from it by the power of rectification so well as with lapis calaminaris This spirit doth perform many things in medicine as in Alchymie as also in other arts as you may easily conjecture but here is not opportunity to speak more of these things yet for the sake of the sick I shall add one thing to which few things are to be compared the plaine and short process whereof I would not have thee be offended at And it is this viz. Mix this spirit with the best rectified spirit of wine digest this mixture somewhile and the spirit of salt will separate the spirit of wine and will make the oyle of wine swim on the top the volatile salt being mortified and this oyle is a most incomparable cordial especially if with the said spirit of wine spices have first been extracted and with the said spirit of salt gold hath been dissolved For then in the digestion of this mixture the oyle of wine being separated attracts the essence of the cordial species and of other vegetables being extracted before with the spirit of wine as also the tincture of gold and so by consequence a most efficacious imcomparable and universal medicine for all diseases fortifying the Humidum radicale that it way be able to overcome its enemies for which let praise and glory be given to the immortall God for ever who hath revealed to us so great secrets Of the extrinsecal use of the spirit of salt in the kitchen I Said before that in stead of vinegar and verjuice it may be used as also in stead of the juice of Limons now it remains that I shew you how it is to be used and that indeed as wil for the sake of the healthy as the sick Let him therefore that will dress a pullet pigeons veale c. in the first place put a sufficient quantity of spices of water and butter and then as he pleaseth a greater or lesser quantity of spirit of salt and by this means fleshes are sooner made ready being boyled then that common way an old hen though the flesh thereof be old is made as tender as a chicken by the addition of this spirit but he that will use it in stead of the juice of Limons with rost meat must put into it the pill of limons for preservation sake because it preserves it It is used in stead of verjuice by it self alone or mixed with a little sugar if it be too acid He that will stew beef and make it as tender as kid must first dissolve it in tartar and a little salt before he wets the flesh therewith and the flesh will not only be preserved but made tender thereby but to keep flesh a long time you must mix some water therewith and with weights press down the flesh that it may be covered with the pickle for by this means flesh may be preserved a great while After the same manner may all kinds of garden fruits be preserved as cucumbers purslaine fennel broom German capers c. and indeed better then in vinegar Also flowers and hearbs may a long while be preserved by the help thereof so that you may have a rose all the winter It preserves also wine if a little be mixed therewith A little thereof being mixed with milk precipitates the cheese which if it be rightly made is never corrupted being like to such cheese as they call Parmesan The whey of that milke dissolves Iron and cures any scab being washed therewith With the help of spirit of salt is made with honey and sugar a most pleasant drink not unlike to wine There is made also of certain fruits with the spirit of salt a very good vinegar like to the Rhenish vinegar Such and many more things which I wil not now divulge may be done with spirit of salt And thus have I in some measure taught the use of the spirit of salt which I would not have you take as if I had revealed all things for for brevities sake as also for some other reasons I have silently passed over many things Neither do I know all things my self but those things which I do know I have so far declared that others may from thence have hints of seeking further He that would describe all every power vertue thereof had need to write a whole volume that which is not my purpose at this time to do but may prehaps be done another time There shall also be shewed in the second part of this book some secrets which may be prepared by the help of this spirit as how it may be dulcified to extract the tincture of gold and of other metals leaving a white body which tincture is a medicine not to be slighted Wherefore now seeing it is manifest how great things this spirit can do every one will desire a good quantity for his houshold uses especially seeing most excellent spirits may be made after an easie and short way How an acid spirit or vinegar may be distilled out of all vegetables as hearbs woods roots seeds c. FIrst put a few living coals into the furnace then put upon them the wood that is to be distilled that it may be burnt out of which whilest it is burning goes forth the acid spirit thereof into the receiver where being condensed it fals down into another receiver resembling almost common vinegar in its smell wherefore also it is called the vinegar of woods And after this manner you may draw forth an acid spirit out of any wood or vegetable and that in a great quantity without costs because the wood to be distilled is put but upon a very few living coals and upon that another for one kindles the other and this spirit requires no more charges then of the wood to be distilled which is a great difference betwixt this and the common way of distilling where besides retorts is required another fire and out of a great retort scarce a pound of spirit is drawn in the space of five or six hours whereas in ours in the space of one day and that without any cost or labor may be extracted twenty or thirty pound because the wood is immediately to be cast into the fire to be distilled and that not in pieces but whole Now this spirit being rectified may commodiously be used in divers Chymical operations for it doth easily dissolve animal stones as the eyes of Crabs the stones of Perches and Carps Corals also and Pearle c. as doth vinegar of wine By means thereof also are dissolved the glasses of metals as of tin lead Antimony and are extracted and reduced into sweet oyles This vinegar being taken inwardly of it self doth cause sweat wonderfully wherefore it is good in many diseases especially that which is made of Oake Box Guaiacum Juniper and other heavy woods for by how much the heavier the woods are by so much the more acid spirit do they yeeld Being used outwardly it mundifies ulcers wounds consolidates extinguisheth and mitigates
porous and drink up great part of the spirit and oyls I answer none of the spirits seeketh a violent passage out in case the wayes be open There is no danger therefore when there is passage enough given them by a pipe that is wide enough Neither doth oil stick to them in distillation for whatsoever is by force of the boiling water to be separated from the spirit and seeds that also is sublimable by the force of the seething water so as to distill in the refrigeratory no more is lost then in the stils Distillation being made the aforesaid spirits may be rectified in these wooden vessels being first washed as well as in the copper stils The making of a wooden vessell for a Balneum which is to be used in stead of copper and leaden Cauldrons for digestion and distillation by glasse vessels MAke an oaken vessel as big or as little as you please according to the greatnesse or littlenesse multitude or formes of the vessels of two or three spans high a little narrower above then below and so fashioned above that a cover of wood copper or lead may most closely be joined to it the cover must have holes greater or lesser according to the glasses as is wont to be in the making of a Balneum as you may see by the annexed figure This vessel also must be placed upon a stool of the height of an el or such height as is required for the joining of the copper globe with the Balneum which must have a hole neer the lower bottom for the receiving of the neck of the aforesaid globe In defect of such a vessell which yet you may provide easily enough take a wine or beer vessell divided in the middle and make a hole neer the bottome for the neck of the globe make also a