The Distillation of the Spirit of ♀.

THis is the Operation wherein a Chymical Artist hath need of all his Patience and Judgement, if he will successfully perform this intended Distillation, which will be to him a guide and a Pattern whereupon to proceed in all others, by reason of the great volatility of the matter he works upon. Let him then take his Vitriol when it is very dry, and reduce it to powder in a Marble Morter, then put it in a Retort with a long neck and wide mouth, and all that matter being put in, let him be carefull to cleanse the uppermost part of the Retort, and the whole neck with a Feather tyed to a small stick, that he may not be deceived in believing that the greenesse he shall perceive in the distilling drops should have contracted their colour of Vitriol which might have been left there when it was poured in the Retort. After this he shall place his Retort in a close Reverberatory Furnace, leaving four Registers on the corners of the roof of the Furnace, and another in the middle, to be able to govern the fire with more command and better moderation; wherefore these Regi∣sters must be stopt with close and well-fitted stoples. Then let him fit a very capacious and large Glass Recipient very clean and dry to the neck of the Retort, and stop the joyning parts with a wet Bladder, and lute them moreover with Quick-lime and whites of Eggs, as we have often repeated in this Treatise; and when Page  175the Lute is dry, let him begin to give his fire judiciously and slow∣ly, forbearing all hastinesse; and rather expecting with an exem∣plary Patience that the matter should by degrees drive and send up its vapours, which shall thicken and condense themselves in the neck of the Retort, and fall by clear and limpid drops into the Recipient: for the nose or mouth of the Retort must at least advance four fingers deep in the body of the Recipient, that he may discern the diversity of colour of the distilling drops; not so much to feed and satisfie his own curiosity, though it be a very pleasant diversion, as to regulate the better his fire, which in this Operation is one of the most important considerations; because if he never so little encreases the fire without necessity, it may occasion the losse of the whole substance, and the break∣ing of the Vessels; wherefore he must be here vety vigilant to do nothing whereby he may receive a prejudice, a thing general∣ly to be observed in all other distillations of Salts, whereof our Artist intends to draw the Spirits. We thought fitting to describe this circumstance of the Work with all imaginable punctuality, that in case any by too much haste and precipitancy comes to miscarry, he may not lay the fault upon us. This tenor and state of heat is he to keep so long as the drops shall fall clear, and not to urge his fire by any means: for the drops will fall fast enough, if slowly you reckon six between the interval of every falling drop. But when the drops begin to turn green, and the white vapours to appear in the Recipient, and condense themselves into Spirit and in a subtil Liquor which frames in the glasse Filaments and winding veines about the said Recipient, it is a token that the volatile Spirit begins to manifest it self abundantly, and that you must then go on slowly and avoid all precipitancy and over∣haste, for the Recipient grows hot by the heat of the vapours and the afflux of the Spirits. The clear drops last about four or five hours, the green and first volatile vapours as much. That be∣ing over, you must begin to encrease and urge the fire, and the Re∣cipient will totally fill it self with very white vapors, which will continue increasing still the fire more and more the space of five or six houres, and towards the end by the intense and vehement action of the fire, yellow drops will fall, which by little and little will turn to a rednesse, which is an absolute token of the end of Page  176the operation, lasting for the most part twelve or fifteen houres, according to the greater or lesser quantity of matter in the Re∣tort. The vessels being grown cold, take off the Lute, joyning the Recipient to the Retort, and pour the yellowish Spirit, which hath a strong sulphureous smell in a Cucurbite; which having placed in B. M. and luted exactly a Still-head to it, as also the Matrass, which is to be applyed to the nose of the Limbeck, give a fire proportionable to the volatility of the matter; for this Spirit ri∣seth as easily and nimbly as spirit of Wine; but the fire about the end must be a little more urg'd, and the whole substance will ascend leaving a dry bottom into a volatile and very penetrating Spirit, possessing more vertues then can be expressed, whether us'd as a bare Remedy, or as a preparation to other Medicaments; this noble Spirit opening and dissolving bodies without corrosion or alteration of their seminal powers and faculties, and that which is more surprizing and above all to be admired is, that this Noble and Wonderful Spirit keeps the same vertue in Physick, and the same dissolutive faculty, after it hath served to the dissolution and preparation of many different substances, either Stones or Metals. We will not affirm nevertheless, or contend that this Spirit remains unalterable: But this we can, that the experience we have had hitherto, has never discovered unto us that he can lose any part of his acting faculty: contrariwise having drawn it off by distillation, it hath ever kept in our hands the same strength and vigor it had done before, either us'd upon the same matter or upon another, as those will most certainly finde that shall employ it in their operations. It is a soveraign Remedy against Epi∣lepsies of what kind soever, Apoplexy, all irritations of the Mo∣ther, all Hypocondriack and melancholy Diseases, inveterated griefs and pains in the head, and all scorbutick maladies; It is admirable fron j. drop to x. in appropriated Liquors; but the most judicious Dosis in all Liquors is to a pleasant acidity. We cannot forbear to insert here the very same words which Doctor Zwelfer, Physitian to his Imperial Majesty, hath in that Ap∣pendix, which discovered this Treasure unto us; where he con∣cludes the praises he hath given to this Spirit by these words: Et ut summatim dicam, tanquam expertus in multis affectibus, qui Herculea etiam remedia rident, & contemnunt, ad hunc sp. tan∣quam Page  177asylum si quis accurrerit, medicamentum reperiet qu•vis precio redimendum; Hoc fruere lector amice secreto, & favore mei pro fideli communicatione benevole persevera. This is in few words the sense and testimony of this expert Physitian; wherefore I do yet insist after him, and advise earnestly all Physitians and Artists not to neglect the practice of the Remedy and Dissolvent, both concentred and joined in one substance.

But though we have herein taught the noblest Remedy that can be extracted from Copper, it is neverthelesse necessary to teach the workings of some usefull Operations in Physick and Chy∣rurgery, that when the Chymical Apothecary shall meet with them in any Author, he may be able to prepare them, that the Physi∣tian, when he shall find a fit and convenient way, may make use thereof, for the preservation and recovery of Patients.