wherewith it hath no affinity at all As if you would take pitch out of cloth by washing it with water which never will be done by reason of the contrary nature for common water hath no affinity with pitch or other fat things nor will it ever be taken out therewith without a mediator partaking of both natures viz. of the nature of pitch and that of the water and such are sulphureous salts and nitrous salts whether they be fixed or volatile As you may see at the soape-boylers who incorporate common water by the help of sulphureous salts with fat things as tallow and oyle But if you take warm oyle or any thin fat substance and put it upon the pitch or rozin then the oyle easily accepteth of and layes hold on its like and so the pitch is dissolved and got out of the cloth and the remaining fatness of the oyle may be fetcht out of the cloth with lye or sope and common water and so the cloth recovereth its former beauty and pureness And as it falleth out with the sulphureous things so it doth likewise with the Mercurial For example if you would take the salt out of powdred flesh or pickled fish with lixivium it would not succeed because that the nitrous and acid salts are of contrary natures But if upon the powdred flesh or pickled fish you poure on water wherein some of the same salt wherewithall the flesh was powdered is dissolved that salt water will extract the salt out of the flesh as being its like much more then common sweet water wherein there is no salt In this manner the hardest things also as stones and metals may be joyned or united with water whereof more in my other books are extant it is needless here therefore to relate I gave a hint of it onely for to shew that alwayes like with like must be extracted True it is that one Contrarium can mortifie another and take the corrosiveness from it whereby the paynes for a time are asswaged but whether the cause of the disease it self be eradicated thereby is a question Here may be objected that I made a difference between the sulphureous and Mercurial salts whereas neither Mercury nor sulphur apparently is to be seen in either It is true he that doth not understand nor know the nature of salts is not able to apprehend it And I have not time now to demonstrate it but the same is shewed at large in my book de Natura salium that some of them are sulphureous and some Mercurial but he that looks for a further direction yet let him read my book de Sympathia Antipathia rerum wherein he shall finde it demonstrated that from the Creation of the World to the time present there were alwayes two contrary natures fighting one against the other which fight will continue so long till the Mediator betwixt God and Man the Lord Jesus Christ shall put an end unto this strife when he shall come to separate the good from the bad by whose lightning and fire flame the proud and hurtful superfluous sulphur shall be kindled and consumed the pure Mercurial being left in the center How to make pretious spirits and oyles out of Tartar joyned with some minerals and metals TAke any metal or mineral dissolve it in a fit menstruum mix with it a due proportion of crude Tartar so that the crude Tartar being made into powder together with the solution make up a pap as it were then at once cast in one spoonful of it and distil it into a spirit and oyle which after the distillation must be separated by rectification for to keep each by it self for its proper use The use of the metallized spirit and oyle of Tartar THis spirit of a Tartarized metal is of such a condition that it readily performeth its operation according to the strength of the spirit and the nature of the metal or mineral whereof it is made For the spirit and oyle of gold and Tartar is good for to corroborate the heart and to keep out its enemies the spirit of silver and Tartar doth serve for the braine that of Mercury and Tartar for the liver of lead and tin for the spleen and lungs of iron and copper for the reins and seminary vessels that of Antimony and Tartar for all accidents and infirmities of the whole body and these metallical spirits made
be cured thereby c. It s use is the same as was taught above of the Antimonized spirit of sugar Of the spirit of Muste or new wine TAke sweet Muste or juyce of grapes as soon as it is squeezed out boyle it to the consistency of honey and then mix it with sand corals or which is better with flores of Antimony and so distil it and it will yield such another spirit as that which is made of honey or sugar onely that this is somewhat tarter then that of honey With honey sugar and the juyce of grapes several metals may be dissolved in boyling and so prepared and made up into divers medicaments both with and without distillation after the same manner as was taught above with Tartar for honey sugar and the juyce of grapes are nothing else but a sweet salt which by fermentation and addition of some sowre thing may be changed into a sowre Tartar in all like unto that which is gathered in the wine vessels There can be made also a Tartar out of cherries pears apples figs and all other fruit yielding a sweet juyce as also of rye wheate oates barley and the like whereof in the third part more shall be said For every sweet liquor of vegetables if it be turned inside out by fermentation may be changed to a natural sowre Tartar and it is utterly false that as some do suppose onely wine yeilds Tartar which by daily use made of it by those that have very hungry stomachs like Woolves