wooden cover with holes c. He that will be curious may provide all things according to the best Art A wooden vessell serving for boiling of beere metheglin vinegar c. as well as copper Iron and tin vessels MAke a wooden vessel which shall be more high then broad a little under above then below as you please or take a wine or beer barrel divided in the middle and neer the bottome make a hole for the neck of the globe which is to be covered with boards which serves as wel for the boyling of beer c. as those of copper A wooden vessel for a bath for sweet or minerall water which may be according as you please kept warm for the preserving of health MAke a long wooden tub convenient to sit in which is to be set upon a stool of a just height viz. that the bottome of the vessel may answer the neck of the globe which is put into the furnace you may also have a cover that may cover the whole tub which may be divided and united in that place where the head goes forth as appeates by the annexed figure or you may cover it with a cloth laying it upon small crooked sticks fastned in the tub yet so that the head may have its liberty especially in a vaporous bath of common sweet or medicinall water or make a high wooden cover shutting very close for a dry sweat where it is no matter whether the head be shut in or no. Of the use of wooden vessels in distilling boyling bathing c. And first of the distilling vessel HE that will distill any burning spirit by help of the distilling vessel out of wine metheglin beer barley wheat meal apples pears cherries figs c. also out of flowers seeds and other vegetables hath need so to prepare his materials that they may yeeld their spirit Where I thought it convenient and indeed necessary to say something of the preparation of each vegetable for better information sake or else a profitable distillation is not to be expected but labour in vain to be feared And first of the preparation of the lees of wine beer hydromel and other drinkes THe lees of wine beer hydromel c. have no need to be prepared because they doe easily enough of themselves yeeld their spirit unless haply having lost all their humidity they be dryed which you may make moist again by the admixtion of common water lâ—ft they be burnt in distilling and stick to the vessel of which thing more in the distillation it selfe Now flowers roots hearbs seeds fruites apples pears cannot be distilled without a foregoing preparation You must therefore first prepare them as followeth Of the preparation of all kind of corn as wheat Oats Barly c. which must goe before the distilling of the spirit ANd first of all a malt must be made of the corn as it is wont to be in the making of beer Now the manner of making of malt is known almost to all wherefore I need not speak much of that because in all places that have no wine there is scarse any house found in which Malt and Beer is not made as well in the country as cities But however there is a great deal of difference of making of it for a long knife doth not make a good Cook nor all drinkers of wine are good planters For many have perswaded themselves that if they follow the footsteps of their fathers they have done well although they have been in an errour and being scornfull refuse instruction Wherefore something is to be said of the difference of malting Although I never exercised the Art of making Beer yet I am certain I doe in that excell all other distillers and Brewers For I often saw and indeed with admiration the simplicity of many in their operations although common and dayly to whom though an age should be granted yet they would never bee more thrifty being content with their ancient customes Good God! How perverse is the world where no body labours to find out any good neither is there any one that thinks of perfecting and amending things already found out Where all things run to ruine and all manner of vice increase for now almost every one seeks only after riches by right or wrong for it is all one with them if they have them not thinking that things ill gotten shall perish and that the third heir shall not injoy them and that unjust riches shall devoure hose that have been honestly gotten with danger also of eternall damnation I pray you if our Ancestors had been so negligent and had left nothing to us I pray you I say what Arts and Sciences should wee have had now It is come to this pass now that vertues decrease and vices increase Of the difference of malting THe difference of malt by reason whereof it yeelds better or worse beer and spirit consists for the most part in the preparation thereof for being made after the vulgar way it retaines its tast wherefore it cannot yeeld good spirit nor good beer which is observed of very few wherefore they could not draw forth good spirit out of corn
cast away with loss wherefore for admonition sake I was willing to adde such things that the operators may have an opportunity to consider the matter a little more profoundly with themselves or at least of learning the art of distilling from countrymen who do not suffer their malt to putrefie grow sowre or mouldy before they fall upon their distillations but presently fermentation being made the third or the fourth day begin their distillation But some one will object that my vegetable spirits are not pure by reason of the ferment that is mixed having in it self a spirit I answer there is not so great a portion of the ferment mixed which can corrupt the vegetable spirit For although some spoonfuls of ferment yeelding but a few drops of spirit be added to a great quantity of the vegetables yet there can come no hurt or detriment to so many quarts of the vegetable spirit I have seen some supercilious men that would not adde ferment to the matter of their spirit but sugar or honey by which they would promote fermentation and so have thought to get a pure spirit not considering that honey and sugar after fermentation are made to yeeld their spirits also whereof one spoonful yeelds more then ten or twenty of Barm But honey and sugar fermenting not without difficulty themselves how can they promote the fermentation of other things Who also have had experience that the addition of their ferment hath been superfluous whilest their flowers and hearbs have stood some weeks in maceration before they begun to ferment and that oftentimes they have contracted an acidity mustiness and stink the reason of which was an unsutable ferment There are indeed the fruits of some trees that have a sweet and ful juice as grapes cherries apples pears figs c. which need not the addition of any ferment having a natural ferment of their own but other vegetables not so being lean as hearbs flowers roots It is necessary there to promote the fermentation of them by the addition of a sutable ferment left in length of time these hearbs and seeds lose their spirit exhaling in maceration And thus much I was willing to say for information sake and indeed for the sake of them who seek after the best and choicest medicines wanting a good burning spirit as a companion applicable to them For this spirit came not only by it self as Aqua vitae into a medicinall use as well internal as external especially that which is prepared of cordial and cephalick hearbs but also being united with the proper oyls of those hearbs in many desperate diseases where it could put forth its vertues eminently And thus much sufficeth concerning the preparation of vegetables that goes before the distillation of burning spirits The manner of distilling in generall followeth HE that is going to distil hath need to stir his fermented matter very well with a stick that the thicker parts may be well mixed with the thinner and then he must fill therewith his distilling vessel set upon a treefoot and joined to the copper globe in the furnace on one side and to the refrigeratory on the other the joints in all places being well closed either with Oxe bladders or with starch and paper Also the interiour part of the globe in the distilling vessel must be fenced with a copper or wooden basket that the hearbs seeds and other things enter not into the globe into which only