and has the same virtues as the salt its Dose is from eight to four and twenty drops After this same manner the Volatile salt of Beans Soot and divers Fruits and Seeds may be Prepared Remarks The Lees of Wine being incomparably more Fermented than the Tartar which is found in the sides of Vessels we need not wonder if its salt is more Volatile This salt is sublimed in a Boulthead with a long neck to the end the Phlegm which is too heavy to rise easily so high may not much mix with it but it is extraordinary hard to keep this salt dry it easily humects and dissolves into liquor wherefore it were much better to draw it in a Spirit and less of the Volatile part would be lost being detained by Phlegm Nevertheless because there are several persons who are as well pleased with the sight of things as their Effects this liquified salt might be mixt with a sufficient quantity of Calcined Bones powdered to make thereof a Paste which might be made into little Pellets to be put into a Boult-head and fitting to it a Blind head this salt may be sublimed or Rectified as before and this pure salt must be kept in Viols well stopt The difficulty there is in keeping this Volatile salt dry as well as that of other Vegetables does proceed from this that only the more Essential part is Volatilized for there remains much fixt salt with the earth in the Retort This Volatile salt becomes Alkali by the means of fire as the other Volatile salts do whereof I have already spoken in my Remarks upon the Principles and there is no manner of probability that it should have been of this nature either in the Plant or in the Lees for the reasons that I have shewn in the same Remarks I shall add here that if the Alkali salt did exist in the Lees but is not able to unfold it self and get the predominancy of Acids but only by a long Fermentation as the Chymists will have it who follow the common way of discoursing of these things it would then necessarily follow that the more Lees do Ferment the more they must lose of their Acidity because the Alkali would destroy it Nevertheless the contrary to this happens for Lees do sowr as they grow stale and those who make your Vinegar do know well enough how to use Lees and make them Ferment with their Wine when they would use a quick dispatch in making Vinegar It seems to me from the consideration of this effect that there is little reason to follow the Sentiments of some who have writ that the Lees of wine abounding in Volatile salt and a sulphureous spirit do contain but very little Acid for it is as plain as may be that this Volatile salt is Acid in the Lees and is the fame that makes the Acid spirit of Vinegar as being more Volatile than many other Acids to Volatilize along with its Phlegm in the distillation It is true that salt of Tartar drawn by the Retort does rise more easily than the Spirit of Vinegar but this is from its being Volatilized by the violent heat of fire Another mark that all the salt of Lees is Acid is this that the Tartar does all dissolve in the wine and turns into Vinegar for very little or no Lees or other Tartar is to be found in the Barrels wherein Vinegar was made although there was some before as nature made it or though some other was added to it Perhaps it will be Objected that Lees are sometimes added to Wines grown ropy and mucilaginous to make them good again and those Wines are not sowred by the Lees. But this effect happens when the former Fermentation becoming imperfect through the too great quantity of Phlegm for the little proportion of Salt that was in the wines the salt of the Lees does rarifie exalt and involve it self in some measure in the Oyly parts of the liquor that the wine is made of as I have said in the Chapter of Wine For the Wine does not sowr so long as the salt finds Oyl to act upon but it does so when this salt finds nothing to hinder it from separating The Volatile salt of Tartar produces much the same effects as that of Beans and other seeds and though many will needs give it such sublime and extraordinary virtues in comparison with other Volatile salts I do'nt see any reason for such high fancies nor that effects do answer their Pretences Volatile salts have a good use when they find the Pores and Humors disposed for Transpiration but they are full as dangerous when the Humors are not at all Prepared for by their Volatility they do so stir them up that oftentimes the Feaver is known to be encreased by them and translated to the Brain wherefore you must be sure to consider well the Temper and present state of your Patient before you presume to give them That which remains in the Boulthead after the Volatile salt and spirit are drawn off is a black and stinking Oyl mixt with the more Phlegmatick part of the liquor you must separate this Oyl in a Funnel lined with brown paper it is good for the Palsie Cold pains and for Hysterick women to smell to A Lee or Calcined Tartar is found in the Retort out of which you may draw a fixt Alkali salt as out of common Tartar but in a lesser quantity for that the greatest part of the Salt of Lees is Volatilized Add to pag. 278. Extract of Opium called Laudanum Opium does mitigate all pains which proceed from too great a subtilty of the humours it is good for the Tooth-ach being applied to the Tooth or else made into a Plaisser and applied to the Artery of the Temples it is used to stop spitting of bloud Dysenteries Fluxes of the Menstrua and the Hemorrhoids for Colicks defluxions of sharp humors upon the eyes for Rheumatisms and to ease all sorts of Griping pains The Dose c. as before Add to pag. 284. Remarks upon Laudanum Some have writ in opposition to what I have establish'd on this subject and say that if we have regard to the quantity of Narcotick vapours that may arise from a small Dose of Opium it ought not to be imagined that those Vapours should be able to shut the channels of the Spirits and humours which make a defluxion upon some part but that we should rather conclude the mitigation of pains and stopping of defluxions to proceed from a jus proportion of the salt and sulphur of Opium and from the secret Ferment they contain But this Objection will give us but little trouble in the answering when we consider that although the Vapours caused by it are but few yet the vessels of the Brain in which the Animal Spirits do move are exceeding delicate and easie to be obstructed and that the too great activity of the Spirits which often fly into the diseased parts being thus abated by the viscous nature of
good reason claim preference to all Fixt Alkali's whether Spirits or Salts Vpon great occasions they will seem to work Miracles raise Dead to Life and when the mild flame of the Bloud in which Life is said to consist seems to be quite extinguished these Volatile Spirits shall light it again a-fresh and add new vigour to the languishing efforts of Nature But these Volatiles too must be given with great caution either the humours must be Prepared or the Spirits very low or else they may Translate the humours to the Brain from the parts below and give the Disease a Nobler Seat than it had before The Spirit of Sal Armoniack is an excellent thing and though it is derived from Urinous and seeming uncleanly Principles yet if well drawn and rectified from Phlegm has oftentimes great effects and especially if Cohobated upon Castor and Amber will yield to few Volatiles unless that most Noble nay Royal Preparation of Goddard's drops Prepared by that Ingenious and Learned Physician Dr. Goodall who upon enquiry into the nature of those Medicines has been so free as to acquaint me that they are separated with that moderate and gentle degree of fire that the Balneum in which the Glass bodies are placed are never to exceed the heat of humane bloud circulating in the vessels or that of an Egg upon Incubation by which means there is a most exact and even Natural separation of the Volatile and Spirituous parts from the fixt and Phlegmatick Whereas if this mild degree of heat were not observ'd he saies the Principles would be confounded together After this the several Principles with which this Noble Preparation is endowed are by much labour and proper degrees of heat both in their repeated Sublimations Rectifications and Circulations made all with a gentle fire advanced to that degree of Volatility that I have reason to esteem it one of the best Nervous Cephalick and Hysterick Medicines that is used in Chymistry and much more effectual than others to answer all those Indications in our Art where Volatiles or Diaphoreticks are thought to be useful Of this Preparation there are several sorts differing secundum magis minus being Impregnated with one or more of the Original constituent Principles in a higher or lower degree so that they may be the better suited to variety of Constitutions and answer very different Indications Perhaps some will say I Prevaricate with my Design in Prefacing such Cautions to a Book of Chymistry and making great part of Chymistry a little too much suspected and especially considering what I said in praise of this Art before the COURSE OF CHYMISTRY But I would have it consider'd that I never thought this sort of Remedies of much use in Feavers and that Chronical distempers might possibly find some greater relief from those Active Medicines especially after the tryal of others by virtue of that Maxime à mitioribus ad fortiora progrediendum These things may require some longer Discourse and perhaps I may urge them further hereafter when I may speak more at large concerning Remedies and give some Practical Observations upon them What I have now said is not intended to discourage from using them upon very great occasions only if plain things will do what need we puzle where we can use safe and innocent Remedies such as are Natural and in the way of Nature easily Prepared why should we Neglect them for sake of such as are or may prove dangerous For my part I shall never so pin my Practice to the Authority of any one no nor many Great Names that I must forfeit the use of my own Reason and Observation What does good I 'le follow though a silly Ignorant should teach me what does bad I 'le avoid though never so Magisterial THE OPERATIONS Added in this APPENDIX OTher Precipitates of Mercury Page 56 Remarks Page 57 Chap. 13. Of the Stone Haematites Page 68 Sublimation of the Stone Haematites Page 69 Remarks Page 70 Valatile Salt of Amber Page 99 Remarks Page 100 Soluble Tartar Page 108 Remarks Page 109 Chalybeated or Martial Cryftals of Tartar ib. Remarks Page 110 Soluble Tartar Chalybeated Page 111 Remarks ib. Volatile Salt of Tartar Page 122 Remarks Page 124 Chap. Of Myrrhe Page 132 Tincture of Myrrhe Page 133 Remarks ib. Oyl of Myrrhe per Deliquium Page 134 Remarks ib. AN APPENDIX TO A COURSE of CHYMISTRY CONTAINING The easiest manner of performing those Operations that are in use in Physick ADD to Page 6. Line 26. In the Remarks upon the Principles of Chymistry Nothing but the Oyl can properly be said to be Inflammable and the Oyl is so much the more so as the Salts with which it is closely united have been more or less spiritualized For that which I call Spirit in the Oyl is nothing but an Essential or Volatile Salt this Salt is not of it self Inflammable but serves to Rarifie and Exalt the parts of the Oyl to render them the more susceptible of Motion and consequently of Flagration after the same manner as when Salt-peter is put to mix with some Oyly substance this Oyly matter fires much more easily than when it is alone though Salt-peter of it self is not at all Inflammable as I shall prove hereafter We have Examples of the truth of what I say in Spirit of Wine Oyl of Turpentine and all other Inflammable Liquors for they are only Oyls subtilized and refined by the Volatile Salts they contain Sticks and other parts of Vegetables have a great deal of Salt much like to Salt-peter this Salt being straitly united with their Oyl makes them the more apt to flame than if it had not been a part The Fat of Animals is full of a Volatile Acid falt Wax Rosine and all other matters that are inflammable are impregnated with an Acid Salt Essential or Volatile I say the Salt which causes the flagration of Oyls must be either Volatile or Essential for if it were a fixt Salt 't would have a contrary effect it would allay in some measure the quick motion of the parts of an Inflammable body and this we see happens when Sea-salt is flung into the fire it serves to put it out Common Sulphur yields us another instance of the same kind consisting of one part Sulphurous or Oyly and another Saline or fixt Acid which plainly appears in the opening of it the Oyly part fires and would soon rise like other Oyls into a great White Flame but that the Acid part being a load to its activity hinders it from rising and so forces it to cast but only a small Blew Flame and a proof of what I affirm may be had from mixing Salt-peter with Sulphur for the Volatile Salt of Salt peter does Volatilize the Salts of Sulphur and causes a White flame to burn violently as I shall shew hereafter in the Operation of Salt Polychrest Add to Pag. 7. Lin. 22. Is it not likely enough that the bottom of the Sea or its shores may be
sulphureous matters are drawn Acid as they were de facto in the mixt because being cloathed with soft and ramous parts which give way easily to their motion they do not break their natural keenness in endeavouring to separate when they are forced by fire and so they do not receive so much terrestrious and fiery matter as is requisite to make them Porous like Volatile Alkali's Methinks this Operation and the Distillation of Amber which I have described do much confirm what I said before in my Remarks upon the Principles that all the salt of mixt bodies is naturally Acid and that Alkali is nothing else but a mutation made by fire Besides all sorts of Experiments do seem to me to confirm and establish this Opinion but yet I am not so peremptory in the vindication of it but would gladly give place to another if I could be shewed that it is better than mine for I seek after nothing else but real Truth Neither would I have it thought I am so full of Vanity as to vaunt my self for the first Author of this Opinion of many other thoughts and of all the wayes of Operation that are to be found in my Book as if for certain they were never writ before for although I can assure my Reader that they are dictates of my own conception and that I have not searched into any Author whatsoever to find them out it may have hapned nevertheless and I am willing to think so that many others besides my self may have thought and written the same things that I have done and with more order and decorum All the glory therefore that I am desirous to reserve unto my self upon this occasion is that I have had the fortune to fall into the same reflexions as many Ingenious persons have done before me without consulting any of them FINIS AN INDEX OF THE MORE Material REMARKS IN THIS APPENDIX A ACid and Alkali their nature discoursed of at large Page 14 15. All Bodies that Ferment with Acids are not compounded of an Alkali salt as Pearle Coral c. but are themselves Alkali's 13. An Alkali after its conflict with Acids remains no longer Alkali 16 17. No Alkali salt in Animals 17. Choler no Alkali 18. The notions of Acid and alkali cannot explicate the Heat and Ebullition which proceeds from mixing spirit of Niter with spirit of Wine 80. The Oyl of Turpentine with Oyl of Vitriol occasions the same difficulty ib. How these Ebullitions are to be explicated 81. Why Acids can preserve certain bodies put in them as Salt preserves meat 116 117. Alchymy an excellent definition of it 27. Aloes its Tincture how drawn 130. Alom its spirit as good and strong as spirit of Vitriol 96. Amber where found 97. its Tincture how made 98. its Volatile salt how drawn 99. Ambergrease where found 101. Antimony Emetick by reason of a saline sulphur it contains 59 60. its Regulus Calcined weighs more than it did before 60. and this Augmentation from the addition of Fire into its body ib. whence proceeds the Star that is seen in its Martial Regulus 61 62 63. Aqua-Fortis its spirit no wayes alkali 75. Arcanum Corallinum how Prepared 54. Astrological Fancies about the correspondence of Metals and the Planets divers of them confuted 22 23. Judicial Astrology censur'd 62. Aurum Fulminans why it may be taken inwardly 30. B. Bismuth why in making its Magistery the Ebullition is so great and the Boulthead grows so hot 31. its Magistery may be made without using Salt in the Water but the Precipitation is better and quicker with Salt 32. C. Colour proved to be no real thing but only to depend on the Modification of parts by divers Experiments on Red Precipitate 55 56 several Experiments upon Colours 95 96. Copper why Water or other liquor that 's heated or boiled in Copper vessels a whole day together if not remov'd from off the fire savours not so much of the Copper as other Water boil'd in a like vessel and remov'd from the fire but an hour 36 37 38. what liquors take its Impression sooner than others 38. Cautions in the use of Copper vessels ib. why a Kettle newly taken off the fire is not so hot at bottom as on the sides 39. Crocus Metallorum a certain sort called Magnesia Opalina 64. in the Preparation of the common sort of it ordinary Salt-peter being used yields more Crocus than the Purified Salt-peter and the reason why 64. that made with common Salt-peter is the Redder and nearer the colour of an Animals Liver 64. the preparation of it that may be given in a greater Dose not better than that which is given in a less 65. D. Digestion an Objection concerning it answer'd 117 118. Dissolvents to be used of the same nature with the substance you desire to dissolve 98 99. E. Emails what they are made of 40. Extractum Panchymagogum better drawn with a watry Menstruum than Spirit of Wine 131. In what Extracts Spirit of Wine should be used 132. F. Feavers and their principal symptoms explicated by what is spoken concerning acids 119 120. How Intermittent Feavers or Agues come to return regularly by Fits 121 122. G. Goddards Drops some account of their Process in the Preface Gold thought to be the end that Nature aims at in all her Mines 23. taken inwardly no real Cordial 27. nor receives any Influence from the Sun more than other things do ib. Stories to prove it a Cordial refuted 28 29 30. That there are Volatiles which can Sublime it away 29. Gold purified by Lead as the White of an Egg Clarifies a Syrop 33. the intercepted heavy matter between its Pores does not Precipitate of its self 86. an Objection answer'd 86 87. Guaiacum though a dry body yet yields much liquor 201. H. Hartshorn Burnt no Cardiack but only an alkali 137. Philosophically prepared it is but an ill Medicine ib. Haematites or the Bloud-stone how prepared 68. an Acid Spirit drawn from it ib. Sublimation of this stone 69. I. Ink how made to appear and disappear several times in Paper 90. Dried Roses with Vitriol will make as black an Ink as that made with Galls 90. and so will divers other things 91. Iron differs from the Loadstone but only in the figure of its Pores 40. Though it is an Acid Vitriolick Salt yet it remains an Alkali ib. Divers objections to prefer Steel before Iron for Physical uses answered at large 41 to 45. its Aperitive virtue partly from its salt and partly from its gravity 42. L. Lead though it loses much by its Calcination yet weighs heavier at last by addition of fiery particles into its body 33 34. in the distillation of its Burning spirit called Burning spirit of Saturn six drachms are taken out of the Retort more than were put in besides an ounce and six drachms more of liquor thence distilled 34 35. its Calx how revived 36. M. Metals how different from Minerals 21. seven in number ib. Mercury