indistinctly together with the nourishment went into the limbs and theâ—e turned to a stony matter If this were true then in cold countries where no wine groweth men would not be troubled with the gout or stone the contrary whereof is seen daily though I must confess that among all vegetable none yeildeth more then the vine the concurrent acidity being cause thereof for it turneth the sweetness into Tartar for the sowrer the wine is the more Tartar it yeildeth and so much the sweeter so much the less Tartar By this discourse an industrious Chymist may easily come to know the original nature and proprieties of Tartar and in default of wine how to make it out of other vegetables the common salt or the salt of Tartar may be distilled with honey sugar or sodden wine sapa and it will yeild as strong spirits as that metals may be dissolved with them and they are not to be despised in Physick and Alchymie Of oyle Olive OUt of oyles made by expression as oyle olive rape oyle wallnut oyle hempseed oyle linseed oyle and the like there may be distilled a penetrating oyle useful both outwardly and inwardly which is done thus Take common potters clay not mingled with sand frame little bals of it as big as a pigeons or hens-egg burn them but not too strong to a hard stone so that they may attract the oyle and when they are no more quite red-hot but pretty hot then throw them into oyle olive which is the best let them lye in it till they be quite ful and drunk of the oyle which will be done in two or three hours some cast them red hot into the oyle but amiss because the oyle contracts thence an Empyreuma Then take them out and cast in one or two of them at once into your distilling-vessel made red-hot and let it go and within a while after carry in one or two more and continue this till you have oyle enough If the vessel be full of the bals take them out with the tongs or ladle that you may proceed without let in your distillation in this maner you need not fear the breaking of your retort or receiver or the burning of your oyle The distillation being performed take off your receiver powre the oyle that came over into a glass retort and rectifie it from calcined Allome or Vitriol and the Allome will keep back the blackness and stinck and so the oyle will come over cleer which must be yet rectified once or twice more with fresh calcined Allome according to the intensness of penetrating which you look for that which cometh over first ought still to be caught by it self and you will get a very faire bright and clear oyle which is very subtle but that which cometh after is somewhat yellow and not so penetrating neither as the first and therefore it is but for external use to extract flowers and hearbs therewith and to make pretious balsames for cold and moyst sores Also you may dissolve with it ambar mastick myrrhe and the like attractive things and with wax and Colophony reduce it to a plaster which wil be very good in venemous sores and boyles for to attract the poyson and to heal them out of hand If you dissolve in it common yellow sulphur made into powder you will get a blood red balsame healing all manner of scabs and other like defects of the skin especially when you add to it purified Spanish green and in hot sores Saccharum Saturni which in a gentle heat and by continual stirring about do easily melt and mingle therewith It needeth not to be done in glasses but may be done in an ordinary earthen pot or pipkin The use of the blessed oyle THe first and cleer is of a very penetrating nature some drops thereof given in some Aqua vitae presently stayes the colick proceeding from windes that could not be vented as also the rising of the mother the navil being anoynted therewith and a cold humor being faln upon the nerves whereby they are lamed if you do but anoynt them with this oyle and rub it in with warm hands it will quickly restore them and therefore in regard of its present help may well be called Oleum sanctum If you extract plate of iron or copper with this oyle it will turn deep red or green and is a soveraigne remedy for to warm and dry up all cold and watery sores It consumeth also all superfluous moysture in wounds and ulcerous sores as also all other excrescencies of the skin it healeth tettars and scald-heads and other like defects proceeding from superfluous cold and moysture You may also dissolve in it Euphorbium and other hot gums and use them against great frost for what limb so ever is anoynted therewith no frost how great so ever can do it any hurt The balsames made with gum or sulphur may be also distilled through a retort and in some cases they are more useful then the undistilled balsame Of the oyle of Wax IN the same manner may be distilled also the oyle of wax the use whereof is in all like unto the former and for all cold and infirmities of the nerves this is found more effectual yet then the former A Spirit good for the Stone OUt of the stones which are found in grapes there may be distilled a sowre spirit which is a certain and specifical remedy for the stone in the kidneys and bladder and also for all paines of the