water must come Also the upper hole must be close stopped with a fitting stopple wrapt about with linnen clouts viz. that hole by which the matter to be distilled is put in like to vessels of wine that are stopped Which being well done you must kindle the fire in the furnace under the globe until all the matter in the whole vessel boil wel and that burning spirit rise and go out though the refrigeratory where it is condensed into the glass receiver that is set under it no less then distilled out of a stil and you must continue the fire til all the spirit be come forth which you may know by the tast Which being done and all things being cold let the remainders be taken out by the lower largetap hole for meat for swine or other uses The spirit that is drawn off may be exalted and rectified at your pleasure in the same vessel being first made clean together with the refrigeratory Note wel that sometimes there is left a fat oil with the flegm in rectifying of the spirit proceeding from that hearb of which that was the spirit which did distil off with the spirit from the matter with a strong fire in the first distillation but in the rectifying could not ascend with the spirit in a gentle fire but is constrained to remain with the insipid flegm And this oyl also hath its vertues especially that which is rectified by a glass gourd in Balneo with spirit of salt and clarified Now the like oyl is got almost from all hearbs roots seeds flowers and fruits but out of one subject more then another according to the hot and cold temper thereof Especially the sediment of wines yeelds a good quantity of such oyl which is as medicinable as the true oyl of wine being rectified not before it be endued with a sweet savour and it is an excellent cordiall although I knew no body that knew this before And thus I have shewed the generall way of distilling burning spirits by help of the aforesaid wooden distillatory Now also follows The manner of distilling spices seeds flowers hearbs roots Woods c. FIrst the seeds must be broken in a mill flowers hearbs and roots cut smal the woods broken are filed upon which afterwards a good quantity of water in which they may swim must be powred for the maceration of them so that when the distillation is ended there may remain some water lest for want of water they be burnt in the distilling â—nd yeeld an oyl savouring of the empyreuma and not sweet Neither is too great a quantity to be powred on them but as much as shall serve to prevent the burning of the aforesaid vegetables in the distilling of the oyl thereof And indeed fresh vegetables may presently without any foregoing maceration being put with their proper waters into the distilling vessel be distilled But they that be dry may for the space of some dayes be macerated before they be distilled Also the water appointed for maceration must be salted for the better mollifying and opening the aforesaid materials that they may the sooner yeeld their oyl Now green and fresh need not any salt water yet it wil not be hurtful to mix some therewith because salt helps the boiling water so as to make the oyl more easily to ascend It also helps and furthers distillation as doth Tartar and Allome if they be rightly mixed and ordered Which being all rightly done the materials that are macerated must be put by a funnel into the distilling vessel and fire must
calaminaris ibid. The use of the oyle of lapis calaminaris 27 Of the extrinsecal use of the spirit of salt in the Kitchen 29 How an acid spirit or vinegar may be distilled out of all vegetables as hearbs roots woods seeds c. 31 The spirit of paper and linen cloaths 32 The spirit of silk 33 The spirit of mans haire and of other animals and also of horns ibid. The spirit of vinegar honey and sugar ibid. How the spirits may be made out of the salt of tartar vitriolatedtartar the spirit of salt tart arised and of other such like fixed salts 34 Lac virginis and the Philosophic al sanguis draconis 35 The spirits flowers and salts of minerals and stones 36 How minerals and metals may be reduced into flowers and their vertues 36 Of gold and silver 37 Flowers of iron and copper 38 Flowers of lead and tin 39 Flowers of Mercury ibid. Flowers of Zinck ibid. The use 40 Flowers of Antimony 41 The Contents of the second Part. THe structure of the second furnace 51 The way or the manner to perform the distillation 52 How to make the acid oyle the volatile spirit of vitriol 55 Of Vitriol ibid. The use and dose of the narcotick sulphur of vitriol 57 Of the use and vertue of the volatil spirit of vitriol 58 Of the vertue and oyle of the corrosive oyle of vitriol 59 How to make the vitriol of Mars and Venus ibid. The way to make a faire blue vitriol out of Luna that is silver 60 Of the sweet oyle of vitriol 67 The preparation of the sweet oyle of vitriol 70 The use and the dose of the sweet oyle of vitriol 72 Of the sulphurous volatile and acid spirit of common salt and of Allome 74 The manner of preparing 74 Of the sulphurious volatile spirit of minerals of their preparation 75 The preparation of the volatile spirit of metals 75 The preparation of the volatile spirit of minerals ibid. Another way ibid The spirit of Zinck 76 The volatile spirit of the dross of Regulus Martis ibid. How to make a white acid and red volatile spirit out of salt nitre ibid. Of the use of the red volatile spirit 77 The use of the white acid spirit of salt nitre ibid Aqua Regis 78 The preparation of Aurum Fulminans ibid. The use of Aurum Fulminans 83 The use of the tincture of gold 85 Of the flowers of silver and of its medicine 86 Of the use of the crystals of silver 87 How to sublime the crystals of silver into flowers and then to make a good medicine of the flowers 88 How to make a green oyle out of silver 89 The use of the green oyle in Alchymie and for Mechanical uses 90 A medicine out of copper externally to be used 91 A medicine out of iron or steel 92 Of tin or lead ibid. The use of the crystals of lead and tin ibid. Of Mercury 93 Of Aqua fortis 96 Of the sulphurised spirit of salt nitre 98 Of the Clissus ibid. Of the tartarised spirit of nitre 99 Of the tartarised spirit of Antimony 100 Of stone coales 101 Of the sulphurious spirit of salt nitre or Aqua fortis 101 Of the nitrous spirit of Arsenick 102 To make a spirit of sulphurous crude tartar and salt nitre ibid. To make a spirit out of salt of tartar sulphur and salt nitre ibid. How to make a spirit of saw dust sulphur and salt nitre 103 To make metallical spirits and flores by the help of salt nitre and linnen cloth 104 Of gunpowder ibid. How to make a spirit of gunpowder 107 Of the use of the medicine or tincture made of gunpowder 109 To make spirits and flowers of nitre and coales 110 To make flowers and spirits of flints crystal or sand by adding of coales and spirit of salt nitre to them 110 To make a spirit and oyle out of talck and salt nitre 111 To make a spirit flowers and an oyl out of tin 112 To make a spirit flowers and a liquor out of Zinck ibid. To make a spirit flowers and a oyle of lapis calaminaris 113 To make spirit of salt nitre sulphur and common salt 114 To make a spirit flowers and oyl out of salt nitre and Regulus Martis 114 To distil Butyrum out of Antimony salt and vitriol like unto that which is made out of Antimony and Mercury sublimate 118 To distil butyrum of Arsenick and orpiment ibid. To make a rare spirit of vitriol 119 To make a subtle spirit and pleasant oyle of Zinck 120 To distil a spirit and oyle out of lead 121 To distil a subtle spirit and oyle out of crude tartar 122 The preparation and use of the spirit of tartar 123 How to make pretious spirits and oyles out of tartar joyned with some minerals and metals 126 The use of the metallised spirit and tartar ibid. The other way to make a metallised spirit of tartar 130 To distil the spirit and oyle of lead and tin How to make a tartarised spirit and oyl out of iron steel or copper 133 How to make a tartarised spirit of Mercury 137 How to make a tartarised spirit of gold and silver ibid. To make a tartarised spirit of antimony 139 How to make good spirits and oyles out of pearls corals and crabs eyes and