Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	abandon_v	dissolve_v	obscure_a	20	3	10.3610	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47656	A course of chemistry containing an easie method of preparing those chymical medicins which are used in physick : with curious remarks and useful discourses upon each preparation, for the benefit of such who desire to be instructed in the knowledge of this art / by Nicholas Lemery, M.D.	Lémery, Nicolas, 1645-1715.; Harris, Walter, 1647-1732.	1686 (1686)	Wing L1039; ESTC R30931	293,575	606

gentle sand-heat It is esteemed better than t'other to be taken inwardly because it is less Corrosive being corrected by the Spirit of Wine the dose is from four to twelve drops in some liquor appropriate to the disease Remarks The Potters earth is mixed with the Salt to divide it into particles that the fire may the more easily be able to rarefie it for the parts which Salt consists of are so strictly united that the utmost force of fire is not able to disengage them until they are separated by some Intermedium The preparation that I give unto Salt before it is put into the Retort is longer than the common sort but I have observed that the Spirit comes forth with less difficulty when the matter is prepared according to this form You must leave a vacuity in the Retort and fit to it a large Receiver for giving liberty to the spirit to circulate before it dissolves otherwise it would break them both Likewise the fire must be encreased by little and little because the first Spirits do break out with a mighty violence when they are driven too hard Some ways of drawing the Spirit of Salt without addition have been much sought after but that is not yet well discovered It is true indeed Monsieur Seignette an Apothecary of Rochell among other excellent discoveries that he hath made on Salts to the knowledge of which he hath particularly applied himself brought me hither a sea-salt in the year 1672 that we distilled without addition of any thing else by a very moderate fire and in two hours time we drew three ounces and a half of very good Spirit out of six ounces of salt that we put into the Retort After this we broke the Retort and having powdered the Salt that remained in it to the weight of two ounces and a half we exposed it to the air in a pan for a fortnight and we found it reimpregnated with Spirits we distilled it once more and with the same ease as before we drew half its weight in Spirit of the same force as the former The matter remaining in the Retort being again exposed to the air recovered new Spirits Monsieur Seignette did assure me that he had thus drawn Spirit from the same matter nine several times which is a thing worth our admiration and shews us very well that the air contains a spirit which forms divers things according to the different disposition of the subjects that it enters into This salt is particular to him that shewed it me and he prepares it himself some way that he is unwilling to discover Since I writ of Monsieur Seignette's particular way of drawing spirit of salt some have Printed that if common salt well decrepitated and kept a good while over the fire were exposed to the air for some dayes and distilled without addition of any thing to it it would yield a spirit much like that I have spoken of and in full as great a quantity But if we examine the sharp liquor which is drawn this way we shall find it of so weak a nature that it may more reasonably be called phlegm than spirit and the salt remains entire in the Retort whereas M. Seignette's spirit of salt is full as strong as common spirit of salt and has the very same qualities nay I conceive it somewhat better as not having so great an impression from fire as the other Again some say it does not deserve the name of spirit of sea-salt nor ought this preparation to be look't upon as any great mystery because the same incorporation and augmentation happens to divers other salts exposed to the air after drawing off their spirit I grant this augmentation proceeds from the spirit of the air and I conceive it is the same spirit which produces all manner of things according to the Matrixes or different pores of the earth it uses to meet with as I have explicated in my Remarks upon the Principles But because this spirit of the air has met with pores in our matter ready disposed to make a salt much like unto common salt and a spirit is drawn from it much like unto that which is drawn from common salt I see no reason to doubt why this spirit should not be a true spirit of salt all the difference is this the salt I now speak of is not so throughly united to its earthy part as common salt is and therefore its spirits do separate with more ease for they are drawn without addition of any thing else and with a gentle fire whereas those of common salt are so fixt that they can't be driven out without mixing a great deal of earth in order to separate all its parts and without a very great fire As for the augmentation which happens to many other bodies exposed to