hath also this commodity in it that although by littleness of the dose or the strong nature of the patient it doth not work by vomit or stool yet it doth not like other medicines hurt the body but works either by sweat or urine so that Antimony being rightly prepared is seldome adminstred without profit When as on the contrary vegetable Catharticks being given in less dose or by reason of some other causes do not work although they do not make the body swel and produce manifest diseases yet they may threaten to the body occult sicknesses Now the Arcanum of Antimony doth not only not do hurt if it do not sensibly operate but by insensible working doth much good to the body of man Wherefore there is a great difference betwixt purging minerals and vegetables For minerals are given in a less dose without nauseousness but vegetables with a great deal of nauseousness and sometimes with danger to the sick in a greater dose Now that nauseousness also proceeding oftentimes from the great dose of the ungrateful bitter potions does more hurt then the potion it self I wish that such kinde of gross medicines were abolished and the sweet extracts of vegetables and essences of minerals were substituted in their place A purging Extract TAke of the roots of black Hellebor gathered in a fit time and dryed in the aire one pound the roots of Mechocan Jâ—llap of each four ounce Cinnamon Annisseed and Fennel-seed of each one ounce of English Saffron a dram powder all these ingredients then powre upon them the best rectified Spirit of wine in a high glass gourd and upon this put a blind Alembick and set it in digestion in Balneo until the Spirit of wine be tinged red which then decant off and powre on fresh and set it againe in digestion untill the spirit be red which also decant off then powre on fresh again and do this so often until the spirit will no more be tinged red which commonly is done at three times Mix these tinged spirits filter them and in Balneo by a glass Alembick with a gentle heat draw them off from the Tincture and a thick juyce will remaine at the bottome of a brounish colour which you must take out whilest it is yet hot and keep it in a clean glass for its uses The Spirit of wine drawn off from the extract may be reserved for the aforesaid same use Now this extract is given from grains 3. 6. 9. 12. to 31. according to the age and person beeng mixed with Sugar it hath not an ungrateful tast and it works gently and safely if it be not given in too great adose And if thou wilt have it in the form of a pill mix with it being yet hot an ounce of cleer Aloes and half an ounce of Diagridium powdered being mixed bring it into a mass for pils and keep it for your use The dose is from grains 1. to a scruple It evacuates all superfluous humors but it is not to be compared with the medicine of Antimony And this extract I put down for the sakes of those that fear minerals and abhor vomits which in my judgment is the best of all vegetable Cathartickes A Diaphoretical Extract TAke the Wood Sassafras Sassaparilla of each six ounces Ginger Galangal Zedoary of each three ounces long Pepper Cardamoms Cububs of each an ounce Cinnamon Mace of each half an ounce English Saffron Nutmeg Cloves of each a dram Let the woods be rasped the roots and spices powdered powr upon them being mixed the spirit of wine and let the tincture be drawn forth in Balneo as hath been above said of the purging Extract evaporate away the spirit to the consistency of honey which keep for your use It is good in the plague feavers scorbute leprosie frenchpox and other diseases proceeding from the impurity of the blood curing them by sweat The dose of this Extract is from a scruple â—o a dram with proper vehicles it provoketh sweat presently driveth away all venenosities from from the heart and mundifies the blood And although it be a most effectual vegetable Diaphoretick yet it may not be compared to those subtile spirits of minerals of which in the second part Also animal diaphoreticks have their commendations as the flesh of vipers the fixed salt of spiders and toads in their peculiar operations where each alone without the mixture of any other thing puts forth and sheweth its operations neither are animal and vegetable diaphoreticks to be compared to the mineral as bezâ—aâ—ticum minerale antimonium diaphoreticum and aurum diaphoreticum A Diuretical Extract TAke the seeds of Saxifrage Caryoway Fennel Parsly Netles of each 3. ounces the root of liquorish the greater bur of each an ounce the powder of woodlice half an ounce Let these being mixed and powdered be extracted with spirit of Juniper according to art then mix these following things with the extracted matter Take the salt of Ambar soot netles of each half a dram purified nitre a dram Let these be powdered and mixed with the extract and this mixture be kept for use The dose is from a scruple to a dram in the water of parsly fennel c. This extract forceth urin opens the ureters purgeth the reines and bladder from all viscous flegme the mother of all tartareous coagulation viz if it be used timely In this case is commended also the solution of flints and crystals made with spirit of salt A greater commendation have salts of nephretick hearbs made by expression and crystallisation without calcination the preparation whereof shall not here but elsewhere be taught A Somniferous Extract TAke of Thebaic opium four ounces of Spirit of Salt two ounces purified Tartar one ounce set them being mixed in maceration in Balneo in a glass vessel for a day and night and the spirit of salt with Tartar will open the body of the opium and prepare it for extraction upon which powre half a pint of the best spirit of wine set it in a gentle Balneo to be extracted Decant off the spirit that is tinged and powre on fresh set it in digestion till the spirit be coloured Then mix the extractions together and put to them in a glass gourd two drams of the best Saffron of oyle of Cloves a dram and draw off the spirit of wine in Balneo and there will remaine a thick black juyce which is to be taken out and kept in a clean glass vessel The dose thereof is from grain one to five or six for those of a mans age but to children the sixth or eighth part of a graine It may be used in all hot distempers without danger It provoketh quiet sleep mitigates pains as well outward as inward it causeth sweat but especially it is a sure remedy for the epilepsie in children that are new born for assoon as it is given to them to the quantity of the eighth part of a graine in wine or womans milk there presently follows rest and
