full of the said Vinegar of Saturn stir it till it be in a consistence of Butter or Balsamum The Use of this Balsam is To cool and asswage pain and extinguish Inflammations to dissipate and ease the Hemorrhoids The Use of the Vinegar of Saturn being dissolved in a small quantity in Water is To appease Inflammations and to serve for Injection in Gonorrhaea's being mingled with a little Water of Barley Of the Oyl of Bricks or the Philosophers Oyl PUt five parts of powdered Bricks and one part of Oyl of Olives into a glass Retort luted and bigger than needs for so much matter place it in a Circulary Fire which by little and little you must bring to the highest degree or Fire of Suppression the Flegm will come first then a stinking thick red Oyl which being rectified will become yellow clearer and less stinking The Use of this Oyl is For Contusions the Sciatica and cold Defluxions The Oyl of yellow Wax POur one part of yellow Wax melted upon five parts of powder'd Bricks make with it little Balls and with them fill a glass Retort luted up to the neck give the same Fire as in the Oyl of Bricks the Flegm will come first then a red stinking Oyl which will congeal into a yellow Butter which being rectified will become clear and white and less stinking The Use of it is the same as of the Oyl of Bricks Of the Extract of Hellebore PUt half a pound of the Roots of black Hellebore and upon it as much Spirit of Wine as will cover it three fingers high into a double Matrass draw the Tincture in a Sand-fire for three or four days evaporate the said Tincture in a glass Cucurbite in a Sand-fire to a consistence of Honey The Use is To purge Melancholy it causes Loathing and Vomiting The Dose is from ten grains to a scruple Of Aqua fortis PUt into a glass Retort common Niter undeflegmated Vitriol in powder and leaving third part of your Vessel empty distil them in a Fire of Reverberation or Suppression giving it by degrees A little Flegm will come first then the Spirit in red vapours The Use is To dissolve Minerals and Metals and to give force and penetration to Dyings or Tinctures Of the Infernal Stone PUt two parts of Aqua fortis to one part of Coppel Silver cut into little pieces in a small Matrass half luted evaporate the Aqua fortis in a Circulary Fire till your matter be dry with a black scum upon it then give a melting fire till there rise no more vapours then take off your Matrass and let your matter cool or else pour it into little moulds The Use is To consume Warts and proud Flesh to cure Cancres the Ulcers of the Mouth and the Gangrene by touching them with this Stone Of the burning Spirit of Honey PUt one pound of Honey and a pint of White Wine into a glass Cucurbite or an earthen one distil them in a Sand-fire till you hear that it boyls no longer and that there remains nothing but a black Honey in the bottom The Use is To dye the Beard and Hair Of the Arcanum Corallinum POur warm Water upon the Red Precipitate of Mercury till at last your Water come away insipid then pour upon it Spirit of Salt in a glass Cucurbite dry it in a Sand-fire that will fix the Mercury then sweeten with cold Water the said Mercury fixed till the Water come away insipid then reverberate it in a Crucible it will become as red as Coral then burn upon it Spirit of VVine two or three times The Use of it is To purge and provoke vomiting gently and cure the Pox. The Dose is from three to six grains Cinnamon-Water PUt four ounces of Cinnamon and a quart of White Wine into a glass or stone Cucurbite fit to it a Head and Receiver of Glass distil them in a Sand-fire there will come at first a clear Water and toward the end a whitish muddy one The Use of the first Water is To fortifie the Stomach and comfort the Heart and to facilitate and further the delivery of Women in Child-bed The second Water may serve in the confection of the Syrup of Cinnamon by infusing the Cinnamon before you dissolve your Sugar in it Of the sweet Sublimate TAke of Corrosive Sublimate and Quicksilver of each a like quantity powder your Sublimate in a white Dish with a Pestle of VVhite-ware stopping your nose close then add to it the Quicksilver and when they are half incorporated together add a little distilled Vinegar to make a wet powder put this mixtion into an unluted Matrass with a straight neck place it in a Circulary Fire after the evaporation of the Vinegar stop the Matrass with a Paper stopple continue your fire till your matter be elevated from the bottom of the Matrass take off your Matrass break it and take out the Sublimate which cleanse every where powder it and put it into a greater Matrass half luted to be sublim'd a second time in the same fire which you must encrease towards the end of the Operation till there remain little or nothing in the bottom of the Matrass Take off your Matrass and break it and keep this Sublimate in a glass Vessel well stop'd It s Use is To purge gently from twenty to forty grains it fluxes in four or five Doses one after another Of the Salt of Saturn PUt as much distilled Vinegar as you please into a glaz'd Pan which set upon a Trevet over a fire of Wood and Coals and add to it as much as you please of powder'd Lytharge stirring it with a wooden Spatula then after it has boyled a little let it cool pour off the distilled Vinegar impregnated and pour on more reiterate the boyling till there remain no Lytharge filter your Dissolutions and evaporate them in a sand-Sand-fire in a glass Cucurbite till your matter become as red as Blood then put it into VVhite-VVare Dishes to congeal into white Crystals as sweet as Sugar and there will remain a red Oyl sweet also which has the same vertue as the Salt It is a Collyrium for the Eyes in Ophthalmies it is good to inject in Gonorrhaea's and it is excellent for redness of the Face or Erysipelases in VVater or Vnguentum Rosatum Of the Diaphoretick Antimony TAke one pound of Mineral Antimony or the Regule of Antimony or Mars four pound of fine Niter powder them and mingle them together and put them in fâ—agration and fusion by spoonfuls in a great Pot of the Crucible Earth heated red-hot in a fire of Suppression covering at each time the Pot continue the fire till the vapours cease then take it off and with a Lattin Ladle pour out the matter gently into an earthen pan full of VVater bruise between your hands the matter thus quenched Pour off the white milky Dissolution within 2 or 3 hours pour off the VVater of that which is precipitated to the bottom and sweeten
Salt in it and therefore yields more Spirits you may learn in the Chapter of Crystal-Mineral how Niter is purified and that in its purifying it is devested of its fixt Salt Obs 4. and 5. That the Retort must be of Glass and filled up to the neck for the reasons alledged in the precedent Operation Obs 6. That the Phlegm which comes first in the distillation is in a very small quantity and cannot be separated from the Spirit by rectification because this Spirit is so Volatil that it comes of a sudden conjointly with the Phlegm and so the rectification would be unnecessary the Phlegm being in so small a proportion to the Spirit as not to be able to make the last lose any thing of its activity and energy Its Vertues and use This Spirit is Corrosive not only applyed to Warts rotten Flesh and the Gangreen but it corrodes and dissolves Mercury and the other Metals it is often to be preferr'd to Aqua fortis for these two uses or it is not so burning in its action upon the flesh as Aqua fortis and it is much fitter for the dissolutions which are made by it of Mercury and other Metals and Minerals in order to the preparing of some remedy to be taken inwardly as well because pure Niter is an acid aperitive and pure Vitriol is an acid vometive as because Niter being a Sulphureous Salt drawn from temperate Animals and Vitriol a terrestrious Salt drawn from Minerals by their union in the composition of Aqua fortis is produced a malignous quality Nay it is fitter than Aqua fortis for the dissolution of Minerals in order to make Fucuses for the face because the Spirit of Niter applyed to the skin leaves but a little yellow spot which may be easily taken away whereas Aqua fortis leaves a deep orange-spot so sticking and adhering that it can never be taken out but with the loss of the skin from whence we may infer that a Fucus prepared with Aqua fortis should rather black than whiten the skin The marks to distinguish this Spirit are these 1. That it is of the same colour and transparency as the Spirit of Salt 2. That it is very vaporous and stinking coming near the stinking smell of Aqua fortis 3. It is too corrosive and biting to be tasted upon the Tongue but to try its goodness pour out some drops upon a Brass half-peny and if it be right it will presently boil and makes the half-peny stir it produces a blew colour in the said half-peny 4. It corrodes and makes its Linen-stopple look yellow as Aqua fortis uses to do sometimes the Spirits of Vitriol and Sulphur are sophisticated by putting a little Spirit of Niter or a little Aqua fortis into common Water till there result an acid taste which is not caustick but you shall perceive this cheat if having rubbed a Paper with the Spirits of Vitriol and Sulphur in one place and the Spirit of Niter and common Water in another place you present the said Paper to the fire for then the place rubb'd with the Spirits of Vitriol and Sulphur will grow black and break and the place rubb'd with Spirit of Niter in common Water will only grow yellow and not break The Spirit and black Oyl of Vitriol TAke an Earthen-pot unglazed of the Earth they make Crucibles of fill it up to the brim with good green Vitriol set this pot upon a Salt-seller in a great Circulatory fire in two hours time or there abouts your Vitriol having first dissolved into a Liquor will be dryed deflegmated and at last coagulated into a grayish lump then take out your pot let it cool and when cold put your matter into a Brass or Iron Mortar and powder it Take a Glass Retort well luted up to half the neck fill it with the said Vitriol and place it according to Art in a great Reverberatory fire fitting to it a great Receiver Give your fire by degrees coming as soon as you can to the last which continue till you perceive in the top and sides of your Receiver a kind of black Veins that trickle down to the bottom these are the black Oyl which begins to distil Then unlute your Receiver from its Retort and separate by inclination the acid Spirit of Vitriol which hitherto has been distilled and which is of a white and transparent colour like Water and which entered your Receiver in the form of a white Vapour By this time your Vitriol will be calcin'd into a red colour and brought to be a Colcothar which yet retains its black Oyl Which to extract you must again fit the Receiver to its Retort without lute for else the neck of the Retort being exceeding hot would presently break by the approach of the cold and moist Lute continue then your fire and give it in the highest degree for the space of six or eight hours till your Receiver be cold though the fire be vehement under the Retort by that you 'll perceive that the contain'd matter has yielded all its black and thick Oyl Let your fire go out then take out your Retort which by the long violence of the fire will seem somewhat sunk and straitned and in it will remain a Colcothar devested of its phlegm its Spirit and its black Oyl but yet containing the fixed Salt of Vitriol and therefore is not so sharp and acrimonious as the first Colcothar 'T is out of this second Colcothar that you may extract the Caput mortuum of Vitriol by making a Lexivium of the said Colcothar to extract it s fixed Salt Out of one pound of green Vitriol you 'll have nine or ten ounces of Spirit with its Phlegm and half an ounce of black Oyl The acid Spirit of Vitriol contains much Phlegm which came first with it therefore if you desire to have a purified Spirit you must evaporate the Phlegm by putting this Spirit Inflegmated into a Matrass not luted which set upon a Salt-seller in a small Circulatory fire till the whole substance be half diminished and begin to look a little yellowish if you continue this Evaporation any longer your Spirit will become blackish drawing near the colour and acidity of your Oyl of Colcothar If reciprocally with the said black Oyl of Colcothar you desire to make a white acid Spirit do but mingle in a Matrass one dragm of the said Oyl with an ounce of common water then you shall see that the said Oyl will presently go to the bottom and will so heat the neck of the Matrass that you will scarce be able to hold it in your hand Mingle them well by agitation till the water grow blackish then through Paper filtrate the said liquor and there will come a clear acid Spirit as yellow as Gold which will have the same force and virtue as the common Spirit of Vitriol the Paper retaining the black and thick faeces From whence we may conclude that this clear Liquor which we call
Sun for the reverberation of its beams would alter the white colour which is the beauty of these Remedies all Magisteries may be trochiskated in the same way and then must be kept in a glass Vial well stop'd Obs 1. That in this Composition we make use of Male Antimony rather than of the Female because being heavier it is better and for the same reason we use the Regulus of Antimony and rather the Regulus of Mars because it is already more purified of the venomous part of its volatil substance Now in this Remedy we do pretend that all that part of the Antimony which has been opened by the Niter is absolutely devested of its purgative and emetick substance that is of all its volatil Salt and Sulphur therefore we ought not to use the Female Antimony which has more of this volatil substance than the Male. But the Regulus of Antimony is better because as it is devested as well of a considerable part of its volatil substance as of its terrestreity it is fitter to be purified and entirely refin'd from all its malignous qualities and yet the Regulus of Mars is best of all because in it the emetick Vertue is already fixed by Mars incorporated with the Antimony You must also take notice That they that seek the Philosophers Stone in Antimony prefer Mineral Antimony before all others thinking that because it has not been melted it is impregnated with all its vertue and therefore ought to be used also in this Operation but without diving any further in this Well of Democritus I will only say That for the use of Physick Mineral Antimony is the most malignant of all and it is devested of these ill qualities only by long and reiterated fusions and evaporations Obs 2. That we use here very fine Niter because we are not only to open and melt the Antimony for common Niter would do that but also so to penetrate the Antimony as to cause an evaporation of all its volatil purgative and emetick substance Now common Niter cannot do this because having a terrestrious substance and a fix'd Salt in it self it would not be fit to maintain a long and penetrating fusion Obs 3. That for the same reason we put three times as much Niter upon the said Dosis of Antimony and for the same reason we keep the Antimony and the Niter upon the Fire half an hour after their Flagration and Projection till all the smoak be vanished and with it the emetick and purgative qualities which the Niter had opened and set loose in the Antimony but if after that you continue your Fire it will produce the same effect in the Antimony that the Niter did that is it will discover and bring forth a new emetick and purgative vertue as we see it is done in the Vitrum Antimonii or glass of Antimony and yet not be able to make it evaporate for that belongs to Niter to do and by this you will perceive that one must be a good Artist that prepares this Remedy well Obs 4. That you must with all the care imaginable wash and edulcorate your Magisterie of Antimony else in stead of being simply Diaphoretick and opening it would prove vomitive because that though the volatil part of your Niter has carried away with it all the volatil substance of the Antimony that it had un-chain'd and set at liberty yet the fix'd Salt of the said Niter remaining in the Antimony retains some part of the emetick substance therefore it is necessary by frequent Lotions to dissolve the said fix'd Salt and so extract it And here again you see the great pains and care that an Artist is at in preparing of this Remedy so excellent and so much used Obs 5. That the Diaphoretick Antimony is nothing but an Antimony most intimately penetrated and opened by Niter and all its emetick and purgative vertues evaporated and carried away with the said Niter by a long and great Fire and then afterwards edulcorated by washing and Lotions It s Vse and Vertues 'T is a powerful Diaphoretick and an excellent Diuretick apperitive and desopilative it is used with good success against all Venereal Diseases as old Gonorrhaea's being mingled with some Venice Turpentine that has been brought to the consistence of Colophone as we shall teach in the Chapter of the Diuretick Pills It is very good against the Small Pox in the weight of a Five Shillings piece of Gold in Water or Syrup of Cinamon taking it three days together to make the small pox come out and dry against all opilations and tumours of the Spleen the Pancreas and the Mesentery incorporating it with the Salt of Tamaris the Mercurius dulcis the Crocus martis apperitivus and scummed Honey as it is here frequently practised with good success The Black and Acid Oyl of Antimony TAke of Antimony fine Niter Brimstone of each one pound powder them and mingle them well together then fire this mixtion in the same way and manner and in the same Vessels that we taught to make the Spirit of Sulphur in There will rise a vapour as red as blood and there will stick to the sides of the Bell and of the Pan and upon the surface of the water a little skin of the same colour all your Matter being consumed take your red flowers and mingle them with your water which is already impregnated with the acid Spirit of these three Minerals Put all this into a glass Matrass unluted and let it be but three quarters full Pose your Matrass on a Round in a small circulatory Furnace continuing a gentle fire till your flowers melt and go to the bottom and that there appears no Sulphur swimming upon the Liquor which will look thick and of a red dark blackish colour but take care that the ebullition be not such as to run over or break your Matrass 'T is in this case that one must be a good Artist and acquire by attention reason and experience a way of Operating surely and easily This done take off your Matrass and pour out your liquor very hot into a white earthen Pot. When it is cool separate by inclination the black and acid Oyl and you will find in the bottom of your Pot a congealed lump of yellow reddish Sulphur keep the said Oyl in a Glass well stop'd and keep your Sulphur to serve you in the making of the Salt of Brimstone Obs 1. That Niter is here used to open the body of Antimony the Brimstone is employed to fix its emetick quality and the Brimstone if it were not joyned with Niter would not be able to inflame the Antimony for the Brimstone being stifled in these vessels would presently go out but the Niter once a-fire though afterwards stifled yet sets the other combustible bodies that are with it a-fire also till they be consumed Obs 2. That the smoak and flowers of this Matter are red because of the Sulphur of the Antimony which is redder than ordinary Sulphur and so
