Glaser - The Complete Chemist - Vegetabili

SECTION II.

Of Vegetables.


CHAP. I.

Of Jalap Root.

Jalap is a root the Ancients knew not, which comes from the Indies. It ought to be weighty, in color betwixt gray and black, and resinous veins ought to appear in it when broken, it is of a sharp and biting taste. But its principal virtue consists in its Resinous substance, which is separated, as follows.

Put eight ounces of powdered Jalap into a Bolts-head, and pour thereon good Spirit of Wine to the height of four fingers above it. Close it well, and set it to digest in B.M. for two or three days. In the mean time the Spirit of Wine will be tinged of a violet color. Decant it off into another Vessel, and pour on fresh Spirit of Wine, digest and decant as before, and do this the third time. Then mingle and filter all the tinctures, and put them into a great glazed earthen Vessel and pour thereon three or four pounds of pure Water, which will break the Spirit of Wine and force it to let fall the resinous substance of the Jalap, which it held dissolved, which little and little precipitates to the bottom and sides of the Vessel. Pour off the Water into a Body, and draw off the Spirit of Wine by Distillation. It may serve as formerly for like occasions. Wash well the resin with clean Water, to take from it the odour of the Spirit of Wine, then dry it in the Sun, or with a gentle heat, and when you would use it, reduce it into an impalpable Powder. The Jalap which remains is light and insipid as ashes, whence the Salt is extracted.

The Resin of Jalap purges Serosities, and therefore is used with happy success in Dropsies, and all Diseases which come of abundance of Serosities. It’s Dose is from five to fifteen grains in some Conserve, or Extract made up into a Bolus, or in Powder, with Tartar vitriolate; but the safest way is to powder this Resin, and heating it together with Almonds, or the cold Seeds to dissolve it in an Emulsion thereof, or in the yolk of an Egg, in some broth, to sweeten the acrimony of this Resin, and to divide its parts, and hinder them from fastening to the Tunicles of the Stomach or entrails, which is many times the cause of super purgations. The same precautions may also be used in the administrations of other Resinous Remedies taken from Scammony, Agarick, Turbith, and others, whose preparations ought to be like this of Jalap.


CHAP. II.

Extract of Black Hellebore.

This preparation will serve for a Model for the Extracts of all other Roots, whose principal substance is a juice dissolvable in Water, such as are Mechoacan, the root of Esula, wild Cucumber, Rhubarb, and others.

Take one pound of Black Hellebore root, dry or green, beaten grossly, put them in a Body, and pour on them five or six pounds of distilled Rain Water, and cover the Body with a Blind Head, and digest in hot Sand two days. Strain the liquor through a linen cloth and squeeze the residence a little, whereon put fresh water and digest as before. After, strain, mix with the former, and filter it, and evaporate it in an Earthen vessel to the consistence of an Extract, which must be kept in a Pot well covered.

This Remedy is used in all Diseases which come of Melancholy. It is seldom given alone, but mixed with some Purgative, because taken alone it works violently up and down, but so mixed it purges only downwards. The Dose is from 12 to 30 Grains.


CHAP. III.

The Extract of Angelica, and the Conservation
of all its Virtue.

Put six pounds of good White Wine on one pound of beaten Angelica root in a Body. Cover it with a Blind Head, and digest it in a vaporous Bath for two or three days, then take away your Blind Head, and set to an Head and a Receiver, and lute well the joynts. Then begin to distill with a gentle heat in B.M. and continue till you have drawn off about three pounds of Water, which will contain what ever is volatile in the Angelica. Keep this Water in a Viol well stopped. Let your Vessels cool, strain and press strongly out what remains in the Body, and clarify it by a tongue filter, and after evaporate it in a glazed earthen Vessel in a Stove heat of Balneum Maria to the consistence of an Extract. Calcine what remains in the press, reduce it to Ashes, make thereof a Lye which Filter, and evaporate to a Salt, and join it to the Extract, which keep in a Vessel well stopped. This Extract is a true Cordial and Bezoarick. It is opening and penetrant, and causes Sweat. It provokes the Terms, helps against the suffocation of the Mother, resists Poison, and the Plague, especially if it be taken in its own Water. Its Dose is from 10 to 30 Grains. The Water contains no less virtues than the Extract, for it includes the more volatile and noble part of this root.

In this manner you may draw the Water, Extract and Salt of all Roots, which abound in a sulphurous and volatile Salt, which may be known by their aromatick and fiery scent and taste: such are the Valerian, Masterwort, Mea or Spignel, the Carluce Thistle, Calamus Aromaticus, Zedoary, Galangal, and such like.


CHAP. IV.

Of Rose Wood, or Lignum Rodium.

We will give only two Examples of the preparation of Wood, which may serve for all others. The first shall be of Lignum Rodium, or Rose Wood, which contains two profitable Substances, the one Spiritous and Watery, the other Sulphurous and Oily, and both these Substances very Subtle and Volatile, so that they must be distilled with a Worm or Refrigerant. The second sort shall be of the Wood Guaiacum, which contains also two volatile substances, a Spiritous and Oily one, both which are closely united to their Body, and cannot well be separated from it but by the stronger heat of a Retort. For the first, choose the weightiest, and best scented Rose Wood, rasp it finely, and put four pounds of it with one of Saltpeter into an Earthen Pot, and pour thereon ten pounds of Rain Water. Let it soak therein eight to ten days, and stir it from time to time. By this means the Saltpeter will penetrate the Sulphurous parts of the Wood, and dispose them to separate. After, put all with ten pounds of water more in a Copper Still, place in its Furnace, with its Refrigerant and Receiver fitted thereto. Lute well the Joints, and distill gradually the Spiritous Water and Essential Oil, which come over together confusedly, and note that this Oil falls to the Bottom of the Water, contrary to the most part of other distilled Oils. Continue your distillation till your waters come over Tasteless, and forget not to refresh your Refrigerant with change of water many times during your distillations, which being ended, decant your Spiritous water from your Oil, which you will find in the bottom of your Receiver in very small quantity. Keep it apart. This Oil and Water are principally used for Perfumes, and not taken inwardly as safely; yet they may.

All Wood which hath in it a Sulphurous sweet Scented and subtle Substance, as the yellow Stantal or Sanders, Sassafras and others may be distilled in the same manner.


CHAP. V.

Of Guaiacum Wood, and its Reduction
into five different Substances.

This single Operation will show the Reader the means to reduce Vegetables into Phlegm, Spirit, Oil, Salt and Earth. Take four pounds of the Raspings of the Wood Guiacum, put them in a well luted Retort of gray Earth or Glass. Set it in a close reverberating Furnace, and fit to it a large Receiver unluted, and give it fire gradually. There comes first over an insipid Phlegm, and after a volatile Spirit, which, when you perceive it, a pungent taste to come, put away the Phlegm into another Vessel, and keep it apart, and fit your Receiver again to your Retort, and new lute the joints well, that none of the Spirit be lost, which is very penetrant: neither must you press it by too strong a fire, for it will either press through the joints of the Vessel or break the Receiver. And in this and all other Distillations of Volatile Spirits, the Artist had need of Patience and Dexterity, if he will not lose that he seeks for. Maintain your fire in a very moderate state for seven or eight hours. After, increase it by little and little, and continue it till all the Spirit and Oil be come over. These two Substances come over together, but after the Vessels are cold, and the Receiver taken away, they may be easily separated. Pour all that is in the Receiver into a Funnel linned with filtering Paper and set in a Viol. The Spirit will pass through the Paper, and the Oil will remain behind. Set your Funnel on another Viol, and making an hole in your Paper let the Oil run into the Viol, which you must keep apart.