is infused with very pure Aqua vitae through a funnel as much as is required for the filling it up the instrument being filled the Ascent is shut up which is to be laid up to use and this instrument is better then the hollow glass especially if it have in its diameter the breadth of one foote and may be applyed to prospective pictures it doth excellently represent and multiply them Behind which if you place a candle in the night it gives so much light in the chamber that you would think it came from the Sun It doth also many other things which here are omitted as superfluous And you may gather the dispersed light in the aire in the night time with it so that you may read the smallest writing Such and others of the like things may be done by this furnace all which to set down would swell the book too much Other things of the metals examination and purification by fusion in another place Take this Reader which is given to thee in good part at another time thou shalt have better and do not mistake my writings as if I did reprove the examinations of metals by the Ancients fusions and separations who only would communicate my opinion and yeild my assistance for further proceeding for I know that dealers in metals giving too much credit to their small probes when they finde nothing do contemn oares as barren often abounding with gold and silver yet when he John Mathes sayes expresly in his Sarepta that minerals oftentimes tryed in a smal quantity do yield no gold and silver which in a great quantity yeild a great deale wherefore â—redit is not alwayes to be given to such probes often deceiving as experience testifies But this not only in those minerals which are digged out of the earth but also in those clayie and sandy minerals abounding with silver and golden flames out of which neither by the less nor greater probes nor ablution nor Mercury is drawn with gaine that thin and fiery dispersed gold which by some waters is done without fire easily for I know such mines are found neer many rivers of Germany and many places in other Nations of Europe out of which honest gaine without much cost and labor may easily be gotten Neither are they dreams which I have spoken parabolically of the perfection of metals for it is possible by art to help nature in the perfecting things There is therefore no more need of any thing then of knowledge therefore the nature of metals being known and their properties they are easily separated purged and perfected But what I have written of the universal medicine I have done for the aforesaid causes which have made me believe the thing not as professor of the Art The other things of coloured red glasses and looking glasses I have added because they are easily prepared by this furnace as sometimes necessary in some works Other things of the handling metals are not without cause now omitted which happily may be sometime delivered in another place wherefore now we end FINIS THE FIFTH PART OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL FURNACES WHERE It is treated of the wonderfull NATVRE OF THE FIFT FVRNACE ALSO Of the easie preparation of the Instruments and Materials belonging to the foresaid four FVRNACES Most profitable for Chymical PHYSITIANS By JOHN RUDOLPH Glauber LONDON Printed by Richard Cotes for Tho Williams at the signe of the Bible in Little-Britain 1652. THE FIFT PART OF PHILOSOPHICAL FURNACES Of the preparation of the Furnace AS concerning this of which though I made no mention in the Preface for it was not my resolution to mention it in the last part because I was purposed only to treat of the instruments as wel earthen as those of glass and also of the other necessary things belonging to those four parts premised yet I am willing now in this part which I have judged to be the most convenient place for it for which I did before design another to discover the wonderful nature thereof as far as I may for the studious Artists sake And although I know that more in this part then in all my other writings especially the ignorant and unskilful will be offended yet I will not therefore pass it by perswading my self that by this means I shall do a work that will be most acceptable to the searchers of Art and Nature For I do devoutly affirm that this is the choicest of all my secrets that I confide in in which I have already seen wonderful things hoping that the divine benediction will some time or other be obtained upon the practice thereof And as for the structure thereof much cannot be said thereof because it is not built as other furnaces are but it is every where found extructed by Nature being ordained for no other works then those of Nature viz. for the making of any menstruum that shall dissolve gold silver and all other metals and