one as you see it does by its Pellicule Obs 8 That we pour this dissolution thus evaporated into white ware dishes because being warm it would break a stone or Glass one and in an earthen glazed one the Crystals because of the glasing would spoil their whiteness Obs 9. That these Crystals are in figure like to needles and somewhat triangular Some are small and those are in the bottom others are greater and those are upon the brims and have more of a triangular figure they are white because they are a Calx or Philosophick calcination of Saturn made by a dissolvant which cannot alter their colour and they are in taste a little acid and very sweet or sugarins acid because of the Vinegar sweet because that Lead being the sweetest of all Metals has likewise a very sweet Salt and thus the Salt of Lead is amongst the Salts of Metals the same that the Salt of the Indian Canes is almost the Salts of vegetables Obs 10. That when you pour two or three spoonfuls of Spirit of Sulphur upon your dissolution then this acid being of a contrary nature to the acid of the Vinegar fights with it and weakens it so as to make it lose its hold and so your Lead presently curdles and is precipitated into a white powder Obs 11 That the Spirit of Sulphur is fitter for this precipitation than any other acid because it makes whiter sweeter and more pleasant not only this but all Magisteries The Spirit of Vitriol blacks the Oyl of Tarter has an unpleasant taste of Urin the Spirit of Salt would be apt to fix with this Magistery and the Spirit of Niter is too sharp Obs 12 That the Crystals of Saturn are nothing but Lead dissolved and calcin'd Philosophically in distilled Vinegar then coagulated into Crystals by the evaporation of the flegm and part of the sharpest Spirits of the Vinegar and so yet retaining a good part of the acid of the said Vinegar And as for the Magistery it is likewise Lead dissolved and calcin'd by Vinegar then evaporated then precipitated into a white powder by the Spirit of Sulphur or some other acid and at last devested by lotions of the acid and sharp part of the Vinegar and the said Spirit of Sulphur The Use and Virtue of the dissolution of Saturn before its evaporation into Crystals or into the Magistery is to cool and appease the pain and and hardness of Inflamations take away redness of the face and Eresipilae's the affected part being washed with lint dip'd in it This mixtion is of a milky colour and therefore is called Virgina's milk The Crystals and Magistery have the same vertue to cool and appease the pain take away redness soften hardness caused by inflamation and attenuate and resolve Tumours for this purpose you put five or six grains of them and as much white Vitriol into a Glass of Rose water and Plantin mingled and then in it we dip a thin slice of raw Veal and lay it upon your Eyes inflam'd and full of pain and redness The same water may serve for the redness of the face and Erisipelas dipping in it Linnen and so applying it to the part affected as for the oyl of Saturn it may be mingled with some of your cooling unguents as the Cerat of Gallen or the unguentum rosatum or Populeum to mollifie soften and take away the redness of all inflamed parts and if you have not this Oyl you make use of the Salt of Saturn in its place for the same end The Crocus Martis aperitivus TAke of filings of Steel or Iron two parts and of powder'd Brimstone one mingle them together and put them into an unglazed Earthen Pot set it upon two bricks in a Furnace of Reverberation and Suppression there let it stand till all the flame of your Brimstone be spent and after that give the fire continually for an hour then take off your pot break it while it is hot and presently put the matter into an iron or Brass Morter and powder it while it is warm then spread this powder which then will be of a colour of Violets upon a Marble the air will change the colour to brown then powder it again and searce it very fine and keep it in a glass well stopt Obs 1. That we use Brimstone to open and calcine the body of Steel or Iron but that we put half as much Brimstone as Iron because we intend here but a slight calcination and the more you put the stronger will be the calcination and your Mars will be the more aperitive or opening they are powder'd together that they may the better penetrate one another Obs 2. That this calcination ought not to be done in an earthen glaz'd Pot lest by the violence of the fire the Lead of the Vernish should melt and mingle with your Steel by the activity and flagration of your Brimstone Obs 3. That you must powder your calcin'd Mars while it is hot for when it is cold it grows hard and so would not be so easily reduced to powder For even Mars not calcin'd being actually hot is soft and malleable and therefore if calcin'd it is more but both when cold do fall to their natural hardness Obs 4. That the filings of Steel or Iron from black that they were do become purple by this half calcination and pulverisation being impregnated with this colour by the Brimstone which naturally makes a blew flame and at last this Purple colour being exposed to the air becomes brownish because the fine Sulphureous part evaporating leaves your Mars to its natural colour Obs 5. That this Crocus Mortis Aperitivus or opening Saffron of Mars is nothing but the filings of Steel or iron half calcin'd and opened by the Brimstone This name of Saffron does not fit it well except you mean a burnt saffron for this powder is not red as Saffron is It s Vse and Vertues It has the same Vertues as the aperitive Saffron of Mars following and besides it serves to make the second Saffron of Mars and also to make the Christalised Salt of Mars and the astringent Saffron of Mars Another Crocus Martis aperitivus TAke the Saffron of Mars prepared above put it into a stone Dish or Pan and pour upon it Spirit of Vitriol or of Sulphur to the height of two fingers above your matter letting it imbibe and impregnate it self for three or four days then put your matter which will be in form of Paste into a great Crucible and fill it up to the brim to the end the heat may work more upon it set this Crucible upon two Bricks in a reverberatory Furnace giving at First and all along for the space of eight hours the greatest Fire you can then take off your Crucible break it with a Hammer take out your matter and while it is hot powder it in a Brass or Iron Morter then let it cool in the Air upon a Marble and it will become red as Saffron
humours in Ulcers resists corruption drys them and cicatrises them It serves also for mealy Ring-worms for the Itch Scales and Erisypelases for Inflammations but you must have a care to make it more or less sharp according to the nature of the distemper and the sensibility of the part you intend to apply it to which to do you need only put more or less common water according as you will have it more or less acrimonious for the force of this water is in its Salt which you cannot sweeten but by encreasing the dose of common water and diminishing that of the Salt Therefore it is but trifling to make two or three Lime waters one after another upon the same Lime To make the Phagedenick water put two pound of the said Quick-lime Water into a Glass Bell or an Earthen white Ware Pan and put to it from half a dragm to a dragm of Corrosive Sublimate well powdered in an Earthen white Ware Dish with an Earthen Pestle This Water and the Sublimate after the first stirring of them together will become presently of an Orange colour the Sublimate will go to the bottom and is called the Orange-Sublimate If you have a desire to make your Phagedenick Water weaker pour upon it two pounds more of Lime Water then the water and the Sublimate will change their Orange colour into a Lemmon keep this water together with its Sublimate in a Glass Vial well stopped for your use Obs 2. That the Sublimate from white becomes yellow or orange colour when mixt with the Lime water because that those Sulphureous Salts of which the Corrosive Sublimate is not devested being to engage with the Salt of the Lime are quickened and so revive their colour in the conflict so much as to communicate their tincture to the VVater and Sublimate It s Vse and Vertues In this VVater we dip Linnen and apply it to old rotten Ulcers full of frothy flesh to consume the ill flesh correct the putrefaction cleanse and produce better flesh and at last dry them and bring them to cicatrize The Magistery of Coral The Salt of Coral TAke as much as you please of red Coral that which is in little branches is the best beat it to a fine powder in a Brass Mortar and put it into a Glass Stone or VVhite-ware Vessel pour upon it Spirit of Sulphur two or three fingers high above your Matter let them stand together far from the fire and there the Coral will dissolve while it dissolves there will be an ebullition with a little noise which ceasing marks to you that the Spirit is loaden with as much of the Coral as it is able to dissolve and it has lost its great acidity and sharpness Pour off by inclination this dissolution and put it into a Vessel apart then pour new Spirit upon the Faeces and continue so doing till you have dissolved all the Coral This done put all your dissolutions together into a Glass Bell and pour upon them cold water in such quantity and so often till at last your water come away without any taste filterate that which remains through a Coffin of white Paper upon which let it dry or make Trochisks of it as has been taught in the Chapter of the Diaphoretick Antimony Obs 1. That to make your dissolutions you must not take an earthen glazed Pan lest your Spirit of Sulphur should spend its force upon the glazing and black and spoyl your Magistery nor you must not take a Vessel of potters earth unglazed because that this earth being porous would imbibe and consume the Spirit in its porosities now your Stone Vessels are of a thick compact Matter and your White-ware is a kind of glass Obs 2. That instead of Spirit of Sulphur you may use Spirit of Vitriol but because Vitriol naturally blacks all it comes near your Magistery will not be so white you may also make use of distilled Vinegar or juyce of four Lemmons but we do not because we should need too great a a quantity and so it would prove dearer and your Operation would only be longer but not better Obs 3. That the Magisteries of Crabs eyes Pearls Bezoard mother of Pearl are all made the same way as the Magistery of Coral yet we shall give a description of some of them by another method Obs 4. That both the Magistery and the Salt of Coral are nothing but a Calx of Coral or a Philosophick calcination of it by the corrosion of the Spirit of Sulphur all the difference that is between the Magistery and the Sulphur is that the Magistery is a Calx slackened washed and sweetened by common water and so freed from the acrimony of the Salt of Sulphur whereas the Salt of Coral is a Calx yet impregnated with some rest of Spirit of Sulphur incorporated in it by crystallization or not driven away by the fire in the drying from whénce it proceeds that the Magistery is infipid but the Salt of Coral is acid and biting upon the Tongue and from thence it has the name of Salt though in effect it be no salt for it is not to be dissolved in water and is properly a Stone salted by the impregnation with the Spirit of Sulphur for if you go about to dissolve it there will be in the water nothing but some Spirit of Sulphur so that if you continue sweetning this Salt you will at last make the Magistery of Coral of it It s Vse and Vertues The Magistery and Salt of Coral have the same vertues with pure Coral but they are exalted because the body of Coral being opened is more penetrating and so fitter to carry its astringent corroborative faculty to the remotest parts of the body yet it is certain that there where the design is only to take away the Acrimony of those humours which do corrode the Stomach and Intestines there I say ordinary Coral well powdered is better than its Magistery because that the Chymical Operation will be performed in the body with more benefit by those corrosive sharp humours which meeting with the Coral fall to dissolving of it and so dull their own Acrimony which is the most malignous thing in the body We see nevertheless by experience too that if upon the Magistery of Coral you pour new Spirit of Sulphur or of some other Acid there will be a more sudden and stronger ebullition though it last not so long as in the first dissolution of Coral and therefore the serous sharp Humours of the body may produce the same effect upon the Magistery But the Dissolvant meeting not with so much resistance in Coral already opened and calcin'd as in natural Coral does not work with so much force and therefore dulls not its activity nor loses so much of its Acrimony after the dissolution The Balsam of Saint John 's Wort compounded drawn by the Spirit of Wine Put into a Matrass five or six ounces of Spirit of Wine put to it Myrrhe Aloes and Sanguis
Draconis all well powdered of each a dragm place your Vessel in a Sand-fire to make your Gums dissolve which will be done in two or three hours time then add to them as much of the dry Flowers of Saint John's Wort as you can take up with your thumb and four fingers the Spirit of Wine though it have dissolved the Gums will yet extract the Balsamick Tincture of the said Flowers next day take off your Vessel out of the Sand and strain all your matter through a Linnen Cloath by pressing it while it is warm then dissolve in it half an ounce of Venice Turpentine by setting your matter for half an hour upon a Sand-fire thus you will have a red unctuous and mucilaginous Balsam Observe That if you had extracted the Tincture of your Flowers before the Tincture of the Gums the Spirit would have been weakned because it would not only have been loaden with the oyly part of them but also with the flegm and therefore would not have been able to dissolve the said Gums It s Vse and Vertues It is a most excellent Balsam for all green Wounds Contusions and for the Sciatica The Corrosive Sublimate YOu must have two Pans of Potters-Earth unglaz'd which must be turned up-side down one upon the other and be so exactly fit as to make but one Pan in this situation and therefore they must have been baked together in a Potters Oven in the uppermost must be a hole big enough to put an Egg into then take Quicksilver and good refin'd Niter deflegmated of each a pound common Salt well decrepitated and green Vitriol well calcin'd into red of each half a pound powder your Salts and incorporate with them your Quicksilver by beating them together in a Marble Mortar with a Wooden Pestle and sprinkling distill'd Vinegar upon them till you have reduced them to a kind of paste put this paste by pieces into the Pan by the hole left in the top and then stop it with Lute so as to leave only a vent of the bigness of a good big Pin place your undermost Pan up to the brim in the Furnace of the Fire of great Reverberation taking care to leave in your Furnace three gaps to give the Fire Air viz. one over against the Fire-room and one of each side for else your Pan being set so deep into the Furnace would go near to suffocate and put out your Fire give at first a strong Fire and when you have brought it to the highest and last degree continue it twelve hours While the Operation lasts you must have a care to keep open the little vent that is left in the Lute you may therefore with a Wire gently open it from time to time that so your matter may send forth freely its most fiery vapours which else would break your Vessel and in the breaking spread such a malignity by their abundance and sudden eruption as would go near to infect you After twelve hours let your Fire go out and when your Pan is cold break the uppermost part of it and you will find a loaf two or three fingers thick sticking to the sides of the lowermost part as white as Snow icy in its circumference and crystalliz'd in its middle Obs 1. That in France we do not make much of this Sublimate because we can have it six times cheaper from Venice where common Salt Mercury and Vitriol are very cheap because they are not far from the Mines and near the Sea The Hollanders do also bring some to Paris but they sophisticate it commonly with white Arsenick We have taught to discern this cheat in the Chapter of the dulcified