other light soluble stones of beasts and fishes 146 To distil a spirit out of salt of tartar and crude tartar 147 How to get a powerful spirit out of the salt of tartar by the help of sand or peble stones ibid. How to extract a blood red tincture with spirit of wine out of peble stones 150 The use of the tincture of pebles or flints in physick 151 How by the help of this liquor out of gold its red colour may be extracted so that it remaines white 153 Another way to extract a tincture out of gold by the help of the liquor of sand or pebles 159 What further may be done with the liquor of pebles 160 How by the help of this liquor to make trees to grow out of metals with their colours ibid. Of the spirit of urine and of the vo latile spirit of salt Armoniack 162 The process or manner of making it is this 163 Of the use or vertue of the spirit of salt Armoniack 166 To distil a blood red oyle of vitriol by the help of the spirit of urine 167 The tincture of vegetables 168 Vitriol of copper ibid. The tincture of crude tartar ibid. To make the oyles or liquors of salts ibid. To precipitate all metals with it ibid. The oyle and vitriol of silver 169 To extract a red oyle on t of Antimony or common sulphur ibid. How to ripen Antimony and common sulphur so that several sorts of such like smâ—ls as vegetables have arise from thence 171 Of the spirit and oyle of harts-home 171 To make the spirit of mans haire an excellent medicine 172 Of the oyle of Ambar 173 Of the oyle of soot
in which when they are stopt you may take them with a paire of Tongs stir them and cleanse them from the burnt water and then again put them into their own places wherefore also the Furnace must on the fore part be open under the grate that you may the better order the grate Also the grate must have above a covering of Iron or Stone with a hole in the midle thereof with a certain distinction which is to be filled with sand that the cover may the better and more fitly shut the hole and prevent the exhaling of the spirits which by this means will being forced go forth thorow the Pipe into the receivers after you have cast in the water which is to be distilled Of the Receivers Let the receivers be made of glass or of strong earth which may retain the spirits and such is Waldburgick Hassiack Frechheimensian Siburgic earth c. They are better that are made of glass if they are to be had and those especially which are made of strong and firme glass which may be smoothed about the joynts with a Smiris stone and so fitted that they may the better be joyned together and then they need not laving but how they shall be smoothed with the Smiris stone and be fitted shall be taught in the fifth part which treates of Manuals because by this means they are joyned so close that no spirits can go through the joynts otherwise you must close the joynts with the best lute such as will not let the spirits exhale which shall be taught in the book treating of Manuals The form of the recipient you may see in the delineation thereof As for the quantity thereof know that by how much the greater they are so much the better they are for then you need the fewer but the more by how much the lesser they are Let the superior orifice be larger then the inferior so that alwayes another receiver may with its inferior orifice be joyned to it and let the inferior orifice have a Diameter of three fingers breadth or thereabouts I mean in case the Diameter of the Furnace be of one span For a greater Furnace requires greater holes as also orifices of the receivers by which means a sufficient and due proportion of aire may be given to the fire or if the Diameter of the furnace be more then a span it must also have two or three pipes which being considered together should have a wideness answering the wideness of the third part of the Furnace for so great a wideness and so much aire is required if the fire burn freely and do its office to which vessels of the aforesaid proportion must be applyed that the fire be not choaked Now the figure that is annexed will teach the conjunction of the receivers as also their application to the furnace And in the first place the receiver stands in a threefoot stoole bored thorow in the middle that the neck of the first receiver may pass thorow to which is applyed a dish with a pipe receiving the dropping spirits To the first there is joyned a second and to that a third and so consequently viz. neer unto a wall or ladder so many as you please Let the upper receiver and indeed all the rest be left open To the lower as hath been said is joyned a dish with a pipe by which the distilled spirits run down into another certain glass vessel added thereunto which being filled is taken away and another is set in the place of it because that is set under it without luting and therefore may easily be changed And if you please to distil any thing else you must take away that dish with a pipe and make it clean and then joyn it close again that no spirit may breath forth to the work of the lower receiver And if that dish cannot be so closely joyned that nothing exhale pour in a spoonful of water for that doth astringe neither doth it hurt the spirits because in the rectifying it is separated Of Subliming vessels These you need not make of glass or of such earth as may retain the spirits as hath been above mentioned it is sufficient if so be they be made of good common potters earth and be well glazed within viz. of such a form and figure as appears by the annexed delineation Yet you must choose good earth that will endure the fire for the lower pots are so heated by the fire that they would be broken if they should not be made of good earth Now I will shew you in general the manner it self of distiling as also the manual necessaries in every distillation The manner of distilling In the first place let there be some burning coales put in which afterwards must be covered with more until the Furnace be full almost to the pipe which being done let not the uppermost cover be laid over its hole that the heat and smoke may pass that way and not thorow the pipe and receivers which will thereby be red hot and this will be a hindâ—ance to the distillation untill the fire be sufficiently kindled and the furnace be throughly hot then cast in with an Iron ladle of the water prepared for distillation as much as will cover the coales which being done stop the furnace very close by pressing down strongly the upper cover upon its hole or sand which is put in the lower part of the hole being a place made for that purpose Now let him that casts in any thing thorow the middle hole presently stop it with a stopple of stone and that very close for by this means all those things which were cast in will be forced after the manner of a thick cloud to break forth through the pipe into the receivers and there to condense themselves into an acid spirit or oyle and thence to distil into the dish set under through the pipe whereof they do yet distil down further into an other glass receiver The Coales being burnt out and all the spirits being come forth you must cast in more Coales and more materials untill you have got a sufficient quantity of Spirits In this way of distilling you may at your pleasure cease and begin again without any danger When you will make clean the Furnace you need do nothing else then draw out the Iron bars that ly on the cross bar that the Caput Mortuum may fall down which afterwards may be taken away with a fire shovel which being done you must put in the bars again and â—ay them on the cross bars as before upon which you must cast burning coals and upon them others until there be enough then on them all being well kindled cast your materials When you go to make clean the receivers and to begin to distil an other thing you need not remove them but only pour pure water into them viz. by their upper receiver by the descending whereof the other are purified And by this way not only out of vegetables