minerals without any noise as also pretious and common stones and also glasses the original of which is the original of the Menstruum Now what and what manner of furnace that is that produceth this royal menstruum coming from the menstruum it selfe and that easily without any labour you may easily conjecture that it is not any common one by the help whereof other things are distilled that can yeeld such a menstruum that is not corrosive which certainly is not any common menstruum because there is but this one menstruum that I know which doth not partake of any corrosive quality that doth more then any or all other corrosive waters whatsoever For all corrosives whatsoever they are as aqua fortis aqua regia spirit of salt vitrioll allome and nitre cannot together and at once dissolve the close union of gold and silver and other most hard subjects that cannot be dissolved in waters though never so caustick This indeed is wonderful and stupendous that a thing every where found most vile and base should doe so great a miracle I know not what moved me to write of it knowing that I shall in this part offend not onely the wise by writing so openly but also the ignorant detractors and slanderers that will accuse mee of falsity And truly these considerations might justly have deterred me but that I knew I might doe a good work recalling many from their errors For many being perswaded that there is no other dissolving menstruum besides the aforesaid corrosive spirits but those are Chymists that are ignorant of nature yet the Philosophers with one consent say that those corrosive destructive spirits make a fruitless solution of metals For experience testifies that the solutions made by the help of aqua fortis and regia and other spirits colour the hands being that which a true Philosophical solution doth not and furthermore testifies that those viz. which colour the hands are not to be reckoned among the true Philosophical solutions but to be contemned as Malignant Wherefore I was willing to
almost like oriental ruby wherefore being broken in peices may be used in stead of an ornament but this is more soft and brittle then glass of Antimony This glass or those flowers of auripigmentum which are not yet reduced into glass do notably devitreat the aforesaid cups with a red beautiful colour He therefore that will vitrifie the aforesaid cups must first heat them red hot in a fire made with coals and being thus hot dip them in the aforesaid melted flowers and being taken out thence put them under an earthen or iron red hot vessel and there let them coole which do perform the same things as those which are said of the Antimonial cups These cups are not dangerous as to be feared because as Antimony is corrected by calcination so auripigmentum is by sublimation from which if all the malignity be taken away either by fire or by nitre the vomitive vertue is taken away as afterward shall be demonstrated more at large in these five parts when they shall come forth again with enlargements viz. what purging things are and how they put forth their vertues a consideration being had of their malignity There are also other wayes of vitrification and indeed very fine and most desireable by all if they should be communicated but because it is not now my purpose to treat here of mechanical things but onely of some particular vitrifications of vessels belonging to our furnaces I am resolved to omit them at this time and make an end of these things I am resolved God willing to set forth these parts more corrected and in a larger manner where many excellent things now omitted for some reasons shall be published and commuincated Wherefore I wil now put an end to this fift part where although I might have added something that is singular concerning artificial furnaces yet because time will not now permit it shall be deferred to another time and place where we shall treat further of the examining trying and separation of metals For the best way of melting of metals in a greater quantity hath not yet been known And although they that deal in minerals perswade themselves of the perfection of their art yet I can demonstrate an easier and more compendious way of melting of metals in a shorter time in a greater quantity and with less costs and paines Of which more at large elsewhere wherefore Courteous Reader be contented with these things and if I shall see that these few things shall be acceptable to thee I will sometime hereafter for thy sake and to thy profit communicate wonderful secrets which the world will not believe and which hitherto are hid either out of envy or ignorance A Cup or melting vessel belonging to the fourth Furnace AN APPENDIX TWO yeers since I began to publish my new invented furnaces where also there was mention made of some secrets which though I thought never to divulge yet nevertheless I underwent many troubles for the communicating of them Wherefore I beseech every body that they would no more create troubles to me or to themselves by their petitions or writings because for certaine causes I shall for the future communicate nothing but those things which follow Expect therefore patiently the time of another Edition when these five parts shall come forth more corrected and enlarged and many most choice secrets shall be communicated which were for certain causes omitted in the first Edition I shall now God willing communicate those things which follow yet upon this condition because many are such that by means