and besides all Natural salts of which Aliments are full are known to be Acid and there is no other salt in nature but the Acid as is at large proved in the following Treatise So that Acids have their use and benefit beyond question But it is the frequent and continual use of Artificial Acids such as are drawn by fire and become of a fiery nature that I presume to tax and question A Citron in a Feaver may be of greater help and comfort and allay the boiling Heat and resist the prevailing malignity more than can be thought The Juyce of Lemmons not that crude Juyce which is commonly vended and of which the Syrop is too too often made but the Juyce of good Lemmons and so of Oranges might be put into Juleps to give them an Acidity instead of Spirit of Vitriol and no harm done But a few drops forsooth of that suspected Spirit are more gentile and neat and for the great honour of Chymistry are grown into common use almost as much as salt for our meat Natural Remedies will prevail when we have tried as many pretty conceits as we please Nature will provide us Herbs and Roots when Chymists and Chymistry as to great part of it are dead and buried and have undergone the same Fate that all particular Remedies of Hectors and great Boasters have hitherto done by the wise disposal of all-seeing Providence They dye commonly with their Masters or if they do out-live their thread of time they soon decline more and more till they come to lose all their Esteem Nevertheless upon urgent occasions when Symptoms are exceeding violent and are not to be conquer'd with ordinary means Acid Spirits may and perhaps ought to be used As in a Pox or Gonorrhea when Defluxions are violent and Symptoms accidentally high when the Patient is almost in despair and frightned with unusual Symptoms we must have recourse to Mercury let us say what we will and exhibite that quantity which otherwise we should not if the person had been rightly treated at first as we are forced to use Actual Cauteries to prevent Gangrenes and burn to the purpose when there 's a necessity for it So in cases of the like nature the disguised fire in Acids may be given inwardly with safety enough Pestilential Feavers where the Bloud is wholly fluid and the Fibres that gave it consistence and made it condense when grown cold are destroyed by the Subtile Malignity may perhaps require better or stronger Acids than Vinegar can give Having spoken thus much in reference to Acid fiery Spirits it may well be enquired whether or no in the Distillation of such Spirits there is any addition of weight as there is most sensibly in the instances forenamed To which I Answer that Acid Spirits come forth with such Heat and Violence that it is almost Impossible to lute the Junctures so exactly well as not to lose some of them they are so exceeding fiery and of so piercing a nature that some of them will break out do what you can How will a room smell of Nitrous Spirits while they are a Distilling they 'l try what Lungs you are made of let the Receiver be never so big or thick And this is the reason that the Ingredients weigh no more than when they were first put in for as fast as the fire comes in through the Retort some Spirits break out at the Junctures To prove the nature of these Spirits to be as Hot as I say I could here instance an Experiment of this Author 'T was in short this he Distilled Vitriol three dayes and three nights together and there came forth an Acid Spirit as it uses to do when the vessels were cold he found in the Receiver nothing but a Mass of salt or Oyl of Vitriol congealed This salt was so exceeding Caustick that if he offered to touch the least part of it it burnt like fire and he was fain immediately to put his hand in water and when he threw a little of it into the water it made just such a hissing noise as burning coals do it likewise made the water very hot hotter than common Oyl of Vitriol will do See p. 94 95. And now I have done with Acids it will be expedient to speak something of Alkali's Knife and Sheath go together Alkali salts whether they be made by burning Plants into Ashes or by Calcination in a Retort or Crucible and so making of them a Lixivium c. they all lose the nature they were endowed with at first and from Natural Acid Salts become Porous the fire by opening them drives out the Acid part and leaves them full of Pores ready to receive and make an Ebullition with any Acids they shall afterwards meet with they are partly the remaining terrestrious and fixt part of what they were and partly an additional supplement of fire Now there are Natural Alkali's though not Alkali salts which perform the good effect of Alkali's such as Perle Coral Crabs-eyes c. and these may be used to answer the Indication of sweetning Acids without any need of having recourse to those productions of fire to wit Alkali salts unless there be extraordinary occasion as I said before concerning the use of Natural Acids unless the greatness of Symptoms required the Artificial Speaking to this purpose to a most Ingenious Physician he was pleased to ask me whether I did not Roast and Boil the meat that I eat or whether that did terrifie me from eating my meat But I think there 's a great deal of difference between a warmer sort of Infusion as Boiling is and heat at a distance which in aleasure tract of time dries and prepares meat to be fit for the Stomach which insinuates gently and which loses the destructive quality of fire by reason of the distance as is the manner of Roasting there 's a vast difference I say between these Heats and turning Ingredients into a Coal fire as is done both in Retorts and Crucibles in the making of Artificial acids and alkali's And as for meat I cannot much approve and few Physicians I think do that which is Broil'd on the Coals and so nearly partakes of the Impression of fire it digests ill I am sure and breeds Melancholick unwholsome nourishment Chymical Digestions are of most excellent use to draw out the True and Natural virtue of things they are made in a Sand-heat or else in a Balneum mild and tender wayes of opening bodies and the Remedies lay no such force upon Nature as upon the Disease Remedies were at first ordered by Nature so well as to need but little of our help they were intended to help those poor harmless souls who knew no better than to make an ordinary fire to keep themselves warm by and these could gather a proper Herb to heat or boil in a little water and there often came rare feats of it too Volatile Spirits and Salts do rise with a gentler fire and may for that
much noise and suddenness as Alkali's is because that Oyls consist of pliant parts that yield and make no resistance to the points of Acids as a piece of Wool or Cotton will yield and give way to needles that are thrust into it Thus methinks two sorts of Fermentations may be admitted of the one of an Acid with an Alkali which may be called Ebullition and the other when an Acid does by little and little rarifie some softish matter as Dow or clear and Sulphurous as Muste Syder and all other juices of Plants This last sort may rather be called Fermentation 'T is further remarkable that the Acid and Alkali do so destroy one another in their conflict that when as much Acid has been by degrees poured as is necessary to penetrate the Alkali in all its parts it is then no more an Alkali nor can it be so again though you wash it to carry off the Acid because it has no longer that disposition of Pores which is requisite in an alkali and the Acid breaks and loses its points in the contest especially when the alkali is pretty compact and solid so that if you would recover your Acid again you 'l find it has in a manner lost all its acidity and retains only a sharpness But the Sulphur or Oyl consisting of supple yielding parts does only receive some Acid impression and no such close union so that it can be drawn from Sulphureous bodies much the same as when it was mixt The Salt of Animals does differ but little from the Volatile salt of Seeds and Fruits both which are drawn in a Retort they have the same kind of smell taste and other virtues The Volatile salt of animals keeps dry a longer time than the others because it carries away with it more fixt salt than those others As for fixt salt animals do yield but a very little of it and in some animals you shall find none at all it is drawn as the fixt salt of Plants they are both alkali's There is no salt that can be called alkali to be found in the parts or humors of animals until they have passed the fire a Saline serosity may be observed in them but that salt is acid and it proceeds doubtless from the Aliments that are taken for nourishment Now as I have shewn that there is only an acid salt in Earths and Vegetables so I may say the same of Animals and the rather because no other kind of salt can be found in them in their Natural state the alkali salts that are drawn from them are only several mutations of an Acid salt made by fire which mingles with them earthy particles after the manner I have spoken of treating of the Alkali's of Plants But it is observable that whereas there is a greater proportion of Spirits in Animals than Seeds these Spirits do serve to exalt all the Salt which is the reason that less fixt salt is to be found in Animals than Plants As for what many do say that Choler causes an Effervescency like an alkali when an acid is cast upon it 't is a mistake through want of right Observation for no Ebullition at all happens for some time Nevertheless I will not say that an Acid produces no Fermentation in Choler Bloud and other parts of the body for it does very often really do that but that is no more than uses to be done in New Wine Beer and other liquors of the like nature I have already explicated this sort of Fermentation We should not omit speaking of the Coagulation that 's made in Milk after a Fermentation caused either by Heat or some Acid put into it Methinks here is no need at all of supposing an Alkali salt that ferments with the Acid of this liquor as many suppose for explicating this Effect since if we consider but the natural composition of Milk we shall find nothing but a Creamy substance swimming on the Serum and mixed only superficially with it by the intermixture of some salt so that it is in a fitting state of separation as soon as the salt gains a little more motion than it had whether it be by Fermentation or by encreasing its activity by an acid of its own nature Thus when the Heat of the Summer or fire has stirred up the acid that is in the Milk or else some acid is poured into it the edges of the acid do cut and divide the Creamy part to gain a free motion in the Serum and separate into Curd all the Butter and Cheese Now there 's no strangeness in the Precipitation of the Curd especially when an acid has been poured upon the Milk for besides the weight it gains by thickning some part of the acids do mix with it and encrease its weight for according as the acid that was mingled is stronger or weaker the Curd does Precipitate more or less Perhaps some will say for as much as acid is always the cause of Coagulation in Milk there 's no great likelihood that a salt of the same nature should be the instrument of uniting the several parts of Milk But it must be considered that although there is an acid in Milk as no body can doubt seeing it sowres of it self when stale this acid is as it were tyed up in the ramous parts of the Oyl so that there it loses all its motion and can't come to action but by rarifying the Oyl and making it fit to mix with the serous part 't is the due proportion of this salt Oyl and serum that makes the Butter and Cheesy part of Milk Now I hope I have said enough to establish what I have affirmed that there 's no salt in nature besides the acid out of which all other salts are made and that the Alkali salt has no Natural existence in mixt bodies My discourse will be the better conceiv'd of speaking of the Operations of Chymistry and you 'l find that by this Principle which I may call the most Natural and disengaged of all that have been laid 'till now I shall be able to give account of many Phaenomena's that have never been explicated by common Principles Add to Pag. 19. lin 1. Of Minerals Whatsoever is found Petrified in the Earth or on its surface is called Mineral Petrification is made by a Coagulation of acid or salt spirits that are found in the pores of the Earth This Petrification differs according to the divers dispositions or different nature of the Earth and according to the time that Nature uses in its perfection The growth of Minerals proceeds from an accumulation or from several veins of congeled Waters that do as it were glue together and these veins are the cause that all the adjacent parts have their Sinus and meetings a travers one another and not running directly downwards These Sinus like so many joints are of great help to Labourers to cut in the Quarries for by those cavities the stones are in great measure separated before-hand whereas 't
would only serve to weaken a little this Acidity without being able to carry it off and so they would only give a little ease without removing Radically the Ferment of the Distemper as Mercury is able to do It may be further asked why Sublimate does not fill the substance of the Brain with Vlcers as well as it does the Mouth I Answer that this Sublimate being in the Brain finds it self so clog'd with a Mucilaginous moisture that it is fain to lose there some parts of its Acidity so that it can do nothing else but cause a Fermentation which makes the Flegm purge away through the Salivating vessels and this it is that causes the Spittle of those who have a Flux to be so sharp and stinking This sharp Flegm may also as it passes in the Mouth encrease the number of Vlcers for the mouth is as it were the sink of the whole body upon this occasion Add to pag. 94. the beginning of the Remarks upon Sublimate Corrosive Not half the Spirit of Niter is requisite to dissolve a pound of Mercury as is for the same weight of Bismuth though the Pores of this last are larger and its parts more disposed for division the reason of which is that Mercury being a Volatile and the parts very little united together it divides almost of it self and is much more easily born up by Acids than would a body that has union in its parts and whose tendency is downwards such as Bismuth This Operation may be done if one will by only mixing crude Mercury with Salt and Vitriol without the trouble of dissolving it with Spirit of Niter but there 's a great deal of time requisite to incorporate them together for to make the Quicksylver quite disappear Again there 's a fume that rises up to the Nose that is very unwholsom Now that which is aim'd at in dissolving it and reducing it into a white Mass is only to fit it the better for mixture Add to pag. 96. the end of the same Remarks Those who have thought fit to Criticize upon what I have said about the effects of Mercury would methinks have spoken more to the purpose than they have done if they had objected to me a difficulty that I have made to my self since the first Edition of my Book 'T is this If the Mercury that is given in order to raise a Flux does joyn with the Acid salt of the humors and so makes a Sublimate Corrosive after the same manner as 't is made in the Matrass when 't is mixt with Salt and Vitriol this Sublimate of the body can't be perfected as long as there is any watry humor in the part wherein Mercury is mixt with Acids just as none of it can be made in a Matrass until all the Phlegm that 's in it is evaporated away Now it is not to be conceived that there should ever happen such a Desiccation to the body for it would be Corroded by Mercury loaded with Acids before it could Sublime To answer this Objection I say That although I have made a comparison between the sublimation of mercury that 's made in the body and that which is done in a Matrass nevertheless there is this difference between them that the first is not only made with Salts extremely Volatile but is likewise assisted or carried on by the motion of the humours with all their humidity up to the Head whereas this other is made with Fixt Salts whose Acidity is so strongly rooted in the Earthy part that it can't be separated from it without a very considerable fire Nor must we think that the Mercury in the body is loaded with as many and as strong Acids as that in the Matrass for if it were so it would carry destruction and cause a Gangrene wheresoever it came but it is enough that its Pores are in part impregnated with them sufficient to diminish a little of its Volatility and cause those prickings and pains which do happen during the Salivation Add to pag. 97. The Remarks upon Mercurius Dulcis The sweet Sublimate that is made in a Matrass loses half an ounce each sublimation so that an ounce and a half is lost in 3 times when the Operation is done Six drachms of Scories and light earth are found at bottom and consequently there is but two drachms of matter carried off each Sublimation But if you would try this Operation in Viols and sublimate would lose half an ounce more as having a larger aperture to fly out at than in a Matrass Add to pag. 101. The Remarks on White Precipitate The Dose of White Precipitate must be less than that of sweet sublimate because it contains more Acid Spirits but if you would Sublime this Precipitate all alone in a Matrass over a gentle fire you 'd obtain a Sublimate quite as sweet as the other because the fire having acted upon it breaks most of its points and then it may be given in as great a Dose as ordinary Mercurius Dulcis The Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack containing an Alkali Salt does much help the Precipitation for its agility carries it into every recess of the liquour where the Sea-salt whose parts are not of so active a nature was not able to go which is proved from hence that if you make use only of Sea-salt dissolved in water to make this Precipitation with it will then happen that if after pouring off the clear liquor which swims upon the Precipitate into another vessel you drop the Spirit of Sal Armoniack into the liquor there falls a considerable quantity of Mercurial Precipitate which may serve like the other If instead of the Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack you 'd use the Oyl of Tartar made per Deliqium the Precipitate would then be Reddish Add to pag. 102. The Remarks upon Red Precipitate Many Authors have thought they could encrease mainly the Redness of this Precipitate by Cohobating it or distilling Spirit of Niter three times upon the white mass but I have found by experience in both these ways of Operation that these Circumstances are to no purpose The white Mass which remains after Evaporation of the humidity is a mixture of Mercury with a great many Acid Spirits for it weighs three ounces more than the Mercury did which was dissolved it is extreme Corrosive and fiery if applied to the flesh but according as it is Calcined in order to make it Red the edges of the Spirit of Niter which caused the Corrosion do pass off and fly into the Air whence it comes to pass that the more we desire to encrease the Redness in the Calcination the less it weighs and the less it corrodes Some Chirurgeons observing this effect do choose the Precipitate that is not so Red as usual when they would make a quick Eschar If you still continue the fire some hours under the Red mass it will sublime and still retain its colour this sublimate is not so Corrosive as the other which
