Dr. Willis's practice of physick being the whole works of that renowned and famous physician wherein most of the diseases belonging to the body of man are treated of, with excellent methods and receipts for the cure of the same : fitted to the meanest capacity by an index for the explaining of all the hard and unusual words and terms of art derived from the Greek, Latine, or other languages for the benefit of the English reader : with forty copper plates.

CHAP. II. The sorts and forms of Diureticks [or Medicins that purge by Urin] as also the Reasons of the Chymical Preparations of some of them.

FIrst therefore, as to Saline Diureticks [or salt Medicins that purge by Urine] that which I have oftentimes inculcated, ought to be here taken notice of, to wit, that what ever Salts of different tempers are put together, they mutually lay hold of each other, and are immediately conjoined; and that whilest they so combine, the other particles, being loosened from the mixture, divide or fly several ways. This is evident∣ly seen when fluid or acid Salt is put to fixed or alchalized; and likewise when fluid * 1.1 or fixed is mixed with volatile or sharp Salt. Indeed the whole business of Dissolutions and Precipitations depends upon this one quality of Salts. Wherefore since the Bloud and Humours of our Bodies abounds with much Salt, and that usually altered * 1.2 from one state to another, and consequently the cause of various indispositions; and seeing furthermore that there are divers kinds of saline Diureticks, filled with fixed, fluid, nitrous, volatile, or alchalized Salt, it will require great discretion and judgment in a Physician so to order it, that the saline particles in the Medicin may differ from those in our Bodies. How this may be done I will shew you by running over each kind of saline Diureticks.

Among saline Diureticks impregnated with acid Salt, the Spirit of Salt or Nitre, as * 1.3 also the juice of Limons, and Wood Sorrel, White Wine, Rhenish Wine and Cider are of prime note among the Vulgar, and oftentimes perform that intention: for these alone dissolve the Bloud, and precipitate it into Serum, as when an acid is drop∣ped into boyling Milk. But this doth not happen alike in all, nor even to any equally. In an hale constitution, or such as is not much different from it, the Salt of the Bloud is partly fixed, partly nitrous, and partly volatile; so also in some Scorbutick and Hy∣dropical Bodies, it becomes most commonly fixed. Wherefore in every of these ca∣ses, Diureticks impregnated with acid Salt, are used with success; but in Catarrhs, and * 1.4 some hydropical and fcorbutical Distempers, when the saline-fixed particles of the Bloud are exalted into a state of fluidity, and the volatile ones are depressed (as it often happens) acid Remedies usually do more hurt than good; in as much as they more pervert the Bloud, that is already degenerated from their right temper: but in such cases, Medicins impregnated with fixed or volatile Salt will be more helpful.

The Forms of Diureticks that have acid Salt for their Foundation.

Take of the Powder of choice white Tartar, of Chrystal Mineral, each ʒj. ss. of Crabs eyes * 1.5 pulverized ʒ j. and make a Powder. The Dose is from ʒ ss. to ℈ij. in a, convenient vehicle, repeating it every sixth or eighth hour.

Take of Tartar vitriolated, or nitrated ʒ ij. of the Powder of Egg-shells ʒ j. ss. of Parsley or wild Carret seed ʒ ss. and make a Powder. The Dose is ʒ ss. to be taken in the same manner.

Take of the best Spirit of Salt ʒ ij. of Harts horn burnt and pulverized, a convenient quantity as much as will imbibe the Spirit, and make a Powder. The Dose is from ℈ j. to ʒ ss.

Take of the juice of Limons ℥ ij. of compound Radish Water ʒ j. ss. of Syrup of the five * 1.6 Roots ʒ iij. and make a Drink or Potion.

Take of the juice of Sorrel ʒ ij. of White Wine ℥ vj. mingle them and make a Potion.

Take of compound Radish Water ℥ ij. of Pellitory of the Wall ℥ iv. of Spirit of Salt ℈ j. xv. drops, of Salt of Tartar gr. xv. of Syrup of Violets ℥ ss. and make a Potion.