thereof thou maist with a good conscience without hurt to thy neighbour through Gods blessing get great riches that thou be mindful of the poor and a good steward of riches got honestly and use them to the glory of God and the eternal salvation of thy soul The preparation of corn as of Barley Wheat Oates c. of Apples Pears Cherries c. where fermentation being made they do yeeld by way of distillation a pure spirit very like the to spirit of wine without great costs of the remainders whereof if the matter were corn may be made good beer or vinegar but if the matter were any kinde of fruit as apples pears a very good drink like to wine so that by this means thou maist finde a double profit by which thou maist not onely have whereby to live honestly but also to lay up for thy heirs An excellent and wholesome drink of fruite and corn that is durable and like to Spanish French and Rhenish wine A distillation of the Aqua vitae of certaine vulgar things not costly and like to the Aqua vitae of French and Rhenish wine A preparation of sugar like to the Westerne and of tartar like to the natural Rhenish out of honey and not costly where one pound of sugar doth not exceed the price of eight or ten stivers and a pound of tartar that doth not exceed the price of two stivers A peculiar purification of crude tartar without loss and a reduction of it into great crystals not costly so as the price of one pound doth not exceed six stivers The taking away of the ingrateful tast and odour of honey so as afterwards there may be made from thence a certain good Aqua vitae retaining no more the smel and taste of honey also a very good Meade or Methegline like unto very good wine with which the same things may be done as with the best wine A preparation of Meade out of raisins great and smal very like in all things to Spanish wine out of which also is made a very good vinegar without great costs A preparation of wine and good vinegar of wilde grapes Durable and wholesome drinks of gooseberries barberries mulberries strawberries and the like The mending of troubled acid musty wines c. The preparation of a very good vineger out of certain vegetables which are to be found every where which may be compared to that which comes out of France and in a great abundance whereof two runlets of nine Gallons do not exceed the price of one Ryal The promoting of the ripening of wines of the cold countries of Europe a very few that are very cold being exempted that they may yeeld very good sweet and durable wines whereas otherwise they could come to no maturity being very like to those which hotter countries yeild A certain secret way of carrying wines from mountainous places where carts ships and other commodities are wanting where the carrying of ten pipes doth not exceed the price of one pipe otherwise carryed so that by this means outlandish wines may be brought to any place with great profit A very good and easie preparation of verdegrease out of copper whereof one pound doth not exceed the price of six stivers A new and compendious distillation of vinegar of which a runlet of eighteen gallons doth not exceed the price of half a ryal with which many things may be done especially the crystallizing of
these my writings are neither dreams nor trifles but true natural secrets For nature is rich and the earth is ful of hid treasures that which is believed by few And not only within but also without in the circumference the treasures of the earth are to be found in abundance although we know not the manner of finding of them out I will now say nothing of the finest clay sand and stones nor of the baser and abject minerals out of which gold and silver may be separated being easily to be found in any part of the earth without costs Moreover in what places there have been metals melted many yeers since and still are melted there are great mountaines of dross out of which according to are gold and silver left in them may be melted It seems as if God had by his divine providence reserved something for our good for us his disobedient children in Europe and especially in Germany being chastised and deprived of outward comforts by strange Nations for the impiety of our lives which formerly we could not in time of peace but now in time of war our enemies might use As we also by nature being corrupt use providence for the sakes of our disobedient sons consuming a patrimony ill which hath been gotten wel laying up mony for a certaine time of extream need that they do not altogether despaire to the infamy of their parents and may return to a better thriftiness and be reclaimed And why may not that most high and wise God our merciful Father seeing our penitency provoke us by his reserved treasure to a due gratitude and repentance and obedience God doth nothing in vaine being not ignorant of what he hath to do and what may profit us who without doubt seeing our filial obedience will provide for us with his divine blessing both temporal and eternal And truly it seems as if upon this account the whole Provinces may rise againe for after that some have gotten riches they may be able to help others either by lending or giving them wages for working and doing businesses for them But let no man wonder that I said that somegood might lye in abjected dross saying If there be any good in them why was it not melted by our Ancestours I answer though it be granted that at that time nothing more could be drawn out by the violence of the fire yet it doth not