makes me think that the points of Spirit of Salt are necessary to make a sublimate very Corrosive The reason why it will sublime is because the Mercury being discharged of a great many Acid Spirits that held it fixed has power to rise with those that remain But because these remaining Spirits do moderate a little its Volatility it makes a stop in the middle of the Viol. Some do put Red Precipitate into an Earthen Pot and pour upon it Spirit of Wine well Rectified then fire it and when the Spirit is consumed they add more and burn it as before they repeat Spirit of Wine and burn it six times together and then they call this Preparation Arcanum Corallinum The Spirit of Wine by burning does carry off some edges of the Precipitate and joyns it self to the rest so that this Precipitate is sweetned and rendred fit to be taken inwardly If by way of curiosity you pour Spirit of Vitriol upon common Red Precipitate such as I have described a Dissolution will soon follow because Spirit of Vitriol joyning with the Spirit of Niter that remained in the Precipitate an Aqua Fortis must happen from their union which is able to dissolve imperceptibly the parts of Mercury but this Dissolution will happen without any Ebullition because the Mercury has been already rarified by an acid so that the Spirit of Vitriol does only dissolve them without making any commotion The Dissolution is clear like other Dissolutions of Mercury without any manner of appearance of Redness and the same Preparations may be made with it as are used to be done by the Dissolution of Quicksylver in Aqua fortis If instead of Spirit of Vitriol you pour Spirit of Salt upon the Red Precipitate it turns presently into a curious white because the Spirit of salt breaks the force of the Spirit of Niter that was in the Red Precipitate and the same thing must happen here as when Spirit of salt is poured upon the Dissolution of Quicksylver for although Red Precipitate is a Dry body yet it is nothing else but a mixture of Quicksylver and Spirit of Niter As for the sudden change of Colour it is indeed somewhat strange that a matter which is grown Red by Calcination should in a minutes time turn so exceeding white This Effect can be attributed only to the dislocation which the Acid Spirit of salt does cause in the parts of Red Precipitate and to the disposition it puts them anew into so that their Superficies is put into a capacity of Reflecting the Light in a right line to our eyes to give the appearance of a white colour for if by means of another sort of liquour or else by fire and some Alkali body the Disposition of the parts of your Precipitate is again changed it will obtain some other Colour or else it will return and revive into Quicksylver If you pour the Volatile spirit of Sal Armoniack upon Red Precipitate it turns into a grey powder but if you throw a great deal of water upon it it becomes a milk though none of the whitest The same thing happens when you drop Spirit of Sal Armoniack into the dissolution of Quicksylver made with Spirit of Niter for soon after the Effervescency is over a grey powder is seen to Precipitate and if you add to it water it becomes a milk of the same whiteness as the other Common Red Precipitate therefore is subject to the same alterations as the Dissolution of Mercury the Red colour giving no particular impression to it which truly is a good proof that Colour is no real thing but wholly depends upon the modification of the parts Other Precipitates of Mercury Mix 7 or 8 ounces of Sublimate Corrosive powdered in a glass or marble Mortar with 16 or 18 ounces of warm water stir them about for half an hour then let the liquor settle and pour it off by Inclination filter it and divide it into 3 parts to be put into so many Viols Pour into one of these Viols some drops of the Oyl of Tartar made per Deliquium there falls immediately a Red Precipitate Drop into another of these Viols some Volatile spirit of Sal Armoniack and you have a white Precipitate Pour into the last of these Viols about a spoonful of Lime-water you have a Yellow-water that is called Phagaedenick-water or a water for Vlcers because it is good to cleanse and heal Vlcers the Chirurgeons do very frequently use it especially in Hospitals if you let the liquor settle 't will let fall a Yellow precipitate To obtain these three Precipitates you have only to pour off the water by Inclination wash them and dry them apart Red precipitate may be used like that I described before but it is not so strong 't is the truest Red precipitate of any White precipitate has the same virtues as the other Yellow precipitate may be used in Pomatums for the Itch half a drachm or a drachm of it is mixed with an ounce of pomatum The Sublimate which remains at the bottom of the Mortar being dried may be used in pomatums for the Itch like Yellow precipitate Remarks Sublimate being mercury loaded with Acids common water is able to dissolve some of it because these Acids do rarifie it and make a kind of salt of it but because there are not Acids enough in it to dissolve all the mercury the most compact part of it remains at bottom the liquor is filtred to clear and purifie it the more it is as clear and transparent as Fountain water If by further way of Curiosity you should drop into the Viol of Red precipitate that I now described some spirit of Sal Armoniack and would shake the liquor a little it would presently turn white and your precipitate would be white but if instead of Spirit of Sal Armoniack you would use spirit of Vitriol an Ebullition would rise in it and the Red liquor would become clear and transparent as common water Because the Oyl of Tartar is an Alkali salt dissolved it breaks the edges of the Acid which held up the mercury imperceptible and serv'd as Swimmers to it in the Water so that this mercury having nothing left to bear it up must needs precipitate by its own weight The same thing happens when the Spirit of Sal Armoniack is thrown upon the other part of the Dissolution of sublimate Corrosive For this spirit being in like manner an Alkali produces the same effect as the Oyl of Tartar But although Alkali's do all agree in this that they all break and destroy Acids nevertheless there is always some difference in their action And this evidently appears in those differently coloured precipitates for this diversity can be attributed only to this that they having in several manners wrought upon Acids do dispose and modifie the parts of the precipitated body so as they may be capable of making different Refractions of Light These precipitates are no longer poisons though they come from
sulphurs of Antimony A Liver of Antimony is prepared with equal quantities of Antimony Niter and Sea-salt decrepitated and because these salts do give it a Red colour like unto the Opale this Preparation has been called Magnesia Opalina it is less Emetick than the other by reason of the addition of sea-salt which fixes the saline sulphur of antimony Several other ways of preparing the Liver of antimony have been invented but I am well enough satisfied in having given you the best of all and the easiest to prepare If you use ordinary salt-peter in this Operation you 'l obtain eight ounces and two drachms of Liver of antimony but if you use Purified salt-peter you 'l get but six ounces and a half This difference of quantity proceeds from the nature of salt-peter for the more Volatile parts this Mineral salt contains the more apt it is to carry off some parts of the antimony Now Purified salt-peter is much more Volatile than the common sort wherefore the Liver of antimony where it is used is in lesser quantity The Liver of antimony that 's made with common salt-peter is the Redder and comes nearer to the colour of an Animals Liver than that which is made with Purified salt-peter this happens through the fixt-salt which is in this Preparation more than in the other for common salt-peter contains much fixt salt as I shall shew in its proper place this salt does likewise make the matter the heavier As for the virtues of these Livers of antimony the difference is not very great but only that which is made with Purified salt-peter is a little more Emetick than the other I cannot pass by here the false imagination of some men who think that Preparation of the Liver of antimony of which half a drachm or two scruples may be given is much better than that whereof 3 or 4 grains perform the same effect for there 's no doubt but the taking so great a quantity of antimony will give an impression to the stomach that a lesser quantity is not able to do Furthermore seeing these Preparations do commonly open the antimony but little or half fix the saline sulphurs it is to be feared lest some salt they may meet with in the Stomach should open them too much or Volatilize them and so produce unhappy consequences Add to pag. 141. Chap. 11. Of Quick-lime When the stone that Quick-lime is made of is grown red hot in the Furnaces the Workmen have a special care to keep up the fire at an equal height until the stone is quite Calcin'd for if the flame which has begun to burn among the stones should be suffered to lessen for a while and so the heat be check't before the end of the work they would never afterwards be able to make Quick-lime with those stones any more though they should be at the charge of burning fifty times as much Wood as is commonly required and this because in that interval of heat the Pores of the stone which were begun to be opened do close and shut and the matter sinks down in a lump to the destruction of the whole And then again the Flame can't rise in it any more for it finds none of those interstices or spaces between which were frequent before for it to pass through The matter therefore is rendred uncapable of receiving the fire any more because all the small cells that were useful for it are shut up and destroyed in this confusion 'T is Objected that if igneous bodies were they that caused the Corrosion of Quick-lime Tiles Bricks and all Stones that are not of the nature of Lime-stone and Iron Copper Silver Gold and many other bodies should be as Caustick as Quick-lime after having endured the fire as long if not longer than it But this does not follow for Tiles and other Calcined stones have not the Pores disposed like those of Quick-lime to retain fiery particles and if some metals are found to impregnate with them during their Calcination they are known to retain them so well by the solidity of their parts that neither the heat nor moisture of the flesh are able to draw them out of the places they are fixt in to cause a Corrosion upon the part It is easie here to give you an example for if you take the Calx of Lead that encreased its weight in the Calcination as I have said before and steep it in water the water will not act at all upon it and the Calx may be taken from the water in the same weight it was put in you must melt it by fire if you would separate the igneous bodies but now as for common Quick-lime a small matter of moisture is able to separate the tender parts of the stone and drive out the fiery particles in abundance 'T is said likewise that the boiling of the water which happens when flung upon quick-lime must not be imputed to fiery bodies seeing neither spirit of Wine nor Oyl when thrown upon it do hear or stiâ— as all although they are both of them Inflammable bodies nay on the contrary they are observed to quench the hear that uses to happen to quick-lime when water comes to it I Answer that these effects do proceed from this that Oyl spirit of wine and other Sulphureous liquors of the same nature instead of separating the parts of quick lime as water does do rather hinder any separation from being made by stopping up the Pores That which withdrew me from the Sentiment of those who will have all the effects of quick-lime derived from its salt was that I could never find any of it though I sought after it with care enough for some through a mistake do take a certain Bituminous scum which often swims upon the Lime-water for a Salt Neither can I be of the opinion of those who will needs have an Acid to be in quick-lime which being drawn out by the water and meeting an Alkali does cause the Effervescency which is observed when water is poured upon quick-lime for although according to appearance an acid does enter into the Natural composition of the stone that quick-lime is made of this acid has lost its nature noâ— only by breaking its poiâ—â—â— in its strict union with earth at the Petrification but also in the violent Calcination that is given to this stone to reduce it to a Calx So that we may here say the same thing happens to the acid which enters into the composition of the stone as I have said did happen to the salt of Vegetables and other mixt bodies which though naturally an acid salt changes into an alkali by means of its union with earth and the fiery particles in time of the Calcination there is only this difference between them both the acid of the stone is mixed with more earth than the salt of Vegetables Add to pag. 152. chap. 13. Of the stone Haematites The stone Haematites is called the Bloud-stone either from its stopping bloud or
from its red colour It is commonly found in iron Mines and it contains something of that metal the best is that which is clearest and has blackish raies It is prepared by grinding it on a marble with a little Plantain water it is Desiccative and astringent it is used for spitting of bloud and other Haemorrhagies the dose is from fifteen grains to two scruples it is also used outwardly in Vnguents A little acid spirit that partakes of the nature of Iron may be drawn from this stone by distilling it like Vitriol in a Retort this spirit is a very good Aperitive for all Obstructions the dose is to an agreeable acidity Sublimation of the stone Haematites Powder and mix together equal quantities of the stone Haematites and sal Armoniack put this mixture into an Earthen Cucurbite or glass one luted at bottom set a Head upon it and fitting to it a small Receiver and Luting well the Junctures place it in a Furnace over a very small fire at first to warm the vessel then encrease your fire by little and little until it is very strong continue it in this condition for some hours or until the heat of the head lessens then let the vessels cool and unlute them you 'l find in the head and at top of the Cucurbite Yellow Flowers drawing towards Red and in the Receiver a Volatile Vrinous Yellowish spirit keep the spirit and the Flowers apart in bottles well stopt They are both of them very good to procure Sweat and to open Obstructions they may be used in Malignant Feavers Apoplexies Palsies and in the Scurvy in Bolus or in proper liquors the dose of the Flowers is from six grains to four and twenty and of the Volatile spirit from twelve drops to two scruples In the bottom of the Cucurbite is found a mass that may be distilled in a Retort with a gradual fire encreased to the highest degree of all in a Reverberatory Furnace there will come forth an acid spirit of much the same virtues as the fixt spirit of Sal Armoniack of which I shall speak hereafter Remarks Sal Armoniack is here mixt that the Volatile parts may carry off the more soluble portion of the stone Haematites for it would never be able to sublime if it were not driven by some such like Vehicle This salt being also incorporated with it serves very much to give it the sudorisick quality by reason of its Volatility The Cucurbite is set in an open fire that it may be heated the more and the Flowers be the more tinctur'd for the more heat there is the sal armoniack does the more easily sublime the parts of the stone the Volatile spirit is only some portion of the Flowers drawn into liquor The mass that remains in the Cucurbite is a mixture of the more fixt part of the stone and sal armoniack All that is drawn from the stone Haematites is accounted of some use and chiefly so by reason of the Iron it contains Many other Preparations of this stone have been invented but these are the best and choicest Add to pag. 154. Remarks upon the Oyl of Bricks The ancient Chymists called this Oyl the Oyl of Philosophers and have given the Epithete Philosophical to all Preparations that are made with Bricks The reason that can be given for it is that because they call themselves the only True Philosophers or Philosophers by way of excellence they thought they were obliged to confer some influences of this mighty name upon Bricks because they are the materials where with they build their Furnaces to work at the High and mighty Operation or the Philosophers stone for they pretend it is by this Operation alone that True Philosophy can be obtained Add to pag. 165. chap. 14. Of Common Salt Sea salt is made at Rochell in salt marshes which are places that must be of a lower situation than the sea and the ground must be Clayie for otherwise they would not be able to retain the salt-water that has been let into them Thus all places near the sea are not alike proper to make salt marshes When the Season of the year begins to grow hot which commonly happens in May all the water is emptied that was put into the marshes for better preserving them during the Winter then the sluces are opened to let in as much salt-water as they think fit 't is made to pass through a great many Channels wherein it purifies and heats and then is let into places that are made flat smooth and fit to Crysâ— allize the salt This salt is made only during the great heats of Summer the Sun does in the first place evaporate some part of the Water and because after the great heat a small Wind does use to blow as is usual near the sea the coolness of this Wind does condense and Crystallize the salt But if it happens to rain but two hours during the hot weather there can no salt be made for a fortnight afterwards because the marshes must be again emptied of all the water to let in more in its place so that if it chances to rain but once again in the next fortnight they can make no salt Besides the Purification of salt by evaporation it may be further purified if instead of Evaporation of the humidity you set some of it a Crystallizing in a cool place for very fine pure salt is found at bottom of the vessel which salt may be separated from the water and dried you may then evaporate again some part of the salt liquor and set it in a Celler a Crystallizing and so continue your Evaporations and Crystallizations but at last you must be fain to evaporate the liquor to the consumption of all the humidity because at last it will Crystallize no longer the reason whereof is that the remaining salt is full of a fat bituminous matter which is in a manner inseparable from it and this 't is that hinders the Crystallizing at last 'T is probable that this fat matter comes from the earth of those marshes that were spoken of The first Crystallized salt being put into Oyl of Tantar or some other Alkali salt dissolved does mix with it without making any Ebullition because although sea-salt is Acid yet its points are too gross and have too little motion to separate the parts of the Alkali The last salt being dried over the fire and mixed with some Alkali salt rendred liquid such as Oyl of Tartar makes a Coagulation and Precipitation of a substance that appears saline and Oyly this Coagulation does proceed from the mixture and adhesion of Bituminous earth with sea-salt and Tartar for these salts do easily embrace Oyly substances and in them lose their activity Many Acid Bituminous salts which are drawn by the Evaporation of certain Mineral waters such as those of Baleruc in Languedoc and Digne in Provence do perform the same effects when they are mixed with Oyl of Tartar This Coagulum does not dissolve in water
