extraction of the more benign and more pure parts may be made so also by like temperate heat of any other thing digestion separates the subtile from the gross what are thick it breaks and attenuates cocts the crude mitâ—igates and edulcorates the unsavoury and so elaborates all things that from things digested a more plentiful Harvest of essence is always to be expected The administration thereof is Learnedly described by Libavius in this manner The matter to be digested is included in a vessel like unto the Stomach every where firmly closed unless when with digestion evaporation is conjoyned as for correction of an Empyreuma or in coagulation and such like for then a small hole in the cover or mouth of the vessel is left and a just time observed that none of the substance perish Whether it be meer juice or Liquor the matter is plain but in Minutal of Herbs and such like either the proper juice is to be left or some analogous humour from without is to be added which notwithstanding is sometimes also in liquors of divers kinds as when Oils are digested with Spirit of Wine c. where is a proneness to putrefaction and in adding the Menstruum care enough can hardly be taken for putrefaction must not be made when we would digest a thing although digestion may be the way to it then Salt is to be added and the vessel so fitted must be placed in a digestory furnace of competent heat and there permitted to stand unto the desired end which is diverse by reason of the multiplicite use of digestion As for example Green Herbs moistned with their own juice from which by distillation their Essence is to be extracted are macerated three days but the dry moistned with Spirit of wine seven days Seeds and Aromaticks half a Moneth Roots for a Moneth if they be dry Minerals for a philosophick moneth A Philosophick Moneth which is forty days or longer according to firmness and the hability of the Menstruum Some are twice macerated sprinkled with Greek-wine as sometimes Aromaticks which being moistned are digested to a dryness afterward pulverisate are the second time macerated by imbibition So solidity and rarity also have their difference of time Distilled Waters set in digestion to the Sun are rectifyed in half a Moneth the vessel being firmly closed and two parts of the vessel ful and the third empty and sometimes a third part of the glass is set in sand which in cold things Artificers command to be done but with great caution Yet hot waters and Oils are rectifyed in cold sand also a third part of the vessel buryed in it c. in a * Vapid or musty moist Cellar for a moneth likewise the other humour to be added must be such as may help digestion without corruption of the substance And here if the humour be alienate it is separated by the aforesaid hole but if otherwise and it be familiar or else alterable into the nature of the digested it â—s left In Dense thiâ—gs it is more sharp and sometimes corrosive as Vinegar Spirit of wine strong wine c. In others gentle as distilled Rain-water Rose-water c. sometimes Oâ—l of the same kind In the interim what are of another Nature and by digestion recede are separated But digestion is not only accompanyed with distillations or extractions but also with rectification coagulation fixation edulcoration of Calxes prepared by Aqua fortis and is called Maceration because it also hath power of penetrating Maceration of opening the compactness of things and of separating impurities Putrefaction Putrefaction is when a mixt body through natural putridness by humour overcoming dryness and external heat operating more strongly than internaly is resolved to an Essence apt to be extracted and segregated from its hetrogeneal parts The way of performing it is thus What is to be putrefied must be duly prepared and so put into a Cucurbit of glass if it either be dry or abound not with humidity sufficient for putrefaction a certain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is a Vehicle or Menstruum so generally from the moneth of putrefaction every Liquor is called which is used for extraction of things if it either be of its own kind or to it analogous or a Water convenient must be poured on which by its own excess may take away the dryness of the mixt body open the mixture draw the out-going Essence to it self and conserve it intire and uncorrupt untill it be all extracted and least the heat with its own humidity should expire the vessel must be sealed with Hermes Seal afterward in Horse-dung or like heat it must be conserved and that heat continued to the end of the time prefixed The property of Putrefaction The property of putrefaction is to change both the colours odours and tasts of things and their old nature being destroyed to generate a new Circulation Circulation is of a Liquor depurated