The Retort contains but the remains of the Wood reduced to a Coal, which put in an open Vessel on hot Coals, and burn it to ashes, from which (as from the other ashes) you shall draw the Salt by Dissolution, Filtration and Evaporation, as we shall teach you where we show the manner of Extracting Salt Alkali from Vegetables. After the Salt is separated there remain some insipid ashes, which they call the damned Earth. The Spirit unrectified will serve to wash Cancerous, Fistulate and Corroding Ulcers, but is very biting and may be tempered with its Phlegm which came over at the beginning of the Distillation. It is rectified in Balneo Maria with a body, that it may be used internally against the Pox, for it chaseth out that venom by Urine and Sweat, and sometimes by insensible Transpiration. Its Dose is from twenty drops to a Drachm in some specific Decoction. The Oil is rectified by mingling it with ashes and putting it in a Retort in a Sand Furnace, and drawing off a clear Oil freed partly from its ungrateful scent, the ashes retaining what is more gross in the said Oil. It is used against the Epilepsie, to facilitate Women’s Deliverance, and to bring away the after birth. Its Dose is from three to six Drops in some Liquor. It may be used unrectified to scale Bones, to heal old Ulcers and Nodes, and to put with Cotton into rotten Teeth, in which it cauterizes the Nerve and so makes it insensible of Pain. All Wood, as Juniper, Box, Lime tree and all the rest may be distilled as Guiacum.


CHAP. VI.

Of the Distillation of the Spiritous Water and Essential Oil of Cinnamon.

We will address ourselves (without insisting upon its Description) to the Separation of the Spiritous and Oily substance of Cinnamon, whose Preparation will serve us for example in other aromatick Barks, as of Citron, Oranges, &c. As also of Nutmegs, Cloves, Pepper and other Spiceries. Take four pounds of Cinnamon of a red color, strong and sweet scent, of a pungent and a little astringent taste, beat it grossly, and put it into a gray Earthen Pot. Pour thereon two pounds of Rain Water, with half a pound of Saltpeter, to help its Penetration during its maceration, which must be for four days, which being ended empty all the matter into a tinned Copper Body, adding thereto twelve pounds of water; place the Still in its Furnace, and fit to it its Refrigerant and Receiver, luting well their joints. Give from the beginning a pretty good fire, to help the Oil to come over with the Spirits, but not to great, that they may not be dissipated, and this Observation is general, that the Sulphurous parts are strongly fixed in the Body of the Spices, and are separated from them with difficulty, but they are also easily dissipated after their separation. You must therefore distill them in such a manner that one drop do readily follow another, and continue that degree till the Water which comes over have no more strength. Change your Water carefully now and then in the Refrigerant during the Distillation, that the Spirits may the better condense and not evaporate. When the Distillation is ended, separate the Spiritous Oil, which settles at the bottom of the Recipient, in very small quantity, for you will hardly draw half an ounce of Oil from four pounds of Cinnamon, which half ounce contains in it the principal Virtue of all the quantity of Cinnamon whence it was drawn, so that one single drop is sufficient to impregnate a great quantity of Liquor with its Virtue. But to mingle it (as other ethereal Oils) more easily with Liquors, they make thereof a sugared Oil, mingling it with powdered Sugar, whereby it being divided into impenetrable parts, they are mixt with the Water, and cannot after be united into an oily Substance.

This Oil provokes the Terms, speeds the Birth, refreshes the Spirits, sharpens Digestion. It is used in Faintings, and the Diseases of the Stomach and Mother, which proceed of a cold cause. The Dose is half a drop in any Liquor. The Water obtains almost the same properties, but it acts not with the same efficacy. Its Dose is from one to two Spoonfuls.

Note that other Barks and Spices afford a greater quantity of Oil, of which the greater part swims on the Water, and is separated by a thread of cotton, as we shall show in the Distillation of Wormwood Oil. The residence may be dried, and reduced to ashes, that the Sal Alkali may be extracted out of it; but as these Salts differ not in their Virtues from other sorts of Vegetable alkalies, we shall not insist at all on their description.

Another Cinnamon Water.

They that desire only a good Cinnamon Water without regard to the Oil, for which a greater quantity of Cinnamon was needful, must prepare it as follows. Take four ounces of good Cinnamon well bruised, and put it into a Body, and pour thereon Bugloss, Borage and Balm Water, [in equal amounts] eight ounces. Cover the Body with a blind Head. Digest in a slow heat 2 days, then put in its place a Head and Receiver, and distill till there remain in the bottom of the Still not more than a third of the Waters, which shall be emptied of the Spiritous substance of the Cinnamon. The use of this Water is the same as the former, but it is more cordial.

The Tincture and Extract of Cinnamon.

Almost all Barks contain in them a Resinous and Sulphurous substance, which constitute their principal Virtue. To separate this internal Substance from its gross Body, we must employ Spiritous and Sulphurous Menstruums, such as Spirit of Wine, and other Vegetable burning Spirits. We will give an Example in Cinnamon, which will serve for all other Barks. Put four ounces of good well bruised Cinnamon in a Bolts-head, and pour thereon one pound of good Spirit of Wine. Fit well another Bolts-head to this, to make a Vessel for Digestion. Close well the joints, and let them digest three or four days in gentle heat. The Spirit of Wine will fill itself with the substance of the Cinnamon, and will tinge it of a fair red. Pour off and separate the Tincture, filter and keep it in a viol well stopped.

If you would reduce this Tincture into the form of an Extract, put it in a small Body, and lute well thereto an Head and Receiver, and distill off the Spirit of Wine, which will be impregnate with the volatile substance of the Cinnamon, and the Extract will remain in the bottom of the Body in form of Honey.

The Tincture refreshes the Spirits, fortifies the Stomach, thins and dissolves all viscous matter more than the simple Cinnamon Water. Its Dose is half a Spoonful in some appropriate Liquor. The Extract strengthens the Stomach more than any other Remedy made out of Cinnamon, because it contains in it a part of the fixed Salt, and of the subtler Earth, which hath a restringent power. The Spirit of Wine drawn from the Extract is impregnated with the Spirit of Cinnamon, and may be mingled in Liquors for the use of weak Persons, for it is very comfortable, and helps Digestion.


CHAP. VII.

The Distillation of the Ethereal Oil and Balsam of Turpentine.

We place the Chymical Preparation of Rosins and Tears issuing from the Bodies of Trees, after that of Barks; and begin with the Distillation of Turpentine. Put four pounds of Turpentine in a large Retort, whereof three fourths part must be left empty. Place it in a Sand Furnace, fit a Receiver to it, and begin your Distillation with a slow Fire. There rises first a volatile Spirit, and subtle oil clear as Rock Water; but after you have drawn ten or twelve ounces, fail not to empty what is come over into a Vial, and putting to the Receiver again and luting the joints, a yellow oil will come over, of which you may draw also ten or twelve ounces, and empty that apart into a Vial. Then setting to the Receiver the third time, and increasing the Fire by little and little, the red oil will come over, which is the Balm. And when it begins to thicken put out your Fire, else it will over thick, and that which remains in the Retort will be charred. But in case you keep no more Fire to it, it will be good Colophonia. The Watery Spirit mingled with the first ethereal Oil, contains in it part of the volatile Salt of Turpentine. It contains also in it an acidity capable of dissolving Stones. But we will speak thereof more largely in the Chapter of Gum Ammoniac, which aboundeth in this Spirit more than other Tears and Resins.