as well by reason of the different nature of the salts it is compounded of as the Oyly earth that holds them together but it will dissolve in distilled Vinegar and several other Acid liquors and then an Effervescency rises because the Acid does penetrate the salt of Tartar whose parts sea-salt had no power to separate Add to pag. 169. lin 30. Remarks upon Spirit of Salt Since I writ of Monsieur Seignett'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 daies 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. Seignett's spirit of salt is full as strong as common spirit of salt 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'd 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 considerable time but it is rarely found that any of them do yield as strong spirits and as easily as our salt and herein lies the mystery Add to pag. 170. lin 12. in the same Remarks Some have written that the Precipitation which is made by spirit of salt of any matter held up by Aqua fortis must not be imputed to the gravity nor force of spirit of salt nor to any conflict or jogg that this spirit gives to Aqua fortis or the 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 Acid hereby forces this last to abandon the metal it had dissolved But this is the same as to explicate an obscure matter by another more obscure for what likelihood is there that the Volatile spirit of Aqua fortis is an alkali and how comes it to continue in so great a motion with the fixt Acid spirit of this water without being destroyed this can't easily be understood Again suppose this spirit were an alkali we must come to explicate mechanically by what reason this Alkali does leave the body of the metal to betake it self unto the spirit of salt for to say simply that by the conjunction of these two spirits the Aqua fortis is compelled to abandon the metal it held dissolved does give no light at all to the question unless we had power enough to bestow intelligence upon these spirits wherefore we must needs at last have recourse to joggs and conflicts Add to pag. 171. lin 16. Chap. 15. Of Niter or Salt-peter The great and violent flame which happens as 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 full 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 by 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 in places 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 indeed 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 rarified 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 opace to joyn with its acidity and to heat it Add to pag. 177. l. 26. Remarks upon Sal Polychrestum Sal Polychrestum must by no means be used until it is made very white and very pure for when there remains any gross portion of Sulphur Vertigoes are to be feared and stupefaction of the Nerves and nauseonsness of the stomach If you used sixteen ounces of purified Salt-peter and so much sulphur in this Operation you 'l have at last but three ounces and a half of Sal Polychrestum very fine but if you use common Salt-peter instead of purified you 'l have five ounces of Polychrestum as white as the other This difference of weight proceeds from common Salt-peters containing more fixt salt than purified salt-peter Sal Polychrestum may be Crystallized like salt-peter and other salts Its Crystals are very small and much like those
of sea salt but only they are keener Add 10 pag. 179. Remarks on Salt of Sulphur Some have presumed to write that when spirit of sulphur is poured upon Sal Polychrestum dissolved in Water there rises an Effervescency as great as when the same Acid spirit is cast upon salt-peter but doubtless they took but little care in what they maintained for there happens no manner of Effervescency neither with Sal polychrestum nor with salt-peter for both of them are Acid salts Nor do I see any reason to believe that if the mixture of salt-peter and spirit of Sulphur is drawn in a Retort the spirit of Niter will come forth and leave the spirit of Sulphur in union with the fixt part of salt-peter for although red vapours are seen to come forth of the Retort this does not prove that they are purely Nitrous those of the spirit of Sulphur are mixt with them but they are hid in the redness like Water in Wine Add to pag. 182. after Spirit of Niter Spirit of Niter Dulcified Put into a large Boulthead eight ounces of good spirit of Niter and so much spirit of Wine well dephlegmated set your Boulthead in the Chimney upon a Round of Straw the liquor will grow hot without coming near the fire and half an hour or an hour afterwards it will boil very much have a care of the red vapours that come out a-pace at the neck of the Boulthead and when the Ebullition is over you 'l find your liquor clear at bottom and to have lost half what it was pour it into a Viol and keep it this is the sweet spirit of Niter It is good for the Wind Cholick and the Nephritick for Hysterical distempers and for all Obstractions its Dose is from four to eight drops in Broth or some other convenient liquor Remarks You must leave the Boulthead open for the Vapours would either carry away the Stopple if there were one or else they would break the vessel the Boulthead is so hot during the Ebullition that one can't endure ones hand upon 't The Heat and Ebullition begin sooner or later according as the Spirits that are used have been more or less dephlegmated This Effect is very strange for spirit of Niter being a strong Acid and Spirit of Wine a sulphur it can't be said that there 's here any alkali to cause the Ebullition with Acid according to the common maxime And this Operation shews us that every thing can't be explicated by the sole Principles of Acid and alkali as some do pretend This Operation has much resemblance with that which happens when Oyl of Turpentine is put into a bottle with Oyl of Vitriol for the mixture of these liquors does heat and boil much alike I shall say something of this last mixture hereafter There is this difference notwithstanding that spirit of Niter being more Volatile than Oyl of Vitriol causes a greater Effervescency In order therefore to explicate this Ebullition two things must be considered First that spirit of Niter contains a great many fiery parts lock't up in its Acidity but which still retain some motion for 't is they that make spirit of Niter to Fume as it does The second is that spirit of Niter is more Inflammable than salt-peter when mixed with any sulphureous body and the reason thereof is that it is more rarified than salt-peter Thus when this Acid spirit is mixt with spirit of Wine which is a sulphur very much exalted and very susceptible of motion the Volatile part of the spirit of Niter joyns its self to this sulphur and the mixture becomes ready to take flame likewise after this mixture the fiery bodies that were in Spirit of Niter do by striving to mount upwards put the liquor into so great a motion that it e'en almost flames and would without all question quite flame if there were not some Phlegm always mixed with these spirits let 'em be drawn never so pure which serves to allay the activity of the fiery particles so that there must needs follow a very great Ebullition This Effervescency therefore proceeds from this that spirit of wine and spirit of Niter which are as it were a salt-peter and highly exalted sulphur have been almost kindled into a flame by the fiery bodies that were in spirit of Niter and that which further proves this conception is a noise or kind of Detonation during the Effervescency which is much like that which happens when sulphur and salt-peter are burnt together The great diminution of the liquor proceeds from the Evaporation of the more Volatile parts of the Spirits of wine and Niter through the neck of the Boulthead during the Ebullition That which remains is a well sweetned spirit of Niter for not only its points are soundly blunted in the Ebullition but the spirit of wine being a sulphur unites and imbodies with those that remain so that they have no longer any Corrosive quality Add to pag. 182. Remarks upon Aqua Fortis The mixture of Vitriol and salt-peter has quickly some smell of Aqua fortis because Vitriol contains a great deal of sulphur which easily insinuates into the Volatile part of salt-peter and exalts some little of it which causes the smell it is this sulphur in Vitriol which by volatilizing the Red spirit of Niter makes it come forth faster and with a less fire than when salt-peter is distilled with Clay Add to pag. 184. Remarks upon the Fixation of Salt-peter into an Alkali Salt The Crucible must be but half full of salt-peter because the Detonation is so great that the matter would be driven out of the Crucible if too much be put in When the Crucible is not very strong it breaks in pieces about the middle of the Operation and some part of the matter is lost by it This Detonation is more violent than that which is made with a mixture of salt-peter and common sulphur because the sulphur of Coals is more Rarified than common sulphur Niter will never be able to flame when set over the fire alone in a Crucible though you make your fire never so strong and coals though loaded with fuliginous or Oyly parts do send forth but only a small blew flame but when these two bodies come to be mixt together the Volatile parts of Niter joyning with the Coals which are Oyly do rarify and exalt the Coals with such a violence that they produce a very great flame Now this Operation confirms my Opinion that salt-peter does only serve here to Rarifie the flame of sulphur but cannot send forth the least flame of its self seeing that as soon as ever the coals you put into the Crucible are burnt the flame goes out and appears no more until you throw in more Coals with which a convenient proportion of the Volatile parts of salt-peter that still remained does joyn and Rarifie them into a flame Thus new Coals are successively thrown into the Crucible until it flames no longer but toward the
end of the Operation because there remain but few Volatile parts of Niter the Detonation is much the less and so is the flame until at last the Coals finding nothing more in salt-peter for it to raise do burn only just as they use to do all alone If you make use of common salt-peter for this Operation you 'l have occasion to use but three ounces and a half of Coals and you 'l get twelve ounces of Purified salt but if you use fine salt-peter you must spend seven ounces of Coals and will get but three ounces of purified salt This difference of weight proceeds from the fine salt-peters containing more Volatile parts than the other likewise a great deal more Coals is required to raise them and there remains the less fixt salt for the same reason The fixt Niter being prepared as I have shewed it is a little grey colour'd now to make it white you must Calcine it in a great fire stirring it in the Crucible all the while with a spatule when it shall have continued Red hot for above an hour it will become exceeding white You must then dissolve it in water filter the dissolution and evaporate the water and thus you have a very pure and white salt This salt is an Alkali being a mixture of the salt of Coals which is an Alkali and fixt salt-peter these two salts are so strictly united and mixed together in the Calcination that they make a Porous salt and such as is much like unto the fixt salt of Plants Not that there is an Alkali salt in salt-peter as Chymists will have it for give what Calcination or other Preparation you please to this Mineral salt without adding any thing to it not the least Alkali can be drawn from it and all that ever we can see in it is Acid. It is further Observable that the liquor of fixt Niter which has been made with common salt-peter being kept a year or a year and a half loses most of its activity as an Alkali so that it is no longer able to cause any such Ebullition with Acids as it could before it was so stale This accident can have no other cause than that the Pores of salt contained in the liquor do close up by little and little and the Acid salt of Niter does absorbe and destroy the Alkali which kept the Pores open But the same thing does not happen where the liquor of fixt Niter was made with Purified salt-peter because whereas a great deal of Coals was used in the fixing it and but little salt of Niter remained in it the Alkali must there predominate so powerfully that the Acid is not able to regain its strength This Experiment seems plainly to demonstrate that fixt Niter is only an Acid salt rendred Porous by the Alkali of Coals Some Chymists have thought fit to call the liquor of fixt Niter Alkahest that is an Vniversal dissolvent thinking it is capable to draw out the sulphureous substance of all mixt bodies Add to pag. 185. Chap. 16. Of Sal Armoniack The Artificial sal Armoniack is made at Venice and divers other places with five parts of Vrine one part of sea-salt and half a part of Chimney soot these three are boiled together and reduced into a Mass which being put into subliming Pots over a gradual fire it sublimes into a salt in the form we commonly see sal Armoniack Now in this sublimation the Volatile Alkali salts of Soot and Vrine do carry up as much sea-salt as they are able and do joyn so strictly together with this Acid salt that the mixture seems to be fixt The reason of this close union is that sea-salt being in form of points does insinuate into the Alkali salts and because it has not motion enough to separate the parts of these salts it gets within 'em and fills their Pores Add to pag. 190. the end of the Remarks upon Aqua Regalis It is Objected that if there is any heavy matter as it were intercepted between the Pores of Gold it must needs Precipitate of its self after the action of Aqua Regalis upon this metal which is a thing that does not happen I Answer that if the parts of Gold are heavy the Dissolvent is a gross body and very well proportioned to hold up those heavy parts and hinder them from Precipitating Others have opposed this Explication and have writ that if Aqua Regalis dissolves Gold and can't dissolve Sylver the reason of it is that the gross points of spirit of Niter or Aqua fortis are subtilized by the mixture of sal Armoniack and are rendred fit to enter into the small pores of Gold whereas the delicate Fabrick of these same points does not leave the necessary force nor motion to divide the parts of Sylver whose pores are a great deal bigger But this way of arguing does not agree with Experience for what likelihood is there that the points of spirit of Niter are so subtilized by the penetration and division of the parts of sal Armoniack or where shall we find any Example that after a considerable Effervescency of two salts met together in conflict the Acidity grows sharper than it was before this is a thing that can never be proved On the contrary every body knows well enough that no Effervescency happens but the acid is partly blunted or broken thereby Moreover the Argument supposes that spirit of Niter does break its subtilest points in violently contending with the sal Armoniack whereas in sal armoniack there are Alkali salts whose property it is to destroy acids I could further add here that the conjunction of salt with spirit of Niter should of necessity render its points more gross than they were and that the Crystals which are drawn by the use of aqua Regalis have their shape not so sharp as those that are drawn by aqua Fortis But that which I have said is so probable in its self and so easie to be convinced of if one takes never so little pains to consider it that I should but amuse the Reader to little purpose if I should offer to give any more proofs of it Neither do I find it convenient to make a long discourse in Explicating how Sylver which has lesser Pores is more susceptible of the impressions of Air and Fire than Gold which has larger seeing I have already supposed that the matter intercepted between the Pores of Gold is more compact and consequently more hard to separate than that of Sylver Add to pag. 194. Remarks upon another Preparation of the Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack together with its Flowers and Fixt Salt against Feavers You see by this Operation that eight ounces of Sal armoniack do contain at least four ounces and a half of Volatile salt The Volatile Spirit of Sal armoniack is only a dissolution of Volatile salt in water and if there is not Phlegm sufficient to dissolve all the Volatile salt there remains some part of it