2. That Medicins impregnated with fixed or lixivial Salt, provoke Urin, is very * 1.7 manifest from the vulgar and quack Physick that is commonly used to cure Dropsies; for in an Anasarca [or Dropsie that goes through the habit of the Body] and some∣times in an Ascites [a Dropsie that makes the Belly swell like a Bottle] when the Bowels or Flesh are excessively swelled with a conflux of Water, they frequently give a Lixivium or Lie, made of the ashes of Wormwood, or Broom, or Bean-stalks, with White Wine: from whence commonly proceeds plentiful pissing, by which the Distemper is removed. But yet I have observed, that that Medicin in some People hath not been at all Diuretick, but hath increased rather than cured the dropsical in∣disposition: of which if you would know the reason, it is manifest from what I have already said, that lixivial Salts do neither dissolve nor precipitate neither the Bloud nor Milk, and therefore are not in their own nature diuretick; but yet that effect some∣times follows, in as much as the fixed Salt, being copiously taken in, destroys the ope∣ration of the acid and coagulative or curdling Salt that predominates in the Bloud; and consequently the Bloud, though before it were too apt to be dissolved, and could not contain its Serum, but thrust it forth in all places, yet now by the approach of the fixed Salt, recovers it due temper, and therefore sucking back the Serum that was ex∣travasated, and carrying it down to the Reins, it causes plentiful pissing.

2. Forms or Receipts of Diureticks that have fixed Salt for their Foundation. * 1.8

Take of the Salt of Tartar or Wormwood ʒ ij. of Coral calcined till it be white ʒ j. ss. of Nutmeg ʒ ss. make a Powder. The Dose is ʒ ss. to ℈ ij.

Take of the Tincture of Salt of Tartar ʒ j. to ʒ j. ss. of compound Radish Water ℥ j. ss. mingle them, and give it in a draught of Posset drink, with Roots and Seeds of Burdock boyled in it.

Take of the Deliquium [or Oil] of Salt of Tart, that floats beneath, whilest the Tincture is extracting, and of Wine impregnated with Sulphur ℈ ij. to ʒ j. ss. of White Wine ℥ iv. to vj. of Syrup of the five Roots ℥ ss. mingle them, and make a draught, to be repeated twice or thrice a day.

Take of the whitest ashes of Vine twigs half a Pint, of Nutmeg ʒ ij. pour to it of White or Rhenish Wine two Pints and an half. Let them stand hot and close for a day, and then keep the straining for your use. The Dose is ℥ vj. twice or thrice a day.

Take Flints heated red hot in the fire, and quench them in White Wine or old March Beer, and drink of that Liquor ℥ vj. or viij. twice a day.

Take of slacked Lime water ℥ iv. to vj. of the Tincture of Salt of Tartar ʒj. to ʒj. ss. make a draught, to be taken twice or thrice a day.

2. For the same reason that fixed Salt is used, in a sharp indisposition of the Bloud, to provoke Urin, they use also volatile Salt sometime, and that with success; in as much as the particles thereof being admitted into the Bloud destroy the predomi∣nancy of the fluid Salt that is in it; and consequently the Bloud, recovering its due * 1.9 mixture, and being freed from curdling and defluxions, sucks back all the Serum that is extravasated and delivers over to the Reins all that is superfluous to be carried off through the Ureters of Piss-vessels. But yet those Medicins which are prepared with volatile Salt, (because they have particles that are somewhat strong and elastical or sprindgy) when they mend or rectifie the temper of the Bloud, dispose that part of the Serum, that is superfluous, for evacuation by Sweating sometimes as well as by Pissing. Now to this rank of Diureticks, not onely pure and sheer volatile Salt, drawn out of Animals or Minerals by Distillation, but even the integral parts both of living and vegetable creatures (such as the Powders and Extracts of Insects and Vegetables that are sharp) ought to be referred.

3. Forms or Receipts of Medicins that have Volatile Salt for their Foundation.

Take of the salt of Amber, and of salt of Nitre, each ʒ ij. make a Powder. The Dose is * 1.10 ℈ j. to ʒ ss. in a convenient vehicle.

Take of the Flower of Sal Armoniack, and of Mineral Chrystal, each ʒ ij. and mingle them. The Dose is ℈ j. to ʒ ss. in a spoonful of compound Radish water. Give the Salt of Urin after the same manner.

Take of the Powder of Bees ℈ j. of Lovage seeds ℈ ss. make a Powder, and give it in a spoonful of distilled Water.

Take of the spirit of Urin from ℈ j. to ʒ ss. of compound Radish water from ℥ j. to ℥ j. ss. * 1.11 of Juniper water ℥ iij. mingle tkem and make a Potion. You may give the spirit of Tartar after the same manner in a double quantity.