follow that there can no good be drawn from thence now For first of all refiners as well those of former yeers as latter are not ignorant that the dross that hath been cast away and left for some yeers in the aire hath oftentimes been again impregnated by reason of a magnetick power and hath afterwards yeelded more and better metals then before of which thing let the ignorant see the books of them that treat of Minerals and Metals for in this art there is not used any singular art but that which is common and used in all places Secondly there may also from the dross of some metals whether impregnated from the elements or no by a certain secret may be drawn forth and melted gold and silver when as before there could be none found in them But thou wilt say How could that be that in the first fusion imperfect metals could be produced but in a repeated liquefaction viz. of the dross gold and silver is produced But I answer that all imperfect metals containe in them something of what is perfect which by the tryal of cupels cannot be drawn forth unless they be destroyed and converted into dross of which thing elsewhere for imperfect metals contain much incombustible sulphur which doth not suffer a sufficient purification of them in the examining of them by cupels but causing a combustion of the good together and a conversion of it into litharge entring into the substance of the cupels but the remainders of the metal which could not be melted by that most vehement fire of the first liquefaction being by combustion turned into dross hath sustained a greater violence of the fire then that which was melted the first time wherefore being more purified is made more neer to gold and silver then that metal from which it was separated He therefore that knows how to melt that dross in which oftentimes there is much left especially the dross of tin and that with a fit addition shal without doubt finde better metals then those which were melted by the diggers of the minerals the first time Now I do not say that there is so great a power in common fire to puririfie and perfect baser metals Fire indeed hath a greater power to purifie and maturate metals but it is too violent for those that are volatile Without doubt there are also other things that can help the fire which being known we may easily be able to do great things And because it hath been said in the foregoing Paragraphs that some metals cannot yeeld that gold and silver that is hid in them unless they be first destroyed and reduced to dross it is not needful to destroy those metals for profit sake seeing there are found in great quantity metals destroyed and brought to dross already out of which thou maist draw forth gold and silver for to maintaine thee But especially some certain dross of tin is commended that comes out of a certain mine thereof by reason of the abundance of gold as I can witness by my one experience and that indeed not without cause and although all tin be of a golden nature yet that which is called in Germany Saiffen Zinn from sope is doubly golden and that indeed first by reason of the gold that is accidental to it where also commonly graines of gold are found which whilest the mine of tin is washed because they cannot be separated by the help of washing are mixed with the tin in the infusion which oftentimes refiners know but of the manner of separation they are ignorant For oftentimes there is found tin of which a hundred pound weight is sold for the price of twenty or twenty four ryals which containes gold of a greater price in it But what is your advise worth if it cannot be 〈◊〉 â—ithout loss for all that which is separated by lead after the common way cannot have so much in it because the greater part thereof is turned to dross and if it were granted that it were not turned to dross yet the charges expended for the separation of tin by lead would exceed the price of the gold contained therein Now thus much information being given let no man doubt but that some at last will finde out this secret whom also I shall assist as much as I can with my counsel And that which hath been said of the dross of tin is also to be understood of the dross of other imperfect metals yet not so as if all without any difference had gold in them and truly the dross of iron which hath undergone a great force
of fire being converted into green or blew glass out of which some have extracted gold by common Aqua regis but without profit for the costs that have been expended have exceeded the price of the gold that hath been brought forth are to be preferred before others that have not undergone so great a force of fire But there be some that do affirm that a true tincture may be made out of that dross transmuting imperfect metals into gold but this I leave as being not experienced therein treating only of those things which experience hath taught me giving my testimony of the treasure that lies in iron which you cannot draw forth from thence by the separation of Antimony of which above so easie or by other wayes and mediums expecting your self the stronger so as to be the victor taking away the spoyle thereof for there is no one that shall not at some time finde himself the stronger so as to be able to dispense to that as he hath been dispensed to by others That old Saturne of a most vile aspect is the highest in the firmament and can do many things in metallicks without which we can do nothing that is of any moment wherefore deservedly is he to be honored