The Sceptical Chymist: or Chymico-Physical Doubts & Paradoxes, Touching the Spagyrist's Principles Commonly call'd Hypostatical; As they are wont to be Propos'd and Defended by the Generality of Alchymists. Whereunto is præmis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same Subject.Boyle, Robert
Philosophy
The Sceptical Chymist: or Chymico-Physical Doubts & Paradoxes, Touching the Spagyrist's Principles Commonly call'd Hypostatical; As they are wont to be Propos'd and Defended by the Generality of Alchymists. Whereunto is præmis'd Part of another Discourse relating to the same Subject.
Boyle, Robert
Chemistry -- Early works to 1800
Take then of good Antimony, Salt-Petre and Tartar, of each an equal
weight, and of Quicklime Halfe the Weight of any one of them; let
these be powder'd and well mingl'd; this done, you must have in
readiness a long neck or Retort of Earth, which must be plac'd in a
Furnace for a naked Fire, and have at the top of it a hole of a
convenient Bigness, at which you may cast in the Mixture, and
presently stop it up again; this Vessel being fitted with a large
Receiver must have Fire made under it, till the bottom of the sides be
red hot, and then you must cast in the above prepar'd Mixture, by
about halfe a spoonfull (more or less) at a time, at the hole made for
that purpose; which being nimbly stopt, the Fumes will pass into the
Receiver and condense there into a Liquor, that being rectifi'd will
be of a pure golden Colour, and carry up that colour to a great
height; this Spirit abounds in the Salt I told you of, part of which
may easily enough be separated by the way I use in such cases, which
is, to put the Liquor into a glass Egg, or bolthead with a long and
narrow Neck. For if this be plac'd a little inclining in hot sand,
there will sublime up a fine Salt, which, as I told you, I find to be
much of kin to the Volatile Salts of Animals: For like them it has a
Saltish, not an Acid Salt; it hisses upon the Affusion of Spirit of
Nitre, or Oyle of Vitriol; it precipitates Corals Dissolv'd in Spirit
of Vinager; it turnes the blew Syrup of Violets immediately green; it
presently turnes the Solution of Sublimate into a Milkie whiteness;
and in summ, has divers Operations like those that I have observ'd in
that sort of Salts to which I have resembled it: and is so Volatile,
that for Distinction sake, I call it _Tartari Fugitivus_ [Errata: Sal
Tartari Fugitivus]. What virtues it may have in Physick I have not yet
had the opportunity to Try; but I am apt to think they will not be
despicable. And besides that a very Ingenious Friend of mine tells me
he hath done great matters against the stone, with a Preparation not
very much Differing from ours, a very Experienc'd Germane Chymist
finding that I was unacquainted with the wayes of making this salt,
told me that in a great City in his Country, a noted Chymist prizes it
so highly, that he had a while since procur'd a Priviledge from the
Magistrates, that none but He, or by his Licence, should vent a Spirit
made almost after the same Way with mine, save that he leaves out one
of the Ingredients, namely the Quick-lime. But, continues _Carneades_,
to resume my Former Discourse where your Curiosity interrupted it;
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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