at bottom of the Receiver and that may likewise be turn'd into Spirit by only adding enough water to dissolve it Thus the Spirit becomes as strong as it can be made for the Pores of the water being filled with as much salt as they can contain it can receive no more But if there happens more water than the proportion of Volatile salt requires then the Spirit proves weak and must be given in a larger Dose This Spirit is Sudorifick but you may perceive more sensibly the effect of Sal armoniack to cause Sweat by dissolving six or eight grains of this Salt and the same quantity of Salt of Tartar each separately in two small Doses of some proper liquor and giving them to a Patient one presently after the other for the salt of Tartar working upon the Sal armoniack in the stomach after the same manner as it does when they are mixt together in a Mortar the Spirits do separate from the latter with more force and act more powerfully than when they have been separated before they were given by a preceeding mixture for the small violence that the Volatile Spirits do use in their separation from sea-salt does leave them the more activity and disposes them the better to pass through the Pores Again it is not incredible that in the former Effort which these Spirits made in their separation from the fixt part when Sal armoniack was mixt with salt of Tartar in a Mortar the more subtle part flies away first and is lost now 't is this subtle portion that is most proper to Rarifie the humours and to drive them out by Transpiration If you mix in a Viol equal quantities of Volatile spirit of Sal armoniack and Spirit of Wine and shake them a little together they 'l cause a Coagulum This Coagulation proceeds from that the Spirit of Wine which is a Rarified Oyl does unite with the Spirit of Sal armoniack which is a salt liquor and 't is but the same thing as happens from stirring Oyl and some salt liquor in a Mortar in order to make an Vnguent called Nutritum By this incorporation together the salt is shut up in the ramous parts of the sulphur and these same sulphureous parts are checkt or as it were fixed by the salt so that neither of them have any more freedom of motion and from this repose of these parts results the Coagulum Add to pag. 197. Chap. Of Vitriol If you dissolve a little white or green Vitriol in water and write with the Dissolution the writing will not be seen but if you rub the Paper with a little Cotton dipt in the Decoction of Galls it will appear legible then if you wet a little more Cotton in Spirit of Vitriol and pass it gently over the Paper the Ink will disappear again and yet at last if you rub the place with a little more Cotton dipt in Oyl of Tartar made per Deliquium it will again appear legible but of a Yellowish colour The reason that I can give for these Effects is this the Spirit of Vitriol dissolves a certain Coagulum which is made of Vitriol and Galls but the Oyl of Tartar breaking the force of this Acid Spirit the Coagulum resumes it self and appears again but because it now contains Oyl of Tartar too it acquires a new colour If you should throw the dissolution of Vitriol or Vitriol only powder'd into a strong Decoction of dried Roses it will turn as black as common Ink if you pour some drops of spirit of Vitriol into it this Ink will turn red and if you add to it a little Volatile spirit of Sal Armoniack 't will turn grey These changes of colour do proceed from the spirit of Vitriols dissolving the Coagulum which the Vitriol it self had made and rendring it invisible the liquor recovers a fresher Red colour than it had before the Vitriol was put into it because the same Spirit does separate the parts of the Rose which were dissolved in the liquor and renders them more Visible The Volatile spirit of Sal Armoniack which is an Alkali does partly break the Acid edges of the spirit of Vitriol so that the parts of the Rose having nothing more to hold them Rarified do close together and consequently the liquor changes colour By this Experiment may be seen that the dried Rose may serve to make Ink with as well as Galls Indian Wood and divers other things will do the same Add to pag. 199. the end of the Remarks upon Galcination of Vitriol If one should resolve to dry as exactly as one can sixteen pounds of green Vitriol there would remain but seven pounds of white Vitriol But in order to do this exactly you must powder the white Mass of Calcined Vitriol after you have broke the Pot and stir it for a long time in an Earthen Pan over a little fire until there rises no more Fume from it or until there remains in it no more Phlegm If you should Calcine this white Vitriol to a Redness you 'd have five pounds and a half of Cholcothar Some have affirmed in writing that the Red colour which appears after a long Calcination of English Vitriol was an undoubted proof that that there was Copper in it after the same manner as the Red colour which happens to Verdigrease calcined is a certain proof that it contains in it some particles of Copper But that which is here said to pass for a thing undeniable is no proof at all for first of all those Vitriols which are thought most to partake of Copper do give no greater Redness in their Calcination that the others which partake least of it Secondly let Copper be Prepared which way you please you can never make it Redder than the Cholcothar of English Vitriol whose Redness must be thought to proceed from some particles of this Metal contained in it And thirdly we see plainly that Iron Lead Mercury and divers Mineral bodies do acquire a Red colour in their Calcining without granting they contain any Copper Add to pag. 201. the bottom of the Page Remarks upon Spirit of Vitriol If you Distil eight pounds of white Vitriol at sixteen ounces to the pound you 'l draw off seventeen ounces of Phlegm and two and twenty ounces and a half both of the Sulphureous and the Acid spirit of Vitriol Of these two and twenty ounces and a half there will be five ounces of Sulphureous spirit You 'l find in the Retort five pounds five ounces of Cholcothar Use all the care you can possible to preserve all the liquors which come from Vitriol and yet it will be impossible for you to hinder it from losing some through the Junctures during the Distillation If you should use German instead of English Vitriol you 'd draw off a little more spirit than the quantity I named but it would have some smell of Aqua Fortis and the matter which remains in the Retort would be of a brown colour drawing towards
black This Colour proceeds from sulphureous Fuliginosities which rise more from this Vitriol than the other because it partakes of Copper for this Sooty vapour finding no vent to get out at falls down again upon the matter and blackens it There 's one thing happens about the Oyl of Vitriol when 't is very strong which is very strange indeed it is that if you mix it with its Acid Spirit or with water or else with an Ethereal Oyl such as the Oyl of Turpentine this mixture grows hot to that degree that sometimes it breaks the Viol 't was put into and often it produces a considerable Ebullition I should quickly give account of this heat and Ebullition if I would suppose an Alkali in the Oyl of Vitriol as those do who pretend to explicate every thing that happens by the notions of Acid and Alkali but not comprehending how an Alkali should be able to remain so long a time with so strong an Acid as is the Oyl of Vitriol without being destroyed I had rather give a reason that seems to me abundance more probable I conveive therefore that if water or Spirit of Vitriol or the Ethereal Oyl of Turpentine do heat the Oyl of Vitriol it is by setting in motion a great many fiery particles which the Oyl of Vitriol had drawn with it in the Distillation for these little fiery bodies being environ'd with salts that are exceeding heavy and hard to Rarifie they drive about vehemently whatsoever stands in their way and when they have caused an Ebullition and find they can't get out a-top of the Viol they break it to pieces with the bussle they make at bottom and on the sides Perhaps it will-be said I do here suppose gratis that the Oyl of Vitriol does contain fiery particles but if we consider the great violence of fire and the time that is spent in drawing this Acid 't will be no such hard matter to grant me this supposition Besides it will be hard to explicate the great and burning Corrosion of Oyl of Vitriol without admitting these fiery parts for the Vitriol contains nothing in it self of this Caustick nature 't is true indeed that it contains Phlegm Sulphur and Earth but it is a thing impossible but this Acid should discover it self more than it does if it were as Corrosive in the Vitriol as it is in the Oyl Once it hapned to me that putting into my Furnace a Retort whose two thirds were filled with German Vitriol dried in order to draw off its Spirits I Distilled first of all the Phlegm and sulphureous spirit which I took out of the Receiver I then fitted it again to the Retort and by a great fire continued for three dayes and three nights I distilled off the Acid Spirit as we are used to do When the Vessels were grown cold I admired to find in my Receiver nothing but a Mass of Salt or Congeal'd Oyl of Vitriol This Salt was so exceeding Caustick and burning that if I offer'd to touch the smallest part of it with my finger I presently felt an insufferable scalding and was fain to put my hand immediately into water it continued to fume still and when a little of it was thrown into water it made the same hissing noise as a fire-coal put into water would do Besides it heated the water very much and much more than common Oyl of Vitriol could If you fill a Glass Viol with the Decoction of Nephritick Wood clarified and observe it turning toward the Light it will appear Yellow but if you turn your back to the Light it will appear Blew if you mix with it some dregs of Spirit of Vitriol it will appear Yellow on every side but if you again and about as much more Oyl of Tartar it will return unto its first colour If you take a Blew or Violet tincture made in water such as is drawn out of the Sun-Flower or Violet Flowers and pour upon it some drops of Spirit of Vitriol it will presently turn Red but if you throw into it some Alkali salt it will recover again its former colour On the contrary if you pour an Alkali liquor such as Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack upon the Blew tincture it will presently turn Green and if you again pour upon it a little Spirit of Vitriol it will change this colour into an obscure Red. The Decoction of Indian Wood is very Red if you drop into it a little Spirit of Vitriol it will turn Yellow and if you still add some Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack it will become black All these changes of colour which the Spirit of Vitriol or other Acids and Alkali's do make proceed only from the different position of bodies dissolved in the liquor and from its disposition to modifie the Light different wayes Add to pag. 208. Remarks upon Distillation of Alom Some have written that Alom yields but very little Acid yet if they 'l but take the pains to keep up a strong fire under it for three dayes together they 'l find that this Spirit does not give place in strength or quantity to that of Vitriol Nor are we at all obliged to distinguish as they would have us the Acrimonious Corrosive salt of Alom from its Acid seeing that there is nothing either Acrimonious or Corrosive in this Mineral salt which will not turn into an Acid Spirit when it is driven forcibly by fire Add to pag. 211. Remarks upon Flowers of Sulphur If you mix one part of Sal Polychrestum with two pounds of Sulphur and sublime them together as those I have described you 'l have white Flowers of Sulphur which are thought to be better for distempers of the Breast than those others they are given in the same Dose This Whiteness proceeds from a very exact Attenuation which Sal Polychrestum gives to the Sulphur the Sal Polychrestum which remains at bottom of the Cucurbite may be Calcined and if you afterwards Purifie it by Dissolution Evaporation and Filtration it will be full as good as before Add to pag. 216. Chap. Of Amber Amber is to be found near the Baltick-sea in the Dutchy of Prussia and no where else Some do think Petroleum or Oyl of Peter to be nothing but a liquor drawn from Amber by the means of subterranean fires which make a distillation of it and that Jet and Coals are the remainders of this distillation This Opinion would have some resemblance of truth if the places where this Oyl is found were not so far distant the one from the other for Petroleum is usually found only in Italy as in Sicily and in Provence this Oyl Distills through the clefts of rocks and it is very probable to be the Oyl of some Bituminous matter which the subterranean fires had raised Tincture of Amber Powder finely five or six ounces of Yellow Amber and put it into a Boult head pour upon it spirit of wine four singers height stop this Boult-head with another to make a Circulatory
vessel and luting exactly the Juncture with a wet Bladder set it in Digestion in warm Sand and leave it so for five or six daies or until the Spirit of Wine is well impregnated with an Amber colour pour off this Tincture by inclination and add more Spirit of Wine to the remaining matter you must digest it as before afterwards separating the impregnation mix it with the other filter them and then distil in a Limbeck with a small fire about half the Spirit of Wine which may serve for the same use as before keep the Tincture that you find at bottom of the Limbeck in a Viol well stopt It is good for the Apoplexy Palsie Epilepsie and Hysterick distempers the Dose is from Ten drops to a drachm in some proper liquor Remarks You must powder the Amber very finely that the Menstruum may open it the more easily this Tincture is only the sulphureous or Oyly part of Amber with which the Spirit of Wine which is a sulphur is impregnated some other liquor that is not sulphureous would perhaps be able to dissolve the Amber but then that which it did dissolve would be but impure And for this reason you must alwayes use a dissolvent that is of the same nature with the substance you desire to dissolve The Volatile Salt of Amber Put two pounds of Amber powdered into a large glass or earthen Cucurbite let it be filled but the fourth part full set this Cucurbite in Sand and after you have fitted a head to it and a small Receiver lute well the Junctures and light a little fire under it for about an hour then when the Cucurbite is grown warm encrease it by little and little to the third degree and there will distil first of all a Phlegm and Spirit then the Volatile Salt will rise and stick to the head in little Crystals afterwards there distils an Oyl first white and then red but clear when you see the Vapours rise no longer you must put out the fire and when the Vessels are cold unlute them Gather the Volatile Salt with a Feather and because it will be but impure as yet by reason of a little Oyl that 's mixed with it you must put it into a pretty large Viol big enough that the salt may fill only the fourth part of it place the Viol in Sand after you have stopt it with plain Paper and by means of a little fire you 'l sublime the pure salt in fair Crystals a-top of the Viol. When you perceive the Oyl begin to rise too you must then take your Viol off the fire and letting it cool break it to separate the salt keep it in a Viol well stopt you 'l have half an ounce This salt has the same virtues as the other I mentioned before that is you may give it from Eight grains to Sixteen in some Opening liquor for the Jaundies for Ischuries Vlcers in the Bladder the Scurvy Fits of the Mother and upon all occasions where there is any need of removing Obstructions and opening by way of Vrine The Spirit and Oyl have the same virtues as those I have spoke of If you would Distil in a Retort the Mass which remain'd in the Cucurbite until there comes away nothing more you 'l have a Black Oyl which might serve Women to smell to in fits Remarks The Cucurbite must be sure to be large enough for otherwise it will break while the Vapours are a rising A Clear Oyl may be drawn from Amber in the first Distillation by mixing the Amber with an equal weight of Sea-salt and distilling it in a Retort the usual way there will remain likewise some Volatile salt in the neck of the Retort which may be Rectified by subliming it in a Viol as I have said Add to pag. 220. chap. Of Ambergriese It is thought to be found no where else but in the Oriental seas though some of it has been known to be sometimes met with upon the English Coast and in several other places of Europe the most of it is found upon the Coast of Melinda and especially at the Mouth of the River that 's called Rio di Sena Add to pag. 233. Remarks upon Distillation of Guaiacum During the Distillation of Spirits you must not make the fire too strong for they coming forth with a great deal of violence would else be apt to break either the Retort or the Receiver Though the Guaiacum that is used is a very dry body yet abundance of liquor is drawn from it for if you put into the Retort four pounds of this Wood at sixteen ounces to the Pound you 'l draw at least a Pound of Spirit and Phlegm and four ounces of Oyl as for the salt you 'l gain but half an ounce or six drachms at most Add to pag. 238. Remarks upon Oyl of Cloves per Descensum If you use a pound of Cloves to Distil them per Descensum according to the Description I have given you 'l draw an ounce and two drachms of White Oyl and an ounce of Spirit there will remain thirteen ounces and two drachms of matter from whence might still be drawn a little Red Oyl Add to pag. 249. lin 6. Chap. Of Wine 'T is Objected to this last discourse that the Tartareous part being in a Natural way separated from the Wine should in no wise diminish the quantity nor the strength of the Spirituous and Inflammable part But when I asserted that the Spirits of divers Wines are extreamly much loaded with Tartar I did not mean that Tartar which Petrifies at the sides of the vessels for that same is quiet and does not hinder the Exaltation of Spirits but I intended a Tartar that still remains mixt in the Wine after the Fermentation and which according as it abounds more or less does render the Wines more or less thick and gross It is easy to see this Tartar I speak of if you evaporate the aqueous part of Wine for it will remain at bottom in form of Lees. Nevertheless there is no need of establishing two sorts of Tartar in one kind of Wine for the former is only the more soluble part of the latter Divers little Objections have been made me on this subject for want of duly examining what I have established Wherefore I have no desire to enlarge my self in the relation of them for it is my aim as much as I can to avoid all Repetitions as being of no further use but to swell a Book and tire the Readers patience Add to pag. 256. lin 32. in the Remarks upon Spirit of Wine Some persons do endeavour to reject the Method that I have described for drawing Spirit of Wine because say they a long time is required to draw a little Spirit and by reason of the difficulty they conceive in procuring such Vessels well made at Paris and much more so in the Countrey But it is likely these Gentlemen do blame this Method before ever they tried it for if they had but
