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
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 and has the same virtues as
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
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 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
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
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
less impression to liquors than the others Add to pag. 68. lin 6. Chap. Of Iron Iron is found in many Mines in Europe in form of a Stone or Marcassite which much resembles the Loadstone but this last is more heavy and brittle than Iron The Loadstone is also found in Mines of Iron and may be reduced into Iron by a strong fire Iron for its part does easily acquire the virtue of the Loadstone as every body knows so that these bodies do seem to differ only in the figure of their Pores as has been very well observed by our Modern Philosophers Iron in the stone is melted in large Furnaces made on purpose both to purifie it from some earth and to bring it into the Form we desire Having continued some time in Fusion it Vitrifies as it were and much resembles an Email of several colours and it enters indeed into the composition of ordinary Emails with Lead Tinn Antimony Sand the Saphire the Stone of Perigord a Province in France Gravelled ashes and the ashes of a Plant called Kali Although Mars does contain an Acid Vitriolick Salt yet it ceases not being an Alkali for it ferments with Acids and no body needs wonder at this effect when they consider there is more Earth than Salt in this Metal and this Earth confining this Salt within it retains Pores enough to receive the Points of Acids when thrown upon it and so do the office of an Alkali for as I have said speaking of the Principles it is sufficient for a body to be called an Alkali if it has its Pores so disposed as that the Acids may be able through their motion violently to divide whatsoever stands in their way Mars is almost always Astringent by Stool by reason of its Terrestrious parts and Aperitive by Vrine not only by reason of its piercing Salt but also because when the body is bound the humidities do more easily filter by way of Vrine Add to pag. 70. The last line of the Remarks upon Opening Saffron of Mars Seeing some persons have pleased to contradict the Remarks I have made upon the Effects of Mars and particularly concerning the preference I have given Iron to Steel for Physical uses I have thought it not convenient to end this Chapter before I have laid down and Answered all their Objections First then they say that because the different substances of Mars cannot be separated as those of Animals and Vegetables can 't is in vain an Aperitive virtue is attributed to its Salt Answer I grant all the substances of Mars can't be separated so easily as those of Animals and Vegetables but because we find Salts to be Aperitive and commonly Remedies that are so are full of Salts and that water in which Rust of Iron has steeped for some time is proper to open by way of Vrine it seems to me rational enough to attribute this effect of Mars principally to its Salt for if the water has carried off any taste or penetrating quality from Iron there 's nothing at all in Mars that is able to contribute such a virtue to it besides the Salt therein dissolved Secondly they say the Earth and Salt of Mars being united and in a manner inseparable cannot act but by consent of both and receive together joyntly the good or bad impressions that may happen to them I Answer there 's no reason to think the Salt of Mars absolutely inseparable from the Earth for the water in which this Metal has steeped or boiled after Filtration does contain a Vitriolick taste and Aperitive quality Now 't is the effect of Salt to dissolve imperceptibly in Water and drive by Vrine as I have said but if any body would take the pains to steep and boil gently the rust of Iron a good while in water then Filter it and so Evaporate the liquor over a small fire to a Pellicule he 'l by Crystallization or by an entire evaporation of the humidity gain a small quantity of Salt and 't is probable enough there was much more in the water as may be collected from the strong taste it had of Mars but it being of a pretty Volatile nature if fum'd away in the Evaporation I do not say nevertheless that the close connexion of Earth with the Salt of Mars is altogether unuseful for this effect on the contrary I do conceive that this Earth rendring the Salt more heavy than otherwise it would be does help to drive it forwards and causes the Mars sometimes to penetrate as much by its gravity as by its Salt but we must attribute the principal virtue to the Vehicle which is Salt since without that the Earth would be a dead matter and would have no more action than other Earths bereaved of their Salts Thirdly They object we must not think the hardness of the parts of Steel above Iron whose Pores are more open does render it less proper for all sorts of Preparations seeing Spirit of Vitriol and many other Acids are found to dissolve with the same ease both Iron and Steel I Answer that if Corrosive Spirits do dissolve Steel they can dissolve Iron more easily and whereas a smaller quantity of them can operate upon Iron than Steel a better effect does thence follow Fourthly 'T is objected that the solidity of Steel may be an advantageous circumstance to it for the better fixing the dissolving Juices that are in the stomach and that for Metals the pure are to be chosen before those that are not so I Answer that instead of the solidity of Steels being helpful to the stomach 't is certainly of great prejudice to it as well as to those other parts 't is distributed into for the juices that are found in the stomach being but weak dissolvents are not able to penetrate nor rarifie this metal if it is too hard so that they leave it crude and indigest heavy and incommodious to this part Wherefore it passes away by Stool without any good effect as often happens But now if a little of this Steel does happen to pass along with the Chyle it rather causes than takes away Obstructions for by insinuating into small vessels it stops in the narrow passages and causes grievous pains For what is said concerning the Purity of metals it is of great use to Tradesmen for they by Purifying metals from their more rarified and Volatile parts do make them the less Porous and so the less liable to suffer prejudice from the Air or time Thus Steel is much fitter for Vtensils than Iron because its Pores are closer laid together and it takes not rust so soon as Iron but in Remedies 't is not the same thing for those metals that are more Rarified and are easilier dissolved in the Body are such as we find best effects from for the reason I have given So that what Workmen call Purity is often but an impurity in Remedies Fifthly They say if one would hope to find a distinct Salt in Mars 't would be more
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-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
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
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
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