Sublimate Obs 2. That the Corrosive Sublimate is nothing but Quicksilver calcin'd and incorporated with Niter and the Spirits of common Salt and Vitriol by the Fire which sublimes all these Volatils into one lump The common Salt and Vitriol remain in the bottom of the lowermost Pan almost as heavy as when they were put in because that they are naturally fix'd the fix'd Substance of the common Salt and deflegmated Vitriol serve to hinder the melting of the Niter and the Spirits of these two serve to corrode the Mercury and make it strongly corrosive by the conjunction of all these Salts together It s Vse and Vertues 'T is the strongest Corrosive of all it serves to make the dulcified Mercury the Emetick Powder the Phagedenick Water and that Unguent which for the violence of its inflaming and burning Operation is called The Devil's Vnguent It is the poison we call Rats-bane and kills Rats and Mice by burning their entrals as if they had live coals in them producing the same effect in all Animals and men too if they swallow any of it The Antidote of it is not any Theriaca or Victan or other Cordial there is nothing but Water in abundance that by humecting and wetting the Salts is able to take away their Acrimony though Oyl be very good too for Oyl and Grease because they cannot dissolve and melt these Salts make them at least remain without force upon those parts which are oyled or greased as we may see in the operation of Cauteries applied to a very fat man for as soon as they have corroded the skin they are fain to stay there and shew their caustick vertue no further because they meet with the Panicula Carnosa or Adiposa which stays their action there is nothing but a waterish humidity which by melting of these Salts gives them leave to work The Balsam of Sulphur drawn by the Oyly Spirit of Turpentine PUt into a Matrass four ounces of Flowers of Brimstone or else Brimstone powder'd very fine and one pound of Spirit of Turpentine incorporated with its Oyl such as the Merchants send from Provence to Paris let your Matrass be but half full place it in a sand-Sand-fire and fit to it another Matrass and so make a double Vessel In this heat the Spirit will begin to simper and presently after the Brimstone will melt and dye the Spirit of a fine colour as red as a Pomegranate govern your Fire so as to hinder your Spirit from boyling in one or two hours the Operation will be done Then take off your Vessel and pour out your Dissolution while it is warm into a stone Vessel or of glaz'd Earth in it the Sulphur as it grows cold will go to the bottom and congeal in a yellow lump and the Tincture will remain above when your Tincture is cold and clear by the falling down of the Brimstone pour it off by inclination and keep it in a glass Vial. Obs 1. That this Spirit of Turpentine has drawn not only the red Tincture but also the ill smell of the Brimstone so as to lose its own odour Obs 2. That the Brimstone which you find after the Operation done weighs almost as much as when you put it in having communicated to the Spirit of Turpentine little besides the colour and smell of Brimstone It s
Vse and Vertues It is a most excellent Anodinum and Ripener for the wounds of the nervous parts and is very good for pains in the ears by putting some drops of it into them The Essence of Musk and Ambergreece drawn by Spirit of Wine PUt into a small Matrass one dragm of Ambergreece and half a dragm of Musk well powder'd before hand pour upon them five ounces of Spirit of Wine seal up your Matrass hermetically and put it into a little earthen Pan full of Sand up to half the belly set it in the Sun for forty days in the hottest time of the year from eight of the clock in the morning till seven at night keeping behind your Matrass a Tin Leaf to receive the Sun-beams and reverberate them upon the glass The Musk and Ambergreece will be almost quite dissolved in the Spirit of Wine and will dye it of a red colour like a Ruby break the neck of your Glass and pour out your Essence into a glass Vial well stopp'd and waxed and above the stopple put a piece of an oyled bladder Obs 1. That Ambergreece being a kind of Bitumen and Musk being of an oyly nature they may easily be dissolved in Spirit of Wine and communicate to it their Tincture It s Vse and Vertues One drop of this Essence perfumes for ever whatsoever it touches that can imbibe it and is much more pleasant with a double quantity of Ambergreece than with equal parts of Musk and Ambergreece because the odour of the Ambergreece is sweeter and that of the Must stronger The Tincture of Tartar or Spirit of Wine clarified TAke as much as you please of Tartar calcin'd to whiteness properly called Salt of Tartar or of Ashes made of burnt Lees of Wine call'd Gravell'd Ashes put either of them into a Crucible or unglaz'd stone Pot place it in a Wind-Furnace till your matter be blew like Vitriol of Cyprus which may be done in an hours time take off your Pot and with a brass Spoon take out your matter and powder it while it is hot in a brass Mortar and then put it into a Matrass which you must stir and shake in your hand to the end the heat of the matter may extend its self equally to all the parts of the Glass and not break one by over-heating it Let your Matrass have two parts empty pour into your matter Spirit of Wine till your Glass be half full place this Vessel in a Sand-Furnace giving an ordinary Fire according to Art let it stand till the Spirit of Wine become as red as a Ruby then pour off by inclination this Tincture pour on more Spirit upon the Faeces and reiterate this as long as the Faeces will yield any Tincture there will remain a good quantity of the said Faeces which you may re-calcine and use as other Salt of Tartar keep your Tincture Observe That Tartar being a sulphureous and inflameable Salt may take the colour of blew and communicate a red Tincture to the Spirit of Wine It s Vse and Vertues It is the most powerful and penetrating Desopilative that is it produces its effect strongly and gently so that for the obstructions of the Spleen the Pancreas the Mesentery and the Mesaraick Veins there is not the like remedy amongst Chymists nor Galenists for by the Spirit of Wine it dissolves all the most tenacious Viscosities in the little Veins and pores of the Belly and by the Salt of Tartar it carries away all the impurities of the said parts so that no Soap can cleanse more than this Tincture It s use is to be dissolved from ten to thirty drops in some Broth or appropriated Water to take every morning fasting for some days The Spirit and foetid Oyl of Tartar TAke a glass Retort luted up to half its neck if you do make but a little of this Remedy or if you make a great deal take a Stone one fill it up to the neck with good Tartar of Montpellier either red or white beaten to a fine powder place your Retort upon a Pot-cover full of Ashes in the small reverberatory Furnace if you use but two or three pounds or in an Earthen Bowl in a great circulatory Fire if you use but half a pound fit a Receiver and give your Fire by degrees there will soon come forth a white dark vapour which will continue all the time of the Operation the Flegm comes first then the Tartar takes fire in the Retort and is in a flame and from the smoak of this flame come the Spirit and Oyl Continue your fire till there come no more out of the Retort and till your Receiver be clear and cold though the Fire be violent under the Retort out of one pound of Tartar you will draw about ten ounces of Spirit with its Flegm and two ounces of Oyl in the Retort will remain four ounces of a black Salt which you must dissolve in Water then filtrate and coagulate to use as the true Salt of Tartar being entirely devested of its Flegm Spirit and Oyl and so being a pure Salt for the Tartar contains but very little Faeces or Earth Observe That in this Operation we perceive that Tartar is a very sulphureous Salt since it takes fire in the Retort and there comes from it a blackish Oyl stinking and inflameable and that the Faeces do remain black and burnt in the Retort It s Vse and Vertues This Oyl is indifferently stinking and caustick it serves for Ring-worms and exfoliation of Bones or for Farsey in Horses the Spirit is acid when rectified and is good against the Stone and Gravel The Spirit and Aromatick Oyl of Juniper Berries Put fresh Juniper Berries into a Brass Vesica till it be half full fill one third more of the Vesica with common cold water let them infuse twenty four hours in the Vesica with a gentle fire to extract afterwards the better the oyly Essence of your Berries having all this while stopt the mouth of your Vesica with a Linnen-cloth take out this cloth and fit to your Brass body its Mores-head border'd with a refrigeratory and a moveable Pipe and do as has been taught in the distillation of the waters of Plants that which will first come will be the Aromatick Balsamick Essence or Oyl of Juniper Bays together with a little flegm or inflegmated Spirit and then the rest of the flegm will follow Out of a peck of Berries you will not have above two ounces of Essence or Oyl all the rest will be flegm or Spirit inflegmatized Obs 1. That because we can draw but a very small quantity of Oyl or Essence not only out of Juniper Berries but also out of all Balsamick and Aromatick Leaves Flowers Rinds Barks Roots Woods Berries and Seeds therefore we have found the way of using Spirit of Turpentine separated by three or four Rectifications from its red Oyl putting three or four ounces upon every peck of Berries to the end that being incorporated
purest part of the Antimony Obs 2. That the Flowers of Antimony are of three colours the white do contain nothing of the venomous Sulphur of Antimony and are therefore coloured of the colour of the Volatil Salt of Antimony the yellow do contain a little of the said Sulphur and are therefore somewhat tinged but the red do abound with the said Sulphur and are therefore highly dyed Obs 3. That we fit divers Pots one upon another to receive all these Flowers of different colours the white in the first the yellow in the second and the red in the last we leave a hole in the uppermost Pot to give the vapours a little air but it is not so big as in the lowermost pots lest the finest flower should be lost through so wide a hole Obs 4. That we give at first a great fire and continue it forty eight hours to keep always the Regule or Antimony infusion and effumation else it would yield no flowers Obs 5. That you must not use stone pots for the violence of the fire would break them nor Earthen glazed pots of potters earth because that the glazing would melt and fix the Antimony but you must use strong pots of potters earth unglazed Obs 6. That the Flowers of Antimony are nothing but the Regulus of Antimony or the purest part of the Antimony made Volatil and sublimed into dry vapours by the strength of the fire and so converted into a fine impalpable powder called Flowers The white contain only a part of the body of the Regulus and a good deal of the Volatil Salt of Antimony the yellow contain a part of the body of the Regulus and little of the Volatil Salt and so do the red with a good deal of the malignant Sulphur of Antimony It s Vse and Vertues The white Flowers provoke sweat and sometimes vomiting and are very good against pestilential Feavers the yellow do provoke vomiting with violence and the red much more and with convulsions therefore there is no use of them only they enter in the composition of the Plaster of Paracelsus or of some others as you shall find in Authors the dose is from three to seven grains The Flowers of Brimstone PUt a great Earthen glazed Cucurbit into a small Reverberatory Furnace so that between it and the Furnace sides there be the thickness of a Crown piece left empty and the body of your Cucurbit must not be above half sunk into the Laboratory Then stop with Lute all the upper circumference left empty betwixt the Furnace and your Vessel leaving only three little holes equally distant from one another to give the fire vent Then line the neck of your Cucurbit without with slices of Paper covered with starch as if it were to fit a head to it and in stead of a head fit an Earthen glazed pan not turn'd upside down but having a hole in its bottom of such a capacity as to receive the neck of the Cucurbit Lute them well together with slices of Paper starched both above and under the junction of the Pan with the neck of the Cucurbit fill this Cucurbit with yellow Brimstone in powder till it be half full and then fit to this earthen pan another of the same metal which must be whole and turned upside down upon the first so as its bottom be half a foot distant from the neck of the Cucurbit there must be in the bottom of this second Pan a little vent hole of the bigness of the point of a bodkin to give air to the vapours of your Brimstone which else would make your Pan fly about your ears give your fire by degrees and continue a pretty good fire till there come no more fumes out of the little hole which for a pound of Brimstone will happen in three quarters of an hours time Then put out your fire and let your Vessels cool when they are cold separate them one from the other they will be lin'd with a thick crust yellow and light and which being bruised between your fingers is easily reduced to an impalpable powder scrape off this crust with a knife and you have the Flowers of Brimstone out of each pound you will have twelves ounces of Flowers by this method Obs 1. That we use here yellow Brimstone that is in great rowls because that it is the purest and best separated from its Mineral Earth and therefore will yield more and fairer Flowers the green or gray Brimstone show by their colour that they are not so pure and by consequent not so fit for this Operation Obs 2. That we use here a glazed Pan as well because that Brimstone has not force enough to corrode the glazing as because that being glazed the Pans are smoother and so it is easier to scrape off your Flowers a stone Cucurbit would break and you would hardly scrape off all your Flowers in a stone Pan whose surface is uneven Obs 3. That a great Reverberatory fire is not necessary in this Operation because that the Brimstone is easily melted and when melted is easily raised in Flowers Obs 4. That the Flowers of Brimstone are nothing but Brimstone purified from its Faeces and sublim'd in dry vapours by the means of the fire which has melted it then converted into impalpable yellow Flowers in the sublimatory Vessels It s Vse and Vertues These Flowers have the same but a more exalted Vertue than ordinary Brimstone because of the Thinness and Tenuity of their substance interiourly they are used for the same end as the Magistery or Milk of Brimstone and exteriourly they are used in Unguents for the Itch and Scab and for the Farcy in Horses incorporating it with Oyl of Olives and fresh Butter But you must be careful to use first general remedies for Brimstone is so drying that it presently dries up not only the Itch and Scab but also so parches the skin as to make it incapable of receiving the impurities of the body and of being transpirable from which are caused many violent diseases if the said impurities be not emptied by general remedies both before and after the use of Brimstone The Rosin or Magistery of Jalap TAke as much Jalap as you please well cleansed from its ordures and dried in the Sun then powdered and put into a Matrass Pour upon it good Spirit of Wine four or five fingers above your Matter and let your Matrass have a third part empty fit to it another Matrass to make a double vessel place it in a sand fire and there let it stand twelve hours in which time your spirit will acquire a Tincture as red as Claret Wine pour off that and pour on more spirit to the Faeces in twelve hours it will have extracted a new Tincture which pour off also If you will you may pour on more spirit but if your second Tincture be not high colour'd it will not be worth your pains and cost to pour on more Spirit of Wine gather together your