from Elements in a Pelican by various Circumvolutations or Rotations by which the impurities setling downward are removed and so it is converted or exalted to a more excellent State It is thus performed The Liquor to be exalted is included in a Pelican or Circulatory vessel four or five parts thereof remaining empty and so it is placed in Balneum or Dung as deep as the Liquor riseth within the Glass or a little lower so as the superiour empty parts of the vessel may stand in the cold Air that from the bottom and the sides an attenuation may be made by heat but from the upper parts coagulation by cold and so the said vessel must be kept in moderate and continued heat â—ntill the Artist come to his desired end and the fâ—ces totally reside in the bottom In this place it seems not improper to annex Fermentation Fermentation although sometimes by it is not made so conspicuous a segregation of the salubrious from the more gross parts as rather a disposition for extracting the most noble Essence Yet it is the Exaltation of a thing in substance by which digestion mediating the Agent heat prevails and turns the Patient into its own Nature Moreover what are fermented are either Liquid or Solid What are Liquid are such simply as Water and Wine or thick and soft as honey and Sapa Liquids which are simply such if they be also hot * Wine boiled to a consistency per se are fermented as Wine Perry Sider But what are cold as the exprest juices of cold things have need of the addition of some other external as feces of Wine dregs of Beers or Ale Salt or any like acidness for accelerating ebullition and fermentation The thick and soft may be in the following manner fermented For example To ten pound of honey adde fifty pound of water Let them stand in moderate heat for one day natural Hydromel then with gentle fire boil the whole and scum it let a third part exhale or while the Liquor is hot put in a new-laid-egg which if it shall float above the Liquor is a sign of perfect decoction Then the Liquor removed from the fire must be strained hot
the most commendable Antidote it is received Garlick Onions Sinape and Nasturcium how sharp are these yet are we not affraid daily to use them in our Banquets The juices of Lemmons and Citrons dissove the most firm bodies of Pearls and Corrals yet in the Cardiack passion and in extream imbecility and decay of strength a more ready and excellent remedy is not vulgarly given Therefore the Acrimony and Costick force of Chymical Remedies is not to be forced especially since many are outwardly corroding which inwardly cannot exercise their force not only by reason of greater repugnancy of the intestines and the vegetate strength of the native heat but also by reason of the noxious humors residing in the Stomach As we devour not whole handfuls of Salt nor use we certain pounds of it in broths but it may be we dissolve of it one pugil and a little Vinegar and Spice we are wont to use for seasoning our meats so when necessity compels spagyrick Physicians to the using of sharp Medicaments they exhibit some drops or one grain or two not alone but mixed with appropriate Liquors Yea the most sharp may be so well odulcorated as they may deposite all their acrimony Chymical Medicines are not dangerous by reason of their sharpness contracted by fire which in Aqua fortis and Aqua Regis is clearly evinced if with them Salt of Tartar be commixed Now as touching the Contagion of fire which is by them objected it is a thing so vain and frivolous as needs no refutation Galen himself in the 18. Chap. de Theriaca ad Pisonem expresly writeth that the fire doth meliorate many things and sometimes discovers the hidden nature of things and some things also it renders apt for use according to our intention Whence also the same Element by Cicero is not undeservedly honoured with the Title of Master of Arts likewise Galen subjects sharp and biting Minerals to the Examen of fire that they may be rendred more gentle He esteems * Red Vitriol Chalcitis burnt better than not burnt Balanus Myrepsica according to Mesue provokes vomiting and also causeth dejections by the inferiour parts but being burnt and the nauseous humidity thereof removed the only force of expelling humours by Seidge remains So sublimate Mercury which is most sharp abiding the violence of fire with Antimony is reduced to a most gentle and most wholsome Alexipharmacon Likewise Iron when calcined into Crocus Martis with fire of reverberation sustaineth the extreamest heat of flames yet they on it impress no acrimony to hinder the use thereof from being most profitable as it is most frequent in Haemorrhagia's and other Fluxes On the contrary how great sharpness do the Water and Oil of Cinnamon acquire in a Balneum of vapour only And in the same how much is