A compendious body of chymistry, which will serve as a guide and introduction both for understanding the authors which have treated of the theory of this science in general: and for making the way plain and easie to perform, according to art and method, all operations, which teach the practise of this art, upon animals, vegetables, and minerals, without losing any of the essential vertues contained in them. By N. le Fèbure apothecary in ordinary, and chymical distiller to the King of France, and at present to his Majesty of Great-Britain.

The best preparation of Regulus of Antimony.

℞ lb ss. of ends of Horse-nails, or lb φ. of Filings of Iron or Steel very pure and clean, put in a good Crucible, something big and deep, and place it in a wind-Oven upon a round bottom or Tile, called by the French Culotte, already mentioned above; cover it with a piece of Brick, and bury it in Charcoal mixt with kindled coals, that they may take fire by degrees, and so by little and little season the Crucible; and when the fire is well kindled, and that the Artist shall see the Iron or Steel to be in a very red and clear ignition, so as to draw near the white glowing; add then to it lb j. of well chosen Antimony in powder, then

cover again the Crucible with the Brick and coals, to advance the Fusion and union of the two matters, and as soon as you shall by frequent inspection perceive them in that state, make ready your Cornet or casting Vessel for Regulus, if you have any, keeping it warm and besmearing it with Wax in the sides towards the bot∣tom, and throw in the Crucible ℥ iij. or iiij. of Niter in grosse powder, very dry and somewhat warmed, that it may the sooner take flame with the sulphur of Antimony, that the fusion thereof may be quicker and cleaner; for as soon as the Crucible is toucht by the Niter, there followes immediately an ebullition of the mat∣ters with a noise and sparkling, caused by the internal ayr of the Niter and the mixture of the Sulphur with the Iron or Mars: But the Artist must have a special care to have his Pincers in rea∣dinesse to draw the Crucible, and pour the melted matter into the Regulus Pot, as soon as the ebullition is over; otherwise there would a crusty substance gather on the top, which might hinder the casting of it, and is of very hard and difficult fusion: As soon as the matters are in the Regulus pot, strike upon the brims of it with a Pestle or Hammer, to cause the Regulus the better to se∣parate it self; but if you want this Vessel for casting your Regulus, you need only draw your Crucible from the fire, and striking soft∣ly upon the brims of it, let it cool. It would neverthelesse be ne∣cessary to be furnished with this Vessel in a Laboratory, because you might thereby preserve your Crucible from the necessity of be∣ing broken, and so preserve them for other fusions and the purifi∣cation of your Regulus, besides that it will save much time and fire, which otherwise must be unnecessarily spent; for your four meltings or fusions may be made consecutively in one and the same Crucible: either of these two Vessels being cooled, either turn upside down the Crucible and stamp or beat it against the ground to make the Regulus come out, or break the Crucible, and therein shall you finde an uniform lump seemingly: but knock upon it about the middle, and the Regulus which is in the bot∣tom will forsake the feces that are uppermost, and are nothing else but the Iron Sulphur, and terrestrial impurities of the Anti∣mony, with very little remaining of the Niters, which also frame by themselves a kind of close compacted lump, which every day dissolves it self in the ayr into a dry powder, resembling smutty

and terrestrious Filings of Iron. The Regulus being not pure e∣nough in the first melting, you must therefore beat it to powder, & add to it ℥ iij. of antimony in powder to accelerate the melting thereof, and put it in a new Crucible, and cause it again to flow in a wind-Furnace, and when it shall be in fusion, throw into it ℥ ij. or iij. of very dry Niter and warm'd into a powder, and there will happen yet a small ebullition; throw it immediately into the cast∣ing Vessel, & knock upon it; separate the Regulus from the blackish and impure dregs, and it will come out twice as pure and white; pro∣ceed thus the third time, and the dregs will be either more gray or whitish, which is a sign that it begins to draw nearer the state of its purity: wherefore proceed to the fourth fusion, and alwayes with new Niter dry and warm, giving a very strong fire this last time that the Niter may be in very good fusion, and draw to the colour of a Partridges eye; cast it quickly, & with nimbleness stir the cast∣ing Vessel, being first well warmed, and turn it round, and you shall have a stellate or starry Antimony to the very Center, white as sil∣ver, and flowing already something of its solar Tincture: for the Niter which was in fluxion on the top of it is all yellow, an infal∣lible sign with the star which appears on the top of it, that the Re∣gulus hath attained the true point of its purity and perfection, to be freely used in the preparation of those noble Remedies which it is capable to yield.

If the Artist will raise his curiosity so high, he may frame Cups and Pots with this Regulus, as also Pellets or small Globes, and he will have that which they call Pocula perpetua, and Pilulae perpetuae, the Purgative and Emetick vertue whereof is never exhausted; though Wine be every day put in infusion in the Cups, or the Pellets or Globes swallowed down every day, which may be taken up again after evacuation, and being washed, made use of with as much ef∣ficacy as before, as by daily experience it is found true, which doth evidently prove that Antimony doth as much or more participate as any other Mixt, of light and heavenly Fire, whose vertue never decreaseth, though he imparts every day his Rayes and bountiful warmth: so is it only by an emanation or irradiation of the inward vertue that these Cups and Pills do work, and it is also by irradiati∣on and influence from above of the igneous and sulphurous quali∣ty of their substance, that their vertue is miraculously, as it were re∣paired, and again supplyed.

[illustration] diagram

The Calcination of Antimony by the Sun.

• ...a the Table.
• ...b the Glasse with its up∣holder by which ye may rayse it higher or lower.
• ...c the Stone or Plate on w^ch y^e Antimony in powder is tayd.
• ...d y^e Artist y^e orders y^e Glass & stirs about y^e Antimony.
• ...e y^e light y^t is centerd by the Glasse.