Take of Millepeds prepared ʒ ij. of the Flower of Sal Armoniack ʒ ss. of Nutmegs pulve∣rized * 1.12 ʒ ss. of Venice Turpentine a convenient quantity, and make them into Pills. Let the Patient take iv. twice a day.

Take of the Powder of the Seeds of Burdock ʒ ij. of wild Carret ʒ i. of the salt of Amber ʒ j. of Oil of Nutmegs ℈ ss. of Capivy Balsam a convenient quantity. Make a Mass and form it into small Pills, of which you may give iv. might and morning.

Take of the Roots of Chervil, Parsley, Fennel, Ringo, and Restharrow, each ℥ j. of the * 1.13 Leaves of Saxifrage and Clivers, each one handful, of the Seeds of Hartwort and Grum∣wel each half an handful, of Juniper berries ʒ vj. boyl them in iv. Pints of Spring wa∣ter till half be boyled away, and them put to it one pint of Rhenish Wine, and of the best Honey ℥ ij., and so make an Apozeme or Decoction. The Dose is ℥ vj. twice a day.

Take of fresh Millepeds two pints, of the Leaves of Clivers, Chervil, Saxifrage, and of Golden Rod, each two handfuls,, of wild Radish roots ℥ vj. of Nutmeg ℥ j. of Juniper * 1.14 berries, of Seeds of wild Carret, each ℥ ij. cut them to pieces, bruise them and pour to them of Whey, made with White Wine viij. pints, distil them in the common vessels and mingle all the liquor. The Dose is ℥ iv. twice or thrice a day.

Take of fresh Millepeds washed, from the number of 40. to 60. of Nutmeg ℈ss. which when you have bruised, pour to them of the distilled water of Saxifrage ℥ iij. Strain * 1.15 it and drink it.

Take of the Leaves of Chervil, and Parsley of Macedonia, each three handfuls: bruise them, and pour to them of White Wine a pint and an half; then strain it well, and keep it in a glassen Vessel. The Dose is ℥ iij. twice a day.

Prepare a Tincture out of Millipeds, Bees, Grashoppers or dried Catharides, with the * 1.16 Tincture of the salt of Tartar. You may give it from 15 or 20 drops to 30, in a conve∣nient vehicle.

4. That Nitre is a kind of Salt, is very manifest from the figure, colour, taste, with other properties and accidents belonging to it. But yet this is different from all other sorts of Salt, or any state of saline particles, nor is it either acid, or fixed, or volatile, but as it were a mean betwixt both. It so far participates of volatile Salt, as that * 1.17 when it is made, it ought to be elixiviated, or prepared with a Lie, and joined to fixed Salt, that it may thereby gain a kind of concretion or bulkiness. Moreover, When it is melted, if you put any Sulphur into it, it immediately takes fire and flies away: but it so far communicates with fixed Salt, that being melted in a crucible, it indures a long, and it may be, perpetual fusion, without any considerable diminution of its parts or particles. Indeed it is Nitre onely, whereby all Plants flourish, all Animals live and breath, and wherewith all sublunary fire is kindled and fomented or kept in; as I have shewed in another Treatise, which I have no necessity here to repeat.

But as to what concerns our present business, it is sufficiently known, that the Salt * 1.18 of Nitre cools the Bloud, and provokes Urin very strongly: but the reason of both these effects is not so very evident: for Nitre is so far from containing in it such cooling particles, that on the contrary, nothing is more fiery, as you may see in Gun∣powder; and if you distil it, you would think a flame rather than a vapour or fume came forth into the Receiver: Besides that, the stagma or distilled liquor that drops from it, burns and corrodes all things that come near it, just like to actual fire. Nor have we less reason to wonder how this Body, whose nature is so exceeding fiery, should so dilute the bloud, and dissolve or melt it into waterishness in order to pro∣voke Urin.

Upon these things, that I may give you my conjectures, I say, that Nitre conduces to the production of those effects in a double respect; to wit, both as it is a Salt, some∣what allied to fixed and volatile Salt, and also as it is a fiery body. As to the former, I have observed that Nitre (like fixed and volatile Salts) being put into Milk, doth either hinder or take off the curdling of it; and likewise that if you pour Bloud whilest it is hot, upon this, as you do upon those it will preserve it from curdling or being discouloured. Wherefore seeing the particles of Nitre taken inwardly, do either keep the mixture of the Bloud entire or restore it, they consequently will prevent or take off the meltings or curdlings thereof, from whence proceeds heat and difficulty of making water.