Wine made more acid Whence is this Can you understand the Reason You may if you can comprehend why the Sun hardens clay and softens wax and the same makes linnen white Whence is the acrimony of Chymical Medicaments but blackens the face You are therefore deceived if you think Spirit of Vitriol contracts acrimony from external heat and so if you judge that Oil of Salt from the fire of Reverberation is infected with the same for if Salts were not insited and mixed in these you by the greatest violence of fire could never be able to inure such a sharpness And contrarywise should you use the most moderate heat that could be in some things yet you shall undoubtedly render them more sharp by reason of the force of present Salts Moreover for the Empyreuma of Chymical Medicines Chymical Remedies smell not of the fire it is not of such moment as under that name they should seem violent and dangerous to practical Physicians for if such a thing be inherent in those Medicaments it took its beginning either from a moderate or strong heat If from that and therefore Chymical Remedies are censured for obnoxious then can neither our Meats or Drinks or vulgar Medicaments be safe and wholsome since in preparing them oftentimes a greater degree of fire is required than for Spagyrick Remedies which is manifest in the making of Beer or Ale where the Mault is first with strong fire dryed afterward boiled with greater And also in some Rhenish Wines which by reason of their wholsomness are used by the Northern people in almost all diseases instead of a Remedy and yet to a true maturity they cannot be brought but by the benefit of Elementary fite also in broiled fish and smoak dryed roasted and boiled flesh with many other such like But if from this The Empyreuma how it may be corrected viz. from violent fire yet thence cannot any thing of peril happen to the sick since either with ablution or digestion it may be corrected as is seen in ashes which water being poured on them deposite the notes of their calidity received from the fire in a Lixivium Yea ablution often repeated renders some purging Metallicks and Minerals Chymically prepared inefficacious for exhausting depraved humours How by decoction all things are made sweet is known yet there seemed to be need of inducing an Ensample to prove the same If by an Empyrenma you shall happen thus to understand that when either the potential heat which is latent in the mixture as it were under coals is produced into act by violent fire and so freed from all impediment exerciseth more potent force or when the heat which therein was dispersed is united by the benefit of fire for this cause neither an Empyreuma nor too much heat is to be feared since it is the office of a Physician rightly to use hot things of this kind as also others less hot which if imprudently adhibited may unavoidably infer detriment to the sick But Mâ—sochymists cease not to urge us grievously whilst they pretend our Medicaments are unprofitable because they are decayed Preparation renders not Chymical Medicaments unprofitable and take their beginning from perished and corrupted mixt things and are destitute of primogeneal humidity as they say Now if the bodies of mixt things be not to be dissolved or to use their odious terms not to be destroyed Why do they trouble the Harmony of that mixtion Why do they prepare infusions decoctions and Syrups with violent fire Why use they assations Why parchings Why distillations Why Diagridium not Scammony whole Why Trochus of Alhandal not Coloquintida it self Why in extream imbecillity of strength when the sick are ready to expire presume they to nourish them with a destroyed Capon viz. with the distilled water thereof where certainly all the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Temperament and mixture of the whole perisheth Is it because in this part they would imitate Nature Who conveys not food undigested from the Stomach nor crude or while it is whole for nourishing the parts but destroyed that is separated from the unprofitable and more gross parts and in the