taken the pains to make the Experiment of it they would have found that with two or three of these Vessels they might have drawn as much Spirit of Wine as they could be able to do with their great Machine and that this Spirit is not liable to the Impression which might be communicated to it from Copper or Tin vessels As for the difficulty that there is pretended of finding these Glass vessels there is none at all that I know of but only for such as will not take the pains to visit the Glass-houses for there they would find enough for their turn and though I use a great many of them in my Courses of Chymistry I never was to seek for any yet But suppose there were none to be found ready made methinks they might as easily bespeak 'em and have 'em made at the Glass-houses as well as bespeak those grand Copper or Tin Machines that are commonly used I know those that are better pleased with making a Fair shew than with the effects of things and who measure the goodness of an Operation by the trouble it gives one and by the greatness of Vessels and Furnaces will find here but little to their satisfaction But I am very little concerned at such mens exceptions I never at all endeavoured to follow their Road way My design is simply to facilitate the means of working in Chymistry and to despoil it as much as lies in my power of those things which render it mysterious and dark Add to pag. 258. Remarks upon Spirit of Wine Tartarized A sign that the Spirit of Wine has carried along with it some of the Salt of Tartar is this if you dry gently the Salt of Tartar that remains in the Cucurbite and weigh it you 'l find it diminished an ounce and a half You may again put this Spirit of Wine Tartarized to half a pound of more Salt of Tartar in a Limbeck and distil it as before but I have found that it is ne'r a-whit the better for it This way of Tartarizing Spirit of Wine is the very best and shortest of all that have been invented whether you desire to make it Pure or to impregnate it with salt of Tartar and I may venture to say that all the many long and tedious descriptions that have been given of this Operation have been only invented to cast a dust into the eyes of Novices for it is easie for any to observe who give themselves a little to examine things that after all their long turnings and windings and circumstances to no purpose the Spirit of Wine is not so well Tartarized as by the plain Method that I have described Add to pag. 259. Remarks on the Queen of Hungary's Water The Oyl or Essence of Rosemary may be made as the Oyl of Cinnamon and some drops may be put into Spirit of Wine and thus we have a Queen of Hungaries Water presently made upon the spot The Water of the Queen of Hungary sometimes gives ease to the Tooth-ach being snufft at the Nose or applied to the Gums with a little Cotton Some endeavouring to Criticize to little purpose do say it is altogether useless to digest Rosemary Flowers with Spirit of Wine because their substance being of a very Volatile nature it easily dissolves without any Digestion But this Circumstance is very necessary if we desire to have a Water well impregnated with the Essence of the Flowers for although there is a Volatile substance in Rosemary yet good part of the Oyl in which consists principally the Smell is involved in the other Principles and it cannot be well Rarified mixed and Exalted but only by a Digestion and thus we find a very good Effect from it Add to pag. 260. last line Chap. Of Vinegar Perhaps it will be Objected that Wine separated from Tartar and Lees grows sowre when kept a long time in a vessel without any dissolution of Tartar But we must consider that Wine let it be as clear and pure as may be does always retain the more salt and subtile part of Tartar which exalts and easily smells when by the Fermentation it gets the predominancy of the Sulphureous Spirits which held it as it were involved and thus clear wine sowrs when alone but it does not sowr so fast and the Vinegar is not so strong as when it is made upon Tartar Furthermore if we consider the Principles that Wine consists of we shall find that neither the Oyl nor Earth nor Water are capable of yielding any Acidity and that nothing but the Salt is able to give it Now it can't be doubted but that the Salt of Wine is in the Tartar It may be added here that the Air to which Wines are exposed by leaving the vessel open when they would have them turn into Vinegar does likewise communicate a little of its Acidity to the Wines in the stirring up and rarifying the Acid of Tartar Add to pag. 262. Remarks on Distillation of Vinegar Some having dried and calcined the sweet extract that remains at the bottom of the Cucurbite after the Distillation of vinegar and having by Dissolution Filtration and Coagulation separated an Alkali fixt salt much like unto that which is drawn from Tartar they do mix it with Spirit of vinegar and Distil and Cohobate it divers times until say they the spirit has carried off all the Salt and then will needs have it called Spirit of vinegar Alkalized or Radical spirit of vinegar and they assert that this being much more pure and entirely united with its proper salt is much more powerful in dissolving Metals But far from the Distilled vinegars becoming the stronger through this Preparation I can demonstrate that it breaks and loses the greatest part of its points in contending with the Alkali salt with which it is mixt for 't is the property of this salt to sween Acids Neither is it necessary to believe that by Distillations is drawn the Alkali salt of Vinegar for it remains fixt at bottom of the Retort with the Acids it is impregnated with so that this same Spirit of Vinegar to which so many great names and uses have been appropriated is properly the more Phlegmatick part of distilled vinegar Add to pag. 264. Remarks on Crystals of Tartar I see no reason so much to wonder as some do why Tartar will not dissolve in cold water for although it does contain a great deal of Salt this salt is involved in Earth and Oyl which must needs hinder this dissolution and there 's no need of having recourse for an explication of this to a proportionate Union of Volatile salts and Acids Add to pag. 264. Soluble Tartar Powder and mixe together eight ounces of Crystals of Tartar and four ounces of the fixt salt of Tartar put this mixture into a glazed earthen Pot and pouring upon it three pints of common water boil the matter gently for half an hour then letting it cool filter and evaporate the liquor until it is dry and
there will remain at bottom eleven ounces six drachms of a white salt keep it in a Viol 't is both a good Aperitive and Laxative it is good for Cachexies Dropsies and all Diseases that proceed from Obstructions the Dose is from ten grains to two scruples in Broth or some proper liquor Remarks This Operation is nothing but a Dissolution that the Salt of Tartar has made of Cream of Tartar so that it can dissolve in cold water which it could not do being alone the Cream of Tartar also being an Acid insinuates into the Pores of the Alkali salt and sweetens it If you Boil Cream of Tartar in water and put into it some salt of Tartar there will happen an Effervescency between 'em but if you mix these two Ingredients together in cold water there will be no Effervescency the reason of which is that the Acid Spirits of Cream of Tartar being involved in other Principles can have no active power to penetrate the Alkali unless they be actuated by fire I use to filter the Dissolution in order to separate some terrestrious part of the Cream of Tartar which could not dissolve this salt comes near to Tartar vitriolated for virtues some do call it Vegetable salt Chalybeated or Martial Crystals of Tartar Powder and mix a pound of good white Tartar and three ounces of Rust of Iron boil this mixture in an Iron Kettle with five or six quarts of water for half an hour or so much time as is requisite to dissolve the Tartar pass the liquor hot through a warm cloth then let it alone to settle in an Iron or Earthen Pot ten or twelve hours it will shoot into brown Crystals at the sides and bottom of the Pot pour off the liquor by Inclination and gather the Crystals then evaporate over the fire about half the liquor in the same Pot then let the remainder settle and take out the Crystals as before continue these Evaporations and Crystallizations until you have drawn out all your Tartar dry the Crystals in the Sun and so keep them It is a good remedy for Obstructions of the Liver Mesentery Spleen it is given in Cachexies and for Melancholy and the Quartan Ague the Dose is from fifteen grains to two Scruples in Broth or some other liquor proper to the Distemper Remarks This Preparation is boil'd but little that the Tartar may dissolve only the more Saline part of Iron the liquor is made to pass through a cloth to free it from the Impurities of the Tartar and Iron that could not dissolve but you must pass it very hot for if it were a little cool the Tartar would Coagulate in the Cloth and so none of the liquor would pass Instead of Crystallizing the dissolved Tartar you may evaporate all the liquor and so obtain a brown powder which has the same virtues as the Crystals When you would exhibite this Chalybeated Crystal of Tartar you must make it just boil in the liquor you give it in for otherwise it will not dissolve and you must be sure to give it as hot as they can take it for fear it should Crystallize at the bottom of the Poringer or Cup. Soluble Tartar Chalybeated Put into an Earthen Pan or Glass vessel four ounces of soluble Tartar and sixteen ounces of Tincture of Mars prepared according to the description that I have given set the vessel in sand and with a small fire evaporate the humidity of the liquor until there remains a black powder shut it in a viol well stopt and keep it you 'l have eight ounces of it This Martial Tartar has the same virtues as the Tincture of Tartar it is good to remove all Obstructions wherefore 't is very properly used in Cachexies Dropsies retention of the Menstrua in Nephritick Colicks and difficulties of Vrine the Dose is from ten grains to half a drachm in some proper liquor or else made into Lozenges Remarks This Preparation of Chalybeate or Martial Tartar is not only more convenient for use than the former in that it dissolves or mixes in a cold liquor but has much more virtue in it for the Tincture of Mars contains only the more salt part of Tartar Add to pag. 265. Remarks on Soluble Emetick Tartar Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack may be used instead of that of Vrine but then there will appear no sensible Ebullition the reason of which is because the salt of this Spirit is not so open as the Spirit of Vrine by reason of some impression it has of the Acid sal Armoniack with which it was mixt insomuch that the Crystals of Tartar whose Acid is not separated from the Earth has points too gross and too unactive to insinuate into the Pores of this salt and divide its parts so easily as those of the salt that 's contained in Spirit of Vrine whose Pores are bigger Another sort of Soluble Emetick Tartar may be made by boiling in Water an ounce of the Glass of Antimony in Powder with four ounces of Soluble Tartar for seven or eight hours then upon Filtring and evaporating the liquor there will remain a grey Powder of the same virtues as the other and to be given in the same Dose Add to pag. 268. Remarks upon the Fixt Salt of Tartar and its Oyl I commonly use to draw this way four ounces of very white and well Purified salt of Tartar from each pound of Red Tartar a little more may be drawn from white Tartar but it is no better than the other I have observed that when water is thrown upon the Mass of Tartar newly Calcined it heats much like unslack't Lime when wetted the reason of which is the same that I have given to explicate the Ebullition of Quick-lime in water all the difference is this that Tartar Calcined containing a great deal of Salt does more easily imbibe water than Quick-lime Some do Calcine salt of Tartar with a little sulphur to hinder it from dissolving so easily by the Air and to whiten it the more but this is no good practice because the Acid Spirit of sulphur destroyes some part of the Alkali and this does come to happen by reason that the Pores of this Salt by being thus Calcined are not so open as they were and the Air therefore cannot so easily melt it If you would desire to make Salt of Tartar and other Alkali fixt salts very white indeed you must Calcine them all alone in a great fire until they become white and then Purifie them by Dissolation Filtration and Coagulation As for their proneness to dissolve this accident is Natural to Alkali salts and it cannot be taken from them but by destroying their nature Nor can I approve the addition of some quantity of Niter to the Calcination of Tartar as some will do because the Volatile parts of Niter being exalted the fixt do remain and by their Acidity do diminish the virtue of Salt of Tartar Alkali salts are Aperitive in that they dissolve those
slimy humors which caused Obstructions and it is for the same reason that Salt of Tartar does correct Senna and hinders it from griping for the substance of Senna being Viscous this does Rarifie it and make it work the quicker it may also serve to dissolve some viscous Phlegm that sticks to the Intestines which as it is going off causes griping pains Add to pag. 272. the last line in Remarks upon Magistery of Tartar or Tartar Vitriolated If you use two ounces of Salt of Tartar in this Operation you 'l draw two ounces and a half of Tartarum Vitriolatum This Augmentation comes from the more heavy and strong part of the Vitriol for the humidity that is Evaporated is very Phlegmatick You may here use the Rectified Oyl of Vitriol instead of the Spirit and then the less is requir'd because it is a stronger Acid but the Tartarum Vitriolatum will not be so white as when Spirit of Vitriol is used by reason of some Tincture that always remains with Oyl of Vitriol Rectifie it as much as you please Though some have written that if Tartarum Vitriolatum should be put into a Retort and actuated by fire one might draw Spirit of Vitriol as good as it was at first nevertheless 't is certain 't will not be so strong a Spirit for it has lost the most subtle part of its Acidity by encountring with the Alkali which may be easily judged both by the Taste and the Effects If by way of Curiosity you would search a little narrowly into this Operation and observe what happens during the Ebullition of Acid and Alkali you 'l find that a great many little dashes of water do fly about especially if the vessel is not placed too low and you hold a lighted Candle near it for they will be apt to put it out This Effect can have no other cause than the violent separation of the parts of Alkali by Acid which makes the watry part of this liquor sprinkle it self upwards it being on all sides furiously driven If you use Oyl of Vitriol the Ebullition is the greater and the heat the more considerable because its Acid being stronger it separates the parts of the Alkali body with more ease Now considering the Ebullition which happens between Acid and Alkali I have the less opinion of a Method that some follow which is to bathe a little the bodies that are to be Embalmed with Spirit of salt and then to put Salt of Tartar into the Embalming Powder for it is very likely that this Spirit of Salt which is an Acid by mixing with the Alkali salt of Tartar produces a Fermentation which may stir up the remaining humidity of the Carkass and make it enter into the Ingredients of the Powder and so instead of Preserving the dead body intire we may have reason to fear lest this Fermentation should rather hasten the dissolution of its parts Add to pag. 274. lin 27. in the same Remarks Leaven does encrease the Fermentation in Dough as being a Paste it self whose salts are made free by a long Fermentation these salts do joyn with those of the other Paste and assist them both to rarifie and dissolve The same thing may be said of divers other Acids which do cause a Fermentation But when the Acids have rarified the matter as much as they can they there lose their motion and then there happens a kind of Coagulation that is to say the matter returns into its first dimensions Again there is one effect of Acids which seems different from those I mentioned before and it is that they can preserve certain bodies that are put into them as salt preserves meat Thus when young Cucumbers Saxifrage Capers c. are set a steeping in Vinegar there happens no Fermentation at all and consequently no Corruption The reason of which is that the parts of Cucumbers and other things I mentioned being of a viscous nature the Acids do insinuate into them for to dissolve them but they have not motion there free enough to make their attacks and separate the parts so that the Acid of Vinegar does only fix it self in the Pores of these bodies and there Coagulate It is this Coagulation that hinders the Cucumbers from corrupting for these Acids do stop up their Pores and serve as so many little Peggs to keep the parts firm and quiet Sea-salt which is an Acid does preserve meat and several other things for the same reason but I have spoken something of that in the Remarks upon the Principles Add to pag. 276. the end of the same Remarks Another Objection may be made to what I have said touching Digestion it is that whereas I maintained that Acids do Dissolve when they abound and Coagulate when there are but few in a great deal of matter it should happen that Spittle should then be apter to Coagulate the Aliments in the stomach and cause indigestion than would a greater quantity of Acids for it seems according to my Discourse the more acids are found in a matter the more liable it must be to dissolve To resolve this difficulty which seems to be very considerable we must observe that the natural acids of Aliments taken into the stomach are sufficient to rarifie and dissolve those bodies which hinder their motion when they have been stirr'd up by Mastication or by some salt of the spittle which serves as a Leaven to them much after the same manner as the salts of Meal do rarifie the Paste when they are actuated by means of Trituration and Leaven together but now if there happens to be too much acid in the Aliments that are taken into the stomach they will have the same effect as Cucumbers and those other things I mentioned which preserve in Vinegar The acids will indeed endeavour to cut in pieces what stands in their way but having to do with parts too viscous and heavy they will soon lose all their motion and fix by their quantity and by their gravity the natural salt of these aliments as Vinegar fixes that of Cucumbers for whereas the acids do shut the Pores of the matter and keep them firm and quiet the natural salt can't be able to exalt so as to cause Fermentation or Digestion The reason then why a small portion of acids will cause Digestion in the stomach and a greater quantity will hinder it is that the small quantity will joyn with the natural salt of aliments and have its operation without stopping the Pores of the matter whereas a great store of acids will quite stop up the Pores of this same matter and hinder the motion of the natural salt for it is not enough that there are a great many acids to cause a dissolution these acids must have room to move in and make their attacks Thus these Effects make nothing against what I asserted concerning acids for a greater quantity of them will always have more disposition and tendency to a dissolution but if this great quantity does
