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A way of Whiting Wax Cheaply and in Great Quantity may be a thing of good Oeconomical Use, and we have elsewhere set down the Practice of Trades-men that Blanch it; But here Treating of White∣ness only in Order to the Philosophy of Colours, I shall not Examine which of the Slow vvayes may be best Employd, to free Wax from the Yellow Melleous parts, but shall rather set down a Quick
way of making it White, though but in very Small Quantities. Take then a little Yellow Wax, scraped or thinly sliced, and putting it into a Colts-head or some other Convenient Glass, pour to it a pretty deal of Spirit of Wine, and placing the Vessel in Warm Sand, Encrease the Heat by de∣grees, till the Spirit of Wine begin to Sim∣per or to Boyl a little; and continuing that degree of Fire, if you have put Liquor e∣nough, you will quickly have the Wax dissolv'd, then taking it off the fire, you may either suffer it to Cool as hastily as with Safety to the Glass you can, or Pour it whilst 'tis yet Hot into a Filtre of Paper, and either in the Glass where it Cools, or in the Filtre, you will soon find the Wax and Menstruum together reduc'd into a White Substance, almost like Butter, which by letting the Spirit Exhale will shrink in∣to a much Lesser Bulk, but still retaining its Whiteness. And that which is pretty in the working of this Magistery of Wax, is, that the Yellowness vanishes, neither appear∣ing in the Spirit of VVine that passes Lim∣pid through the Filtre, nor in the Butter of VVax, if I may so call it, that, as I said, is VVhite.