The ethereal oil must be separated from the Spirit by a Funnel. It is used in attenuating and dissolving the Gravel in the Reins and Bladder. It provokes Urine, and helps in Gonorrheas and Ulcers in the neck of the Bladder. Its Dose is from five to fifteen drops in some agreeable Liquor.

The yellow and red oil differ not from the former, but their strong smell is the cause they are not used save outwardly in ill-thriven Members, Scyrrous Tumours, and old Ulcers. The Colophonia is the more earthy part of the Turpentine. It consolidates and drys. Its principle use is in Plaisters.

The same circumstances may be observed in distilling Mastick, Olibanum, Gum Elemmi, Tacamacha, Sandarat, Ladanum, Storax and Benjamine. But this last, in that it abounds in a volatile Salt which separates with the least heat of Fire, we will handle apart in a particular Chapter.


CHAP. VIII.

Of the Sublimation of the Flowers of Benjamin and Distillation of its Oil.

Put four ounces of good Benjamin in a pot glazed within, and having a Rabet or Crest, and fit thereto a picked Coronet, or Cone of Paper well glued together, and a Foot high, whose opening must be proportionable to the pots mouth, that it enclose it, and be tied with a pack thread round about the Crest or ledge of the pot; which place on a Sand Furnace, and give it a small Fire, for this sulphurous and subtle Salt rises easily when the Benjamine begins to melt. Continue the Fire in the same degree, and about half an hour after loose the coronet or cone, and with a feather, gather the Flowers which are risen and nimbly set a fresh cone or coronet in the place of this, which you must keep in readiness for that end when you remove the first. Continue the same Fire, and change again your cone or coronet, and gather the Flowers every half hour, till you observe that the Flowers begin to turn oily. Then cease your Fire and gather and keep your Flowers carefully.

These Flowers are given in Diseases of the Lungs and Breast, and to them that are Asthmatic. The Dose is from four grains to six in any Conserve or Lozenge.


CHAP. IX.

Of the Distillation of Gum Ammoniac.

This Gum is produced by a sort of Fern (ferula - a stalk or a reed) which they call the Ammoniac bearer, to distinguish it from other sorts, which produce Galbanum,Sagapenum, Opopanax, and Euphorbium, in all which Gums the same method of operation may be observed, which differs not from that of Rosins and Tears; but these sorts of Gums are filled with plenty of volatile Salt and Spirit, wherefore we handle them apart.

Take one pound of good Gum Ammoniac in drops, and put it into a great Retort, so that three fourth parts thereof may remain empty, for as soon as it begins to melt with heat, it puffs up greatly. Fit to it a large Receiver, and lute the joints exactly, and proceed gradually in your Distillation. An oil comes over, and plenty of Spirit, and that which remains in the Retort is mightily rarified, black as coal, and of no value. Separate the Spirit from the Oil by a funnel lined with paper, as you are taught above.

The Spirit possesses very great Virtues, which proceed only from the volatile Salt which is contained in it. But in that it is mingled also with an Acid, which hinders its activity, and diminishes its Virtue, I will give you the means to separate these two Spirits capable to produce very different effects. Take one ounce of Coral, or Crabs eyes, or other stony matter in powder, and having put them in a Retort large enough, pour upon them eight ounces of this Spirit, set your Retort in a Sand Furnace, fit unto it a large Receiver, and lute the joints exactly. After, give it a very small Fire, that the acid Spirit may by little and little be applied unto the Coral, which will retain it till the Sulphurous Spirit be distilled over into the Receiver, and rises first of all. But afterwards, there ascends a stinking phlegm which must not be mingled with this Spirit, and may be distinguished by its piquant taste. Which so soon as you perceive to cease, take away the Receiver, empty what is in it, and keep it carefully in a well stopped Viol. This is a great Remedy for purifying the mass of the Blood, to heal the Scurvy, and cure all Obstructions. It is used also against the Palsy inwardly, and the Oil outwardly, mingled in Unguents. It is also a Specifick against the Plague, and all Diseases arising from putrefaction. Its Dose is from six to twenty drops in some proper Liquor.

The Oil resolves and softens the Scirrhus and hardness of the Spleen, dissipates Nodes, and is useful in the hysteric Passion. All these good effects proceed from its volatile Salt, with which it is intimately mingled.


CHAP. X.

Of the Preparation of Aloes.

Aloes is a very bitter juice which they bring us from Arabia, in a solid Form in skins. The more impure is called Caballin, the mean sort is called Hepatique, and the best is called Succatrine, which ought to be neat, glittering, and of an high and lively color, and of this you are to make use. Its principal Virtues are to purge gently Phlegm by strengthening the Stomach, to kill Worms, and resist Corruption. It is purified by dissolving it in distilled Waters, or in juice of Roses, Violets, or other, and after filtering and coagulating it, as we here teach. Take and put half a pound of Aloes Succatrine in a Glass Body, and pour thereon one pound and an half of juice of Violets. Put on a blind Head, and set it in digestion 48 hours, in which time the Aloes will be dissolved in the juice, and if there be any earthy part therein, it will sink to the bottom. Decant the Solution, and filter it. After that evaporate it in a glazed dish over a vaporous Bath, and reduce it into a mass. Of this you may make Pills of a weight of six or eight grains, of which take one half an hour before Supper, to loosen the Belly sweetly, and to evacuate (almost insensibly) the gravel and viscous matter in the Stomach. There are made of it also small Pills of the bigness of a Pins head, which they call Pills of Frankfurt. This mass is termed Aloes violata, as that dissolved in juice of Roses is called Rosata.

Extract Panchymagogon.

After that of Aloes, we will insert here the Extract Panchymagogon, which is commonly the base of all purgative Extracts, because this Preparation may serve for example to all the other compound Extracts.

Take the pulp of Coloquintida 1 ½ ounce, 1 ounce each of Agaric, Scammony, Black Hellebore 2 ounces, Powder of Diarrodon Abbatis ½ ounce, Aloes succatrine 10 ounces. Bruise the Black Hellebore, chop the pulp of Coloquintida, put them together into a Bolts-head, and pour upon them good Spirit of Wine, to four fingers height. Stop well the mouth of the Bolts-head, and in another put the Powder of Diarrhodon Abbatis apart, and pour thereon also Spirit of Wine to the same height. Chop also Spirit of Wine to the same height. Chop also the Agaric, and bruise the Scammony, and put on them an excellent Spirit of Wine, which may extract their Resinous substance. Keep the Aloes apart, and put the three Bolts-heads, well stopped, indigestion on hot ashes for three days, during which the Menstruums will fill themselves with the inward Virtues of these grosser Substances. Decant off the Tinctures each apart in several Vials and put new Menstruums on the matters remaining in the Bolts-heads, and set them again to digest, so the Menstruums will draw out whatever of good there is in them. After, mingle all your Tinctures of Hellebore, Diarrhodon, and Coloquintida, and put the Aloes thereto which you kept apart, and digest them in slow heat for eight hours, and your Aloes will be dissolved, save only some earthy part.

Filter your Solution through Paper, and the Tinctures of Agaric and Scammony, and set them together in Balneo Maria in an Alembick well luted with its Receiver, and distill off about three fourth parts of the Spirit of Wine, which may serve again for the same use. Empty what remains in your Alembick into a glazed earthen dish, and proceed to evaporate it in Balneo Maria to a consistence fit to be made into Pills.

This is a very good purgative, and evacuates sweetly what is superfluous in the Body. Its Dose is from 5 to 30 grains.