But furthermore Nitre, as it is a fiery body, if inwardly taken, will cool the Bloud when it is in an excessive heat, and provokes Urin; in as much as (which I intimated before) it augments, by coming in, the flame of the Bloud, which before was dim and mixed with smoakiness, and making it more clear and pure, doth consequently ren∣der it more gentle; and when by that means the Bloud (whilest it burns more bright through the intermixture of the Nitre) is more loosened in its constitution, the fe∣rous particles are more easily extricated, or disengaged from the thicker, and do more plentifully run away.

4. Receipts of Diureticks, that have Nitre for their foundation.

Take of Nitre prepared ʒ ij. of Barley water, with the roots of Grass and candid Ringo boyled in it, two Pints, of Syrup of Violets ℥ ij. mingle them. The Dose is ℥ iv. twice a day.

Take of Sal Prunella ʒ ij. of white Sugar ʒ j. make a Powder, to be divided into six parts, * 1.19 whereof take one in any convenient liquor, thrice a day.

Take of Sal Prunella ʒ iij. of Salt of Amber ʒ j. and make a Powder. The Dose is ʒ ss. thrice a day.

Take of Sal Prunella, of Crabs Eyes, and of Salt of Wormwood, each ʒ ij. mingle them The Dose is ʒ ss. thrice a day.

5. It is also very vulgarly known that some Powders of Shells and Stones, that are impregnated with an alchalized or petrifying Salt, do sometimes provoke Urin. For * 1.20 to some that have been troubled with great Stranguries, or difficulty of Pissing, the Powder of Egg shells, and of the Claws or Eyes of Crabs, hath been a present reme∣dy. Of which if you inquire into the manner and reason of their operation, it is very manifest that such Medicins do not dissolve or sensibly precipitate the Bloud. Wherefore we must conclude, that these are sometimes (upon a sowre indisposition of the Bloud and Humours) diuretical, or apt to provoke Piss, in as much as they by

their combination or sticking together do bind and restrain the acid Salts, so that the Bloud, being freed from all fluxions and coagulations, sucks back the extravasated Se∣rum, and transmits it to the Reins.

5. Receipts of Diuretick Medicins, that have Alchalized Salt for their foundation. * 1.21

Take of the shells of Eggs powdered ʒ ss. to ʒ j. give it in a draught of White Wine, or Posset drink, or Diuretick Decoction, twice a day.

Take of the Powder of the Claws or Eyes of Crabs ʒ ij. of Salt of Amber, and of Nitre, each ʒ j. of Nutmeg ʒ ss. make a Powder. The Dose is ʒ ss. to ℈ ij. in a convenient ve∣hicle. Or take the aforesaid Powder with a convenient quantity of Venice Turpentine, and make it into small Pills. The Dose is iij, or iv. night and morning.

You may justly reckon among such things as are Diuretical, not onely saline * 1.22 Bodies, but also some sulphureous and spirituous ones too, in as much as they often produce the same effect. Many Gums, as especially Turpentine, (and such Medi∣cins as are prepared out of them) Oils of Juniper, Nutmeg, Wax, and that which drops from other fat things, being taken inwardly, provoke Urin (in many People) very plentifully, which hath a smell like that of Violets. I have known in some hydro∣pical and scorbutical persons, that the spirit of Wine, and hot Waters, yea and generous Wine also, if largely drunk of, hath provoked Urin; of all which the reason is, be∣cause when the Bloud is weak or sowrish, or, through the defect of fermentation, or the predominance of an acid and coagulating Salt, doth not circulate so briskly and equally as it should do, so as to contain the superfluous Serum within it, till it can de∣liver it over to the Reins, the aforesaid Remedies (in as much as preserve the mixture of the Bloud entire, or restore it when decaying) conduce very much to the provo∣king of Urin.