through a double Cloath and in a sutable Vessel placed in the Sun two drams of Salt of Tartar or common Salt being added or Ê’j of any acidity put in And so it must boil or ferment for forty days or thereabout untill the Liquor be clear and have an odour like Wine Then must the vessel be closed and the Hydromel reserved in a Cellar for use What are solid and hard as Seeds Wheat Fennel Anise Juniper-berrys Aromaticks c. must be bruised and water be poured on them and their proper Salt or what is to them analogous or some acidity or feces of Beer or Wine so as to a hogs-head of the matter to be fermented a pint of feces be added But what are most hard as Stones must first be calcined and afterward fermented as in the following Treatise touching Corals and Lead shall be spoken Extraction specially so called Extraction specially so called is when from the mixt body the more subtile and more noble parts drawn but by any Menstruum are extracted from the Elementary grosness remaining in the bottom and by distillation or evaporation are coagulated to the consistency of Syrup or Sapa It is thus made When a matter having Tincture is infused in a convenient Menstruum and the vessel close shut placed in digestion Afterward the coloured Menstruum by inclination separated and other fresh Menstruum poured on and the vessel closed again set to digest and the same labour so oft repeated as till the Menstruum be no more tinged Then are all the evacuations filtred circulated and coagulated with the Menstruum to an oleaginous consistency or else sometimes to a dryness according to the nature of the matter or as the intended use shall require CHAP. V. Of Coagulation HEtherto we have spoke of Solution and its Species now follows Coagulation Coagulation Coagulation is another of the principal Operations of the Spagyrick Science wherein soft and Liquid things are forced by privation of humidity from a thin and fluid consistency into a solid This although it almost inseparably adhere to the Species of Solution as Precipitation Amalgamation Sublimation Distillation c. Yet is it peculiarly First by exhalation wherein the humour expires from the coagulable matter Secondly by decoction wherein Liquid things are cocted to a certain solid consistency Thirdly by Congelation as in Cellars when Chrystals by cold are produced Fourthly by Fixation wherein things volatile and flying the fire are taught by use to remain fixed therein which is done either by addition of a fixed Medicine or by mixtures or sublimations Cements and such like according to the nature of the matter CHAP. VI. Of Lutation NOw for order sake it is expedient we should speak of Furnaces Vessels and various Chymical Uutensils as also their divers Regimens of fire But these are rather learned by ocular inspection than by precepts and rules Therefore for brevity sake we shall omit them and only speak a few things touching the Lutaments and Conglutination of Sapient Artificers For building Furnaces Take fat Earth of what colour soever it be and mix and work it together with sand Horse-dung and Salt-water For Coating Retorts Although I am not wont to Coat either Glass or Earthen Retorts whether I distill by sand or by a naked fire or by a close Reverberatory or by fire of suppression Take Potters-clay Horse-dung washt and dry'd flour of Tiles and Scales of Iron mix and work these strongly together with common water Luting of Sapience for closing in the most Subtile Spirits Make Luting of Calx vive and the white of Eggs reduced to water and speedily apply the same because it easily drys For consolidating crackt and broken Glasses Take Bole-armenack Minium Ceruse of each equal parts reduce them to a most subtile powder and temper it with Linseed Oil or liquid Varnish For Luting Glasses together I unto this day have with good success used Hoggs or Ox-bladders for luting an Alembeck with its Cucurbit as well in distillation of waters as of sharp and penetrating Spirits For Luting the nose of the Alembeck with the Recipient Take of Wax â„¥ j. Rosin Colophony of each â„¥ j. melt them together in an earthen pan unto these adde a little Oil Olive stirring them with a stick that the whole may be incorparated then removing the pan from the fire work the whole well together with your hands For Luting Retorts with their Receivers in distillation of sharp Spirits The Luting for coating Retorts work together with Salt water or mix it with Colophony pulverisate and apply it moist The End of the First Book TYROCINIVM CHYMICVM OR CHYMICAL ESSAYS Book the Second THe former Book treats of Solution and Coagulation in general Proemium now in the following Books we intend to treat of the effects of these Operations Although in Specie how the compactness of all mixt bodies are to be opened ought to be declared the same we should have endeavoured to perform had we undertaken to write an entire System and not a Tyrocinium of Chymistry There are effects or as by some they are called Chymical Species of Solution and Coagulation which are either liquid or soft or hard To the liquid may be referr'd the various kinds of Aqua fortis Spirits Vinegar Oils and Liquid Tinctures extracted from Flowers Herbs Roots Rinds Seeds Woods c. To the soft Balsoms various Extracts soft Tinctures To the Hard Salts Flores Magisterys Calxes dry Tinctures of Crocus CHAP. I. Before we come to speak of the forms of Liquors to be prepared which are for the most part made by distillation certain general Rules seem needful to be inserted