grains by whetting its vertue with twice or thrice as much of Sena Saffron and Savin or by receiving the vapour of the Lixivium in sitting over a Close-stool Of the Oyl of Eggs. PUt twenty or thirty Eggs into a Kettle of cold Water boyl it till your Eggs be hard take out the hard Yolks and put them into a Frying-pan over a flaming fire bruise them and turn them often with an iron Ladle till they be almost all turn'd into Oyl which separate from its Faeces while it is warm you may rectifie it if you please in a glass Retort in a Circulary Fire or rather in a Sand-fire which will make it yellow and incapable of congealing It s Vse is That it is a very good Balsam for green Wounds Burnings Ruptures or falling of the Guts into the Scrotum and for Wounds in the Nerves Ligaments and Membranes which are uncovered Of the Oyl and Spirit of Ash-wood THey are drawn as the Spirit and Oyl of Box and this wood yields but very little Oyl It s Vertue is For pains in the Kidneys Spleen Teeth and for the rotting of Bones applied outwardly Of distilled Vinegar TAke a glass stone or glaz'd earthen Cucurbite fill it half full with good Vinegar place it in a Sand-heat fitting to it its Head and Receiver give at first a great fire stop the Registers and Doors of your Ash-hole and Fire-room continuing your fire till you have drawn off within half a pint all the Vinegar you put in you may rectifie it upon its Faeces and separate the Flegm which will come first from the acid Spirit which will come last half in half or thereabouts It s Vse is To dissolve Pearls Corals Fish-shels to make of them Magisteries and to extract the Salt of Metals Oyl of Camphire PUt into a Matrass or Vial two ounces of Camphire and four ounces of Spirit of Niter shake them together and let them stand till the Camphire be dissolved separate by a glass Tunnel the Oyl which will swim upon the Spirit It s Vse is To moderate the pains of the Nerves that are naked and uncovered in a Wound and to exfoliate rotten Bones Of Spirit of Wine campherized PUt as much Camphire as you please into a Matrass and pour to it as much Spirit of Wine as shall be three or four fingers above it fit to it another Matrass and make a double Vessel place it in a Sand-heat till your Camphire be dissolved The Vse is For the Tooth-ach and for Deafness applied to the Tooth in a little Cotton and put into the hollow of the Ear with a little Wool cut off from the Stones of a black Ram. Of the Aromatick Tincture of Cloves PUt into a Matrass as many Cloves as you please and pour upon them Spirit of Wine to the height of three or four fingers above the matter place it in a Sand-heat till the Spirit be died of a blackish red separate your Tincture and make of it either an Extract or a Syrup The Vse of the Tincture Is to fortifie the Stomach and Heart ease the pains of the Colick kill VVorms taken inwardly and applied outwardly inform of an Epithema The calcination of Lead TAke Lead beaten into thin plates and Brimstone powder'd of each equal parts make Stratum superstratum in a glaz'd earthen Pot place it in a Circulary Fire and of Suppression till your inflamed and burning Sulphur be consumed take it off from the fire and stir it with an Iron Rod then powder it and searce it It s Vse is To dry up old Ulcers and Scabs being incorporated with Grease or Diapompholix and also from it is drawn the Sugar of Saturn The stinking Oyl of Cloves PUt of Cloves what quantity you will into a glass Retort luted place it in a Circulary Fire there will come into the glass Receiver white fumes which will congeal into a black Oyl stinking and caustick It serves to exfoliate rotten Bones it cures the Gangrene and pocky Ulcers Of the Oyl and Butter of Antimony of which is made the Mercury of Life or Emetick Powder or of Algarot Of the Cinnaber of Antimony Of Mercury and Antimony revived PUt Corrosive Sublimate and Mineral Antimony in Powder of each four ounces into a glass Retort luted leaving a gap to look in at place it in a small Circulary Fire till all the Oyl be distilled into a glass Receiver and that you see in the bottom of your Retort a bright melted lump then give a fire of Suppression till your Retort begin to grow soft and be half melted break it there will come out of the neck Mercury half quick and revived and half in a blackish powder In the entry of the neck you will find a greyish Crust and in the bottom a lump of Antimony reviv'd and made crude again Then put your Oyl of Antimony which being congealed is called Butter of Antimony into a little Retort to be rectified once only in a small Circulary Fire throw it into some Water which being impregnated with the Mercurial Salts is called the Philosophical Vinegar pour off this acid Water and sweeten your white powder with other water till it come away insipid This powder is called Mercury of Life The use of the Emetick powder is To cause vomiting and to purge gently in intermittent Feavers and Dropsies the Philosophick Water is good for the Itch Scabs Ring-worms and Lice the Cinnaber of Antimony is a Sudorifick for the Pox. Of the Oyl and Tincture of Karabe FIll a glass Retort luted up to the neck with Karabe powdered pour upon it Spirit of Wine up to the neck too place it in a Circulary Fire and fit to it a large glass Receiver give your fire by degrees till you come to a fire of Suppression and that there appears no more vapours in the Receiver separate the Oyl that goes to the bottom from the Spirit that swims on the top The Use of the Tincture of Karabe is For the Palsie the Sciatica the cold Gout all cold Fluxions and bruises of the Nerves The Oyl is good against the suffocations of the Mother and old Wounds Of the Oyl of Jet FIll a Retort of glass well luted with Jet in pieces up to the neck place it in a Circulary Fire and fit to it a glass Receiver giving the fire by degrees as in the Oyl of Karabe and separate the Oyl from the Spirit that will swim on the top The Use of the Oyl is for the Suffocation or Fits of the Mother for all Contusions and Bruises Of the Butter Cream or Nutritum of Saturn PUt into an earthen glaz'd Pan Minium or Lytharge or Ceruse or calcin'd Lead as much as you please pour upon it boyled distill'd Vinegar five or six fingers above the matter stir it with a wooden Spatula an hour after melt an ounce of white Wax in an earthen glaz'd Pan and add to it four ounces of Oyl pour this mixtion into a Mortar and upon it a glass
boil and run over by breaking the Glass Set your Matrass upon a Round in a small Circulatory Fire hindring all sorts of Coals either kindled or not from coming near your Glass for fear of breaking it Continue a good equal Fire till you perceive after a long boiling a kind of white scum upon your matter then lessen the Fire and let your matter evaporate gently till it be of a clear milky colour and cease to boil and make a noise Then augment the heat that so in a small time you may evaporate the nitrous red Spirits still remaining then if with this augmentation of heat your matter does not boil take it off from the fire and pour it very hot into a stone-Pan stirring and turning your Pan so as to make your liquor congeal and spread it self all over equally in the form of a Crust as white as Alabaster but as brittle as Glass This second Operation thus performed you must begin a third which is to mould this Salt into the Figure of Glass-Vials This third Operation does indeed add nothing to the virtue of the remedy but is only an ingenious beautifying of it which is thus performed Fill little Glass-Vials half full with these white Crusts place a Vial upon the ground and surround it with live Coals the Salt will presently melt when it is melted take away your Vial and shake it that the Salt may stick to the sides of it and so take the shape of the Glass then wet your Vial with cold Water and it will break into a thousand pieces which will nevertheless cleave to the Salt These you must loosen with the point of a knife and when you have taken away all the bits of Glass there will remain a Vial of Salt as white as Alabaster and which may be so preserved till you need it Obs 1. That to make the Salt of Brimstone you must calcine the Brimstone and that nothing can calcine it so well as Niter which by firing the Brimstone raises its volatile part or Spirits and leaves in the Cup the Calx of Brimstone containing but few Faeces and a great deal of fixed Salt and the Niter being pure burns all away and remains not in the said Calx but because here Niter is the Agent therefore we use here as much again of it as of Sulphur which is the Patient The reddish Flowers of Brimstone are also calcined by the said Niter Obs 2. That we use here Spirit of Urine as well because that if there were no Liquor the acid Spirits of Niter and Brimstone would be lost in the pores of the earthen Pan as because that the said Spirit of Urine is a powerful Diuretick and does therefore augment the virtue of our Remedy Obs 3. That the hardest thing in this Operation is to deflegmate the dissolution of Brimstone in the Spirit of Sulphur and there is a great deal of danger that the Matrass will break towards the end of your Operation when the matter rises and boils high therefore be diligent moderate your heat Experience makes a good Artist Obs 4. That after you have happily evaporated your Dissolution that you may conclude your process and chuse whether you will mould your Salt into the Figure of Glass-Vials or no but pour out your Dissolution into an earthen Dish and so keep it Obs 5. That this nitrous Salt of Brimstone is nothing but the Flowers of Brimstone calcined by the Salt of Niter then impregnated with the Spirits of Brimstone and Niter and at last coagulated into a white Salt If after the evaporation of the Spirit of Niter which was incorporated with this Salt you take of it and Sal Armoniac equal parts and sublime them together you will have a lovely sublim'd Salt white and so strong that it will melt in Paper and break a Box if you put it into it It s Vse and Vertues 'T is a powerful cooler and Diuretick it purifies the Blood resists Corruption is most excellent in Feavers both continual and intermittent it drives the Gravel of the Kidneys and cures the Running of the Reins the Dose is from ten to thirty Grains in Wine Broth Syrop Ptisane Distilled Water or Decoction answerable to the Indication and sometimes in a Purgative Powder or Bolus Dulcified Sublimate TAke of good Corrosive Sublimate of Venice as much as you please eight ounces if you will powder it to a fine Powder in a white earthen Dish pretty deep and very even with a glass or earthen Pestle and be careful to stop your Nose with a Handkerchief tyed behind your Head for fear the vapours of the Sublimate should make your Head ake or cause some worse effect Then put to it the same weight of Quicksilver and by trituration or beating incorporate them together when they are half incorporated add to them a spoonful of distilled Vinegar or rather just as much as is necessary to reduce your Mass into a wet powder and not into a paste if you put too much Vinegar you will have the trouble afterwards of evaporating it by the fire side and then all the purgative vertue of the Mercury will go near to fly away with the superfluous humidity of the distilled Vinegar Put this powder into a small Matrass long and straight-necked and unluted that you may see to the bottom let a good part of the Matrass be empty that there may be room for the sublimation and that it may be performed in a shorter time with a small heat pose your Matrass upon a Round in the small circulary Fire and presently you will perceive some humid vapours which rise from the Vinegar and when they cease then 't is a sign that all the Vinegar is evaporated then stop your Matrass with a Paper-stopple the better to keep in the Spirits of the Mercury and the Salts of the Sublimate Corrosive continue your Fire equally till all the matter be raised and sublimed from the bottom of the Vessel then your first Sublimation is perfected therefore take off your Matrass let it cool and then break it below the Sublimate take out the said Sublimate which will be all in a lump like a Mushrome and of a Pearl-colour separating the Quicksilver if any which you shall find swimming on the top and which has not been well incorporated with the rest if there be any spot of blackness about it you must also scrape it with a Knife gently and above all you must take out by inclination that is by pouring the Quicksilver that will be got as high as the orifice of the Matrass as also scrape away a kind of greyish powder which will be in good quantity in the neck of your Matrass set aside this scraping and this powder to use it in those Unguents in which Mercury is required because this black scraping would in a second Sublimation stain the whiteness of your Sublimate and the greyish powder would communicate a venomous quality to the remedy because in it are enclosed
luted to half the neck leaving a gap to look through at place it upon a Round in a small circulary Furnace keeping the neck of your Retort streight and not leaning on one side till your Mercury be dissolved in the Spirit of Niter which you will easily perceive through the gap you left when you luted your Glass When your Mercury is quite dissolved then to go the shorter way to work evaporate the Spirit of Niter your Retort being in the same posture still but if you mean to draw off the said Spirit of Niter then set your Retort in a distilling posture and fit to it a Recipient continuing your fire in the same degree as before When the exsiccation or drying of your Mercury shall be thus performed take off your Vessel and let it cool then pour into it an ounce of Oyl of Sulphur upon the white matter which remains in the bottom and then set it again upon the same fire till all the Oyl of Sulphur be likewise evaporated reiterate three or four times this cohobation or rectification with the same proportion of Oyl of Sulphur to the end that at last it may fire the Mercury This done break your vessel and in the bottom you will find a white lump which reduce to powder and upon this powder pour warm water which incontinent will become yellow reiterate this dulcoration or sweetning till at last your water come away as insipid as it was poured on then separate by inclination the water which will not be tinged as the other was and after dry your matter gently in a sand heat and there will remain at last a powder as yellow as Gold upon this pour some spponfuls of Spirit of Wine and set it on fire doing thus three or four times to sweeten your Mercury the more It will be as yellow and as bright as Gold and of no taste and so fix that being put into a Crucible and melted in a Wine Furnace it will still keep the consistence of a yellow powder without losing but very little of its weight which is a sign that it is well fixt Obs 1. That your Mercury for this Operation must be well purified because the intention is to fix it which could scarce be done if it were impure and mingled with Lead besides that being designed for a purgative in a very small Dose it would scarce answer your intention you will be able to judge if it be well purified or no by putting some of it into a Stone-cup for if when you put a finger into it it does not hang and make a long thred as a syrup would do but is short then it is good If it be impure you may purifie it by straining it through the Leather called Chamy for the Lead if there be any will remain in the leather or else distill your Mercury in a Glass Retort luted in a fire of suppression and the Mercury will remain in the bottom of the Retort Obs 2. That we use Spirit of Niter and not Aqua fortis to dissolve the Mercury because the said Spirit being less harmful and corrosive than Aqua fortis ought to be imployed in all preparations of Remedies that are to be taken inwardly besides that if we had employed Aqua fortis then the Mercury must necessarily after its dissolution have become red as it shall be taught in the Chapter of the Red Precipitate hereafter and no other Spirit would be corrosive enough to dissolve the Mercury but Spirit of Niter Obs 3. That we use a greater quantity of Spirit of Niter than of Mercury because experience teaches us that the dissolvant must be in greater quantity to dissolve such a dose of Mercury Obs 4. That the said dissolution requires no other than a small circulary fire for if the heat were greater the Spirit would evaporate and be gone in stead of doing its work and for the same reason we keep the Retort with its neck upwards that so if the Spirit be raised yet it may fall down again and dissolve the Mercury Obs 5. That if you draw off by distillation that said Spirit of Niter it may be useful to you in frictions for the Itch the Scab and such like diseases having lost its force which would have consum'd proud flesh excrescences c. Obs 6. That the Mercury being dissolved and calcin'd Philosophically by the Spirit of Niter after the exsiccation and evaporation of the said Spirit the Calx of the Mercury is white because the Niter being also white by nature cannot with a small fire colour any body that is dissolved in it but the Aqua fortis makes the bodies grow red because of the Vitriol which is in it Obs 7. That upon the Calx of Mercury we pour Spirit of Sulphur divers times that so we may intirely fix the said Mercury because the spirit of Sulphur is of it self fix and farr from evaporating when it is put in a Matrass upon the fire it fixes part of it into a very pricking sharp Salt and therefore this Spirit has power to fix all Metals The black Spirit of Vitriol is not proper to fix because it is of its nature volatil and would evaporate all away as for its salt at least and there would remain nothing but a Caput mortuum and observe by the by that Mercury passes here through two the noblest Operations of Chymistry for first it is dissolved by the Spirit of Niter and then coagulated by the Spirit of Sulphur Obs 8. That by pouring warm water upon this calx it presently grows yellow because the Oyl of Sulphur has communicated to it the Sulphureous yellow colour and the water being actually warm dissolves and extracts the Salts who were incorporated in the said Calx Obs 9. That by burning Spirit of Wine over the said Mercury you dulcifie and sweeten it and make its purgative vertue gentler because the burning Spirit of Wine penetrating the said Mercury carries away with it in the burning all the Venemous volatil Salt that could be left Obs 10. That Turbith Mineral is nothing but Mercury dissolved and calcin'd by the Spirit of Niter then fixt by the Spirit of Sulphur then devested of the salts of its dissolvants by reiterated lotions and freed from its malignous Sulphur by the flagrations of the Spirit of Wine It s Vse and Vertue It purges strongly and often provokes Vomit from three to six grains it cures the Pox without fluxing because being fixt it cannot rise to the mouth as all other preparations of Mercury that have not been fixt do It is nevertheless very violent because it is not so fixt but there yet remains a little un-fixt mercurial Salt and Sulphur who are sharpened by the Spirits of Niter and Brimstone and indeed if all of it were fixt then nothing of it could be dissolved in the stomach and so would produce no other effect than as much Gold in powder also being not altogether Volatil its Vertue is less harmful The White