Take of the fresh Berries of Ivy, Juniper, and Laurel, each half a pound, of the Seeds of wild Carret ℥ iv. of Nutmeg ℥ ij. After you have bruised them, put to them in a * 1.23 Glassen Retort, of the best Venice Turpentine one pint, of Spirit of Wine rectified four pints, distil them in an Oven of Sand with a moderate heat till they are dry, taking care that they burn not, and you will have a Spirit and an yellow Oil, which are both exceedingly Diuretick. The Dose of the Spirit is from ʒ j. to ʒ ij. or iv. of the Oil ℈ 〈◊〉〈◊〉. to ℈ j. in a convenieut vehicle.

To the dregs that are left behind in the Retort, pour of the Tincture of Salt of Tartar one pint; and let them digest close in an Oven of Sand for several days, that the red Tin∣cture * 1.24 may come forth; of which the dose is from ℈ j. to ℈ ij. or ʒ j. in come forth; of which the dose is from ℈ j. to ℈ ij. or ʒ j. in a convenient ve∣hicle.

Take of prepared Millepeds ʒ iij. of Nutmeg ʒ j. bruise them, and pour to them of the purest * 1.25 spirit of Turpentine, and of the Tincture of Salt of Tartar, each ℥ vj. distil them with the gentle heat of a Bath, and you will have a Spirit, an Oil, and the deliquium or melting of the salt of Tartar, each of them impregnated with a notable diuretick quality.

The Reasons of some Preparations.

1. Sal Prunellae, or Chrystal Mineral, which is nothing else but purified Nitre.

Take of choice Nitre a convenient quantity, and dissolve it in Spring or Rain water; * 1.26 boyl it a little, and lay it up in a deep glassen Vessel, to chrystallize, in a cold place: then pick out the whitest and most clear chrystals onely, which you must again by often dissolutions and chrystallizations, reduce to the highest degree of purity; and they after that, being melted in a crucible and poured out into a silver Vessel, will harden into very white stone. Of this, when pulverized, the Dose is from ℈ j. to ʒ ss. or ℈ ij. which cools the boyling of the Bloud, and provokes Urin.

This Preparation is so ordered, that the nitrous particles, as much as is possible, * 1.27 may be separated quite and clean from the fixed Salt, and harden into Chrystals di∣stinct by themselves: for when the Nitre is first made out of the Earth, and drawn forth by a Lie, the particles thereof are so unapt to grow together, or chrystallize, that

it is necessary for the nitrous Lie to be again elixiviated with ashes, and impregnated with fixed Salt, to the end that the nitrous particles, being partly united to the Leyish ones, and partly, by the intervening of them, thrust out of the pores of the Water, may gain a kind of concretion or hardness: wherefore seeing the Body or Salt of Nitre is for∣med in that manner, see that the particles of fixed Salt be, by frequent dissolutions and chrystallizations, purged away, as much as possible, to make it the purer for Phy∣sical uses.

2. Spirit of Nitre.

Take of the purest Nitre lb j. of Powder of Bricks lb ij. which when you have well poun∣ded and mixed, put them into a glassen Retort, luted or into an earthen one, and distil * 1.28 them in a reverberating Oven with a fire gradually augmented. The red Fumes will make the Receiver glitter with a kind of flame colour, and when they are condensed will make a distilled liquor which is acid and exceeding corrosive. The Dose is iv. to vj. in a convenient vehicle.

Although Nitre, mixed with Sulphur, is soon set on fire by the least particle of ig∣neous matter, and breaks out into flames; yet, being destitute of that, it may be mel∣ted * 1.29 in a crucible, or distilled in a Retort, without any bruning at all. The Powder of Bricks is added to it, that when the Salts are melted by the fire, they may not mutually get hold of, and chain together each other, but being divided and separated from one another, may, by the force of the fire, be driven forth from their subject.

Nitre, when melted, retaineth its inflamable quality; but the distilled liquor will sooner put fire out than kindle it. For if at any time you put it among sulphur, that mixture can very hardly, and not so soon as sulphur, be kindled by it self; the reason of which is, because the nitrous Salt, having undergone a dissolution, is quite altered from its natural state, and gaineth much such another sowre temper, as other Salts that have suffered the like mutation; yea out of Sulphur there is drawn an acid stag∣ma or liquor, that rather destroys than augments inflammations.