above the rest But this separation may be practised not only about the abjected dross of metals but also about metals themselves if they may be procured at an easie rate as now in the time of war where in the space of thirty yeers such abundance of copper and tin hath been transported from elsewhere into great cities and sold of a low rate that the owners thereof have been coâ—â—ained to transport it with their ships to other places Now if any one had known this separation might not he have got great riches from thence as well as by the culture of the mines and withall reserve the metals and being preserved in separation to dispose of them for metallick uses viz. Ecclesiastical and martial as for the making of bels and guns by which means the greater part might have been keept in his own country which otherwise must be carryed into other Provinces with great loss by reason of the want of those that are skilled in metallick affaires But no wonder that so little is now done in Alchymy seeing most Chymists have no knowledge of metals which being wanting the Chymist is also wanting whether learned as unlearned for this knowledge is not got in the universities consisting in a profound speculation and daily practise Formerly amongst the Chaldeans Persians Arabians and Egyptians arts were more honoured then now amongst Christians choosing a magistrate out from amongst the wise men whose Kings brought up their sons in Philosophy Chymistry especially was very famous amongst the Egyptians by which they did get wealth and great riches so that Diocletianus the Emperour could not overcome them till he had burnt all their books In which time arts were had in great esteem as it appears by that annual salary of Alexander the great which he gave to Aristotle viz. four hundred and eighty thousand crowns by those 3000 associates which he joyned to him for the searching out of nature But now Thrasoes Sycophants and Morions wise men being neglected are honored whence this present calamity of so many countries and cities c. In brief arts and sciences are now so rare as is snow in hotter countries in the middle of summer For pride doth not permit honest tutoring and education seeking nothing but wealth and riches which if any one have he is honoured without respect of his worth and vertues Some have perswaded themselves that it derogates from their honour to bread up their sons in honest arts being content with a patrimony for the conservation of their condition But it often appears how a patrimony sufficeth when riches and wealth that have been ill gotten are taken away by some mishap at sea and land are for then they stand like butter against the sun when their riches is lost nothing remaines for the support of their lives who therefore are not in a little danger I wish the time would once hasten when vertues shall be embraced in stead of vices and children shall be educated in good arts for then so many calamities would not abound in the world nor spoiles or man-slaughters but men would live in peace and get their bread with the sweat of their brows without wronging their neighbour And this thou hast heard concerning the remaining honest mediums that conduce to the honest maintenance of a family without usury or fraud or the violence of the sword For those things which have been gotten by fraud and deceit or by war do for the most part perish as being contrary to the Scripture and the good of our neighbor It is better therefore to leave to every one his own and to get in the sweat of the brows according to the will of God an honest living that which may well be done by the way that I have now demonstrated although hitherto no profit hath come to me from these most secret arts for certain causes neither God willing shall I hope that hereafter there will yet I am contented with the knowledge of nature In the interim I hope I shall once again by the blessing of God see my most desired country where I may be able to labour and maintaine my houshold affaires honestly and then indeed I shall be able to set forth and publish something more and that more boldly For I am resolved to write a book the like to which was never seen very profitable for many men for the sustaining of life For as a woman with child desires nothing more then to be freed of her burden so also I that I may as a divine instrument be helpful to my neighbour according to the talent that God hath trusted me withal Now I lack nothing so much as time For every wise man may easily conjecture what great paines I have been at I will not say costs in this place where all things are most dear in searching out the secrets of nature only setting aside greater labours I will say yet one thing more and that sincerely I am consumed by serving others If I were given to covetousness I would practise but only one secret which I knew long since and I could thereby get great riches that which I will not do for my genius hath not suffered me to exercise things that are perfectly found out or any mechanick art like an ass that daylie carries hither and thither so many sacks but would that one secret being found out I should finde out another and indeed from another secret being found out already for alwayes one opens the gate to another That which hitherto I have done without ceasing and without any consideration of costs or labour for the good of my neighbour neither shall I cease God permiting until I come unto my desired way In the mean while I am resolved to serve