It may be made a specific for Venereous Diseases by adding thereto one third part of Mercurius dulcis.


CHAP. XI.

Of the Preparation of Opium.

Opium is condensed Poppy juice. The best comes from Thebes, and is drawn by flashing the Poppy heads when they are almost ripe, and this is much to be preferred above the juice which is wrung forth by the Press from the whole Plant, which is called Meconium. But the first being very rare, we make use of the other, which must be chosen black, compact of an offensive smell, and soporiferous, sharp and bitter in taste, flaming at the Fire, but not with a black flame, dissolvable in Water, and its solution must be brown and not yellow, and being broken it ought to glitter within. Its easiest and best Preparation is this. Cut it into a very thin and small slices, and spread them on a broad earthen glazed dish, and set them on a small coal fire. Stir the Opium frequently, which grows soft at first, and after hardens by little and little. The fire must be continued till it may be crumbled betwixt the Fingers. In the interim the hurtful fumes of it must be avoided, which proceed from the Narcotick, stinking, and malign Sulphur of Opium. Pour your Opium thus torrified into a Bolts-head, and put thereon distilled May Dew, four fingers high, stop the Bolts-head, and set it in Digestion in Balneum Maria four days. In that time the Menstruum will be filled with the best substance of the Opium, and will have a reddish-brown Color. Pour off the Tincture into another Vessel, and put on fresh distilled dew on the remaining matter, to complete the Extraction of what purity it hath. After, filter the whole, and evaporate it in Balneo Maria to the consistence of an Extract. By this means you shall obtain a well prepared Opium, discharged of all its Narcotick Sulphur and Earthiness, which you may use in occasions wherein it is commonly employed.

Its principal Virtues are to pacify irritated Spirits, to provoke sleep, to stay the immoderate fluxes of the Belly, to sweeten the acrimony of Humors. It is used after general Remedies against defluxions on the Breast, against hysterick Diseases, to appease the torments of the Gout, and other internal pains, taken by the mouth, and applied outwardly. The Dose is from half a grain to two grains.

Authors give divers descriptions and preparations of Laudanum. Some prepare Opium with Vinegar, or other acids, but acids having a contrariety to the internal sulphurous volatile and saline part, which gives unto Opium its principal virtue, they wholly destroy it. Others make an Extract with the Spirit of Wine, which they afterwards draw off by Distillation. But inasmuch as the Spirit of Wine doth mingle with the particles of the Opium, which agree with its sulphurous nature and carry them away with it in the Distillation, that which remains in the bottom is nothing but an earthy substance, deprived of all its principal virtues. This happens not in the use of Dew, which is a light and subtle Menstruum, which evaporates with the gentlest heat, without taking away any thing of the virtue of the Body wherewith it is mixed. Therefore I recommend to the reader this simple Preparation, of which he may make use as of a good Laudanum, which may be made Specifick against the risings of the Mother by addition of a drop of Oil of Amber, and against other Diseases by commixture of proper Remedies, or agreeable Vehicles.


CHAP. XII.

Of Leaves and their Preparations.

Leaves and Stalks of Plants contain in them divers Substances, as other parts, and differ not only in their natural mixture, but in this also, that one or other principal is predominant in the one or the other. And this obliges us to give therefore sundry Examples, to make known the diversity of their Preparation, according to their divers predominant principles. First, we will treat of those which abound with Phlegm, and are almost insipid. Such are the Purslane, the Lettuce, Pellitory of the Wall, Garden Nightshade, &c. Secondly, those which contain much Phlegm, with a Tartarus Salt, (which gives them an acrid taste) which have no scent, of which sort are the several kinds of Sorrel, and such like. In the third place, those which have a bitter taste, and abound with Nitrous and Tartarus Salt, and have no scent, as Carduus, Succory, Hops, Fumitory, &c. In the fourth place those which abound in a volatile sulphurous Substance, subtle and airy, as are Marjoram, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, Oregany, and an infinity of others. We will give you five examples which will serve in general for drawing from all Plants whatever of good they contain.


CHAP. XIII.

Of Lettuce.

Lettuce and other herbs which are nigh hereunto in their nature, do readily yield what good they contain, when their leaves are full of juice and ready to shoot up into stalks. Beat then a good quantity of them in a Marble Mortar, and press out the juice from them so ordered. Let it stand for some hours, that the more gross parts may settle. Pour off the more clear into a Glass Body, and if you have ten pounds of juice, distill thence six pounds of Water in a Sand Furnace, which will be much and incomparably better than that which the greater part of covetous and ignorant Apothecaries draw with addition of store Water, in a Brass Refrigerant, which cannot but have the very hurtful qualities which it draws from the Brass. It were better to give Fountain Water, than such Water unto the sick.

Take the juice which remains in the Body, and put it through a cloth strainer to clarify it, and evaporate it to the consistence of a Rob, whereto you may add a little Sugar to keep it the better. You may use of this Rob dissolved in its own Water, and therefore compose somniferous and refrigerating Remedies for Cholerick Diseases. Its Dose is from one to two drams in five or six ounces of its own Water. These Juleps are better than those wherein they mix many ounces of Syrups, whose Sugar may cause new fermentations.

Another Distillation of Lettuces, and other juicy Herbs.

The great use of distilled Waters hath forced the Artists to invent a sort of tinned Cauldron, large and flat, whereon they set an head of fine Pewter fitted to the Cauldron, of which, and its Furnace, we will here give you the plainest description we possibly can. Cause a brick Furnace to be built, square without, and round within, of about two foot Diameter above, with four holes and Registers at the four corners, an ash hole, grate and hearth, and made from the grate up to the top taper like a basket, for the better governing the fire. Your Furnace being thus framed, cause a Cauldron to be made of iron plates, of a flat bottom, and of the height of six or seven inches, with a small border of a breadth proportional to the diameter of the Furnace, so that it join not wholly to the walls of the Furnace, that the heat may be communicated quite round. Place also two iron bars cross the Furnace, about eight or nine inches above the grate, to support the iron Cauldron, which you shall set in the Furnace. Lute it round about the Border, so that the top of the Furnace, save the four Registers may be all fast and closed. This being done, prepare also a Cauldron of Copper tinned, flat in the bottom, and proportional to the wideness of the iron Cauldron, so that it may be set within it without touching its sides at the distance of half an inch. This Cauldron needs not be above eight or ten inches high. In this Vessel we put the herbs to be distilled. This Cauldron must have an head of Pewter, of a flatish round top fitted to it, and when you would distill any herb, first put sand to the height of an inch and an half in the iron Cauldron. Then set your Copper Cauldron upon the sand, and fill it almost quite up to the top with whole leaves, cover it with its head, fit to its Receiver, and give fire by little and little, till the Water distill drop by drop, and then keep that degree, till all the moisture of the leaves reduced into vapor be condensed into Water, and that the leaves be so dry that they may be powdered. So you shall draw a Water impregnated with the smell and virtue of the Plant, for the sand interposed hinders the violent action of the Fire, which otherwise would burn the Herbs too much, and cause the Water to taste of burning. This Instrument is not only proper to draw Water off from all juicy Herbs (except the acid) but also from Flowers, as Roses, Lilies, Water-Lilies, wild Poppies, and others. The Herbs which remain after the Water is drawn off, may be burnt to ashes, and the Salt extracted; but being that Plants contain little Salt, or none at all, till they attain their perfect maturity, that is, in the time betwixt their Flower and Seed, we advise not to seek for fixed Salt in tender Herbs. This Instrument with its Furnace is represented in the third Table.