spirit of salt nitre through which pipe he threw in his mixture And it is a good way if no better be known but if the Author had known my invention and way of distilling I doubt not but he would have set aside his that hath a nose or pipe retort and made use of mine The materials indeed are good but not the weight or proportion for to what purpose so great a quantity of sulphur it being not able to burn away all with so smal a quantity of salt nitre And if it doth not burn away but only sublime and stop the neck of the retort whereby the distillation is hindred how can it then yeeld any vertue Therefore you ought to take not so much sulphur but only such a quantity as will serve to kindle the salt nitre viz. to lb i. of salt nitre four drams of sulphur but because Antimony also is one of the ingredients which hath likewise much sulphur for there is no Antimony so pure but it containeth much combustible sulphur as in the fourth part of this book shal be proved therefore it is needless to add so much sulphur unto Antimonie to make it burn because it hath enough of it self And therefore I will set down my composition which I found to be better then the first Take Antimony lb i. salt nitre lb ij sulphur â„¥ iij. the materials must be made into smal powder and well mixed and at once cast in â„¥ ij thereof and there will come over a sulphureous acid spirit of Antimony which will mix it self with the water which hath been put before in the receiver which after the distillation is finished must be taken out and kept close for its use It is a very good diaphoretick or sweat-provoking medicine especially in feavers the plague epilepsie and all other diseases whose cure must be performed by sweating The Caput Mortuum may be sublimed into flores in that furnace which is described in the first part Of the Tartarifed spirit of nitre IN the very same manner there may also be distilled a good sweat-provoking spirit out of salt nitre and Tartar a like quantity taken of each which is very good to be used in the plague and malignant feavers The Caput Mortuum is a good melting powder for to reduce the calxes of metals therewith or else you may let it dissolve in a moyst place to oyle of Tartar Of the Tartarised spirit of Antimony A Much better spirit yet may be made of Tartar salt nitre and Antimony a like quantity being taken of each and made into fine powder and mixed well together which though it be not so pleasant to take is therefore not to be despised For not only in the plague and feavers but also in all obstructions and corruptions of blood it may be used with admiration of its speedy help The Caput Mortuum may be taken out and melted in a crucible and it will yeeld a Regulus the use whereof is described in the fourth part Out of the scoria or dross a red Ticture may be extracted with spirit of wine which is very useful in many diseases But before you extract with spirit of wine you may get a red lixivium out of it with sweet water which lixivium may be used externally for to mend the faults of the skin and to free it from scabbiness Upon this lixivium if you poure Vinegar or any other acid spirit there will precipitate a red pouder which if it be edulcorated and dryed can be used in physick It is called by some Tartar auratum diaphoreticum but it is no Diaphoretick but maketh strong vomits and so in case of necessity when you have no better medicine at hand it may be used for a vomitory from 6. 7. 9. to 15. grains Also out of the scoria there can be extracted a faire Sulphur with the spirit of urine and distilled over the Limbeck which is very good for all diseases of the lungs Of Stone-coles IF you mixe stone-coles with a like quantity of salt nitre and distill them you will get an admirable spirit and good to be used for external sores for it cleanseth and draweth the wounds together exceedingly and there will also come over a metallical vertue in the form of a red powder which must be separated from the spirit and kept for its use But if you cast in stone-coles alone by themselves and distill them there will come over not only a sharp spirit but also a hot and blood red oyle which doth powerfully dry and heal all running ulcers especially it will heal a scald-head better then any other medicine and it doth consume also all moyst and spongious excrescencies in the skin where ever they be but if you sublime stone-coles in the furnace described in the first part there comes over an acid metallical spirit and a great deale of black light flores which suddenly stanch bleeding and used in plasters are as good as other metallical flores Of the Sulphreous spirit of salt nitre or Aqua fortis IF you take one part of sulphur two parts of salt nitre and three parts of vitriol and distill them you will get a graduating Aqua fortis which smelleth strongly of sulphur for the sulphur is made volatil by the salt nitre and vitriol It is better for separating of metals then the common Aqua fortis If silver be put in it groweth black but not fixed some of it poured into a solution of silver a great deal of black calx will precipitate but doth not abide the tryal You may also abstract a strong sulphureous volatile spirit from it which hath like vertue as well internally as externally for bathes and may be used like unto a volatile spirit of Vitriol or Allome Of the Nitrous spirit of Arsenick IF you take white Arsenick and pure salt nitre of eacha a like quantity ground into fine powder and distill them you will get a blew spirit which is very strong but no water must be put into the receiver else it would turn white for Arsenick from which the blew cometh is precipitated by the water This spirit dissolveth aud graduateth the copper as white as silver and maketh it malleable but not fix The remaining Caput Mortuum maketh the copper white if it be cemented therewith but very brittle and unmalleable but how to get good silver out of Arsenick and with profit you shall finde in the fourth part In physick the blew spirit serveth for all corroding cancrous sores which if they be anoynted therewith will be killed thereby and made fit for healing To make aspirit of Sulphur crude Tartar and Salt nitre IF you grinde together one part of Sulphur two parts of Crude Tartar and four parts of salt nitre and distill it Philosopher-like you will get a most admirable spirit which can play his part both in Physick and Alchymie I will not advise any body to distill it in a retort for this mixture if it groweth warm from beneath it fulminateth
followeth Take of the urine of sound men living chaste gather a good quantity together in a wooden vessel let it stand for its time to putrefie and distil a spirit thereof which afterward in a great glass retort with a wide neck must be rectified over calcined Tartar and still that which cometh over first may be saved by it self and so the second and third also the strongest may be used for the preparing of metallical medicines and the weaker for a medicine alone by it self or else mingled with fit vehicles and the stronger may serve for the preparations of metallical medicines the salt which in the rectification cometh over with the strongest spirit may be put to the weakest to make it the stronger or else it may be saved by it selfe in a good strong glass But because the spirit of urine is tedious to make therefore I will shew how to get it easier out with salt Armoniack The preparation is thus Take of salt Armoniack and lapis calaminaris ana make each by it self into powder and then mixe them together and cast of it into the red hot vessel at once no more then â„¥ ss or â„¥ i. Unto the vessel there must be applyed a great receiver for this spirit goeth with such a force and power that it were impossible to distil it in a retort without danger or loss for I broke more then one receiver with it before I did invent this instrument The spirits being wel settled in the receiver cast in more of your mixture this continue so long till all your matter is cast in then take off the receiver and powre the spirit into a strong glass which must be well closed at the top but not with wax and a bladder because it softeneth the wax and doth penetrate through the bladder but first stop it with paper then melt Lacca or sulphur and powre it upon it so that it come to be very well closed and then it will not be able to