of which this is The First VEssels in which distillation is made Rules necessary for the Doctrine of distillation must not be of Lead For they infect Liquors with a malignant quality render them vomitive change their native taste and sometimes themselves are corroded by sharp vapours expiring from the matter to be distilled And if Galen and other wise Physicians condemned the waters which flow through Leaden Pipes by reason of the malignity much infesting the internal parts which they thence contract What may be judged of waters distilled in Leaden Vessels Since it is often manifest especially when distilled Liquors of this kind have stood unmoved for certain days that Ceruse of Lead rased off in distillation from the Leaden Alembeck is found in the bottom of the vessel especially if to prove the same you shall pour in a drop or two of Spirit of Vitriol And what is said of Leaden vessels for like reason must be understood of Tin Brass and Iron unless distillation be made in a Brass Vesica where what are distilled soon flow out The Second Glasses by how much the higher they be so much the better
it be tinged with a most Red colour separate the Menstruum by Baln This tincture is the true Balsom of the Lungs Tincture of Coral Dissolve â„¥ j. of Corals in one pound of juice of Lemons digest it for eight days then filter the Solution in this tincture dissolve of white Sugar â„¥ viij Then digest it by evaporating to the consistency of a Syrup Dose one spoonful in every Hepatick flux Dysentery and flux of bloud Another way â„ž Of Coral beaten smal what quantity you will infuse it in acid water either of Oak or of Juniper Guaiacum or Box rectified as we have taught in the Chapter of distilled waters that the Menstruum may stand above the Coral three or four fingers Then place it to digest in horse-dung or like heat for eight days What shall be dissolved pour off and pour on other acid water digest and pour it off so often as until the Corals be wholly dissolved the dissolutions filter and distil to a dryness To the matter remaining in the bottom pour the best spirit of wine That will in eight days be tinged like bloud being set in digestion then separate the tinged Liquor from the feces repour on other spirit digest and pour it off until you shall have extracted all the tincture Then filter the tinged spirit and coagulate it to the consistency of a Syrup If you will you may circulate it with Cordial water or add Sugar dissolved in Rose-water and reduce it into a syrup Another way Corals are calcined with a like quantity of sulphur and the tincture extracted with distilled Vinegar by digestion for five or six days Otherwise Corals beaten are calcined with a like quantity of Salt-peter for one hour in a fire so moderate as the Nitre may not melt Afterward they are put hot into a vessel and spirit of wine is poured upon them and with it they are digested for twenty four hours The tinged spirit is poured off and other spirit repoured on until it shall have extracted all the tincture CHAP. XI Of Calcination of Common Salt Salt-peter Vitriol the Stone of the Spunge Chrystal and Marchasite of Silver Calcination of common Salt PUt common Salt in a crucible or other earthen vessel filling it full almost to the top then place the vessel covered between living coals until it be very hot all over and the Salt cease crackling Afterward dissolve it in common water filter the Solution and coagulate it in a new glass dish Calcination of Salt-peter or Mineral Crystal or of Lapis Prunella Dissolve Salt-peter in common water and filter it through brown paper that it may be purged from all its impurities Then in a glass vessel boil it and scum it often before it be coagulated When coagulate and dry grind it and in a clean earthen vessel placed in burning coals liquefie the Salt To every pound of melted Salt inject â„¥ j. of flowers of Sulphur yet not altogether at one time but at sundry times until all the fatness be consumed in flame But the flame must studiously be avoided This Solution Filtration Decoction Despumation Coagulation Eliquation and Deflagration of the Salt being thrice repeated the Salt is sufficiently prepared for medicinal use Of this Salt Ê’ ss dissolved in water of Roses or Endive is a principal Arcanum in the Prunella or soar throat being gargled for it takes away all uncleanness of the mouth and throat And if a little of that water be swallowed it asswageth all internal heat and is an admirable cooler of the heart It abateth the Cough if taken with spirit of Wine with water of Hysop it removes obstructions both of the Lungs and Liver Shortness of breath it cures Hoarsness it helps and restores lost speech if Ê’ ss thereof be taken in a morning fasting with the yolk of an Egge moderately boiled Moreover it is