CHAP. XIV.

Of the Distillation of Sorrel.

Being that all Sorrels abound in Phlegm and essential acid Salt, we will show the way to separate these two Substances. Take a good quantity of Sorrel, whilst yet all its virtue is in its leaves, and drawn from it the juice, and let it settle one day, that its gross impurities may fall to the bottom. Pour off the clear into one or two more Glass bodies, and distill off about two thirds parts in Balneo Maria. Strain the juice which remains in the bottom of the Body, through a cloth strainer to purify it. Then put it into a Body and draw off the superfluous moisture in Balneo Maria till that which remains in the bottom come to the consistence of a Rob. Then put the Glass body in a cellar some days, and you will find part of the juice turned into a Salt figured like Tartar. Decant the Liquor off which swims on the top, and dry the essential Salt. Let this Liquor evaporate a little more in a cellar again, and part of it will again be crystallized into Salt, which put to the former. And being this Salt is also mixed with impurities, dissolve it in its own Water distilled; filter and cause it to evaporate, and crystallize as before, and you shall have the essential Salt of this Plant, wherein its principal virtue consists. This Salt opens the obstructions of the Liver and Spleen. It arrests putrefaction, quenches the thirst, recovers the Appetite, strengthens the Stomach. It is used with good success in Fevers. Its Dose is from 20 Grains to a Dram, in its own Water, or Broth. If you please you may evaporate the juice to the consistence of an Extract, which hath almost the same Virtues.


CHAP. XV.

Of the Blessed Thistle.

The Blessed Thistle, and all other sorts of Thistles, with Fumitory, Succory, and such like, which have almost no scent, and are of a bitter taste, approaching towards a sour, contain a store of Phlegm, and a nitrous essential Salt; and we will show the separation of these two substances, rejecting the rest as of little profit.

Having a store of the Blessed Thistle when it is ready to shoot out its stalk, pound it in a marble Mortar, and juice, settle, and distill it, as we have taught in the last Chapter, and you shall have a Water which shall have all the properties attributed to this sort of Water. The juice which remains in the bottom must be clarified, and evaporated to the consistence of an Extract, or if you will make its essential Salt, you must proceed as you did with Sorrel, and your Salt will come near in taste to Nitre, but it will not be so transparent, for it will always retain some black clamminess from its Extract, which may be separated, and is purified by Solution in its proper Water, by filtering it through paper in a Funnel wherein a few ashes were put and then evaporating it till a film rise on the top. And placing it in a Cellar to crystallize, you shall have a Salt that doth altogether resemble Saltpeter in shape and taste, and cast on hot coals it burns like Saltpeter. They who desire only the Carduus Water, may distill it in Sand from the leaves, in the Instrument which we have described, whose figure is in the Third Table, and they shall obtain an excellent Water, imbued with greater Virtues than that drawn by Balneo Maria. For the stronger heat of the Sand makes a part of the volatile Salt rise confused with the phlegmatic Water and makes it more Virtuous. The virtue of the essential Salt is great in hot Fevers, and contagious Diseases, for it casts out forcibly the venom from the center by sweat. The Dose is from 6 to 30 Grains.


CHAP. XVI.

Of the Distillation of Cresses.

The juicy Herbs which contain a store of Sulphurous and Volatile Essential Salt, such as are Cresses, Brooklime, Chervil, Scurvy grass, and infinite others of the same nature, may be distilled and reduced into an Extract, or Essential Salt, after the same manner as the Plants we now treat of. But inasmuch as their principal virtue consists only in a Spiritual and Fiery substance, we will here teach the means to separate it. Take a great quantity of Water cress when it begins to flower, which is the time when they are in their greatest force, and delay not till they be fully flowered, nor till they begin to dry, for then their whole virtue is concentrated in their Seed, wherein the Spirits are enclosed, and cannot easily be thence extracted, as may be done whilst they are yet in their Leaves. Wash the Cresses very clean and beat them in a Marble Mortar. And note that you must have at least forty pounds of this Herb, for if you have not a sufficient quantity, the fermentive Spirit cannot be brought out of power into act, and the Plant would sooner rot or grow acid than ferment. But a sufficient quantity of powdered leaves into a Barrel opened only on one side, and pour thereon Water so hot as you can endure with your hand without scalding, double quantity to that of the Leaves, and mingle them well together with a staff. Cover it on the open part immediately with double clothes, to keep in the Spirits the best that possible may be. Leave it so for half an hour, or a little longer, then put to it thrice so much more Water as you did at first, so that there may be about five times so much Water as Leaves. But this latter Water must be cooler than the former. Put thereto at the same time about three or four pounds of Beer Yeast, and stir all together with a staff. Cover your Barrel immediately very exactly, which must be above half full, and set it in a temperate place, but rather hot than cold; for great cold hinders the action of the internal Spirits of things. You shall see that three or four days after, the whole gross substance of the Herb will be risen on the top of the Liquor in the form of a curd or crust. Take good heed at this time, that as soon as you see this material substance or crust begins to break, and fall or sink, you be in readiness to Still off the whole before the Spirit vapor away. Put the whole into a great Strong Water Still of Copper, and distill at first with a gradual and gentle fire, all the Spirit, which will be mingled with much Phlegm. For this reason you must rectify this Spirit with the Instrument described in the first Figure for rectifying Spirit of Wine, and by this means you shall clear it quite from its phlegm, and you shall have a Spirit very pure and combustible like that of Wine.

The Spirit of Water Cresses and all other Antiscorbuticks, generally do resolve and volatilize all fixed and Tartarus matters. They may be given not only in the Scurvy, but in all Diseases which proceed from the corruption of the Blood, which they purify and subtlize by their penetrative power more than any other Remedy. Their Dose is from twenty grains to a dram, in some convenient Vehicle.


CHAP. XVII.

Of the Distillation of Wormwood.

All odoriferous Plants, such as are Wormwood, Thyme, Marjoram, Sage, Rosemary, and infinite more, may be fermented in the same manner as Cresses. But their principal virtue consists in a Sulphurous and subtle Substance which swims upon the Water. We will teach to draw and separate it. Take a good quantity of the tops of Wormwood, betwixt Flower and Seedtime, which is the Season of the perfection of Aromatick Plants. Cut them small, and beat them in a Mortar of Marble. Put them into a Vessel of tinned Copper, and pour upon them a good quantity of Water, that the Wormwood may be well mixed therewith. Fill not your Vessel above half, cover it with its Refrigerant or Mores-head, then give fire gradually, but after the drops begin to fall, raise the fire roundly so that one drop may almost overtake another and continue the fire at that rate till the Water that comes over be as it were insipid. You shall find in your receiver a store of a Spiritous Water, whereon will swim a little Oil, which you must separate from the Water in the manner following.

Fill your Receiver up to the mouth, and bind a small Viol with a pack thread to its neck. Then put a little wick of Cotton into the small Viol, and at the same time dip the other end of it in the Oil which swims on the Water in the Receiver. The Wick will at the same time draw into it the Oil, which following the Wick will drop into the little Viol. A little Water must from time to time be put into the Receiver, so that the Oil may continually rise and touch the brim of the Receiver, and continue this till all the Oil be separated, which keep in a Viol well stopped.

These Oils contain in a manner all the virtues of the Plants whence they were drawn. The distilled Waters also after the separation of the Oils retain still some good Virtue, and they may be preserved to serve upon occasion.


CHAP. XVIII.

The Preparation of the fixed Salt, or Alkali of Wormwood.