care you do not use the Mineral because being loaded with Earth and Rock it would not melt with so small a quantity of Niter Obs 2. That you must take common Niter not purified but such as comes from the first washing because it is good enough to put the Antimony in fusion and because its Faeces being to be mingled with the Faeces of the said Antimony in the melting it would have been superfluous to have purified the Niter before-hand yet if you will be at the charge purified Niter will do no harm it will rather be better Obs 3. That you must powder your Antimony and Niter and mingle them well together that so they may the easilier take fire Obs 4. That you must not use a glaz'd Pot or Crucible lest the enflamed matter should corrode and melt the Lead of the Pot. Obs 5. That you must not throw your matter into your Crucible till it be red-hot else your Niter would not take fire and so would not be able to put your Antimony in fusion Obs 6. That you must not throw all your matter at a time into the Crucible for then the fusion of your Antimony would not be well performed because the Niter by so great a flagration would exhale and be gone before it had melted the Antimony Obs 7. That after every Projection you must cover your Crucible very close to the end you may keep in the enflamed vapours of the Niter who by their circulations do the better contribute to the melting of the Antimony Obs 8. That after all your matter is consumed yet you must encrease the fire because the Antimony is but half melted by the said flagrations but being already opened by the Niter it soon melts if the fire be encreased and in the mean time you stir it well that so the Antimonial Liquor may go to the bottom and be free from its Faeces and therefore we use a stick and not any thing of Iron because the said Liquor would corrode the Iron as we may perceive in the Regulus of Mars where the Antimony dissolves and eats the filings of Iron that are added to it Besides you may freely put the said stick to the bottom of your Crucible because you do not mean to hinder the Faeces of the Antimony from going to the bottom and therefore both melting together descend likewise together and only the Faeces of the Niter swim on the top of the melted Antimony Obs 9. That the Liver of Antimony or Crocus Metallorum is nothing but Antimony opened and melted by Niter and not devested of its terrestreity but full of its malignant purgative and vomitive Sulphur therefore we have used but half the quantity of Niter to a double proportion of Antimony and we have let it stand no longer upon the Fire than was necessary to melt it with the fixt Salt of the Niter remaining in the Crucible It s Vse and Vertues We seldom or never use the Liver of Antimony till we have made it Crocus metallorum by pulverisation It is a Moderate vomitive betwixt violent and gentle and purges too at the same time This powder serves ordinarily to make the Vinum emeticum or emetick Wine by putting one ounce of it to infuse in a quart of white Wine Sack Beer Cider c. the Dosis of this drink will be from one to two ounces to take at the mouth and from four to six ounces in an emollient decoction in a Clyster without dissolving in it any thing else The Regule of Antimony TAke three pound of male Antimony one pound and a half of common Niter one pound and a half of Tartar and four ounces of Wood Coals in the mean time heat red hot a great Crucible in a great circulary fire of suppression then throw in your matter by parcels with an Iron or wooden-ladle and cover your Pot or Crucible at every time till the smoak be past then when your Crucible is almost full encrease your fire and with a stick stir your matter from time to time that so the purest part of the Antimony may go to the bottom but do not put your stick to the bottom of the pot lest the Regule which is in the bottom should be mingled with its Faeces that swim on the top continue doing thus till all your matter be melted which will be in half an hour or thereabouts Then if you have any of your first matter left for which there was not room in the Crucible you may make an end of it and put it to this observing the same circumstances when all is melted give a violent fire for a quarter of an hour to the end that the most harmful part of the Antimony may exhale After this take off your Crucible set it upon a hot brick for a cold one would go near to break it because of its humidity your Crucible being cold break it with a hammer and in the bottom you will find your Regulus congealed in a lump of the proportion of the bottom of the pot as white as silver very smooth underneath and sometimes starred above in its superficies on the top of this Silvery lump are the grayish Faeces dry and spongious and in good quantity and marked also with the Star but when the Star fails the Regulus is as good as if it had not fail'd for the Star is produced but by a long fusion which straightning it does also diminish something of its purgative and emetick vertues by the too great evaporation of the flowers and volatil Salt of the said Antimony Obs 1. That you must preserve the Faeces of your Regulus for out of it you must draw the Golden Diaphoretick Sulphur as shall be said hereafter Obs 2. That we use here the Male Antimony as best because here we aim at a more excellent remedy than the Crocus Metallorum Obs 3. That we use here common Niter unpurified for the reason alleadged in the Chapter of the Liver of Antimony Obs 4. That we here make use of Niter to open and set in fusion the body of Antimony though we do also imploy the Tartar to hinder a too great ebullition of the said Antimony because the Niter being somewhat busie in calcining the Tartar cannot employ all its force upon the Antimony besides the Tartar being not inflameable by its nature hinders the Niter from causing this ebullition and being withall a gentle Salt it purifies cleanses and whitens the Antimony Then we use Wood-Coals in powder for the same end and because also the Coals being spongious are apt to draw to themselves and retain the Faeces of the Antimony Now it is very necessary in this Operation to prevent the ebullition lest the Antimony should run over the pot and be lost we use also but one proportion of Niter to two of Antimony for fear the flagration should be too quick and we keep all the matter longer upon the fire than we do the Crocus metallorum to give the
with some Unguent as the Diapompholixa with Hogs grease reducing it to the consistence of a Plaister Out of it also is drawn the Salt of Saturn instead of Lytharge Ceruse or Minium The sweet Chrystals of Saturn the sweet Salt of Saturn not Crystallized The Oyl of Saturn the Magistery or Precipitate of Saturn PUt as much distill'd Vinegar as you please into a glazed earthen Pan set it upon a trefoot making under a Fire of Coals and dry Wood till it begin to simper and boyl slightly then put into it by little and little as much as you please of Lytharge of Gold or of Silver powder'd stirring it continually with a wooden Spatula after it has boyled a little take off your Pan and let your Vinegar which is impregnated with the Lytharge settle a while then pour off the said Vinegar while it is warm this done pour more Vinegar upon the Lytharge left in the Pan boyl it stir it separate it and then put more doing so till all the Lytharge be gone then filtrate your Dissolutions while they are warm through a Coffin of brown Paper over a glass Cucurbit which set in a Sand-fire up to the neck in the Sand and evaporate all your Filtrations till they become as red as Bloud and are covered with a little skin or Pellicule then pour them out into little white Dishes and there let them cool when they are cold you shall see that a great part of the Liquor is congealed into Crystals or white Christalline Needles as sweet as Sugar to the taste and as thin as the Needles of Male Antimony then gently pour out of these same Dishes a red Oyl with a Sugar of Saturn left in the bottom un-crystallized then take out your Crystals and keep them in a glass Viol well stopped with Cork else they will fall into a Calx and in another Viol keep the said Oyl of Saturn whâ—â—h is nothing but the tincture of Saturn drawn by the Vinegar If by chance in evaporating your Dissolutions you were gone beyond the Pellicule so as your matter begins to look thick and glutinous then there would be no crystallizing of it and therefore evaporate it to a driness to make the Salt of Saturn not crystallized or make the Magisterie of Saturn Which is made thus Take the said red glutinous Oyl of Saturn or the Dissolution of Saturn evaporated to the Pellicule and pour on three or four ounces of either of them three or four spoonfuls of Spirit of Sulphur which presently will cause the Dissolution of Suturn to curdle into white Curds which by little and little will precipitate to the bottom into a white powder This done pour on common water to take away the acidity both of the Vinegar and Spirit of Sulphur but pour on Water but once else all your powder would be spent in a second Water because this powder of Saturn being half calcin'd is made dissolvable in Water by that little Vinegar which remains incorporated with it separate by Inclination this first Water and filtrate the rest through a Coffin of white Paper or make Trochisks of it through a glass Tunnel as has been taught in the Chapter of the Diaphoretick Antimony Obs 1. That you must take a glazed earthen Pan not a Stone or Glass one because there is no fear the Vinegar should corrode the Lead of the Vernish for having been baked in an Oven it sticks so fast to the earth that the Vinegar cannot corrode it neither if it did were it amiss since it is here used but for Saturn a stone one would be unfit for it would fly and break and that happens to all vessels of this Ware except to Retorts for there the fire circulating equally on all sides hinders its breaking which is not the like case in Pans for there the bottom only being heated and the rest cold they easily break because of their great driness For they are made of one part of a stone powder'd which is as dry and as brittle as Glass and of one part of lean earth which is not unctuous at all a Brass Basin would not be proper for the distilled Vinegar would spend its force in extracting the Salt of the Verdigreece which mingled with that of Saturn would make it look green Ob. 2. That in this Operation we make use of Lytharge rather than of Ceruse or Minium because the Lytharge having passed the fire of Coppel is a more Spongeous open body and therefore more penetrable by the distilled Vinegar and so will yield a greater quantity of Salt and Ceruce which has a closer body because it has been opened only by distilled Vinegar which extracts the Ceruse from the Lead and for the Minium though it be Ceruse made red in a Reverberatory fire yet its body is not so open as the body of Lytharge because it is so re-united that it is almost recondensed into its Metallick nature Obs 3. That before we put the Lytharge into the Vinegar we make the said Vinegar boil a little to the end it may the easilier penetrate and dissolve so much of the Saturn as it can load it self withal and we let the said Lytharge boyl but a little time because no more is required for the Vinegar to impregnate it self with Saturn and if it should stand any longer on the fire the evaporation would be begun which ought not to be till all your dissolutions are together Obs 4. That we use here distilled Vinegar for a dissolvant because it is not necessary to have a more powerful corrosive to dissolve Lead which is a soft penetrable Metal yet simple Vinegar would not be so fit as the distilled as well because it is not so penetrating as because it is not separated from its flegm besides if it were red it might spoil the white colour of your Crystals or Magisterie Obs 5. That all your Lytharge is dissolved at last by reiterated additions of Vinegar because that Lytharge is all Lead and if there should remain any part of it un-dissolved it would be because you have not poured Vinegar enough on Obs 6. That you must stir with a Wooden patule this dissolution of Saturn and not with an iron one because the iron would black it whereas your design is to preserve the whiteness of the Salt which you are to draw from it and iron blacks as well by its self as by its Vitriol Obs 7. That all your dissolutions being put together you must evaporate them to the consumption of three parts and till there appear a saltish skin or Pellicule upon the surface of the Liquor else they would not congeal into Crystals when cold For having too much flegm that salt Spirit of the Vinegar which hath dissolved Saturn remains dissolved its self in the flegm but when by a gentle ebullition and evaporation of the said flegm the Salt Spirit remains alone then it Chrystalises easily in a cold place since it begins to do it already in a hot
searce it and keep it close and well stopped Obs 1 That the Spirit of Sulphur or Vitrial with which we wet the said Saffron of Mars which is already aperitive serves to open it more and calcine it Philosophically and that the great Fire does it more perfectly Obs 2 That this second aperitive Saffron of Mars is nothing but Mars opened by four Keys viz. By filing and powdering and then by three calcinations of which the first is done by the flagration of the Brimstone the second by the pouring on of the acid Spirit and the third by a Reverberatory Fire of eight hours Now it becomes opening because its Salt is set at liberty by these Agents It s Vse and Vertues It is a powerful desopilative it serves against the yellow Jaundice the Green Sickness it provokes the Courses of Maids and Women and it opens the Spleen and Mesentery taken from half a dragm to two either in the yolk of an Egg or in a little Conserve of Roses or some proper Syrup The Infernal Stone Take a little Matrass with a straight long neck let the belly of it be luted half way put into it two parts of Aqua-fortis and one of Silver of the purest cut or beaten into thin long Plates so that they may go into the neck of the Matrass and be the easilier dissolved by the Aqua-fortis fill but one third part of the belly of your Vessel set it upon a Round covered with Sand in the little Wheel-Fire Furnace giving a small Fire to help the dissolution of the Silver and to consume the Dissolvant so as after a gentle boyling your matter may dry and change into a black scum not unlike a Pumice Stone then encrease your Fire to melt this scurn half petrified and continue your Fire till the boyling cease and that there rise no more vapours which will be a sign that your matter is in fusion then without any delay pour out your matter into little Brass or Iron Moulds prepared on purpose for if you delay the pouring of it out or if you let it cool in the Matrass off from the Fire your matter will be reduced to a white powder which is the Calx of the Moon that is of Silver and this will thus come to pass by the almost total consumption of your Aqua-fortis and therefore it is necessary to retain some of it in the said calcined Silver to the end it may keep the consistence of a Stone if to this Calx of silver you give a violent Fire and add to it half a spoonful of Borax it will return to its first metallick Nature and appear like Silver in hardness and consistence because that the great Fire and the Borax together carry away even the least drop of Aqua-fortis which did keep the said Silver in the nature and consistence of a Calx Obs 1. That the Matrass which we use here must be but little because we do not ordinarily prepare much of this at a time then your Fire being small the matter cannot run out particularly where you leave two thirds of your Vessel empty The Matrass must have a long strait neck for the greater convenience in pouring out your matter into its Moulds This Matrass must also be of a strong Glass such as comes from Lorrain and besides must be luted in its bottom half way lest a naked Fire drying up the matter should break the Glass Obs 2. That we use here a double quantity of Aqua-fortis to the Silver not that it is necessary to double the Dose of the Agent to dissolve the Patient but because we desire to make the greater quantity of this Infernal Stone which will be softer and less black for Silver may be certainly dissolved with an equal Dose of Aqua-fortis and in this case the Stone would be harder and blacker and in less quantity It contains not so much Salt is sooner consumed and the Aqua-fortis has not had time to calcine the Silver throughly from whence the Calx remains blacker harder and heavier which you will easily perceive if you take notice that the same thing happens in the making of the ordinary Lime for there you shall see some stones that have not been well calcin'd look black be hard heavy and crumble less than the others that have been well calcin'd Obs 3. That we may make this Infernal Stone of Niter instead of Aqua-fortis and then it will be whitish and less caustick and instead of blacking the Skin and Teeth which it touches it will only make them look yellow because it is the Vitriol that blacks in the Aqua-fortis and whets the corrosive virtue of Niter and take notice here that none of the other acids and corrosives can corrode Silver nor by consequence serve in this Composition Obs 4. That to make a good Infernal Stone either white greyish or black you must use Coppel Silver for if you make it with Silver where there is a mixtion of Copper your Stone will be green and soft will easily melt of it self from whence you may conclude that there is no making of it with Lead or Tin which yet are softer than Brass and as for Iron it can never be dissolved and brought into a potable Liquor because of its great driness and terrestreity And as for Gold you may easily make of it an Infernal Stone of the same vertue by dissolving it in excellent Aqua-fortis or in Spirit of Salt whet by Salt decrepitated but then you would have your Labour for your pains for Coppel-Gold or Leaf-Gold is too dear And as for the Marcassites or half Metals they are not fit for this Operation because that their dissolution evaporated and reduced to a Calx cannot keep in consistence of a Stone but remains in powder Obs 5. That to give to the Infernal Stone that firm compact consistence which is necessary for it to be of use it is not enough to dry your dissolution with a moderate heat to the consistence a scum half petrified but you must when you are gone so far encrease your fire and melt the said scum then in the same instant pour out your matter for if you let it cool in the Matrass the rest of the Aqua-fortis would evaporate in the cooling and so there not remaining enough to corporifie the said Calx it would fall into a powder which would be the Calx of the Moon Obs 6. That to make little Moulds of Lattin you must hold it a little time over the fire then it will be maniable and flexible and not apt to break then cut off a piece and roll it about a stick as thick as a quill and as long as your finger and so tye it close remembring to turn up the bottom so as nothing may go through then daub it with our Lute letting it dry then when you will use it take out the stick and in its place pour your matter which will be condensed into petrified Cylenders which you will easily get out by