useful in all diseases both internal and external as John Tholdeus in his Halography and Bernard Penotus in his book of the true preparation of Chimical Medicaments amply teach Calcination of Vitriol Dry Vitriol to a whiteness in an earthen vessel not glazed with moderate fire afterward encrease the fire for a quarter of an hour that the Vitriol may wax red then is it called Colcothar Calcination of the Spunge Stone Heat the Stone of the Spunge red hot often and as often extinguish it in distilled Vinegar until it be resolved into a Calx It s use in Calcination is for extracting tincture Calcination of Chrystal Chrystal reverberated for six hours in a crucible reduce to a subtile powder and mix it with an equal quantity of Salt-peter and again reverberate it with a vehement fire for eighteen hours Pour it out while in flux into clear water and what remains undissolved dry and reduce to an Alcohol Then with the same water boil it until it be thickned like a Poultis after which lay the Spissiude upon pieces of glass to dry in heat and again reduce it to an Alcohol and if you will set it in a cold humid place to be resolved If any thing shall remain still undissolved reiterate the Calcination with Nitre and the other labours as above that it may be Soluble Dose three or four drops with a like quantity of oil of Juniper Against the Stone of the Reins and bladder Another way Make clear and pondrous Chrystal red hot often and as oft exstinguish it in distilled Vinegar until with the least touch it may be reduced to powder Then mix it with a like quantity of Salt-peter and reverberate it for eighteen hours Then by many ablutions extract a fixed Salt-peter dry it and reduce into an Alcohol It is profitable in the Stone Falling sickness Dysentery and Sterile Breasts If any one would for the aforesaid affects more subtiliate this impalpable powder let him digest it twenty four hours in spirit of Wine and by Retort distil it What shall remain fixed must be reverberated as above and so often digested and distilled as until the greater part shall ascend with the spirit of Wine Then the spirit of wine being separated by distillation what remains in the bottom of the vessel must be set in a moist place that it may be dissolved into a water or oil Calcination of Marchasite of Silver Weismouth or Marchasite must be dissolved in water made of Salts unto a sulphureous and Stiptick clearness The solution being clear pour upon it the * Nucleus essence of all liquid things so in a moment it will be precipited into an Alcohol most white like snow which must be freed from all acrimony and dryed It s use is for removing vices of the skin CHAP. XII Of the various Calcination of Antimony Calcination of Antimony â„ž Of choice Stibium four pound of salt prepared five pound These pulverised mix And in a vessel of earth with a broad bottom placed over a fornace of Reverberation still them together for the space of five or six hours until the fume cease and the Stibium
Alkalisate and circulate it It is profitable in Mania and other diseases of the Brain Calcination of Sol. Make Amalgamation of Sol by purifyed cement with six parts of Mercury as follows â„ž A thin plate of gold and cut it into exceeding smal pieces which put into a crucible placed in such an heat as the gold may only be red hot then in another crucible make your Mercury hot and presently pour it out upon the gold and mix them with a stick that they may be incorporated Then cool it and having admirably well washed the mass pass it through a skin and press out the superfluous Mercury that the mass may remain conveniently hard which must be long ground with double its weight of prepared salt in a glass mortar so as nothing of the Amalgama appear Put all this into a strong crucible covered and luted only a little hole left in the Luting and reverberate it for one day natural taking great heed that the gold melt not This being done you will find your gold calcined but the Mercury and salt vanished Then a new amalgamate your gold and pass it through a skin as above and mix it with double its weight of sulphurvive grinding them very well together After which put the mixture into an earthen glazed pan pourâ—ng on it the best spirit of wine unto which set fire that it may burn upon it After the deflagration of which and of the sulphur you will find the gold spungeous and much attenuated especially if the same process be twice or thrice repeated Some grind the Amalgama with flowers of sulphur and having put it in a crucible placed in burning coals they continually stir it with an Iron rod until the Mercury fly away in fume But before gold can be calcined with Philosophick calcination it must be cemented as is said either with vulgar or Regale cement The vulgar cement is thus made â„ž