the air after their spirits are drawn off I don't question the matter of fact nor that these same substances do return into what they were before by impregnating again with spirits of the air in some considerable time but it is rarely found that any of them do yield so strong spirits and so easily as our salt and herein lies the mystery It is observable that the acids which are drawn by so violent a fire do very much differ from those that are made naturally such as the Vinegars of Beer Wine Cider the acid of Citron c. The Spirit of salt among others hath some particular difference from the rest because it will precipitate that which Aqua fortis hath dissolved This acid according as may be judged by its effects is compounded of stronger and more weighty points than the rest but they are not so sharp and piercing And this is the reason that it jogs so effectually those of Aqua fortis loaded with some bodies they have dissolved and that shaking them about it makes them let go their hold Some have writ that this precipitation must not be imputed either to the weight or the strength no more than to the agitation which spirit of salt may have given to the Aqua fortis or to matters dissolved but rather to the conjunction of the acidity of this spirit with the volatile and sulphureous alkali of Aqua fortis or Spirit of Niter which does by that means constrain this last to abandon the metal which it had dissolved But this is the way to explicate as they say one obscure thing by another that is much more obscure for what likelihood is there that the volatile spirit of Aqua fortis is an alkali and pray how comes it to remain in so great a motion with the fixed acid spirit of this same water without destroying or losing its nature this is a thing that can never be conceived very easily But furthermore supposing this spirit were an alkali it would be still necessary to explicate mechanically for what reason this alkali does quit the body of the metal to betake itself to the Spirit of salt for to say meerly

that by the conjunction of these two spirits the Aqua fortis is compelled to abandon the metal that it had dissolved is nothing at all to the clearing of the question unless a man will needs give an intelligence to these spirits Wherefore we must still have recourse to the agitation and jostles for the true reason It is also remarkable that the effervescency which happens when Spirit of Salt is cast into the solution of some bodies by Aqua fortis is different from that which happens when some alkali is cast into it the former being much more gentle than the latter The Spirit of Salt dissolves leaf gold which Aqua fortis is not able to do When this Spirit is dulcified it is mixed with Spirit of Wine which being a Sulphur doth take off the edges of the acid and in part hinders their motion whence it comes to pass that this Spirit is milder by this addition than if water had been used instead of Spirit of Wine The Spirit of Salt may be made with Salt Decrepitated after the same manner CHAP. XVI Of Niter or Salt-peter IT is probable that the Niter of the antients was either the Aegyptian Natron or a salt that is found in the earth in a gray compact mass or else the natural Borax or the salt which is drawn from the water of the river Nilus and many other rivers And it may be that all these salts are divers kinds of their Niter but the Niter of the moderns is nothing else but Salt-peter and this is that of which I intend to speak Niter is a Salt impregnated with abundance of Spirits out of the air which do render it volatile it is taken from among the stones and earths of old ruined buildings Some of it is likewise to be found in Cellars and several other moist places because the air doth condense it in those places and easily unites with the stones Salt-peter is also sometimes made by the Urine of Animals falling upon stones and earths Nay some have thought that all Salt-peter comes from that cause whereas we see every day that some of it is taken out of places where there never came any Urine at all This salt is half volatile and half like unto Sal Gemme as I shall prove hereafter The great and violent flame which happens so soon as Salt-peter is flung upon the coals and the red vapours which it uses to yield when reduced into a spirit have induced the Chymists generally to believe that this salt is inflammable and consequently fully loaded with Sulphur because Sulphur is the only Principle that flames but if they had suspended their judgments herein until they had got more experience on this Subject they would not only have known that Salt-peter is not at all inflammable in its nature but they would e'en have doubted whether or no any Sulphur does enter into the natural composition of this salt for if Salt-peter were inflammable of it self like Sulphur it would burn where there is no Sulphur for example in a Crucible heated red-hot in the fire but it will never flame therein use what quantity of it you please and let the fire be never so great It is true indeeed if you throw