enough it is always dry if it be kept well stopp'd in a glass Vial but if it be too dry it cannot dissolve upon the skin therefore while you prepare all things for its application put it to soak in a spoonful of water The Magistery or Precipitate of Bismuth SEt a Cucurbit Glass Bell or Head upon any thing within a Chimney that so the infectious vapours may not poyson the room and offend by their stench the Artist and Spectators put into your Vessel four ounces of Bismuth well powdered in a Brass Mortar pour upon it one or two spoonfuls of Spirit of Nitar which presently will produce an ebullition and a stinking infectious smoak when they are past pour on again a like quantity of Spirit of Niter which will cause the same effect continue this till you have spent eight ounces of Spirit of Niter if you pour on too much at a time your ebullition will be so violent that all your matter will run over your Vessel and be lost and the smoak will be so thick that by its stinking red vapours it will go near to do you some mischief When you have thus spent all your Spirit of Niter though after the last Projection all your Bismuth be not dissolved and devour'd by the said Spirit nevertheless separate by inclination your dissolution while it is warm from that part of the Bismuth which remains undissolv'd in the bottom of your Vessel and you must pour this Dissolution into a precipitatory Vessel of Glass or white-ware and there it will be congealed into a thousand little transparent white Cristals In the mean time pour by little and little and at divers times some new Spirit upon the Bismuth left in your vessel to the end you may dissolve all the pure and good Bismuth that is left in this lump for there will remain at last a few black Faeces which cannot be dissolved Separate by inclination this second Dissolution in another Glass or white-ware Vessel and there let it Crystallize as the former then take all your Crystals and mingle them together in a Glass Bell and there melt them with a gentle heat and when they are melted pour upon them a quart of Sea-water actually cold which will precipitate them into a white Curd which Curd will by little and little dissolve into a white powder then separate by inclination this first Water pour on more and so continue till your powder be entirely sweetned nay do it three or four times after that your water comes away insipid for if there did remain the least Acrimony in this powder it would wrinkle the Face which it ought to whiten filtrate this powder through a white Paper and let it dry upon the said Paper in the shade taking care to cover it lest the dust should come at it and do not dry it by the Fires side or in the Sun-beams for then it would return to brown-blackish colour When it is very dry put it into a glass Vial well stopped and you have the true Magistery or precipitate of of Bismuth Obs That Bismuth is a kind of Marcassite of Silver and that therefore it is almost as good as Silver to make by its calcination a good Fucus or Cosmetick for it is certain that the Precipitate of Silver made in the same way as this does much excel the Precipitate of Bismuth Obs 2. That to make the Dissolution of Bismuth in Spirit of Niter you must take a Vessel very broad towards the top and therefore a glass Bell is the fittest to the end that the venemous vapours that rise out of the matter may the sooner and the easilier be gone therefore in a Matrass these vapours being streightned would re-impregnate themselves and make your matter yellow instead of white Then your vessel must be Glass or White-ware for in an earthen glaz'd Vessel your powder would grow black because it would dissolve the Lead of the Vernish and a stone or unglazed one be less fit because the Spirit of Niter might lose and insinuate it self in the pores of the said Earth Obs 3. That though Aqua-fortis can dissolve Bismuth yet we use it not because by its Vitriol the Calx of the Bismuth would be so blacked as to be useless in the design of whitening the skin Obs 4. That your dissolution being poured into a glass or white ware vessel does there congeal into a thousand little white Chrystals transparent and saltish because that the Spirit of Niter being loaden with the quantity of a Metalick body Christallises as Metals use to do after their dissolution These Crystals are white because that the Bismuth is as white as Silver and they melt by a gentle fire because they were congealed by cold Obs 5. That Sea water does precipitate dissolved Bismuth in a white curd and white powder because that the Sea-salt which makes the Sea-water being contrary to the Salt which makes the Spirit of Niter attakes and fights with it and so the Niter being weakned because that in this conflict its sharpest part evaporates away le ts go the Bismuth which it had seized upon and immediately the said Bismuth falls into a white curd and powder 'T is true that the common water by moistening the Spirit of Niter does much weaken it but if in this water there had not been some Sea-salt the Calx of Bismuth would never have been well separated from its dissolvant neither would it have been precipitated to the bottom of the Vessel Obs 6. That you must dry this Magistery in the shade by little and little and not in haste or by the fire side or in the Sun-beams lest it recover its brown dark colour for the actual heat either of the Fire or the Sun would revive in it a black burned Sulphur which sticks to the surface of this remedy from whence Ladies that use it may learn that they must by a double reason keep it in the shade as well to conserve their own natural beauty as the artificial beauty which they borrow from this Magistery Obs 7. That the Precipitate or Magistery of Bismuth is nothing but a Calx of Bismuth calcin'd Philosophically by the Spirit of Niter and then precipitated by the contrariety of the Sea-water and sweetned by reiterated Lotions It s Vse and Vertues It is in Physick an excellent desicative for Ulcers as well as the Magistery of Saturn and it is likewise a most excellent Cosmetick or Fucus to make the face and hands white and fair either by rubbing them with the powder alone which insinuates its self into the pores of the skin or else by applying a Pomatum made of one dragm of the said precipitate and two dragms of Vnguentum Pomatum which you may prepare if you will with one ounce of white Virgin Wax and four ounces of Oyl of sweet Almonds or Acorns or of Beans or of the four cold seeds The Spirit Oyl and Extract of Guaiacum TAke a great Stone Retort lute it every where
and Vertues It is a most excellent Balsamum drâ—wn from Volatils it is anodyne astringent agglutinative and mundificative and therefore most excellent for all burnings and fresh wounds as also for the cleavings of womens breasts and likewise for the descent of the bowels by anointing the part then applying a bandage or truss There is another way of making this Oyl viz to heat your yolkes in the Pan till they begin to grow red and to burn then put them into a coorse linnen cloth Oyl'd with Oyl of Almonds and so put this cloth under a press and press out the Oyl but this Oyl has not the force of the other drawn by the method we have already set down The Oyl of Karabe and the Ambred Spirit of Wine REduce into a gross powder some yellow Amber you may make use of the pieces which the workmen that work in Amber pare off and you shall have it cheaper than at the Droguists put four ounces of it in a glass Retort well luted and pour upon it eight ounces of Spirit of wine so as your Retort be not above half full set your Retort on a Round hollow earthen Pan in the circulary Furnace and fit to it a good ample glass receiver which you must not lute to the Retort lest the vapours of the spirit of wine which cannot be contained in the Receiver should break it but be careful in luting the gap of the furnace about the neck of the Retort lest the flame should reach the Receiver and there set on fire the vapours of the Spirit of Wine and from thence the flame would get into the Retort If such a thing should happen the remedy would be to stop presently the mouth of the Retort with some Lute to choak the flame Encrease your Fire by degrees and when you perceive that the Receiver is not very warm then encrease your Fire more and give a Fire of Suppression to the end you may drive out the Oyl of Amber together with the Spirit of Wine continue your Fire till you perceive no more clouds in your Receiver for that is a sign that all the Oyl is extracted and distilled from the Amber you will find two ounces of black Oyl of Carabe or Amber and eight ounces of Spirit of Wine impregnated with the red Tincture of the said Karabe separate by a glass Tunnel the Oyl from the Spirit Obs 1. That we distil Amber with Spirit of Wine to the end we may have the vertue of the Amber in a higher degree for penetration and less stinking It may be distilled all alone and without intermedium because that though it be a bituminous Body nevertheless it is so dry that it does not swell in the Retort but when it is distilled alone its Oyl is as black as Jet and much of a worse smell and cannot become yellow but by reiterated rectifications Obs 2. That if upon the said Oyl of Amber you put Spirit of Wine it will presently be tinged with it and will have the same vertue as the Spirit of Wine that has been distilled with Amber Obs 3. That Amber is a bitumen so oylous that it is almost all Oyl and contains but very few faeces since out of one pound of Amber you may draw fourteen ounces of a black Oyl insomuch that it is nothing but a bituminous Oyl congealed by a little terrestrial substance It s Vse and Vertues The Oyl of Amber is very bitter and stinking and therefore excellent in the suffocations of the Matrix either taken inwardly in the quantity of three of four drops in some appropriated water or else smelt to or anointed upon the Temples it is most excellent in old Wounds and particularly of the nervous parts because of its detersive balsamick vertue The Spirit of Wine ambred or tinged by yellow Amber is likewise a most excellent Remedy taken in the same way for the suffocations of the Mother and for the falling Sickness It is besides a most excellent exteriour Remedy for the Palsie the Sciatica the Cold Gout all cold Fluxions and all bruises of the Nerves And this because of the great tenuity and penetration of its substance and its resolutive and balsamick vertue but when you do rub any affected part with this Remedy before the Fire have a care you come not too near lest the Fire should catch hold of and burn the party The Oyl of Camphire PUt two ounces of Camphire slightly powdered into a Matrass of an ordinary size and pour upon it four ounces of spirit of Niter shake your Vessel gently for half a quarter of an hour to the end that this agitation may whet the Spirit and make it operate the sooner upon the said Camphire then let them stand together far from the Fire within two hours the Spirit will dissolve the Camphire without any sensible ebullition or smoak and there will swim upon the Spirit a clear transparent Oyl Separate by the glass Tunnel the said Spirit which will be at the bottom and will have lost a good part of its caustick Acrimony keep your Oyl in a glass Vial well stopped Obs 1. That this Oyl of Camphire is nothing but Camphire dissolv'd by Spirit of Niter for if you throw a little Water upon this Oyl the Camphire will presently be coagulated into its first white consistence and smell because that the water by weakning the Spirit of Niter which kept the Camphire in dissolution makes it lose its hold and so the Camphire precipitates to the bottom Obs 2. That of all the Gums and Rosins none but Camphire does melt into Oyl in its dissolution by Spirit of Niter which may extract the tincture of the other Gums but cannot dissolve them It s Vse and Vertues are to exfoliate the Rot of the Bones by the strong penetration and dryness of both the Spirit of Niter and the Camphire therefore is it most excellent wherewith to touch the Nerves that are bare and naked in wounds for it consumes gently the sharp humour which falls upon them and makes the said wounds most grievous and by its own â—nodyne and mollifying vertue of the Camphire it takes away a great deal of the pain of the said Nerves The Spirit of Wine Campherised PUt as much Camphire as you please into a Matrass pour upon it Spirit of VVine till it be four fingers above your matter fit to this Matrass another little one and so make a double vessel lute them well together with slices of Paper place your Vessel in a Sand-Furnace and there let it stand till the Camphire be entirely dissolved in the Spirit of VVine the Spirit will then be clear and transparent as before and the Camphire will have a pleasant smell There is nothing to be said about the dissolution of Camphire by Spirit of VVine since Camphire is a kind of Gum-Rosin and that Spirit of VVine has the vertue of dissolving all Gums by the homogeneity of its substance and the tenuity of its parts It
It is most excellent in dissolving those fleshly Excrescences and Ulcers called Wolfes The Extract of Hellebore PUt half a pound of the Roots of black Hellebore cut into little bits into a capacious Matrass pour on Spirit of Wine four fingers above your matter fit to it another little Matrass to make a double Vessel place it in a Sand-Furnace and there let it stand in digestion three or four days and let not the belly of your Matrass be above a quarter-way in the Sand nor do not make your fire so great as to make your Spirit of Wine boyl for then part of your Spirits would exhale and be gone yet let there be heat enough to extract the red Tincture of the Roots Separate this Tincture by Inclination or if there be any Faeces filtrate it through a Coffin of brown Paper pour this Tincture into a glass Body which set in the same Sand-Furnace and fit to it a glass Head and Receiver and so draw off by Distillation as much Spirit of Wine as you poured on which will serve you for other uses then take off the Head and evaporate your matter to the consistence of an Extract like Honey In the mean time boyl the Roots left in the Matrass in a quantity of common Water to make a Decoction which strain through a course Linnen then clarifie it with Whites and Shells of Eggs and evaporate it in a stone or glaz'd earthen Pan to the consistence of an Extract which you may mingle with the precedent if you think good We draw these two Extracts separately and with different menstruums because that the Spirit of VVine extracts only the gummy rosinous part and cannot extract the saltish and the common Water does quite contrary It s Vse and Vertues It purges Melancholy most commonly with a loathing and sometimes with vomiting An Essence for the Tooth-ach PUt of the Spirit of Wine campherized of the Tincture of Cloves of the Oyl of Box of the Oyl of Guaiacum of the black Oyl of Sulphur and if you will of the Tincture of Opium of each an equal part there will result an oily red transparent Liquor which you must keep in a glass Vial well stop'd It s Vse and Vertues It is a most excellent Remedy to appease the Tooth-ach and draw off the sharp humour that falls on the Teeth you must pour some of it into a glass and then dip a little Cotton of which make a Pellet as big as a Pea and apply it to the Tooth or in its hollow part if there be any there will presently distil from it a good deal of Water and the pain will cease Turpentine Pills PUt four ounces of clear transparent Turpentine of Venice into a glaz'd Disn pour upon it three times as much water boyl them together with a gentle heat till your Turpentine look white and not yellow as before then take out a little of it upon the point of a Knife and let fall a drop or two upon a pewter Plate if you see that the drop when cold does not stick to your fingers then it is boyl'd enough to make Pills of so take it off and pour cold Water into your Pan that will precipitate the Turpentine in a white Paste take this Paste and knead it with your hand to wring the Water out you may wipe your Turpentine with some Linnen but you must do it gently lest while it is warm the Linnen should stick to it then add to it one ounce of a Diaphoretick Antimony half an ounce of Salt of Sulphur and as much of Cremor Tartari incorporate them together into a lump which will soon grow hard but will easily grow soft again being handled before the fire Keep this Mass for Pills in a Hogs bladder well oyl'd with Sallet Oyl It s Vse and Vertues These Pills do dry up and stop Gonorrhaea's when they have flow'd enough by giving half an ounce for Dosis for the space of a fortnight or three weeks For those that cannot swallow Pills you must boyl your Turpentine a little more till it grow so hard upon the Plate as to be broken in pieces powder this in a mortar and add to it the same Druggs as above The Dosis mentioned will be the same here and must be dissolv'd in white Wine or in Broth or in some Decoction or appropriated Water The distilled Water of Plants PUt a good Hand-basket full of leaves for Example of Plantane new gather'd and fresh into the Brass Vesica add to them about four quarts of Water to the end the Herb may boyl during the distillation and that in boyling the said Water may extract and be impregnated with the vertue of the plant yet let not your Vesica be above three quarters full lest the Water in boyling should carry the substance and not the vapours into the Moors-head You need not put any sponges into the neck of the Vesica as you do in the distillation of the Spirit of Wine because these sponges would hinder the passage of your vapours fit to your Vesica its Moors-head bordered with its Refrigeratory and make use also of the second Refrigeratory that is of the two Hogsheads full of Water as has been taught in the distillation of Spirit of Wine this will further the distillation of your Water very much Give at first a good Fire of Coals and two or three Fagot-sticks continue this Fire and moderate your Distillation so as to make a little stream of Water come always into your Receiver into which it will not fall perpendicularly as the Spirit of Wine does but a little arch-wise As soon as with this little stream you perceive that there come vapours into the Receiver lessen your Fire to hinder the loss of these vapours which spend themselves in vain If your Distillation be performed but slowly and drop by drop or in a very little stream falling perpendicularly then encrease the Fire that you may not lose your time by an unnecessary protraction of the Distillation From time to time empty your Receiver and immediately pour it through a glass Tunnel into a stone Pitcher As soon as you perceive that there comes into your Receiver a muddy Water then be sure that all the good part of your Operation is at an end because this muddy VVater proceeds from the burning of the Plants which begins to send forth its Spirit and stinking Oyl therefore give over distilling put out your Fire take out the Grounds of the Herbs left in the bottom and throw away the muddy Water that you shall find there with them after which begin a new Distillation with new Herbs and new Water When you have gathered all your Water into stone Pitchers put into them some Saltpeter well purified and crystallized half a dragm to every pound of Water Obs 1. That you must not put your Water into an earthen Vessel unglazed because at last it would lose its self entirely through the pores of the Potters-Earth which is