Of flour of Tiles â„¥ viij Salt prepared â„¥ iiij White vitriol â„¥ j. Salt-peter and Aerugo of each â„¥ ss The Regale cement which belongs only to most pure gold is thus made â„ž Of flour of Tiles four parts Salt-armoniack Salt-gem and common salt prepared of each one part These commixed and united must be moistned with Urine Some make thin plates of gold red hot before they are compounded and suffer them to cool that if any defilement adhere to the superficies it may be consumed and leave more free access and admittance for impression to the sharpness of the medicines All being duly prepared sprinkle the powder equally in the cementatory pot that it may be a finger thick Then put in your thin plates of gold moistned with urine in such order and so equally placed as one may not touch the other least body cohering to body the matter be burnt and by encrease of heat the edges be melted together Having disposed the first lay of plates in order as above then on them sprinkle of the medicine again the thickness of one finger and so proceed to lay in more plates and câ—â—er them so doing even to the brim of the 〈◊〉 which must be filled with the powder the same thickness as was in the bottom viz. the thickness of a finger transversed Lastly put on the cover without any spiracle if for vulgar cement but if for the Regale the cover must have a smal hole The fire must be administred to it for twenty four hours so as the pot may be always red The work ended cleanse the plates with an Hares foot from the powders adhering and wash them in wine and dry them The most perfect cement of all is that which follows Melt gold with double its weight of most pure Copper reduce them to plates or leaves as thin as paper which cement for forty or fifty hours in a strong fire making lay upon lay as in Regale cement is said with flour of Tiles common salt Colcothar Aerugo and a little salt armoniack mixed with strong vinegar In this Examen all the Copper vanisheth the incombustible sulphur and Tincture thereof remaining in the substance of the gold according as Geber in Chap. 18. of fornaces witnesseth who saith that from Copper a most clean tinging and fixed sulphur is extracted Metallick Bezoardick Dissolve of most pure gold in Philosophick water Ê’ij to which add drop by drop of gummose Liquor seven times rectifyed â„¥ j. In mixing these will be great ebulition Place the vessel upon hot ashes for three or four hours Then precipitate the matter in common water and wash it often Lastly with cordial water and then dry it And you will have a stone of wonderful virtue of which six grains egregiously provokes sweat Ceraunocryson Diaphoretick Dissolve most pure Sol in Phylosophick water and digest it for one night in sand Then pour upon it oil of Tartar drop by drop until the ebulition cease and the Calx of gold be precipited to the bottom which must be edulcorated with many ablutions and with most gentle fire dryed Dose three or four grains Of this Diaphoretick another more excellent may be prepared in this manner â„ž Of this Ceraunocryson five or six grains and put it in a smal silver vessel and on it pour the best rectifyed spirit of wine which set on fire and hang a Chrystaline glass with a sufficiently large Orifice over it As soon as the spirit of wine ceaseth to burn the Ceraunocryson performs its office and a certain earthy part will be sublimed to the sides of the glass Repeat this Labour four or five times and wash the glass with spirit of wine that the Câ—lx may settle to the bottom which must be dryed Dose one or two grains CHAP. XVII Of Salts The way of extracting essential Salts from Herbs without calcination â„ž A Great quantity of Carduus benedictus bruise it in a stone or wooden mortar afterward in a large vessel with a great quantity of water boil it until half be consumed then strongly express it and strein the expression The Colature again boil to the thickness of Liquid honey This juice of Carduus benedictus put into a glass vessel and set it in a cold place for certain days in the bottom of the vessel a christaline salt angular like salt gem will be generated From which pour off the juice wash it with water of Carduus benedictus and when dryed diligently keep it For it is a most excellent Remedy in the Pest if two grains more or less be exhibited in spirit of Carduus benedictus they abundantly provoke sweat By the same reason and in like manner a salt may be extracted from other herbs which shall in virtue far exceed that which is made of the ashes of herbs Essential Salt Cream or Chrystals of Tartar â„ž White Tartar of Montispeliensis which is the best reduce it to powder and in a large brass or iron Kettle boil it with a great quantity of water until half the water be consumed Then remove it from the fire and if you