In treating of Leaves we shall show the Preparation of their fixed Salt; and we will take Wormwood for a general Example. Gather a great quantity of Wormwood, cut close to the Root, when it is in its greatest strength, clean it well, dry it in the shade, then burn, and reduce it into ashes. Make lye of it with hot Water, and put new hot Water on the ashes, till the Water hath extracted all the Salt into itself. Cast away the remaining unprofitable ashes, (only you may if you please make tests with them) filter the lye and evaporate it to dryness. You will find in the bottom of the Vessel a grayish Salt, which will be very fiery, but it contains yet in it much impurity, wherefore it must be yet farther calcined in a Crucible with a violent fire, and stirred continually in the interim with an iron Spatula, that it may not melt, and keep it quite red for the space of a good hour, then let it cool, and dissolve it in Rain Water, or its own distilled Water. Filter the Solution, and evaporate it till it be dry. You will have a Salt, white as Snow, which must be kept in a Viol well stopped, else it resolves into Liquor by the moisture of the Air.

The principle virtues of Salt of Wormwood, and generally of all others, is to open Obstructions, to attenuate gross, and cut tough, and evacuate corrupt matters. They are Diuretic and Diaphoretic, and the Dose is from ten to thirty grains in some broth or proper Liquor.


CHAP. XIX.

Of Flowers.

All Flowers are either without scent, as Water Lilly, or have a superficial, as Jessamine, Violet, &c. or a strong aromatick smell, as Rose, and Rosemary flowers, &c. Those that have no smell may be distilled and purified into an Extract, as we have taught in the thirteenth Chapter. Those that have a sleight and superficial scent cannot bear the least heat without losing their scent and color. For this cause the Chymists have found a means to preserve the scent of these sorts of Flowers, by stratifying them with Cotton imbibed with Oil of Ben, which Oil being sufficiently impregnated with the odour of the Flowers, is separated from the Cotton by expression. But for that this manner of operation is well known to all Perfumers, we shall not insist thereon. Flowers which have an aromatic scent, may furnish Physick with sundry Remedies. For Example, Roses may be distilled in the same manner as Leaves and Herbs, by Balneo Maria or Sand, in the Instrument which we have described in the thirteenth Chapter. They may also be fermented like Cresses, and reduced into a very odoriferous burning Spirit. An Oil may also be drawn from it, which swims on the Water in the same manner as that of Wormwood. We refer the Reader to the Preparations we have described above, according to which they may work not only on the Rose, but on all sorts of odoriferous Flowers. Odoriferous Flowers are also distilled sometimes with addition of some Menstruum which may heighten and augment their virtue. So we proceed in the preparation of the Queen of Hungaries Water, in the manner following.

The Queen of Hungaries Water.

Put two pounds of Rosemary Flowers, gathered in the morning in a dry season, into a Glass body, and pour thereon three pounds of good Spirit of Wine. Cover the Body with a Blind head, lute the joints well, and set it to digest in a vaporous Bath by a very gentle heat for 24 hours, or in the Sun for three days, then take away the Blind head, and put another with a spout in its place, and lute well the joints, and distill in Balneo Maria all that will rise, and you shall have a very excellent Water. And though its Virtues are sufficiently known, we will here relate the principal, which are to fortify the Brain, either taken by Mouth or Nose, and rubbing it in by the Temples, and sutures of the Head; to strengthen the Stomach, help digestion, dissipate the Cholick pains, and to preserve from them, by taking half a spoonful in warm broth, continuing the use thereof for some days, or twice a Week at least. It helps against Deafness or noise in the Ears, either taken by Mouth, or drawn up into the Nostrils, or put into the Ears with Cotton. As also for the pains in the Head, for all Contusions external, or deep penetrating internal, taken as above, or chased in from without. It is also very proper for Palsies, Apoplexies, Gouts and cold Pains, and for all Heart burnings, Palpitations and Faintings, either taken inwardly, or applied outwardly to the Stomach, with a Toast soaked therein. And it is generally proper (on all occasions wherein it is needful) to stir, strengthen, quicken, and preserve natural Heat.


CHAP. XX.

Of Fruits.

The principle virtue of Fruits is in their juice. We will teach the Preparation thereof, and choose for example the Juice of the Vine, and whatever comes from it, Wine, Vinegar, Tartar. And to begin with Wine, we say that it is the juice of Grapes, called Must at first, and after fermentation containing in it store of Spirit, which by its own proper virtue reduces itself from power unto act, and in its fermentation is changed from Must into Wine, and preserves itself a long time in that estate, till such time as its Spirit becomes very volatile by its fermentation, is partly evaporated. And when this Spirit, which contains in it the mercurial, sulphurous, and more subtle part hath left the Wine, that which remaineth sours, and is called Vinegar; which notwithstanding that it is deprived of its principal Spirit, is yet preserved a long time, by that great quantity of fixed Salt which remains in it. We might here enlarge upon all the changes that happen unto Must, till it become Vinegar, but since many Authors have treated largely of Fermentation, we will remit thither the Reader, and speak here only of the Preparation of Wine,
Vinegar, and Tartar.

Of the Distillation of Wine.

Put sixty quarts of Wine into a Copper body, and cover it with a Refrigerant, or Moreshead, and distill off therefrom about a sixth part, or continue your Distillation till no more Spirit rise, which comes always first over in all Fermented and Vinous Liquors. Put this Spirit into a bottle, and stop it well. This first Spirit thus prepared is called Aqua Vitae. That which remains in the Body may be evaporated to the consistence of Honey, and put in a Retort and thence may be drawn, first, a phlegmatic Water, secondly, a Spirit, and thirdly, a stinking Oil. And that remains in the Retort may be calcined, and reduced into ashes, from which the fixed Alkalizate Salt may be drawn, and separated from the Dead Earth, in the same manner as from other Vegetables. I was willing to put down this operation rather for the satisfaction of the curious, than for any profit that may be made of it.

Rectification of the Aqua Vitae into Spirit or Alcohol.

The Aqua Vitae being mingled with store of Phlegm, which raises with it in the first distillation, we must rectify it two or three times, till it be reduced to a pure Spirit. It must be put into a Body of Glass, and distilled thence to half, in Balneo Maria, which half must be rectified again once, twice, or so often till it be wholly freed from its Phlegm, which is thus known. If some of this Spirit being fired in a Spoon, burn all away without leaving any moisture behind, or if it burn and reduce into ashes a little cotton put therein. But the better trial is, if when it is consumed it fire a grain of Cannon Powder put in the spoon whereon the Spirit was poured, which is a sign no humidity is left in the Spirit, for it would have hindered the firing of the Powder. But because this rectification of the Spirit is troublesome, and besides, great quantities thereof are needful to be had for Chymical Preparations, Artists have invented an Instrument, by which they might rectify the Spirit of Wine by one single Distillation, and for that we remit the Reader to the Figure which we have given in the first part of this Book. We need not much trouble ourselves to make known the excellency of this Spirit, the use whereof is so frequent, both inwardly and outwardly, that none are ignorant thereof. Besides this, it is used in infinite Chymical operations, to draw Extracts, or subtle Sulphurous Substances, as well from Vegetables as Animals and Minerals.

Spirit of Wine Tartarized.