with the Essence of Juniper it may augment and encrease the quantity of the said Essence and yet not change its qualities but if you should put more than three or four ounces of this Spirit on a peck of Berries the smell of the Turpentine would predominate and so spoil your Essence thus the Provensals prepare and multiply their Essences and by affording them cheap make them become common But I could wish that they would leave off sophisticating them and sell them as dear as they stand them in and are really worth particularly those Essences that are to be taken inwardly but the covetousness of those that sell and the sparing way of the buyers will never give way to this Observe That when you have put to your Berries the Spirit of Turpentine well rectified the first liquor that comes is the said Spirit impregnated with the oyly Essence of your Juniper Berries Obs 2. That there are two ways to separate the oyly Essence from its flegm The first is by a glass Tunnel or a Coffin of brown Paper wet before hand with common water or with the Spirit of your Berries as it has been said before only observe that most of the Essences do swim upon their flegm and therefore that in separating them by the glass Tunnel the first thing that runs out must be the flegm and by the Coffin 't is also the flegm that goes through the Oyl remains which you draw out by making a hole in your Paper Coffin towards the bottom and holding a glass Vial under to receive your Oyl The second way is to put into a glass Matrass with a short neck all the flegm with which the Oyl is distilled and then make a rowl of Cotton like the Wick of a Candle of which put one end into your Matrass to make it touch the said Essence and let the other end hang into a glass Vial tied with a pack-thred to the neck of the Matrass your Essence will by little and little imbibe the Cotton and at last run quite through it till it come out at the other end and fall by drops into your Vial. Obs 3. That the Balsamick and Aromatick Essence or Oyl of Juniper as of all other Balsamicks and Aromaticks is nothing but the subtlest part of its Sulphur and Volatil Salt because of its Sulphur it retains the smell of the Berries and the yellow colour of their Tincture and because of its volatil Salt it retains the taste and Acrimony of the said Berries in these two the Salt and Sulphur consists the excellence of this simple but because the Oyl of Juniper has but little Salt therefore it swims upon its flegm and having been drawn by common water it has preserved the natural smell savour and tincture of the Berries and thus it happens to all drogues of this nature for if you distil them in a naked fire without water there will come from them a stinking caustick Oyl as we have taught in the Chapter of the distillation of the stinking Oyl of Cloves But before this stinking Oyl we do ordinarily draw from Aromatick drogues by the intermedium of water all their Essence and Balsamick Oyl which is a kind of Virgin Oyl being the purest part of them After its extraction there remains yet in the Faeces a thick gross terrestrial saltish Oyl which we draw without intermedium by distillation ad latus in a glass Retort luted in a naked fire and because this Oyl is drawn without intermedium in a naked fire and by the combustion and flagration of the said Drugs therefore it is black and stinking and of an ill taste and much more caustick than the Aromatick Oyl which contains less of the Volatil Salt the flegm having shared a good part of the said Salt with the Oyl but in the foetid Oyl the Volatil Salt is as it were shut in and not carried away by its flegm whereof it has very little If you rectifie your Essence of Juniper in a little glass Retort in a Sand-fire there will come off a Spirit which is the Spirit of Turpentine which you had added to it and there will remain in the Retort a pure Essence of Juniper as yellow as Gold and as thick as true Balsam It s Vse and Vertues The Essence of Juniper Berries helps the Tooth-ach Deafness the Rot of the Bones the Colick and the Gravel It s flegm or Spirit serves to prepare the extract of Juniper as we shall teach hereafter The Aromatick Essence of Cloves Cinnamon Pepper Aniseed Fennel seed Rosmary-leaves Thyme Marjorum Savin Jesmin-Flowers Orange-Flowers Orange and Lemmon Peels and generally of all Roots Barks Rinds Woods Berries Seeds Leaves and Aromatick Flowers whose oyly Tincture may be easily extracted in water are drawn the same way as that of Juniper Berries but those Woods Roots and Barks that are of a thicker and more compact substance and which will not easily yield their oyly Tincture in water must be used without water in a Retort and naked fire to extract their Oyl which by consequent must be black stinking and caustick as the Oyl of the Wood and Bark of Guiac c. The stinking and black Oyl of Juniper FIll a Stone or Glass Retort luted with the Berries of Juniper that have already yielded their Aromatick Oyl Place it upon an earthen Bowl full of ashes in a small Reverberatory Furnace there will come abundance of white Vapours which in the Receiver will dissolve some into an acid Spirit and some into a Black Oyl stinking and caustick Out of a pound of Berries you will have about two ounces of this Oyl and twelve of acid Spirit and if you use fresh Berries that have not served you will have the double of stinking Oyl separate by a glass Tunnel the Oyl from the Spirit It s Vse and Vertues The Oyl is good for Ring-worms for the Tooth-ach the Rot of the Bones and all old Ulcers The Extract of Juniper PUt into the Brass Vesica or double glass â—â—â—sel a peck of Juniper Berries fresh gatherâ— and pour upon them distilled water of Junipâ—â— three or four fingers high above them if yoâ— have not enough of the said Water you may suply your want with common Water Place yoâ—â— Vesica in a circulary fire or in any of the Reveâ—beratory Furnaces with a small fire or if you 〈◊〉 a double glass Vessel set it in a sand Furnace wiâ—â— a good fire there let it stand twenty four hourâ— till the tincture be extracted which pour oâ— gently into a Brass Basin or into an Eartheâ— Pan place it upon a little Furnace over a nakeâ— fire and make it boil as soon as you can wheâ— it boils throw into it five or six whites of Eggs with the Egg-shells and so continue to make it boil till your whites of Eggs be hard and loaden with the Faeces of the Tincture then pour off this clarified Tincture from its dregs and strain it through a Linnen or Flannel-strainer
Brass Mortar while it is warm then throw it by spoonfuls into a Kettle full of boiling water and there let it boil till your Water be half consumed away filter the said dissolution while it is warm through a coffin of brown Paper evaporate your filtration by a good fire either in the same Kettle or in an earthen-glaz'd Pan till there remain nothing but a powder as white as flower in the bottom of the Vessel taking care to stir the said powder with an iron Spatula lest by so great a fire it should melt again Obs 1. That we take here Venice Crystal because it is the best Obs 2. That we calcine first the Crystal in a great reverberatory fire till it be melted to the end we may so open it as to be able to reduce it to an impalpable powder and so make it fit to be calcined by the Niter Obs 3. That we calcine a second time the said Crystal with fine Niter to open its body better and so the Niter may communicate to it its fix'd Salt and that of the body of the Crystal and of the body of the fix'd Salt of Niter there result one body and one Calx Obs 4. That we dissolve this Calx of niter'd Crystal in hot Water and afterwards we filter it and then evaporate it to a dry powder to the end that by this dissolution and filtration the Salt of Niter be whiter Obs 5. That this Salt of Crystal is nothing but Crystal incorporated with the fix'd Salt of Niter so that it is more properly a Calx than a pure Salt The Crystal communicates nothing but its Virginal Earth and the Niter nothing but its fixt Salt and therefore Crystal containing in its self no Salt at all this Remedy ought more properly to be called Crystal niter'd Crystal is a clear transparent Glass and Glass is a Crystal less clear and transparent the only subject matter of both of them made by Art is a congealed Virginal Earth hardened under the form of Pibble Stones and Crystalline River Sand. This matter cannot be melted and purified but by the Salts both of Vegetables and Minerals and after the fusion and vitrification of the said Sand and Pibble Stones all the Salt is separated and comes away from it so as there remains not any in either Glass or Crystal It s Vse and Vertues It is a powerful Diuretick it drives away Gravel and breaks the britle Stones of the Kidney it dryes up Gonorrhaea's The Salts of Corals Pearls fragment of Rubies Topaz Stones Emeralds Diamonds and other precious Stones are to be prepared in the same way and have the same vertues with the Salt of Crystal by reason of their calcination and also the Diuretick and Lithontriptick or Stone-breaking vertue of the fix'd Salt of Niter The Flowers of Benjamin Here is the Figure of your Iron Round Obs 1. That we apply the said earthen Coffin to the brim of the Furnace and not to the brim of the Crucible lest the heat striking the outside of the Coffin should make the Flowers once sublim'd melt and resolve into their first nature Obs 2. That we use here an earthen Coffin and not a Paper one as most Chymists do because with an earthen one of the mentioned breadth we gather a greater quantity of flowers besides an earthen Coffin may always serve whereas you must change your Paper one and in that interval you lose many vapours that might have been converted into flowers Obs 3. That the flowers of Benjamin are Benjamin its self melted in a Crucible then elevated in dry vapours under the form of a white snowy powder as the flowers of Sal Armoniac for Benjamin is a Rosinous Gum very dry and totally volatil and from thence proceeds that as soon as it is hot it rises in vapours which being dry are converted into a very white flower or Snow In this Operation Benjamin loses its red colour and acquires a very white one because that of what colour soever the body that is converted into flowers be the flowers still must be white because it is their volatil Salt which predominates over them and which by consequent must invest them with that colour which is natural to all and particularly to volatil Salts The red colour of Benjamin consists in a little gross heavy Sulphur which cannot be raised but by the violence of the fire which is not needful in the sublimation of the flowers but only in the distillation of the Oyl of Benjamin Their Vse and Vertues These flowers are most excellent to ripen old coughs and to help out flegms because that they are all Volatil and Balsamick Salt The Flowers of Antimony POwder one pound of Crude Antimony or rather of Regulus put it to an Earthen Cucurbit unglazed place it upon the two Iron Bars that are in the great Reverberatory Furnace so that the neck of the Cucurbit be four fingers higher than the top of the Furnace Lute your Vessel round about to the Furnace and fit to this Cucurbit an Earthen Pot turn'd upside down so that the brim of your Cucurbit enter within the said Pot a little This Pot must have in its bottom an hole as big as an Egg. Lute well the conjunction of these two Vessels and to the uppermost of them fit another Pot a little less having also a hole in its bottom and then put upon this another yet less and having a hole of the same bigness and so fit as that its brim must go into the brim of the inferiour Pot then fit to this another less still and having a hole also and at last fit another and fifth pot having a hole of the bigness of your little finger and having its brim inserted into the brim of the Pot under it They must be thus less and less by degrees as the Pyramide grows higher and have a care that you lute well all the conjunctions of these several Pots Give at first a violent fire and continue it to the highest degree for forty eight hours and all the while keep the little uppermost hole well stopt with some of our Lute your Antimony will be melted in your Cucurbit and then it will rise and be sublim'd in dry vapours which will stick to the sides of the said Pots in the form of flowers as white as Snow In the first Pot they are yellow in the second red and in the third white your Operation having lasted out the time prescribed put out your fire and as soon as your Pots are cold unlute them neatly and with a feather scrape away all the said flowers putting white to white red to red yellow to yellow Obs 1. That for this Operation the Regulus of Antimony is fitter than Crude Antimony because that the Regulus being already separated from its Faeces is all sublimed and so makes a greater quantity of flowers both better and purer for Crude Antimony contains four times as much Faeces as it does Regulus which is the