Coagulate divers things it is only by accident and by reason of the disposition of the matter into which the acid points do use to enter What I have established concerning acids may serve very much towards the explicating of Feavers and their principal symptoms First of all every body must grant that when there are Obstructions in our Bodies the obstructed matter does Ferment and sowr as Dough Wine and several other things grow sowr by being stale This matter by Fermenting sends salt or acid vapours into the Mass of Bloud which do cause diverse Alterations in it according to their quantity and quality for these acids are commonly mixt with sulphurs which are a kind of Vehicle to the acids and are more or less corrupted according as the matter whence they are derived have sojourned more or less in the Obstructed part Now if these acid vapours are carried into the Vessels but only in such a quantity as is fit to make a kind of Leaven in the Bloud they will then rarifie the Bloud too much and whereas they by consequence encrease its motion and heat they do cause that which we call a Feaver this Feaver must remain as long as the Ferment continues in the Bloud and according as there comes a new supply of matter in place of what nature has thrown off But if a greater quantity of acids rises all of a sudden from out of the Obstructions then there must needs happen a kind of Coagulation for these acids thus abounding and fixing the grosser part of the Bloud do partly lose their motion and quiet the Ebullition of the Bloud by fixing its parts It is this kind of Congelation which causes those Cold Shiverings which are felt before the Hot Fit begins for as the Heat is derived from the motion of the Spirits the Cold is produced from the cessation of their motion The Cold fit continues until the Spirits have by their activity rarified this Congelation for the Spirits being continually supplied with additional forces do violently assault the passage 'till they have broke it open and made their way free The Coagulum being dissolved the Bloud should seem to Circulate as it did before but because the matter of the Coagulum is converted into a Leaven this Leaven makes the Bloud to Boil and so causes a Feaver this Feaver continues until the Bloud is freed from all this Ferment either by Transpiration or by way of Vrine Now to conceive how this Coagulum may be converted into a Leaven we must consider that the Spirits of the Bloud have lost most of their acidity in dissolving this Coagulum and that there remains but only acidity enough to produce a Fermentation Nevertheless you must not think I mean by this Congelation now spoken of a Coagulum altogether like unto that in Milk or to that which happens when an acid liquor is sying'd into the Veins of an Animal for these Congelations are too strong and there would then happen to us the same thing or very near the same as does to the animal who soon afterwards falls into Convulsions and dies because the course of the Spirits and Bloud would be intirely stopt and they would never be able to break through so great an obstacle but I understand here that the Bloud is made thicker than it was and has not so free a motion as it had before which is enough to cause such cold Fits Now there remains for me to explicate how it comes to pass that Feavers have their abatements and returns regularly by Fits The matter that makes the Obstructions which I have laid down for the Fundamental Cause of Feavers begins not to send out its vapours nor disperses its acid salt into the Bloud in order to cause a Feaver until it has got together a certain quantity in the obstructed vessels and then it is probable there is a kind of Eruption of the matter This Eruption of Feaverish matter must happen at set times so long as the Obstruction lasts because the humors which Circulate to the obstructed parts and there stop are alwayes in an equal quickness and quantity Now seeing that in a Tertian Ague the vessels wherein the obstruction happens do acquire in two dayes time a sufficient repletion of matter to produce the Eruption and Fermentation I have spoken of the Fits do come to operate every second day But because in a Quartan Ague the humors are more tenacious and heavy and flow with expedition the Fermentation and Eruption must needs be slower and consequently the Fits more distant the one from the other The Quotidian Ague is caused by a Salt Pituita which is naturally fluid enough to make the matter ferment in less time wherefore it is that the Fits do return every day We may reason concerning the other kinds of Feavers upon the same Principle and explicate all the accidents that happen but I have no design to enlarge my self further upon this subject I should think it would be too great a Digression and a Book might rather be made on purpose to express all the circumstances which might be deduced from it Volatile Salt of Tartar Dry the Lees of Wine in a gentle fire and fill with them two thirds of a large earthen or glass Retort place this Retort in a Reverberatory Furnace and fitting to it a large Receiver give a small fire under it to heat the Retort by degrees and to drive out an insipid Phlegm when vapours begin to rise you must put out the Phlegm and luting carefully the Junctures of your vessels quicken the fire by little and little until you find the Receiver filled with white Clouds continue it in this condition and when you perceive the Receiver to cool raise the fire to the utmost extremity and continue it so until there rise no more Vapours When the Vessels are grown cold unlute the Receiver and shaking it about to make the Volatile salt which sticks to it fall to the bottom pour it all into a Boulthead with a long neck fit to it a Head with a small Receiver lute well the junctures and placing it in sand give a little fire under it and the Volatile salt will rise and stick to the head and the top of the Boulthead take off your head and set on another in its place gather your salt and stop it up quickly for it easily dissolves into a liquor continue the fire and take care to gather up the salt according as you see it appear but when there will rise no more salt a liquor will distil of which you must draw about three ounces then put out the fire This salt is had in great request to Purify the Bloud by Sweat or Vrine it may be given in the Palsie Apoplexy Epilepsie Quartan and Tertian Agues to open Obstructions the Dose is from six grains to fifteen in some proper liquor The Distilled liquor is a Volatile salt that 's risen with Phlegm it is called the Volatile Spirit of Tartar
Opium there must needs follow thereupon some ease and comfort without any need at all of admitting a stoppage of the Vessels And again we may conceive that all the Opium that was taken being capable of being Rarified into vapours by the heat of the body there must needs be produced good quantity of them As for the proportion of Salt and Sulphur in Opium and the secret Ferment they pretend to acquaint us with in order to Explicate this matter I know they are high terms indeed but illustrate very little for though they say these salts and sulphurs do unite with Homogeneous particles that they meet with and destroy such as are the cause of the Distemper we can never by this means receive any clear Idea of that which makes Opium soporiferous Besides the virtue which Opium has to cause sleep I have observed that it is often Sudorifick I conceive this effect must not be attributed only to the Volatile parts of this mixt which may be thought to operate this way after they are disingaged from its viscosity but rather to this that during sleep the inward vessels being as it were obstructed or in some manner Coagulated and the Spirits finding resistance in their passage do reflect or turn their motion to the outward parts and draw along with 'em some moisture through the Pores That which confirms me in this opinion is the consideration that divers persons do use always to sweat when they are a sleep though they have not taken any Opium at all Now it may happen that in the operation of Opium the Spirits finding more resistance within than they are wont may tend outwards with the more force and consequently incline to sweat more than in natural sleep Some prejudiced Chymist may not relish perhaps this my Explication because I don't season it with salt enough and sulphur and other Principles but although the five Principles which may be drawn from other Vegetables may also be drawn from Opium I never use them but to explicate some Effect for whensoever I find they are not able to satisfie my reason nothing shall hinder me from pursuing my thoughts and searching otherwhere for some better explication In fine the Beauty of Chymistry does not consist in suiting our opinions to those of ordinary Chymists who resolving to explicate all the Events of nature by their received Principles which they manage according to their own fashion do reject as ridiculous whatsoever does not agree with their Sentiments but it rather consists in examining and imitating what is done Naturally and so searching for reasons that are most probable and such as may be said to come nearest to truth though one is fain to forsake the way that others have trod in Add to pag. 285. Chap. Of Aloes Aloes is not only used inwardly as I shall say speaking of its Extract but it is also used outwardly in many Vnguents and Plaisters that are Detersive and Resolutive It s Tincture is also drawn with Spirit of wine by the same Method as I shall describe that of Myrrhe it is resolutive detersive good against Gangrenes and to Incarnate it is used in Injections to dissolve Gypsous humours and to cleanse Wounds and old Ulcers Add to pag. 292. lin 3. in Remarks on Extractum Panchymagogum Spirit of Wine is commonly used to make this Extract and it may seem to be so much the purer being drawn by this dissolvent rather than by a watry menstruum for spirit of wine dissolves only the more Balsamick and purer part of mixt bodies but nevertheless I choose rather to prefer the use of Dew or else Rain-water nay and common water before Spirit of wine for several reasons First because in the Evaporation of the humidity of the Extract drawn by Spirit of wine a great many of the more subtile parts are lost which this dissolvent had Volatilized And indeed it cannot be denied but some parts will evaporate let us use what dissolvent we please but it is plain there is no such great loss when watry menstruums are used as when spirit of wine Now we should always prefer such menstruums as are best able to preserve the virtue of the mixt whose Extract we intend to draw The second is because Spirit of wine does alwayes leave some impression of heat and acrimony in the Extracts it draws which the liquors that I use don't do The third is because spirit of wine is not so convenient a menstruum to dissolve the salts which the Ingredients we use are full of and it is in this salt that their grearest virtue does consist Wherefore we ought to choose such dissolvents as best preserve the virtue of mixt bodies and such as are familiar to our nature We must use Spirit of wine to extract Rosines such as that of Scammony Jalap Turbith but whenever an Extract can be drawn with a watry menstruum it is better to use that rather than another for the reasons I have mentioned Add to pag. 304. after the chap. Of Gum Ammoniack CHAP. Of Myrrhe MYrrhe is a Gummy juice that distils from a Spinous Tree of a middle height by Incisions that are made into it this Tree grows commonly in Ethiopia and Arabia and because the Inhabitants of those countries are thought to feed on Serpents the Myrrhe that is brought thence is called Troglodytick The Antients were wont to collect from the same Tree a liquor that fell from it without Incision which was called Stacten 't is only a liquid Gum but I am apt to think it should have more virtue than common Myrrhe because it was the more spirituous part which filtrated through the Pores of the Bark of this Tree You must choose such Myrrhe as is friable light odoriferous clear and such as is in small pieces of a Yellowish colour and bitter to the Taste it is aperitive and resolutive it is much esteemed for obstructions of the Vterus and to bring the menstrua and to quicken Womens Labour it also resists malignity of humors it is used in Corroborative Remedies and resolvent Plaisters Tincture of Myrrhe Put what quantity you please of good Myrrhe powdered into a Boulthead and pour upon it spirit of wine four fingers high ftir the matter and set it in digestion in warm sand for two or three dayes or until the Spirit of Wine is loaded with the Tincture of Myrrhe then separate the liquors by Inclination keep it in a Viol well stopt It may be used to expedite Womens Labour to bring down the Menstrua and in the Palsy Apoplexy Lethargy and all diseases that proceed from Corruption of humors it is Sudorifick and Aperitive the Dose is from six drops to fifteen in some proper liquor it is commonly used in outward applications or mixed with the Tincture of Aloes to discuss cold Tumors and to dissolve Gypsous humors by way of Injection and for the Gangrene Remarks Though Tinctures of Myrrhe are daily drawn in Wine or Aqua vitae notwithstanding the
best that can be Prepared is with Spirit of wine because this Menstruum receives the more Oyly or Balsamick part of Myrrhe whereas the Phlegm of Wine and Aqua vitae do cause these liquors to dissolve and impregnate with the more terrestrious part of the Gum as well as with the Oyly Some do use to evaporate this Tincture to the consistence of an Extract but because thereby they are fain to lose the more Volatile part of the Myrrhe with the spirit of wine I do conceive it better to use the Tincture it self as I have described it Oyl of Myrrhe per Deliquium Boil Eggs until they are grown hard then cutting them in two separate the Yelk and fill the White with Myrrhe powdered set them on little sticks placed conveniently on purpose in a plate or earthen pan in a Cellar or some such moist place and there will distil a liquor to the bottom of the vessel which you may take out and keep for use This is called the Oyl of Myrrhe it is good to take away Freckles and Tettars applied outwardly Remarks Though this liquor improperly called Oyl is only the more soluble part of Myrrhe humected with the moisture of whites of Eggs and the Cellar together yet it is the best of any that have been invented whether you draw it in Spirit of wine or distil this Gum in a Retort for by spirit of wine the more Volatile part of Myrrhe is lost either by Distillation or Evaporation and it is so Torrified in a Retort that it loses its best virtues whereas per Deliquium what Volatile this Gum contains is preserved in its Natural being for the humidities that mix with it are no ways capable of destroying or altering its nature Add to pag. 309. l. 11. in the Chap. Of Vipers I am apt to conceive that the Venom of Vipers is caused by an affluence of Acid salts violently thrown forth and which by insinuating into the Veins do by degrees cause a Coagulum in the Bloud to hinder its Circulation and the course of the spirits this opinion is the more probable in that Coagulated Bloud has been found in the Veins of many Animals which have been bit by the Viper and besides the most powerful Remedies that cure this Poison are Volatile Alkali salts which are proper to dissolve the Coagulum As for what may be said that if this discourse were true the Natural acidity of the Bloud would Coagulate it sometimes as it happens to Milk which Curdles of it self and that this Coagulation would produce the same effects as does the Venom of Vipers this Objection raises no difficulty at all For the Bloud circulating in its Natural way the Acidity that is in it is so well united to it that it cannot separate to make a Coagulum no more than the acidity that is in milk can separate from it whilest the milk remains in the Teats for we see it never uses to Curdle there unless occasioned by some Distemper And again who can doubt but certain Pestilential Airs or divers Diseases that come from the corruption of the humours of the body may be able to Coagulate the Bloud and have the same effect as the venom of Vipers Add to pag. 314. the bottom of the page in Remarks on Distillation of Vipers There is another way of Rectifying the Volatile salt which is by mixing it with five or six times as much Bones or Horns burnt white and putting the mixture into a glass or earthen Cucurbite then fitting to it a blind head or such a one whose Nose has not been opened after that luting well the junctures then setting the vessel in sand and with a gentle fire the Volatile salt will rise and stick to the head you must continue the fire until there rises nothing further This salt is hereby purified from a great deal of its Oyl which remains in the powder of Bones wherefore it is whiter than it was and pleasanter to the Palate It may again be mixt with other Calcined Bones and sublimed as before to render it the purer still and take away the more of its unsavoury smell that 's caused partly by the Empyreumatical oyl that it draws along with it in the distillation Add to pag. 316. the end of the same Remarks If you distil two and thirty ounces of shavings of Harts-horn you 'l draw thirteen ounces of liquor and Volatile salt and there will remain in the Retort nineteen ounces of matter as black as any Coal You 'l draw from the liquor an ounce and a half of Volatile salt six ounces of spirit and two ounces of Black Oyl The black matter being grinded on a Marble is good for Painters to use if you Calcine it the fuliginous parts which make it black will fly away and leave the Hartshorn very white you 'l have sixteen ounces of it and this is called burnt Hartshorn It is accounted Cardiack but indeed has no other virtue than to destroy Acids as all other Alkali matters do too Some do use to stratifie Hartshorn with Bricks and Calcining it that way they call it Hartshorn prepared Philosophically they account it more Cordial than it was before but they are very strangely mistaken for the Volatile salt and Oyl which were the things that should render it Cardiack were carried away in the Calcination and there remains only a Terrestrious matter that might be called Caput mortuum Notwithstanding it is an Alkali that may serve as Crabs-eyes Coral and divers other matters of the like nature which absorbe Acids the Bricks bestow no virtue at all on it Add to pag. 323. Remarks on the Distillation of Wax If by way of curiosity you desire to know exactly what quantity of liquor or spirit can be drawn from Wax you must dry your Bolus as much as you can or else use in its place broken pots or Bricks powdered which are not at all wet out of three and twenty ounces of Wax you 'l draw in the first Distillation just the same weight of liquor to wit twelve ounces of Phlegmatick spirit and the rest is a Butter in the second and third Distillation you 'l draw fourteen ounces of spirit and six ounces of clear Oyl Spirit of Wax is only a small quantity of Acid Volatile salt dissolved in Phlegm but you must not believe what some have written that having Distilled a considerable quantity of Wax and put that which was drawn into a Boult head with a long neck they could sublime the Volatile salt like others of that nature For this salt though it is indeed Volatile yet it is not Volatile enough to rise before the Phlegm it is an Acid salt much like unto that of Amber but is not of the nature of Volatile Alkali's which are known to sublime so easily it were better therefore to keep this spirit as it is or else to evaporate about half of it with a very mild heat that it may be the stronger The Volatile salts of many