This Spirit of Wine Tartarized is no other thing than the Spirit of Wine purified to an higher degree, and wholly freed from its Phlegm, by means of Salt of Tartar, which retains with it all that phlegm which the Spirit of Wine may yet contain in it. Take one pound of Salt of Tartar well dried, put it into a Body, and pour thereon four pounds of good Spirit of Wine, set to an Head and Receiver, lute well the joints, distill the Spirit in B.M. which will leave all its phlegm behind in the Salt of Tartar; and therefore it is very proper for all uses internal and external, working with much greater force than the common Spirit of Wine, because of its greater purity. This Spirit is much employed for many brave Arcana’s prepared with it, and especially in the Extraction of Tinctures. This hath also excited many Artists to proceed farther, and to seek out how to reduce this Spirit into a volatile Salt, by a farther separation of its superfluous aquosity according to what Van Helmont hath delivered in his Treatise entitled Aura Vitalis, where he saith that one pound of Spirit of Wine imbibed in the Salt of Tartar, affords but one half ounce of Salt, and that all the rest is nothing but an insipid Water; but whereas many curious Persons have busied themselves to stay this Salt contained in the Spirit of Wine, with the Salt of Tartar, according to the words of this excellent Philosopher (who in this and many other things hath spoken obscurely) finding no success therein, have thought it impossible. Experience hath made me see the possibility thereof, and having by means of a corrosive Spirit myself many times reduced the Spirit of Wine into a volatile Salt. I shall here very willingly impart the manner thereof as follows.

Put a pound of Spirit of Nitre well dephlegmed, into a long necked large Globe or Balloon Glass, and pour thereon some drops of the Spirit of Wine tartarized, and at the same time set on a Bolts-head fitted to the neck of the Globe or Balloon thereon closing well the joints. There will arise at the same time an action of those Spirits whereby they will destroy one another; which when it ceases, pour on some more fresh drops of the Spirit of Wine, and continue this same Work for a whole day, still closing well the mouth of your Glass whensoever you drop on your Spirit of Wine, until such time as the action cease. You will have a Liquor of a middle nature, betwixt a Spirit of Wine and Spirit of Nitre, for it is not corrosive, and its force exceeds not that of distilled Vinegar, and it burns not as the Spirit of Wine. Put this Liquor into a Body with an Head fitted thereto and distill with a very slow heat of a vaporous Bath whatever will come over. There will remain in the bottom a white and volatile Salt in a small quantity, of an acid and sour taste, which may be sublimated, and deprived of its corrosive and acid part, by the help of some Salt Alkali, in the same manner as we have taught in the Sublimation and Purification of the volatile Salt of Amber. I thought it worth my pains to add this operation to the rectification of the Spirit of Wine, hoping that many Persons will be well pleased to understand it.


CHAP. XXI.

Of Vinegar.

We call all Liquors Vinegars which have passed Fermentation to a degree of corruption. For so long as fermented juices are in their perfection, as good Wine, Cider, Beer, Mead, &c. they contain in them a volatile inflammable Spirit, but when this Spirit in process of time is vanished, the tartarus vitrioline Salt comes to be predominant, and turns them into an acid Liquor, which we call Vinegar. We treat here only of Wine Vinegar, as most employed in Medicine.

Distillation of Vinegar.

Put five pounds of good Vinegar in a Body of Glass, and fit thereto an Head and Receiver. Set it in a Sand Furnace, and distill with a slow fire about two pounds of Liquor, which will have scarce any force, whence we call it phlegm of Vinegar. Then change your Receiver, and increase your fire by little and little, and distill all over till there remain only in the bottom of the Body a matter of the consistence of honey. Then slack your fire, that the Distillation taste not of burning, and keep what is distilled. The use thereof is to dissolve calcined Minerals, and to reduce them into the form of Salts. The Honey-like consistence which remains in the bottom may be put in a Retort, and forced over by gradual fire. It will yield an acid Spirit, and after a stinking Oil, and a fixed Salt which remains behind in the Retort, which purified by many Solutions and Coagulations resembles the fixed Salt of Tartar.


CHAP. XXII.

Of Tartar.

We pretend not to treat of the Microcosmick Tartar, which is a Viscous matter formed in our Bodies, but of the Tartar of Wine, which is no other thing than an earthy substance separated from the purer parts of the Wine, by the action of a fermenting Spirit, and coagulated to the hardness of a Stone, and is in itself incorruptible, but may be reduced by the Fire into divers Matters. Now being to give a description of the principal operations made on Tartar, I begin with that of purification. The first is thus done:

Pour hot Water upon Tartar grossly powdered. The Water will take up its filth, which Water must be poured off and other put on, and this same operation continued till the hot water take up no more impurity. Then dry the Tartar, and keep it for use.

The second purification is more perfect, and yields that which they call Cream or Crystals of Tartar, which is thus prepared:

Put ten pounds of good Tartar of Montpellier grossly powdered in a great Kettle, and pour thereon about three good pails of common Water, and make a good fire under the Kettle, that it may boil for about a quarter of an hour. Stir it sometimes with a staff, and when you have scummed the dissolved Tartar, and let it run yet hot through large pointed strainers of Cloth, and let that which passes cool and crystallize. And when it is quite cold, take off the Cream which swims aloft and keep it. Decant the Water and wash off the Crystals which stay on the bottom and sides of your Kettle, which are very small in this first Coagulation. But to make them more fair and large dissolve them again in a small quantity of clean water in a flat Basin, and give them a swirl or two, and when they are well dissolved take them leisurely from the fire, and cool them. When they are cold, gather up the Cream and Crustal, and dry them. You will have a very well purified Tartar, which will be fairer and more transparent if the solution be made in a Pewter kettle.

The principle Virtues of the Cream and Crystal of Tarter are to attenuate the gross Humors which cause Obstructions in the first Region of the Belly, and those of the spleen, for which reason it is serviceable in Melancholic Diseases, and it is commonly used before Purgative Medicines for it digests and prepares matters for a more easy Evacuation, its Dose is from half a Dram to two Drams in some Broth or other convenient Liquor.

Distillation of the Spirit and Oil of Tartar.

Put six pounds of grossly beaten Tartar in a Retort of gray or well luted Earth, which you must place in a close Reverberating Furnace, and fit thereto a large Balloon Receiver, luting the joints exactly, and then make your Distillation with a gradual fire. A phlegmatic water will first come over, and after that a Spirit and Oil mingled confusedly. And when nothing more will come over, and the Receiver begins to be clear, cease the fire, and let the Vessels cool. Then unlute the Receiver, and separate the Oil and Spirit by a Funnel furnished with brown Paper. The Spirit will pass through it, and the Oil will abide in the Paper, which you may put in a Vial, and keep apart. The Spirit may be rectified upon Coral, in the same manner as we have said in the Chapter of Gum Ammoniac, teaching the entire rectification of that Spirit. The Spirit of Tartar rectified is an excellent Remedy for Diseases caused from Obstructions, for it resolves and attenuates by its subtlety gross matters. For this cause it doth marvels in the Scurvy, and arthritic Diseases, in the Palsy and small Pox, provoking Sweat and Urine. Its Dose is from one scruple unto four, in broth or some other Liquor. The Oil strongly resolves Nodes and other hardnesses. It likewise mortifies all sharp humors which cause Tetters. It heals the Scald head, helps the Falling Evil, chafing the Nose of those who are troubled therewith.

Fixed Salt, and Oil or Liquor of Tartar by Deliquation.