Tinctures to draw out of them and precipitate either the Rosin or the Magistery If you will be content to lose your Dissolvant and so convert all your Tinctures into Rosin pour them into a great glass Bell full of cold water and presently your Tincture will precipitate to the bottom in the consistence of a white Rosin separate all the liquor that swims above it and loosen and take away your Rosin which did begin to stick to the bottom of the Vessel put it into a glass either whole or in pieces which being cold will grow as hard as Rosin or Colophone If you will draw off your dissolvant and change your Tinctures into a Magistery put them all into a glass Cucurbit of such a proportion as not to be above half full with them place it in a Balneum Mariae and fit to it a head Give the fire by degrees and draw off by distillation about half the Spirit of Wine to use in other such uses then pour the remainder while it is warm into a glass Bell full of cold water and presently the Tincture of your dissolvant will be precipitated not into a Rosin but into a white Curd which by little and little in half a quarter of an hours time will be converted into a white Rosinous powder Separate by inclination the water and pour two or three times cold water upon this powder to separate it well from its dissolvant then filter the remainder through a Coffin of white Paper and dry it in the shade keep this powder or Magistery in a Vial well stopt Obs 1. That we take Jalap very well cleansed from its ordures that we may have a fairer Rosin and more of it and that it is first dried in the Sun to the end that its waterish humidity being gone it may not dull the action of the dissolvant and so it will be able to extract easilier the Resinous Tincture of Jalap Obs 2. That common cold water precipitates your Tincture into a Rosin or a Rosinous powder because that weakening the Spirit of Wine by its quantity it makes it lose its hold and so let fall to the bottom that substance which it had seized upon in the dissolving it Obs 3. That the precipitate of Jalap is more properly called a Rosin than a Gum because it would dissolve better in oyly liquors as Rosins do than in waterish liquors as Gums do Obs 4. That when your Tincture is thrown into cold water before it be evaporated half away it then precipitates in consistence of a Rosin but when it is evaporated half away then it is precipitated in consistence of a Curd which comes to a Powder Obs 5. That the Rosin or Magistery of Jalap is nothing but the Rosinous part of Jalap separated from all the terrestrial part which remains in the Matrass and from its volatil Salt which has been dissolved in the Dissolvant or in the Precipitant It s Vse and Vertue It purges by stools without procuring Vomit it has a gentler way of operating than pure Jalap taken in substance because it is devested of its Volatil Salt which is its sharpest part The Dose is from six to twelve grains or thereabouts in form of Pills or Bolus with some Conserve or some such thing The Rosin or Magistery of Scammony TAke good clean Scammony powder it then fasten a leaf upon a little woodden Square or Frame upon the Paper spread your powder place it over the vapour of Brimstone which you must throw from time to time into a Chasing-dish full of Coals and in the mean time stir continually your powder with a woodden Spatula and do not approach it too near the Fire lest it should melt and so become a lump as before for if such a thing should happen you would not be able to make the flegm and the volatil and sulphureous malignant salts of the Scammony to evaporate which is the thing you aim at Your Scammony being thus prepared you shall extract out of it a Tincture as red as blood in a glass double-Matrass with Spirit of Wine of which Tincture make the Rosin or Magistery in the same way that you make the Rosin or Magistery of Jalap It s Vse and Vertues The Rosin of Scammony purges gentlier than Scammony in substance because it is devested of a great deal of its sulphureous volatil Salt by the burning vapour of the Brimstone The Spirit of Wine and common Water have set at liberty and dissolved the rest of the volatil Salt and the terrestrial part or Faeces remain in a small quantity in your Matrass The Dose is from ten to twenty grains The Cremor Tartari TAke four pound of white Tartar of Montpellier in great lumps wash them well in common cold Water and then dry them upon boards in the Sun this done beat them in a brass Mortar and searce them to a very fine powder In the mean time let there be a pale of Water boyling in a Brass or Copper Kettle and into it throw your Tartar by spoonfuls and so let it boyl for two hours stirring it continually with a woodden Spatula then take off your Kettle from the fire and filter your Dissolution while it is warm through divers Coffins of brown Paper evaporate your filtrations in earthen glaz'd Pans over a naked fire till by their boyling there appear a kind of a skin upon the surface of the said Decoction then take off your Pans place them in your Cellar and in three or four days there will be congealed to the bottom and sides of your Pans great quantity of Crystals as white as Snow and of a triangular and square Figure Pour out the Water that remains in your Pans if it look dirty keep it and boyl it again to a consistence of a skin then congeal it in your Cellar and so draw out all the Crystals left in it dry your Crystals either in the Sun or in a dry place then gather them and put them into glass Vials well stop'd and thus you have that which Chymists call Cremor Tartari or Crystal of Tartar Out of one pound of Tartar you have foor ounces of Crystals and twelve of Faeces Obs 1. That for this Operation we chuse Tartar of Montpellier because it is much salter than the Tartar of any other part of France because that at Montpellier they use great Hogsheads or rather Tuns that serve twenty or thirty years so that there gather to the sides of them a Tartar three or four fingers thick and by consequent very saltish besides that the strength of the Wine of those parts makes their Tartar better and at last we chuse white Tartar because it contains more Salt than the red Obs 2. That we wash well the lumps of Tartar before we powder them to the end we may cleanse them from a kind of terrestrial dreggs which remain upon the said Tartar in form of a powder by washing part of this powder goes to the bottom
Furnace of a Circulary Fire and Suppression till your pot be full then encrease your fire stirring your matter from time to time with a stick which you must not put to the bottom till all be melted then take off your pot and when it is cold break it you will find in the bottom the Regulus and the Faeces on the top Of it is made Vinum Emeticum everlasting Pills and Cups and the Diaphoretick its Faeces serves to make the Golden Sulphur Diaphoretick Of the Liver of Antimony of which is made the Crocus Metallorum MIngle one pound of Male or Female Antimony with half a pound of common Niter powdered put them by spoonfuls into a Crucible or pot of the same Earth heated red-hot in a Furnace of a Circulary Fire and Suppression covering your pot at each spoonful then encrease your fire and stir incessantly your matter with a stick till it be in Fusion take off your pot and pour into a Mortar the melted Liquor retaining the Faeces from going in with it your matter being cold is called Liver of Antimony and being powdered is called The Saffron of Metals or Crocus Metallorum Of it is made the Vinum Emeticum The Dose is one ounce in a pint of VVine of which take one or two ounces inwardly and four or five ounces in a Clyster The Spirit and Oyl of Guaiacum FIll up to the neck a great earthen Retort well luted with shavings or little pieces of the VVood of Guiacum place it in a small Reverberatory Furnace fitting to it a stone Receiver or a glass one and covering your Furnace with an earthen Pan that has a hole in the bottom then by a moderate heat of twelve sixteen or twenty hours you will have the Spirit and Oyl together which separate either by a glass Tunnel or by a coffin of brown Paper wet with ordinary VVater Of the Ashes or Coals re-calcin'd you may make a Lixivium and extract the Salt This Oyl is good for old Ulcers for the Gangrene and Rot and two or three drops in Cinnamon-water is good for the Colick the Spirit is good for Burnings Ulcers and for the Pox in a Decoction of Guaiacum Crystal Mineral THrow fine Niter powdered into a Pot set in a Furnace of a Circulary Fire and Suppression and let it be quite full at first being melted throw into it four or five times at each time a spoonful of powder'd Brimstone then pour out by little and little your melted Niter into a Brass Kettle shaking the Kettle and dipping it into cold Water dissolve your Niter thus prepar'd in warm Water filter it through a brown Paper and evaporate it to a Pellicule then setting it cool you will have fair Crystals which are the true Crystal Mineral or Sal Prunellae It cools opens and resists Corruption taken inwardly from a scruple to a dragm and in a Clyster from a dragm to half an ounce The Spirit and Oyl of Box ARe made as the Spirit and Oyl of Guaiacum only this Wood yields much Spirit but little Oyl the Oyl is good for the putrefaction and pain of the Teeth for Contusions and Ulcers Of the Regulus of Mars POwder and mingle two pounds of Male Antimony with one pound of Tartar and one of common Niter six ounces of filings of Steel and two ounces of powder'd Charcoal It is made as the Regulus of Antimony and there results of it a Regulus containing seven ounces of Antimony with the six ounces of filings It purges by stool and vomit in powder or in vessel with Wine and serves to make an excellent Diaphoretick which never provokes vomit The Spirit of Salt TAke one part of common Salt and five of Potters Earth dried and powdered fill with it a glass Retort well luted place it in a Furnace of a great Reverberatory Fire give the fire by degrees and continue the last degree for twenty hours It s vertue is Diuretick it drives away Gravel and breaks little britle Stones whitens the Teeth and preserves from the Plague and all Corruption Of the Red Precipitate of Mercury PUt four ounces of Mercury and six ounces of Aqua fortis in a Matrass of glass luted up to half its Body place it in a Furnace of a moderate Circulary Fire till the Aqua fortis be evaporated then give a Fire of Suppression till there rise a yellow vapour upon the brim of the Matrass then take it off and when cold break your Vessel and you will find in the bottom a Red Precipitate of an Orange colour Of Spirit of Niter PUt one part of fine Niter to four parts of dried Potters-Earth fill a glass Retort well luted then distil it in a great Reverberatory Fire and have a care of its vapours in distilling it It s Vse and Vertues Are to dissolve Mercury Camphire and Metals and is better for interior Remedies than Aqua fortis Of Turbith Mineral PUt two ounces of Mercury and three ounces of Spirit of Niter into a glass Retort luted up to half its neck place it in a Furnace of a Circulary fire giving a gentle fire till the Mercury be dissolved and dried then take off your vessel and let it cool then pour upon it one ounce of Oyl or Spirit of Sulphur and evaporate it by the same fire reiterating this three or four times then burn upon it Spirit of Wine break your Vessel and you will have a white lump which powder and wash in warm Water till the Water come away insipid Dry this matter in a Sand-fire and burn upon it Spirit of Wine three or four times it will make your Mercury as yellow as Gold then give it a melting fire which it will endure very well without losing any thing because of the fixedness it has acquired by the Spirit of Sulphur Of the white Precipitate PUt eight ounces of Mercury and one pound of Aqua fortis into an ample glass Retort with a long neck shake your vessel and heat it a little upon warm Ashes till your Mercury be dissolved then pour your Dissolution into a glass Bell and pour upon it a quart of Sea-water to precipitate your Mercury separate your Sea-water and sweeten your Precipitate with common Water then dry it in a coffin of white Paper It is used with Pomatum to rub Ring-worms withall It s internal Use is To purge in the Pox from three to eight grains Of the golden Diaphoretick Sulphur BOyl in common Water in a Kettle the Faeces of Regule of Antimony or Regule of Mars filter their Lixivium through a brown Paper pour two or three spoonfuls of Vinegar or of some acid Spirit upon all this Lixivium it will curdle grow yellow and stink then pouring Water upon it precipitate your Tincture thus curdled into a powder of the colour of Saffron which you must edulcorate or sweeten to take away the ill smell then dry it in a coffin of Paper It s Vse is to provoke the Monthly Courses from eight to twelve
it till your water come away insipid then filter your Magistery and dry it in the shade The Use of it is That it is a powerful Diuretick and Diaphoretick against Venereal Diseases the Small Pox and all long Distempers The Dose is from ten to twenty grains and more Boyl four ounces of Venice Turpentine into the consistence of Colophone in a kettle full of Water and mingle with it while it is warm an ounce of Diaphoretick Antimony half an ounce of Niter sulphurated and as much Cream of Tartar form of it Pills which will be excellent for old Gonorrhaea's Of the binding Saffron of Mars PUt two parts of filings of Steel and one part of powder'd Brimstone all at once into a Crucible heated red-hot in a fire of Suppression till the Brimstone be consumed and an hour after take off your Crucible and powder presently your matter spread this powder that is now of the colour of Violets upon Tiles and it will become brown It is good in bloody and Hepatick Fluxes in the weight of a dragm It augments the binding vertue of Plasters The opening Saffron of Mars SPrinkle the binding Saffron of Mars in a stone pan with Spirit of Vitriol or Brimstone two fingers above the matter which in two or three days will be a kind of paste with which fill a large Crucible and set it in a Reverberatory Fire for eight hours then powder it while warm and searce it The Vse This Saffron is good against the Yellow Jaundice it provokes the Monthly Courses and opens the Spleen from half a dragm to two Of the Spirit of Sulphur PLace a stone Cup half full of Sand upon a little Pot placed in the middle of a great earthen Pan a quarter full of Water put into it a spoonful of powder'd Brimstone and with a red Cart-nail set it on fire put presently a glass Bell over the Pan the Brimstone will burn the Spirit will impregnate the Water and the Flowers will produce a little skin reiterate all that till you have thus consumed four pound of Brimstone then mingle your Flowers and your impregnated Water in a Matrass with a short neck and evaporate in a Circulary Fire the Flegm till your Brimstone be dissolved and that your Spirit grows black pour it all into a stone or White-ware Vessel while it is warm the Brimstone will be congealed in the bottom and you shall have half an ounce of black Oyl or Spirit of Brimstone It cools purifies the Blood preserves from the Plague fixes Mercury dissolves Pearls and Coral and cures Cancers and Warts Of the Spirit of Vitriol and Oyl of Colcothar FIll a glass Retort throughly luted with green Vitriol calcin'd to a grey colour in a great Crucible in a Circulary Fire and of Suppression place it in a Furnace of great Reverberation till there appear black spots upon the Receiver then pour off your Spirit of Vitriol which is as clear as Water encrease your fire you shall have a black Oyl very acid and there will remain a Colcothar in the Retort The Use of both is To cool and resist Corruption against all Distempers of the Liver Kidneys against burning and pestilential Feavers it serves also to dissolve Pearls Coral Crabs Eyes Egg-shells c. but it is not strong enough to dissolve Metals Of the Oyl of Myrrha FIll with Myrrha in pieces a glass Retort luted place it in a Circulary Fire fitting to it a great Receiver there will come out a Flegm and an Oyl both together separate them one from another with a glass Tunnel The Use of the Oyl is Against Fits of the Mother by smelling to it it cleanses and ripens Wounds being mingled with the Digestivum and hinders the Gangrene being mingled with the Egyptiacum Of Cauteries SLack half a pound of Quick-lime in a stone Pan by pouring Water upon it by little and little till it become like pap in the mean time heat in a Crucible in a Fire of Suppression two pounds of gravell'd Ashes and throw them hot into the said pap then pour upon it sufficient quantity of Water to dissolve your Salts after twelve hours infusing pour your Lixivium into a brass Basin and evaporate it till it be dry and thus as it is you may use it as people do other Cauteries If you melt this matter you may mould Cauteries upon a Marble The Use is To cauterize when they are moulded they are dryer and must be well wet before their application Of the Red acid oyl of Antimony POwder and mingle fine Niter Brimstone and Antimony of each a pound set fire to your matters by little and little in an earthen pan under a glass Bell as you do the Spirit of Brimstone then evaporate it in a Matrass of a short neck till your Brimstone be melted and your Niter exhaled and that your Oyl appears red and thick taking care that your matter in boyling do not run over pour all your matter into a little stone pot or of White-ware and when it is cold it will congeal into a fair reddish Sulphur The Use of the Oyl is To cure by touching the Ulcers and Cancres of the Pox it purges without provoking vomit from eight to eighteen drops Of Besoard Mineral MElt some butter of Antimony and pour it into a glass Bell and add to it drop by drop and at divers times Spirit of Niter in equal quantity for fear of too great an ebullition when the smoak and boyling cease pour to it a pint of Sea-water filtred and cold there will be produced a white Precipitate after twelve hours pour off this Water sweeten your Precipitate with common Water then filter the remainder through a coffin of Paper and keep your powder well stop'd It s Use is To be an excellent Sudorifick for malignant Feavers and the Pox. The Precipitate of Bismuth PUt four ounces of powder'd Bismuth into a glass Bell and pour upon it by little and little eight ounces of Spirit of Niter having a care of too great an ebullition and of the venomous vapours of the said Spirit The ebullition being ceas'd and the dissolution perform'd and cold it will crystallize Pour upon it Sea-water to precipitate the Magistery pour off your Sea-water and pour on common Water to sweeten it filter the remainder through a Paper coffin and let it dry in the shade The Use is To dry Ulcers and to be a Fucus being mingled with Pomatum The spirit and oyl of Turpentine FIll a glass Retort luted with the waterish Spirit of Turpentine with its Oyl distil it in a Circulary Fire till three parts of four come away which will be the Spirit and there will remain in the Retort a thick red Oyl rectifie your Spirit so often till there remain no Oyl in it The Oyl is a good Anodynum for wounds of the nervous parts the Spirit is a good Diuretick dissolves Gums extracts Tinctures of Aromatick Plants and serves to make the Balsam of Sulphur Of the sulphurated Niter call'd Sal Antifebrile or the salt against Feavers TAke four ounces of Brimstone or its Flowers and mingle them with eight ounces of fine Niter fire this mixtion by degrees in an earthen Cup set in a stone Pan in which is a quart of Spirit of Urine covering the pot with a Bell then take the Faeces of the calcin'd Brimstone and powder them and mingle them with the Spirit of Urine impregnated with the Spirits of Niter and Sulphur let them infuse twelve hours in this stone Pot till they be dissolved filter the Dissolution and evaporate it in a short necked Matrass in a Circulary Fire till it come to a white scum then diminish the Fire and evaporate it till it cease boyling and have a care that the too much boyling do not break your Vessel pour this matter while warm into a White-ware Dish and it will congeal like Crystal Mineral To mould it you must melt it and then pour it into a Vial or melt in the Vial and then break your Vial by cold Water and take away all the Glass with the point of a Knife The Use 'T is a powerful Diuretick and cooler it resists Corruption it drives Gravel cures Feavers softens Metals The Dose is from twenty to thirty Grains FINIS