the former discourse upon its effects and operations in the Pox vindicated modestly to be the Authors own invention 45. It is proved to be an Alkali though it contains no alkali salt 46. Objections against its being an alkali and the venom of the Pox an acid answered 47 48. K. Not half the Spirit of Niter requisite to dissolve it as is for the same weight of Bismuth 49. a difficulty about its making a sublimate corrosive in the body answered 50 51. why Mercurius Dulcis in a Flux does not fill the Brain with Vloers as it does the mouth 49. its White Precipitate by sublimation becomes as sweet as Mercurius Dulcis and may be then given in as great a Dose 52. its Red Precipitate the less 't is Calcined and the less Red it is the more Corrosive 't will prove 53. why spirit of Vitriol upon its Red Precipitate makes a clear dissolution without any Ebullition 54. why spirit of Salt upon its Red Precipitate makes a curious white 55. why the Colour turns so soon from Red to White ib. its Red precipitate will sublime if you continue it on the fire too long 53 54. other Precipitates of Mercury 56. and remarkable Observations upon them 57 58 59. why the Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack does so much help the Precipitation of Mercury 52. Milk whence its Coagulation 18 19. Minerals how they grow 20. Myrrhe what 132. its liquid Gum anciently called Stacten ib. how chosen and what it is good for 133. its Tincture how drawn ib. why spirit of Wine draws it best 134. its Tincture better than the Extract ib. its Oyl per Deliquium how made ib. N. Niter not at all inflammable 76. No Sulphur in Saltpeter 77. Spirit of Niter how dulcified 79. in the Fixation of Saltpeter into an alkali salt why the Crucible must be but half full 82. The Detonation from Saltpeter and Coals why greater than from Saltpeter and common Sulphur 82. why more Fixt Salt get by the use of common saltpeter than by that which is Purified 83. How to make Grey fixt Niter become exceeding White 84. Fixt Niter why an Alkali ib. No Alkali salt in saltpeter ib. why the liquor of Fixt Niter that is made with common saltpeter being kept a year or so loses its alkali nature whereas that which is made with purified Saltpeter never loses being an Alkali 84 85. Fixt Niter an Acid salt rendred porous by the Alkali of Coals 85. Liquor of Fixt Niter called by some Alkaest or Vniversal dissolvent 85. Niter excellently well proved not to be inflammable ib. O. Opium what it is good for 127. its Operation proved to proceed from Narcotick Vapours shutting the channels of the Spirits and Humours 128. and not from any proportion of salt and sulphur or secret Ferment 129. Opium observed to be Sudorifick ib. Oyl nothing else properly said to be inflammable 1. that which caused its Flagration must be a Volatile or Essential salt ib. this proved from common sulphur and a mixture of saltpeter with sulphur 2. Oyl of Bricks why called by Chymists the Oyl of Philosophers 70 71. Oyl of Peter Jet and Coals supposed to be from a distillation in the Earth but falsly 97. 98. P. Petrification how 20. Philosophers-stone the several methods of searching after it related and pleasantly discoursed of 24 25. the misery of those men that seek after it 26. the possibility of the Philosophers-stone granted but accounted next to an impossibility and the reason why ib. Q. Quicklime in the making of it the fire must be kept at an equal height to the end of the work 65. its Corrosion caused by Igneous bodies 66. no Acid in it to cause its Ebullition in water 67. S. Sal Armoniack how made Artificially at Venice 85. eight ounces of it do contain at least four ounces and a half of Volatile salt 88. its Volatile spirit only a dissolution of Volatile salt in Water ib. its spirit sensibly proved to be Sudorifick by a proper instance 89. whence it is that a Coagulation happens from the mixture of spirit of Wine with the Volatile spirit of Sal Armoniack ib. Sal Polychrestum not fit to be used until it is made very white 77. why more of it is made with common Saltpeter than that which is Purified 78. an Ebullition falsly said to rise when spirit of Sulphur is cast upon it or upon Salt-peter 78. Salt that of Vegetables proceeds from a salt juice of the Earth they grow in 5. too much salt as bad for Lands as too little an instance of those near the River Nile 6. 't is a Volatile or at least a saltpetrous salt that fertilizes Lands ib. yet the Ashes of Vegetables though full of a fixt salt do well to this purpose 7. Three sorts of salt drawn from Vegetables an Acid or Essential a Volatile and a fixt salt 9. the acid salt the only true salt in nature 9 10 11. Salt decrepitated exposed to the Air to be distilled without addition yields only a Phlegm rather than spirit 74. Monsieur Seignet's Distillation of spirit of Salt without addition of Clay to separate its parts vindicated to be good and an admirable Operation 74 75. how all alkali Fixt salts are made very white 113. and why they are Aperitive 114. its spirit not good to bathe bodies with that are to be Embalmed 116. Salt-water in the Sea caused by Mines of Salt therein contained 3 4. Sea-salt how made at Rochel 71. when Crystallized it makes no Ebullition with Oyl of Tartar 72. Saltpeter vide Niter Sulphur its white Flowers made with Sal Polychrestum 97. T. Tartar why its Crystals will not dissolve in cold water 108. why its Crystals boiled with its salt do raise an effervescency in hot water which they cannot do in cold 109. its soluble Tartar only the Cream of Tartar made soluble in cold water ib. it s Chalybeated or martial Crystals ib. soluble Tartar how chalybeated 111. soluble Emetick Tartar may be made with Volatile Spirit of Sal Armoniack instead of Spirit of Vrine but then there will be no Ebullition and why 112. how this Emetick is prepar'd another way ib. why water thrown upon its salt newly Calcined does come to heat like unslack't Lime 113. Salt of Tartar not to be Calcin'd with Sulphur ib. nor Niter 114. its Volatile salt why made of Lees of Wine rather than Tartar 124. very hard to keep its Volatile salt dry and yet how that may be done ib. its Volatile salt made alkali by the fire but was not of that nature either in the Plant or in the Lees ib. the Salt of its Lees proved to be Acid 125 126. this Volatile salt no better than others 126. some fixt Alkali salt to be found in the Lees remaining in the Retort 127. Tartarum Vitriolatum distilled in a Retort yields not so strong a spirit of Vitriol as it was at first 115. during the Ebullition of Acid and Alkali in this Operation a great many dashes of water fly about enough to put out a Candle ib. Tartarum Vitriolatum made with Rectified Oyl of Vitriol is not so white as that made with the Spirit 114. but when Oyl of Vitriol is used the Ebullition is the greater 115. V. Vegetation from a mixture of Volatile salt and Sulphur 7 8. the fixt salt that lies in the ashes of Vegetables does fructifie by being Porous 7. Vinegar it s Alkalized or Radical spirit proved to be only the more Phlegmatick part of distilled Vinegar 107. Vipers their venom caused by Acid salts 135. the natural acidity of the bloud not capable of causing any such Venemous Coagulation as Vipers do 135 136. their Volatile salt how Rectified and why 136. Vitriol the Redness of it Calcin'd proved not to proceed from any Copper therein contained 91 92. some of its Spirit always flyes away through the Junctures use what care you can 93. German Vitriol yields more but not so good spirit as the English 93. its Oyl being mixed with its Acid Spirit or with water or some Ethereal Oyl as Oyl of Turpentine why it causes so violent a Heat and Ebullition 93 94. This not to be explicated by the notions of Acid and Alkali but by fiery particles contained in the Oyl 94. an excellent Experiment to prove its Oyl full of fiery parts 94 95. Volatile salts when proper to be used and when not 126. many of these Volatile salts drawn Acid as they were in the mixt 139. W. Water Queen of Hungaries water how readily made upon the spot 105. the Rosemary Flowers in it though Volatile in their nature yet require a Digestion to draw out their virtue 106. why plain water can Precipitate Bismuth Lead and Antimony but can't precipitate Gold Sylver or Mercury 32. Wax its spirit an Acid Volatile salt like the Salt of Amber 138. This Distillation and that of Amber prove all the Salt of mixt bodies to be naturally Acid and Alkali's to be nothing but mutations made by fire 139. Wine that which is clear and freed from Lees and Tartar will sowre and turn into a weak Vinegar but this by reason of a Tartar contained in its Principles 106. and the Air thought to communicate some Acidity to Wine 107. The Authors way of drawing its Spirit vindicated 103 104. FINIS
much like the surface of the Earth we inhabit and that there may be Mountains Rocks different sorts of earth and consequently inexhaustible Mountains of Salt in a Million of places at the bottom of the Sea whence it receives its Brackishness And it may be there are Waters which after taking Salt from several earths do at last discharge themselves into the sea through an infinite number of subterranean channels which do much contribute likewise to making Sea-water salt That which confirms me in this opinion is because there are Lakes in Italy Germany Egypt the Indies and many other places which are as Salt as the Sea and can have no other cause but that their waters have hapned to run through Mines of Salt I doubt not but many will be apt to object against my Opinion that the Sea being of so prodigious boundless an extent all the Salt I have spoken of would not be able to salt it as it is but if they please to consider that this great extent of the Ocean may meet with Mines of Salt in abundance of places and what is once dissolved can never be separated from it I am perswaded their doubt will soon vanish Add to what is said that Sea-water does not contain so great a quantity of Salt as is commonly imagined and this is easily prov'd if you take the pains to evaporate some of it over the fire or dissolve salt in that water for it will receive a considerable quantity into it which is a certain sign that the water was not so salt before as it might have been for if it had been impregnated with as much as it could 't would have dissolved no more Therefore we have good reason to believe that the Sea which may be called a large Lake becomes Salt through the Mines that are therein and the Salt Currents that in several places empty into it Add to Pag. 7. Lin. 30. It may be objected that Salt-peter is found in places where no Acid liquor can be thought to come but no body can doubt but that there is an Acid in the Air which though a very insensible body is able enough to enter into Stones and Earths the truth whereof is seen every day in Earths that have lost their Salt as much as could be drawn by Art which upon being exposed some time to the open air get new additions of Salt and encrease their weight considerably Now the liquor that I speak of which runs in some places of the earth receives its Acidity from this Acid Spirit of the Air which condenses in some places better than in others by reason of the coolness or some other disposition it finds there I conceive therefore that Salt-peter is form'd in Stones and Earths by the Acid Spirit of the Air after the same manner as Sal Gemme in Mines by an Acid liquour and that this Aerial Acid entring insensibly into the body of Stones produces a Salt at first much like Sal Gemme but afterwards new Acid Spirits still coming and mixing with it makes it of a middle nature between Volatile and Fixt And it is for this reason that a great deal of Salt-peter is taken from old ruined buildings for the Stones there continuing a long time exposed to the Air receive greater quantity of Spirits than other stones it is likewise to be found in Cellers and other places where the Sun casts no heat because the Spirit of the Air does there easily condense by reason of the coolness and moisture Add to Pag. 8. line 3. All Earths being impregnated with an Acid Salt as I have said 't is not hard to conceive how that the Salt of Vegetables is communicated to them from the earth wherein they grew Their Growth must needs have proceeded from a Salt juice of the Earth they grew in which having opened the Seed through the Fermentation it caused infinuates and filters it self into the Fibers that constitute the Plant and the leaving grounds Fallow some years is in order to preserve and retain the Salt that is continually encreased in them by the Acid Spirit of the Air. Likewise Dung and other matters which are said to fatten and fructifie Lands do so by nothing else but their Salt Neither need we wonder at the barrenness of Sandy and stony soils for that the Acid of the Air cannot unite and fix with them in sufficient quantity to render them fertile Nevertheless 't is worth observation that there are Lands which remain barren too through too great an abundance of Salt they contain and for this reason in Egypt they are forced to temper their grounds with Sand after the Ebbing of the River Nile to make them Fertile because the Earth 'till that is done is so full of Salt that its pores are quite choaked up with it So that instead of causing any Fermentation in the Seed the Salt fixes and depresses it that it can't have its motion free enough to rarifie and raise a stalk but now when Sand is mingled with it it is able to divide and extend the Salt which not having then such power of fixing the Seed it Ferments and rises into a Plant. Whence it may be seen that too much Salt is as Offensive to the Earths fertility as too little and that it is the same thing with other Fermentable matters as it is with Earths they come to ferment by means of a moderate quantity of Salt mixed with them for if you add too much the Fermentation will be spoil'd Again every kind of Salt is not fit to fertilize lands it must be a Volatile Salt or approaching to the nature of Salt-peter to serve for Vegetation a Salt too fixt would rather spoil it and it has been observ'd that places which should fructifie have brought forth nothing when Sea-salt has been sprinkled upon them the reason of which is for that this Fixt Salt hinders the Fermentation that was necessary to produce fertility Nevertheless it sometimes happens that the Ashes of Vegetables though full of a fixt salt do serve to fertilize and this Countrey men are well acquainted with who in some places where they find their Lands too lean and barren to yield any thing without assistance of Art do use at certain seasons of the year to burn Fern and Turfs upon them and spread about the Ashes Now it is by reason of a Lixivious salt in the Ashes that the Lands are hereby improv'd But this happens for the same reason as I said before for the fixt salt of Vegetables that lies in the Ashes is very Porous as I shall prove hereafter and so does very well mix with the Spirits or Acid Salts of the Air and turns easily into Salt-peter as when the Spirit of Salt-peter mixt with an Alkali salt makes a good Salt-peter As for sea-salt possibly it might happen that if it were left in the Earth for some considerable time 't would impregnate with the Spirit of the Air and so being at length Volatilized would
render a place fertile But because it is a very compact body and its parts closely united the Volatilizing of it would be a tedious business and so the present requisite Fermentation failing the place would remain barren too long to gratifie our expectations 'T is very likely that the Volatile or Nitrous salt meets in the Earth with some Sulphurous or fat matter that is continually raised by the Subterranean heat toward the Surface of the Earth and unites with it This mixture of a Volatile salt and Sulphur together may much contribute towards explicating the manner of Vegetation for just as the mixture of Sulphur and Salt-peter does excellently dispose to an Exaltation by heat which will not happen while they are separated so the Bituminous or fat part of the earth mixing with Salt-peter which all Earths have the subterranean heat exalts them much more easily than if the Salt were alone And now let us see what happens from this Exaltation to the production of Plants Some part of this Sulphurous salt meeting with seed in the earth proper to grow does enter into the seed and cause a Fermentation that is to say suppling the parts of the seed disposes it to open it self Now 't is very certain and what has been sensibly demonstrated by Microscopes that each grain of seed contains in little the whole Plant with all its parts Wherefore this opening the body of the seed is by reason that the sulphurous salts entring at the pores of the Root of this small Plant and by their Volatile quality insinuating all along the Fibres which constitute the Plant do orderly display before us what was before but very confused in respect of us These salts do never enter at the head of the Plant and so descend to the Root though often the Root of the Seed lies uppermost and the head or stalk downwards because the Pores of the stalk are not of such a Figure as is proper to receive them whereas those of the Root have a proper contexture The Volatility of these Salts does also cause the stalk though seated downwards to rise upwards and follow their tendency which is always up and this is that which by extending and enlarging the Fibres of the Plant makes it grow to that height which their nature requires 'T is probable that this fat part of earth insinuating with the salt as I have said does make the Oyl of a mixt body for we find that those matters which help best to fertilize are full of Volatile salt and Oyl as Dung Vrine and Plants corrupted 'T is fit to observe here that the salt does act after another-guise manner than the Oyl in hindring the Fermentation or corruption of the matter 't is mixed with for it does not only stop the pores and hinder the air from entring but fixes it likewise by its hooked parts that it can neither have motion nor rarefaction for which reason 't is that Meat is salted in order to keep it sweet and does thereby remain firm and compact for some time Three kinds of salt are drawn from Vegetables an Acid salt called Essential a Volatile and a Fixt salt The first is like Salt-peter and sometimes like Tartar according as it contains more or less earth this salt is drawn from the juice of the Plant as I said before for after expression and purifying this juice 't is set in a vessel in some cool place a few daies without stirring and the salt shoots into Crystals all about This Acid salt may be said to be the true salt that was in the Plant because the means that are used in drawing it are Natural and such as cannot change its nature but this can't be said of those others because the violent fires that are used about them make impressions of another nature and their effects are very different so that the fire seems to alter and disguise them as I shall shew in the following discourse The second salt or the Volatile salt of Plants is usually drawn from seeds or fruits Fermenting While it remains in the Vegetable it differs from the Essential salt only in this that being driven up higher by Spirits it becomes more Volatile The Fermentation that is caused in fruits by beating and bruising them does very much assist in Volatilizing the salt for it sets the particles at work and disposes them for an easier separation but it happens that in the great circulation or continual motion this salt is in it unites so strongly with the Oyl that Fruits and Seeds are full of that they can't be separated by Crystallizing the juice as they can in drawing them from other parts of the Plant. We must therefore have recourse to the help of fire The Fruit or seed which contains the Volatile salt as I shall prove in its proper place is Distilled by a Retort and Water comes forth in the first place then an Oyl and lastly a most keen ill scented Salt that easily flies away upon encreasing the fire to purpose is driven into the Receiver Now 't is plain that fire has changed or else added some thing to this salt for when 't was in the Plant it had no manner of smell like that it gets by distillation But to shew there 's a strange Alteration in this salt as soon as 't is mixed with an Acid there presently appears an Ebullition or Effervescency which remains until the Acid has throughly entred into the salt Which circumstance does not happen to it in its Natural being 't is this Ebullition that gave it the name of a Volatile Alkali to distinguish it from a Fixt Alkali of which I shall speak hereafter The Chymists will needs have this Volatile Alkali to be in the Plant just the same as when it is drawn that is to say they make this a different species of salt lying hid under the Acid until it is laid open by the force of fire But this opinion is founded on no credible experience for Anatomize the Plant how you think fit without using fire and you shall never find any other but an Acid salt Doubtless 't will be said that all other ways of diffecting Plants even into their salts prove too weak without the assistance of this grand dissolvent fire But if we consider impartially how fire acts we shall be forc'd to acknowledge that it rather destroyes and confounds the greatest part of the bodies it opens and does not leave them in the natural state they were in before and especially when 't is driven with that force which is necessary to draw this salt So that I see no reason why the Species of things should be multiplied without necessity by admitting many kinds of salts in Plants and I conceive with much more probability that the Volatile Alkali salt is a part of the Acid Essential salt I spoke of which having been first disposed to a Volatile nature and afterwards driven by the force of fire draws along with it a portion of