Salt-peter upon kindled coals it makes a great flame but this is only through the sulphureous Fuliginosities of the coals which are violently raised and rarefied by the volatile nature of Niter as I shall prove in the Operation upon fixt Niter As for any Sulphur that is thought to be contained in Salt-peter it can't be demonstrated by any Operation whatever for the red vapours that come from it are no more inflammable than the Niter when they are not mixt with some Sulphureous matter and it is far more probable that this salt contains no Sulphur if we consider its cleanness transparency acidity and cooling quality which have no manner of affinity with the effects of Sulphur which are commonly to make a body opake to take off acidity and to heat Purification of Salt-peter To purifie Salt-peter is to deprive it of part of its fixt salt and of a little bituminous earth which it contains Dissolve ten or twelve pounds of Salt-peter in a sufficient quantity of water let the dissolution settle and filtrate it then evaporate it in a glass or earthen vessel to the diminution of half or until there begins to appear a little skin upon it then remove your vessel into a cool place stirring it as little as may be and leave it there till the morrow you 'l find Crystals which you must separate from the liquor evaporate this liquor again to a skin and set the vessel in a cool place to get new Crystals repeat the evaporations and Crystallizations until you have drawn all your Salt-peter Note that in the last Crystallizations you 'l have a Salt altogether like unto sea-salt or Sal Gemme keep it apart it may serve to season meat with The first Crystals are the pure Salt-peter You may if you please dissolve and purifie Salt-peter several other times in water observing every time what I said before for to render it more white and purifie it from its Sea-salt Salt-peter purified is a great aperitive it cools the body by fixing the humours that are in too much motion and drives them by Urine It is given in Feavers in Gonorrheas and many other diseases the dose is from ten grains to a drachm in Broth or some appropriate liquor Remarks The first Purification that is given to Salt-peter is this the stones and earths that contain it are grosly powdered they are boiled in a great deal of water to dissolve the Salt-peter the dissolution is filtred and then poured upon ashes to make a Lixivium after it hath been poured upon the ashes several times it is evaporated and Crystallized The salt of the ashes which does mix with the Salt-peter increases its fixt part but that which is made without ashes is the better to make Aqua fortis with The earth from whence Salt-peter hath been drawn being set in the open air and stirred about from time to time doth re-impregnate with a kind of Salt The long Crystals that we see Salt-peter shoot into do proceed from its volatile part for that which is Crystallized last is fixt like sea-salt and looks just like it Salt-peter can never be purified so well but it will still contain a salt like unto Sal Gemme or sea-salt but in less quantity than before When Salt-peter is boiled a long time in water and over a great fire some part of the Spirits do fly away and there remains at last nothing but a salt like unto sea-salt or Sal Gemme which serves to prove that Salt-peter is only a Sal Gemme fuller of Spirits than the other as I said speaking of the Principles When you would Crystallize a Salt you must dissolve it in a convenient proportion of water for if there should be too much the salt would be weakned too much and

fire-coal flung into water would do Besides it heated the water very much and much more than common Oil of Vitriol could I kept this congealed Spirit about six months after which time it dissolved into a liquor which I used as Oil of Vitriol for it was in effect the same thing And in my opinion this operation does sufficiently evince that Oil of Vitriol contains fiery parts It hapned to me another time that having rectified the Spirit of Vitriol to separate it from its Oil by an Alembick some part of the distilled Spirit was turned into fair and transparent Crystals in the bolt-head or Receiver which Crystals had the same acrimony and strength with the mass I now spoke of If you pour some drops of Spirit or Oil of Vitriol into a quart of hot water in which you shall infuse a pugil of dried red Roses the liquor will in a little time become as red as Claret and this effect must not so much be attributed to the Spirit of Vitriol's sharpning the water and so thereby drawing out the Tincture of Roses as to this that the acid Spirit does rarefie and separate the particles of the Rose which the water had dissolved and made to appear better than before for if you strain the Infusion and separate the Roses before you pour to it your Spirit of Vitriol although the liquor so strained be yet but little raised in colour it will nevertheless turn to as high a red after the Spirit is dropt into it as if the Roses remained still in the liquor We must say the same