exhale or thou mayest get such glasses made as in the fifth part shall be taught for to keep all the subtle spirits in them for more security sake And this spirit if no water have been mixt with it in the receiver needeth no rectifying but he that will have it stronger yet may rectifie it through a glass retort and so keep it for use And this is the best way to make a strong spirit out of salt Armoniack the same may be done also by taking of filed Zinck in stead of lapis calaminaris also by adding of salt of Tartar salt made of the Lee of wood ashes unquencht lime and the like but the spirit is nothing neer so strong although all those things may be done with it that are done with the former as that which is made with lapis calaminaris or Zinck The process or the manner of making it is this TAke lb i. of salt Armoniack made into powder and as much of salt of Tartar mixe both together by the help of a lye made of Tartar or only with common water so that all come to be like a pap and cast in one spooneful thereof at once into a distilling vessel then cast in more till you have spirit enough N. B. The salt of Tartar may also be mixed drye with the salt Armoniack without any lye or water and so distilled but it is not so good as when the mixture is tempered with lye or water for if it be cast in dry the spirit will come over in the form of a volatile salt but if the mixture have been moystened then most part thereof will come over like a fiery burning spirit in like manner also the mixture of lyme and salt Armoniack may be tempered moist and it will yield more spirit then if it be distilled dry It may be asked why lapis calaminaris Zinck and unquencht lyme calcined Tartar salt of pot-ashes fixed salt nitre or the like things prepared by the fire must be added unto salt Armoniack and whether it be not as good to add some bolus or other earth as usually is done to other salts and so to distill a spirit of it To which I answer that there are two sorts of salts in salt Armoniack viz. a common acide salt and a volatile salt of urine which without mortifying of one of them cannot be separated for as soon as they feel the heat the volatile salt of urine carrieth the acid salt upwards and they both together yeild a sublimate of the same nature and essence with common salt Armoniack which is not sublimed salt Armoniack is purer then the common And no spirit would come over from it if it should be mingled with bole brick dust sand or any other strengthless earth and so distilled but the whole salt as it is of it self leaving its earthy substance behinde would sublime thus dry but that it falleth out otherwise with the lapis calaminaris which is also like an earth so that a separation of the salts is wrought thereby and a volatile spirit commeth over the reason is that the lapis calaminaris and Zinck are of such a nature that they have a great affinity with all acid things and do love them and are loved by them likewise whereof some mention hath been made in the first part so that the acide salt sticks to it in the warmth and uniteth it self with it and the salt volatile is made free and distilled into a subtle spirit which could not have been done if the acide salt had not been kept back by the lapis calaminaris or Zinck But that a spirit is distilled off by addition of fixed salts the reason is because that fixed salts are contrary unto acid salts and if they get the upperhand do kill the same and rob them of their strength whereby those things which are mixed with them are freed from their bond and so it fals out here with salt Armoniack that when by addition of a vegetable fixd salt the acidity of the salt Armoniack is killed the salt of urine which formerly was bound therewith gets its former freedom and strength and sublimated turnes into a spirit Which could not have been done if common salt had been added to the salt Armoniack in stead of salt of Tartar for the salt of urine would thereby as by a far greater enemy be killed and kept back so that it could yield no spirit I thought it fit to give notice hereof to the ignorant not for those who knew it before and to the unknowing it will do much good and that they may have a light for other labours for I have many times seen and see iâ— still by daily experience that the most part of your vulgar Chymists whatsoever they do having got it either by reading seeing or hearing they hurle it over like botchers and are not able to give any solid reason why this or that must fall out in such or another manner not labouring to finde out the natures and conditions
but such as savours of the tast and smell of the malt Which is not the salt of the corn but of the artificer not operating aright in the preparation of his malt in distilling and rectifying For if it were prepared a right in all things corn yeelds the best spirit not unlike to that which is made out of the lees of wine in tast odour and other vertues Which Art although it be not known to all yet it doth not follow that it is impossible Now I did not say that it is that common way whereby that spirit which is like to the spirit of wine is distilled but another which is more subtill and witty Out of all vegetables is drawn a burning spirit yet such as is perceived by some difference of the tast and odour but that is not the spirits fault but of the vegetable as of hearbs seeds corn c. communicating their vertues tast and odour to the spirit whence that spirit deserves to be called not simple but compounded for else all the burning spirit being rightly rectified from its flegm is made out of any thing having the same vertues with the spirit of wine although it seem unprobable to some I do not deny that one simple may yeeld more or less sweet spirit then another For sweeter wines yeeld sweeter spirits Also cleere wine yeelds a sweeter spirit then the lees of wine although they come forth out of one and the same vessel For clarified wine and that which is sparated from the faeces yeelds a sweeter spirit then the Lees and impure heterogeneal sediment which corrupts the simple and sweet spirit with 〈◊〉 strong tast and smell so that that may deservedly being as it were simple be preferred before this which is accidentally corrupted And this is to be understood of all other spirits What hath hitherto been said hath been spoken for the sakes of them who have perswaded themselves that they could not perform chymical operations so well by the spirit of corn as with the spirit of wine for I never found any difference of both in the extraction of minerals as vegetables Let him therefore that can receive my opinion and experience seeing I will have nothing to doe with contradicting Carpers Without hurt to others I dare not reveal the Art of distilling sweet spirit with great profit out of corn in all things like to that which is made of the faeces of wine viz. without preparation or grinding of malt which shall haply be communicated elsewhere at some time or other For this Book is not written for the publishing of secrets but of a new invented distillation But thou that wilt make a sweet burning spirit out of malt or honey know this that the corn must be brought after a certaine peculiar manner into malt and lose its ungrateful savour before its distilling and fermenting or else after the wonted manner a certain ungratefull spirit will be drawn from thence that cannot be compared to the spirit of wine The whole Art therefore consists in a true preparation For ungrateful things are by Art brought into a gratefulness and on the contrary grateful things are made ungrateful by negligence And thus much for information sake Of the fermentution of Malt. TAke of malt ground in a mil as much as you please upon which in a wooden vessel set up right pour cold water as much as will moisten it and serve for mixtion and comminution then also pour as much warm water as will suffice for the making the mixture moist and thin and also warm for it must be neither hot nor cold which being done mix with it some new barm and cover it with a cloth and in a short space being exposed to heat it will begin to ferment wherefore the vessel is not to be filled to