The book of quinte essence or the fifth being; that is to say, man's heaven. A tretice in Englisch breuely drawe out of Þe book of quintis essencijs in Latyn, Þat Hermys Þe prophete and kyng of Egipt, after Þe flood of Noe fadir of philosophris, hadde by reuelacioun of an aungil of God to him sende. Ed. from the Sloane ms. 73, about 1460-70 A.D., by Frederick J. Furnivall, M.A.

NOTES ON THE CHEMISTRY OF THE TEXT

BY C. H. GILL, ESQ., OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON

P. 4. Direction to submit any wine that is not sour to distillation. (Sour wine is deficient in alcohol; that body having been changed into acetic acid by oxidation.) In the language of the mystical ideas which prevailed in the dawn of Chemistry, the colouring matters, sugar, &c.; of the wine are called 'the .4. elementis,' or as it were the 'rotten fæces of wine'??

The direction to distill the wine seven times is a good practical suggestion for the obtaining of strong alcohol which will burn well. Then follows a description of the distilling apparatus, which seems to have been arranged to ensure a very slow distillation, so as to obtain a product as colourless and scentless as possible.

P. 5. The second way to make the Quinte essence depends on distillation of alcohol by means of the heat of fermenting horse-dung; also the fifth manner.

P. 6. The directions for gilding burning water are all nonsense; but as the writer had no means of testing the truth of his statements, they may have been made in good faith.

P. 7. The idea which he expresses, that this gilt burning water will make you well and young, is difficult to explain, except on the assumption that, it being the strongest of alcohol, a very little served to produce that elevation of spirits which seemed to bring back the spring of youth.

P. 7, 1. 6 from the bottom. The word liquibles in the text does not mean liquids, for a liquid cannot be made hot enough to be quenched. If

the original liquibles cannot be retained I should substitute the word liquiables, meaning those things which can be liquefied by heat. Indeed in the next passage we find stated that if Saturn (the alchemists' mystical name for Lead) be quenched, &c.;, and that if then Mars (Iron) be quenched in the same liquid, it will acquire the softness of Saturn. Or if you quench lead in spirit which has had iron first cooled in it, it becomes hard.

Of course there is no truth whatever in the above statements.

P. 8. The fire without coals, &c.;, is 'corrosive sublimate,' most probably containing an excess of Sulphuric acid (vitriol) as an impurity. If Copper (Venus) or Tin (Jupiter) be dipt into this solution of mercury they will have a deposit of mercury formed on their surface, which will give them a pearly appearance.

P. 8. To bring Gold into calx. When gold is treated in the way directed, a fine powder of gold of a brown or yellow colour is left. This might readily have been mistaken for a calx by those who had no clear ideas of what calx really was.

P. 9. The departing of gold from silver is essentially the same as the plan practised at the present day.

To get the Quintessence of Gold. I can make nothing of the directions, that is, I cannot see that they (the directions) hide any real truth.

P. 10. How to get the Quintessence of Antimony. I can make nothing of this part, and can only suggest that the vinegar used contained hydrochloric acid, and when distilled with 'Myn Antimony' (native sulphide of antimony) gave a distillate of Chloride of Antimony containing some 'kermes' which is red.

From this point onward there is little or nothing that can be explained by a Chemist.