thing of other Tinctures that are drawn by acids as also of such as are made by an Alkali salt If you fill a glass Viol with the decoction of Nephritick wood clarified and look on it turning toward the light it will appear yellow but if you turn your back to the light it will appear blue if you mix with it some drops of Spirit of Vitriol it will appear yellow on every side but if you again add about as much more Oil of Tartar it will return unto its first colour If you take a Blue or Violet tincture made in water such as is drawn out of the Sun-flower or Violet flowers and pour upon it some drops of Spirit of Vitriol it will presently turn red but if you throw into it some Alkali salt it will recover again its former colour On the contrary if you pour an Alkali liquor such as volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack or the Oil of Tartar upon the blue Tincture it will presently turn green and if you again pour upon it a little Spirit of Vitriol it will change this colour into an obscure red The decoction of Indian wood is very red if you drop into it a little Spirit of Vitriol it will turn yellow and if you still add some volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack it will become black If you infuse three or four hours a piece of Indian wood in some clear juice of Citron and take out your wood the liquor will have received no alteration of colour but if you add to it some drops of Oil of Tartar made per deliquium it will take a brown colour and if you add to it a little Spirit of Vitriol it will resume its colour again If you pour some drops of Oil of Tartar upon Claret it will become greenish and if you add to it a little Spirit of Vitriol it will return to its former colour All these changes of colour which the Spirit of Vitriol or other acids and Alkali's do make proceed only from the different position of bodies dissolved in the liquor and from its disposition to modifie the light different ways Styptick Water This water is a solution of Vitriol and other ingredients to stop bleedings Take Colcothar or the red Vitriol that remains in the Retort after the spirit is drawn out Burnt-alom and Sugar-candy of each half a drachm the Urine of a young person and Rose-water of each half an ounce Plantain-water two ounces stir them all together a good while in a mortar then pour the mixture into a Viol and when you use it separate it by Inclination If you apply a Bolster dipt in this water to an opened Artery and hold your hand a while upon it it stops the bloud In like manner you may wet a little Pledget in it and thrust it into the Nose when an Hemorrhage continues too long taken inwardly it cures spitting of bloud bloudy flux and the immoderate flux of the Hemorrhoids or Terms the dose is from half a drachm to two drachms in Knot-grass water Remarks When the bloud gushes forth too fast you must redouble the first Bolster that was put upon the wound and assist it a little with your fingers for half an hour The Basis of this water is Colcothar Having used this water with good success upon several occasions I was willing to insert it in this Book and I believe if any body please to experiment it as I have done they will easily acknowledge it to be an excellent Remedy in many Distempers Lapis Medicamentosus Powder and mix together Colcothar or the red Vitriol that remains in the Retort after distillation or in want of it Vitriol Calcined to a redness two ounces Litharge Alom and Bole-Armenick of each four ounces put this mixture into a glazed pot and pour upon it good Vinegar enough to cover the matter two fingers high cover the pot and leave it two days in digestion then add to it eight ounces of Niter two ounces of Sal Armoniack set the pot over the fire and evaporate all the moisture Calcine the mass that remains about half an hour in a strong fire and keep it for use It is a good Remedy to stop Gonorrheas a drachm of it is dissolved in eight ounces of Plantain water or Smith's water to make an Injection into the Yard it is likewise good to cleanse the eyes in the small pox seven or eight grains of it must be dissolved in four ounces of Plantain or eye-bright water it is also good to stop bloud applied outwardly to a wound It may be dissolved in Knot-grass water and will go near to have the same effects as the styptick water Remarks This stone is called Medicamentosus by way of excellence by reason of the good effects it produces The Colcothar that remains in the Retort after the distillation of Vitriol must be better than the others for this Operation because being deprived of the greatest part of its Spirits it is the more Astringent Litharge which is a Lead Calcined Alom and Bole-Armenick are so many considerable Astringents that do no hurt in this composition Vinegar is put in to incorporate the ingredients together and set them a Fermenting after which the Niter and Sal Armoniack do easily mix among the rest The Calcination which is given to it at the end is done to carry off some part of the acid and to augment the Astriction It