the top and leave it so long in fermentation until the mixture descends which for the most part is wont to be done the third day and the malt will be ready for distillation Of the fermentation of Honey NEither hath honey any need of a singular Art in its fermentation because being mixed with 6 7 8 10 parts of warm water it is dissolved and unto the solution is added ferment as hath been spoken concerning malt which afterward is left covered in some heat for to be fermented being fit for distillation when it becomes to wax hot Now know that too great a quantity of honey makes a very slow fermentation viz. of some weeks and months wherefore for acceleration sake I advise that a greater quantity of water bee added although otherwise it yeelds plenty of spirits but ungrateful which therefore I advise no body to distil as being unprofitable unlesse any one know how to take away the ungratefulness thereof Of the preparation of fruits seeds flowers hearbs roots c. THe fruits of trees as cherries plums apples pears figs juniper-berries elder-berries dwarf-elder and mulberries c. are bruised in wooden vessels with wooden pestils and upon them being bruised is poured warm water and ferment added to quicken it as hath been abovesaid of malt Seeds are broken in a mill flowers hearbs and roots are cut small and are stirred up to fermentation by mixing of warm water and barm An Annotation BEfore thou distil the aforesaid vegetables prepared by the help of fermentation diligently weigh and accurately observe whether the mixture be sufficiently fermented for sometimes there is sometimes too much cold or hot water put to it sometimes the vessel is not well covered by which meanes the cold air is let in whence the fermentation is hindered and consequently the distillation of the spirit For by the help of fermentation the burning spirit of the vegetables is set at liberty without which it cannot be done also the distillation is hindred by too much hast as wel as by too much delay for if thou begin to distil before the time viz. fermentation not being yet perfected thou shalt have but few spirits wherefore also the better part is by many that are unskilful cast to the swine but without any great loss if the matter were malt because that swine are fed therewith But not so if other vegetables were the matter of the distillation Also too much slowness where the matter begins to be sowre before it be distilled yeelds very few spirits that which often happens whilest hearbs and flowers c. are out of ignorance left in fermentation 3 4 5 and more weeks before they be distilled for the greatest part of the spirit is then turned to vinegar which would not be so very ill done if so be these men knew how to clarifie the remainders and torn it into vinegar that nothing thereof be lost for the vinegars of hearbs flowers seeds and roots are not to be contemned And so often times a thing to be lamented the better part if they be spices and pretious things is lost The matter of the distillation and other choice things as seeds and hearbs are
be given as hath been spoken concerning the burning spirit and the oyle of the seed or wood macerated in the water will come forth in the coition together with the water And although by this way more oyle comes forth viz. Maceration being made by the addition of salt then without salt by the help of the sweet water alone as is the fashion in all places almost to distil oyls of spices yet much remaines inseparable by the water and consequently not to be sublimed with the water Therefore the better way is that which I shewed in the first part to be performed with the spirit of salt which if you please you may follow All the oyle being come forth that which is perceived by the changing of the receivers the fire is to be extinguished and the remainder is to be taken out which if it be of seeds hearbs or fruits may being yet warm be fermented by the addition of ferment for the distilling of the spirit of which there cannot be so great a quantity by reason of taking away of the oyle as otherwise is drawn out of things that have not lost their oyle For all burning spirit partakes of much oyl of the essence and nature whereof more a little after Now the oyls must be made without the addition of any salt for salt hinders the fermentation without which the burning spirit cannot be had But the water that is distilled together with the oyle is to be set in a certain temperate place until the oyle ascend and swim upon the water from whence it is to be separated with a Tunnel of which in the fifth part also there are some oyles which doe not ascend but fall to the bottome which are are also to be separated with a Tunnel and kept for their uses Now how these oyles may be kept clear long and not contract any clamminess shall be taught in the 5 part but how they shall after they have lost their clearness by long standing and are become tenacious be restored and clarified again is taught in the first part wherefore I need not here repeat it How Oyles are to be coagulated into Balsames IT hath been the custome a long time to turn aromaticall oyles into Balsames where alwayes one hath been willing to excell another in this Art which nevertheless was nothing hitherto but for a washing and cleansing for they could not be used inwardly but only outwardly for their odour to comfort the heart and brain Now the aforesaid oyls are coagulated many ways and are made portable in Tin Silver and ivory boxes Some have mixed the fat of a lamb with them by help of heat and have turned them into a liniment which they have colored with divers colours as for example they have corrupted the oyles of green hearbs as rosemary majoram lavender rue sage with a green colour by the admixtion of verdigrease which is noxious to the head and heart where one corroborates and refresheth another destroyes They have tinged the Balsame of Cinnamon and lignum Rhodium with a red colour by the help of a poysonous Cinnabar Others that are more industrious have tinged their Oyles with extracted colours of vegetables which balsames are more safely taken inward But they are not durable acquiring a sliminess and stink wherefore they have mixed a white wax to coagulate them By which means they are become more durable without stinking but yet in length of time so tenacious that being smeared or rubbed upon the skin they stick fast by reason of the wax that is mixed with them at last others have found out a better way of coagulating aromatical oyles and other things viz. by the addition of the oyle of Nutmeg made by expression having lost its odour and colour by spirit of wine which they called the Mother of Balsames And this way hath been a long time concealed by Apothecaries as a great secret until at length it be made of publick right so that balsames prepared after this manner are sold almost in all shops But however that be the best way yet they are not durable balsames that are made that way because they lack salt I doe not contemne and disapprove of Balsames made after this way for if a better way were knowne better had been made for no man is forced beyond his power Wherefore they are not onely to bee excused that have used Lambes fat Waxe and the oyle of Nutmegs in the making of their Balsames but also to be honored for their communication Now seeing the aforesaid Balsames cannot bee taken inward nor bee so well outwardly administred by reason of their unctuosity others have consulted to congelate the Oyles by the admixtion of their owne proper fix-salts and Balsames prepared after this manner are made free from clamminesse or tenaciousnesse and may be dissolved in wine beer or any liquor Wherefore they may be not onely conveniently taken inward but also more conveniently then those old be rubbed outwardly for the odours sake because they are easily washed off againe with water They doe not onely give a most sweet odour being rubbed but also by reason of the admixtion of a fixed salt having the nature of salt of Tartar doe beautifie the skin Wherefore they are commended being dissolved in fair warme water for a washing for the head and face not onely because they