Take the black mass which remains in the Retort after the Distillation of the Oil and Spirit of Tartar, and calcine it in a Reverberatory furnace, in a flat open pot, till it become white. Then let it cool. Pour upon it hot Water, in an earthen Vessel, to the height of six fingers, and stir it from time to time for some hours. The Water will fill itself with the saline substance, which must be decanted, and other hot Water poured on the remainder, and this repeat so often, till all the salt be thence extracted. Then filter all your Solutions, and evaporate the Moisture, till the Salt become dry and white as Snow, in the bottom of the Vessel, which you must keep carefully in a Vessel well closed, for otherwise it will resolve into a Liquor by attracting to it the Moisture of the Air. But is you would make thereof the Liquor by Deliquation, which they call improperly the Oil of Tartar, put some part of it upon a marble, or slate of Glass, and place it in a Cellar or some other moist place, and it will in a few days be dissolved into a Liquor. The Salt of Tartar is very diuretic, as all other fixed Salts, or Alkalies of Vegetables. Wherefore they are given with success in Dropsies and Obstructions of the Reins. Its Dose is from Ten to Thirty Grains in some convenient Liquor. The Liquor may be used instead of the Salt, for it is no other than the Salt dissolved. But its Dose must be increased. They who seek only for the Salt of Tartar, need not distill it. They may calcine it alone in a Reverberating Fire till it be white, and after draw from it its Salt as we have taught.

Magistery of Tartar, or Tartar Vitriolate.

Take eight Ounces of the Liquor of Salt of Tartar made by Deliquation, which must be clear as Fountain water. Put it into a great Bolt’s head with a long Neck. Let the Oil of Vitriol fall thereon Drop by Drop, till there be no more Ebullition, which is the Proportion observable. For you must do this till the Oil of Vitriol find there is nothing that can act against its Acidity. Then empty this Mixture into an Earthen Platter, which will be half congealed. If anything remain in the Bolt’s Head, wash it out with distilled rain Water and mix it with the rest in the Platter. Place this on a Sand Furnace, and vapor away all the Humidity. There will remain a Salt white as Snow, which you must keep in a Glass well stopped. This Salt is very good Digester for disposing Humours and preparing them for Purgation. It opens the Obstructions in the Body, and especially in the Hypochondria, and helps also in Dropsies and Quartan Agues. The Dose is from six to thirty Grains in some Broth or opening Liquor.

Tincture of Salt of Tartar.

Put half a pound of salt of Tartar perfectly purified into a Crucible with hot Coals and keep it two hours in a violent Fire, stirring it continually with an Iron spatula, that it may neither stick to the Crucible nor melt. And when you perceive it to be of a blue, approaching to a green color, powder it in an hot Mortar, and put it yet hot into a Pelican, or some double digesting Vessel, and pour thereon good Spirit of Wine by little and little, till it rise four fingers above it. Then close the Vessel well and set it on hot Ashes until you see the Spirit of Wine to boil, and hold it in that state for twenty four hours, in which time the Spirit of Wine will draw to itself a very red Tincture, and of a sweet scent like that of the Vine in flower. Then pour off this Tincture into some Bottle, and put on another Spirit of Wine upon the Salt, and digest it anew on a Sand Furnace for Twenty four hours as before, and repeat the same operation till the Spirit of Wine be colored no more. Filter and mingle all your Tinctures, and draw over thereof two thirds or a little more, and the Tincture of Tartar will remain in the bottom of the Body, which you must keep in a Vial well closed.

This Tincture is very excellent in all Diseases which come from abundance of melancholick Humours; in the Scurvy and Dropsie, and it is of great force to putrefy all the mass of Blood. The Dose is from ten to thirty drops, continuing the use for some season.


CHAP. XXIII.

Of Juniper Berries.

The principal Preparations which are made of Juniper Berries, are the Distillation of their burning Spirit, and drawing thence their Ethereal Oil, and their Extract or Rob, which they commonly call the German Treacle. The burning Spirit is made in a Fermentation and Distillation like that of Water cresses, with addition of warm Water and yeast of Beer. But this rule of Juniper berries will not serve for all Berries, for those of Elder and Dwarf elder are fermented without any addition, as well as the juices of Grapes, Apples, Pears, &c. and need only be broken and put into some large Vessel for eight or ten days, till the fermentation be raised. And then a burning Spirit may be distilled from them, which hath very great Virtues according to the materials whence it is drawn. The Distillation of the Ethereal Oil is thus made.

Break six pounds of Juniper berries with a Pestle, and pour thereon in a Copper Body, fifteen pounds of common Water. Stir all well, and fit to it its Mores-head, and distill with a gradual fire the Spiritous Water and Oil which come over confusedly , and continue till the Water come over without any taste. Afterwards you must separate the Oil from the Spiritous Water by means of a wick of Cotton, as we have taught above in the Chapter of Wormwood. Keep the Water and Oil apart in Vials well stopped. Take that which remains after the Distillation out of the Body, and put it into some Earthen Platter, or other Vessel till it be cool, lest it should contract any bad quality from the Copper. Pass all the Liquor through linen cloth, and press the pouse [pouze, pulp, pomace, Caput Mortuum: OED- Yorkshire dialect] very hard, let all the Liquor stand and settle for a whole day, and then pass that which is clear through a woolen strainer, and evaporate the Liquor so strained into the consistence of an Extract.

The Spirit and combustible Oil are powerful Medicines to provoke the Courses, and open Obstructions of the Liver and Spleen, to evacuate the Stone and Gravel of the Reins and Bladder. They are also good against the Plague, and to provoke Sweat and Urine. The Oil outwardly applied fortifies the Nerves, and dissolves hardness. The Dose of the Spirit is from half a Dram to half a spoonful in warm broth; of the Oil from three to fifteen drops, in its own distilled Water, or other Liquor; of the Extract from one Dram to three in its own proper Water, or some Vehicle.


CHAP. XXIV.

Of Seeds.

Seeds are prepared diversely, according to the Substances they contain. For some are full of a mucilaginous juice, in which lies their principle Virtue, as Quince kernels, Linseed, Fleawort, &c. Others contain store of Oil, which may be drawn by Expression, and the same may be reduced into an Emulsion. Such are the Seeds of Peony, Poppy, the cold Seeds, Hemp, and infinite others. There are some from whom comes a burning Spirit, by means of Fermentation, as Mustard Seed, and all those which have a stinging and piercing taste. Many others have an Aromatick odour, and contain in them a Sulphur, or Ethereal Oil. Such are Caraway, Fennel, Aniseeds, &c. and they may be distilled as Wormwood, and Juniper berries, and have afforded a Spiritual water, and Oil swimming thereon, which must be separated by a wick of Cotton, as we have said several times. But note that all Vegetable seeds distilled by Retort, besides the ordinary substances which are drawn from other parts of Vegetables, afford a quantity of volatile Salt adhering to the sides of the Receiver, and represent an infinity of figures very pleasant to behold. And it is worthy consideration, that it is only this part of the Plants that can afford a volatile Salt wholly congealed. Also amongst the Seeds which have an Aromatic scent, there are many which produce not an Oil only by Distillation, but by Expression also, whereof we will give an instance in Anise, as follows.

Oyl of Aniseed by Expression.

Put a pound of Aniseed finely powdered upon a hair Sieve turned upside down, and cover it with a Pewter dish, in such manner that all the Aniseed may be contained in the hollow of the Dish. Set the Sieve in a flat Basin with two or three pints of water over the fire, and make the water boil. The vapor thereof will pierce into, and warm the Powder of the Aniseed. Have a good Press with two boards, and a little sack of strong Canvas, all hot, and in readiness, and when the plate that covers the Aniseed powder is so hot that your hand cannot endure the heat of it, put and tie your powder up nimbly in a Sack, and readily into the Press, and you will force thence a green and clear Oil, having the pleasing taste and scent of Aniseed.