3. Spirit of Sea Salt.

Take of Sea Salt, dissolved and powdered, lb j. of Bricks coarsly pulverized lb iij. pound them together, and mix them: then put to them some good big Brick-bats to the quan∣tity * 1.30 of lb ss. when they are well mixt and put into a strong Retort, distil them with a fierce reverberating fire for 24. hours; rectifie the distilled liquor with the heat of Sand in a glassen Cucurbit, drawing off the phlegm or waterish part; and there will remain in the bottom a Spirit, of an yellow or greenish colour, that hath a smell and taste very grateful.

This Salt is very difficult to be driven or forced into a sharp liquor, because the par∣ticles thereof, more than any other saline ones that are in Minerals, to wit, in Vitriol, * 1.31 Nitre, Alum, &c. being most strictly united, cannot easily be parted from each other, or separated from the embraces of the Earth; wherefore when they are loosened by the fire, mingle with them the Powder of Bricks, in a threefold quantity, to keep them from running together; and besides that, I thought fit to put between them good big pieces of Bricks, that the mass that is to be distilled, being hollowed as it were with holes through it, might be every where penetrated or pierced by the fire. Yet notwithstand∣ing, as you distil them, the Salts being dissolved by the fire, will very often run toge∣ther, in so much that afterward that cannot be driven forth with any force of fire.

That it is so, is very plain, because if by Art this union of the Salts among themseves * 1.32 and with the Earth be broken off, they are easily forced into an acid stagma, or di∣stilled liquor. For example;

Take of the Spirit of Vitriol not rectified one pint, and in a glassen Retort, pour it into Sea Salt calcined and pulverized, and immediately distil it in Sand, the spirit of the Salt being expelled as it were by the other, will easily ascend, whilest the spirit of Vitriol stays in its room; that is, this spirit of Vitriol being more ponderous and stronger, and likewise bereft and covetous of an earthy habitation, drives the other out of its possessions, and at the same time invades them it self.

4. Spirit of Piss.

Take of the Piss of a sound man that drinks Wine, what quantity you think fit, and when

you have put it into a Cucurbit with a blind Still, let it rot in dung for a moneth; then distil it in Sand. The liquor distilled from it being rectified in a deep Cucurbit, affords a spirit and a volatile Salt.

This operation may be performed more compendiously, if you evaporate fresh Urin to a fourth part of what you first took, to wit, that when the phlegm is exhaled, the saline particles may mor•…•… closely incorporate with the sulphureous and earthy ones. To this thick composition (after you have put it into the Cucurbit) pour either a Lie made of Ashes or Salt of Tartar, or the dissolution of slacked Lime; and then putting on the Still, distil it in an Oven of Sand; and you will easily gain a Spirit, and a vo∣latile Salt, which by rectification are purified and separated.

The reason of these proceedings is, because in that the Urin consists of a double * 1.33 kind ef Salt, that is to say, a nitrous and a volatile, together with a great deal of Sul∣phur and Earth, the particles of volatile Salt (whilest the mixture remains entire) are so detained and strictly compacted by the other saline ones, together with the rest of the thicker elements, that the spirits cannot break forth, or be divided and separated by the force of fire; but when by long rotting [in the dung] the mixtion of the li∣quor is loosened, the saline volatile particles, which at length do extricate or disen∣tangle themselves from the rest, ascend first in the distillation. Moreover the same effect also doth easily ensue, when a fixed Salt that is different from the nitrous, is poured in; for whilest the particles of the nitrous Salt are laid hold on by those of the other Salt that is infused, the volatile Salt escaping out of its restraint, doth easily make its way and is gone. Hither you may refer what I shall hereafter say of the di∣stillation of Sal Armoniack.

5. Tincture of Salt of Tartar.

Take of the purest Salt of Tartar ℥ vj. melt it and let it remain in the crucible till it gain a blew, or almost a green colour; then, having pulverized it whilest it grows hot, and * 1.34 put it into a strong Matrace or Glass Still with a long neck, pour to it rectified spirit of Wine the depth of three or four fingers, and let it digest in an Oven of Sand upon a quick fire for several days, till the tincture be extracted. For by long digestion the spirit of Wine gains a ruddy colour, in as much as the particles of fixed Salt, being in some measure exalted, are united to the vinous sulphur. In the mean while the remain∣ing salt of Tartar, which is diluted with the phlegm of the Wine, sinking down into Deliquium or Oil, and floating by it self will separate below; which is much better than the common Oil of Tartar, in that it participates of the vinous sulphur; and in some cases, where there is a necessity for a lixivial Diuretick, it is a very good Medicin. The Dose is ℈ j. to ℈ ij. or ʒ j. The Tincture is given from ʒ j. to ʒ j. ss. or ʒ ij.