beautifie but corroborate with their excel-cellent odour that which those fat Balsames cannot doe Wherefore this way is to be preferred farre before the other Let him therefore that will receive what I have said for rare things and new things are not alwayes accepted especially being obscure but I hope for the approbation of the age to come The manner of preparing follows TAke the remains of the burning spirit and being put into a sack press it hard reduce the water pressed out into vinegar and of roses thou shalt have a rose vinegar and of other things another being the best in a family for to season meats then take the remains out of the sack and reduce it to white ashes in a potters furnace upon which pour the flegme of its own burning spirit being separated to extract the salt from which evaporate again all the humidity in a glazed earthen pot calcine the coagulated salt gently in a clean crucible and it will be white and be like to salt of Tartar in tast from which abstract sometimes its owne proper burning spirit calcining the salt first every time and the spirit will be so exalted by its proper salt so that it will presently assume its proper oyle and will being powred upon it associate it to itself so as to be perceived no more in the spirit which will remaine very clear Which being done calcine the salt yet once more very well in a crucible and dissolve so much of it in its proper flegme as sufficeth for the coagulation of the oyle then mix this solution with the burning spirit mixed with its oyle and set it in a vial of
hath also this commodity in it that although by littleness of the dose or the strong nature of the patient it doth not work by vomit or stool yet it doth not like other medicines hurt the body but works either by sweat or urine so that Antimony being rightly prepared is seldome adminstred without profit When as on the contrary vegetable Catharticks being given in less dose or by reason of some other causes do not work although they do not make the body swel and produce manifest diseases yet they may threaten to the body occult sicknesses Now the Arcanum of Antimony doth not only not do hurt if it do not sensibly operate but by insensible working doth much good to the body of man Wherefore there is a great difference betwixt purging minerals and vegetables For minerals are given in a less dose without nauseousness but vegetables with a great deal of nauseousness and sometimes with danger to the sick in a greater dose Now that nauseousness also proceeding oftentimes from the great dose of the ungrateful bitter potions does more hurt then the potion it self I wish that such kinde of gross medicines were abolished and the sweet extracts of vegetables and essences of minerals were substituted in their place A purging Extract TAke of the roots of black Hellebor gathered in a fit time and dryed in the aire one pound the roots of Mechocan Jâ—llap of each four ounce Cinnamon Annisseed and Fennel-seed of each one ounce of English Saffron a dram powder all these ingredients then powre upon them the best rectified Spirit of wine in a high glass gourd and upon this put a blind Alembick and set it in digestion in Balneo until the Spirit of wine be tinged red which then decant off and powre on fresh and set it againe in digestion untill the spirit be red which also decant off then powre on fresh again and do this so often until the spirit will no more be tinged red which commonly is done at three times Mix these tinged spirits filter them and in Balneo by a glass Alembick with a gentle heat draw them off from the Tincture and a thick juyce will remaine at the bottome of a brounish colour which you must take out whilest it is yet hot and keep it in a clean glass for its uses The Spirit of wine drawn off from the extract may be reserved for the aforesaid same use Now this extract is given from grains 3. 6. 9. 12. to 31. according to the age and person beeng mixed with Sugar it hath not an ungrateful tast and it works gently and safely if it be not given in too great adose And if thou wilt have it in the form of a pill mix with it being yet hot an ounce of cleer Aloes and half an ounce of Diagridium powdered being mixed bring it into a mass for pils and keep it for your use The dose is from grains 1. to a scruple It evacuates all superfluous humors but it is not to be compared with the medicine of Antimony And this extract I put down for the sakes of those that fear minerals and abhor vomits which in my judgment is the best of all vegetable Cathartickes A Diaphoretical Extract TAke the Wood Sassafras Sassaparilla of each six ounces Ginger Galangal Zedoary of each three ounces long Pepper Cardamoms Cububs of each an ounce Cinnamon Mace of each half an ounce English Saffron Nutmeg Cloves of each a dram Let the woods be rasped the roots and spices powdered powr upon them being mixed the spirit of wine and let the tincture be drawn forth in Balneo as hath been above said of the purging Extract evaporate away the spirit to the consistency of honey which keep for your use It is good in the plague feavers scorbute leprosie frenchpox and other diseases proceeding from the impurity of the blood curing them by sweat The dose of this Extract is from a scruple â—o a dram with proper vehicles it provoketh sweat presently driveth away all venenosities from from the heart and mundifies the blood And although it be a most effectual vegetable Diaphoretick yet it may not be compared to those subtile spirits of minerals of which in the second part Also animal diaphoreticks have their commendations as the flesh of vipers the fixed salt of spiders and toads in their peculiar operations where each alone without the mixture of any other thing puts forth and sheweth its operations neither are animal and vegetable diaphoreticks to be compared to the mineral as bezâ—aâ—ticum minerale antimonium diaphoreticum and aurum diaphoreticum A Diuretical Extract TAke the seeds of Saxifrage Caryoway Fennel Parsly Netles of each 3. ounces the root of liquorish the greater bur of each an ounce the powder of woodlice half an ounce Let these being mixed and powdered be extracted with spirit of Juniper according to art then mix these following things with the extracted matter Take the salt of Ambar soot netles of each half a dram purified nitre a dram Let these be powdered and mixed with the extract and this mixture be kept for use The dose is from a scruple to a dram in the water of parsly fennel c. This extract forceth urin opens the ureters purgeth the reines and bladder from all viscous flegme the mother of all tartareous coagulation viz if it be used timely In this case is commended also the solution of flints and crystals made with spirit of salt A greater commendation have salts of nephretick hearbs made by expression and crystallisation without calcination the preparation whereof shall not here but elsewhere be taught A Somniferous Extract TAke of Thebaic opium four ounces of Spirit of Salt two ounces purified Tartar one ounce set them being mixed in maceration in Balneo in a glass vessel for a day and night and the spirit of salt with Tartar will open the body of the opium and prepare it for extraction upon which powre half a pint of the best spirit of wine set it in a gentle Balneo to be extracted Decant off the spirit that is tinged and powre on fresh set it in digestion till the spirit be coloured Then mix the extractions together and put to them in a glass gourd two drams of the best Saffron of oyle of Cloves a dram and draw off the spirit of wine in Balneo and there will remaine a thick black juyce which is to be taken out and kept in a clean glass vessel The dose thereof is from grain one to five or six for those of a mans age but to children the sixth or eighth part of a graine It may be used in all hot distempers without danger It provoketh quiet sleep mitigates pains as well outward as inward it causeth sweat but especially it is a sure remedy for the epilepsie in children that are new born for assoon as it is given to them to the quantity of the eighth part of a graine in wine or womans milk there presently follows rest and