The tincture of Salt of Tartar, by reason of the union of the vinous salt and sulphur, hath a very grateful smell and taste. If you distil the liquor to an half, the remaining * 1.35 part will retain in it more salt and sulphur, but little of the vinous spirit; and the spi∣rit which is drawn off and poured to fresh salt of Tartar, if it be digested, will hardly gain a Tincture, in as much as it is void of sulphur to unite with the salt.

Now indeed, that in the spirit of Wine, the sulphureous part is distinct from the pirituous, I learned from this Experiment.

Take of the sharpest spirit of Vitriol half a pint, of spirit of Wine rectified, one pint; mingle them in a glassen Retort and distil them in an Oven of sand, till the liquor (which * 1.36 at first seems homogeneous or of one nature) being drawn off, a deal of thick sediment remains in the bottom: pour this spirit again to the caput mortuum, and so repeat the distillation with fresh matter two or three times; at last you shall have two distinct, unmingleable liquors; to wit, one acid-spiritous that sinks downward, and the other very clear and oily that swims on the top; which, without doubt is the pure and mere sul∣phureous part of the Wine, separated by it self, whilest the spirituo•…•…s part joins with the acid salt.

6. Salt of Amber.

Take of the whitest Amber, pulverized lb ss. distil it in a glassen Retort either with a very strong heat of sand, or a weak heat of a reverberating Oven; first there will * 1.37 arise a phlegm and an yellow Oil with some quantity of spirit; then a volatile salt

will ascend into the neck of the Retort and sides of the Receiver; and last of all a black Oil will come forth before it ascends: this must be taken out and the Receiver changed, lest the Salt should be polluted by it.

This Salt being at first white, and of a very grateful smell and taste, unless it be * 1.38 kept in a vessel very fast stopped, becomes in a short time yellow, and then grows red and stinks. The cause of which is, because this Medicin contains in it much sulphur; the particles whereof, as long as the salt predominates, being subdued and clogged with others, are altogether obscured; yet afterward, when the composition of the mixed body is loosened, they get out, and shewing themselves above the rest, demon∣strate their excellency to several of our senses. The Dose of it is from ℈ss. to ℈j. The best way of keeping or giving this Salt of Amber is, if it be mingled with a dou∣ble quantity of the purest Nitre.

Notes

• * 1.1

  The diverse states of Salts.
• * 1.2

  Their various affections.
• * 1.3

  Diureticks im∣pregnated with acid Salt.
• * 1.4

  Where they are agreeable.
• * 1.5

  Powders.
• * 1.6

  A Drink.
• * 1.7

  Diureticks im∣pregnated with fixed Salt.
• * 1.8

  Their Forms or Receipts.
• * 1.9

  Diureticks im∣pregnated with volatile Salt. Why they do good.
• * 1.10

  Powders.
• * 1.11

  Potions.
• * 1.12

  Pills.
• * 1.13

  A Decoction.
• * 1.14

  A distilled wa∣ter.
• * 1.15

  Strainings.
• * 1.16

  A Tincture.
• * 1.17

  Diureticks that are impregna∣ted with a ni∣trous Salt.
• * 1.18

  The reasons of its effects.
• * 1.19

  Powders.
• * 1.20

  Diureticks im∣pregnated with alchalized Salt.
• * 1.21

  Their Forms or Receipts.
• * 1.22

  Diureticks that are sulphureous and spirituous.
• * 1.23

  Their Receipts. Distilled water.
• * 1.24

  A Tincture.
• * 1.25

  A Spirit and an Oil.
• * 1.26

  Sal Prunellae.
• * 1.27

  The reason of it.
• * 1.28

  Spirit of Nitre.
• * 1.29

  The reason of it.
• * 1.30

  Spirit of Sea Salt.
• * 1.31

  The reason of it▪
• * 1.32

  A more compe•…•…∣dious way.
• * 1.33

  The reason of it.
• * 1.34

  Tincture of Tartar.
• * 1.35

  The reason of it
• * 1.36

  Sul•…•…hur or Oil of wine.
• * 1.37

  Salt of Am be
• * 1.38

  The reason of it.