T reparations of Simple si ii§

eacioufly in many medicinal Inten- of thofe that ate cutious, to ma-

tions.

Of this kind ate all fcented Ve-getables, whether fweet or fetid:which fhould be diftiH'd green ordry, as the Texture of the vege-table Subilance is fitted to lolè orretain thofe volatile Parts, which isbeft known by Experience; forthofe Plants whofe volatile Parts arefo loofe in their Combinations, thatthey fly off in drying, ought to becommitted to the Still as foon asgather'd, as Lillies of the Valley^Baum, and thofe of a tender Scent iwhereas thofe which prefeve theirVolatility, as Marjoram, Rtfemaiy,and the ftronger Aromatics, maybe trailed when dry, if they havepot been kept too lohg. Theiè areall beft rais'd in the Alembic with aCrane-Head, the higher the better :and if an Handful or two of Pot-Afhes are thrown in, they will bothhelp to load and keep down thegroffer Phlegm, and feparate andvolatilize the finer Parts. As bythe common way of running whatcomes off into an open Receiver,many of the finer Part« fly off, andare loft : By the Contrivance of aBladder and Funnel, it may beconvey'd into a Bottle as clofe asinto a Receiver with a Retort.Take a firong Bottle of any con-venient bignefe, into which put aFunnel; tie to the Worm a Blad-der, in the feme manner as it isfitted to a Glyfter-Pipe; cut openwhat covers the Aperture of theWorm, and draw the Bladder backover the Funnel, fo that it may beclofe ty'd about the Neck of theBottle. By this means not a Par-ticle can be loft; But the Fire muff.be more moderate than in openDiftillation, otherwife it will forceup the Still-Head, or burft the Blad-der or Bottle. It is worth the while

nage all their Diftillations of odori-ferous Plants this way. for theWaters will be much the betterfor it.

The Spirits of vegetable Subftan,-ces, efpecially of Herbs, made byFermentation capnot be dependedupon to have much of the Virtue ofthe Plant in them : For in Fermen-tation of an odoriferous Plant, .theSpirit which Nature has made fliesaway in that inteftine Motion, ibthat what is afterward produced hasno advantage beyond thofe madefrom inodorous Subftances by thefeme Artifice. Thofe Writers there«fore exceedingly err, who teach toferment any Plant whatfoever, inorder to draw out any medicinalVermes; becaufe the Spirit is madeby the very Action of Fermenta-tion, as has been before demonftra-ted in the firft Part, under thatHead, SeSi. 4. So that it fignifiesnot fo much what Subftances fucha Spirit is drawn from, as whatProperties refide in a Spirit madeby fuch Contrivance.

In this Limitation of the Term,we have no Spirits from eitherAnimals, ox Minerals; all underthis Denomination, obtain'd fromthem, being either not properlyfo, or procur'd by fuch artificialHelps as will come to be ex-plain'd under their refpe&ive Pre-parations.

All that has been here advane'd,is very eafily apply'd to Waters:we foall therefore only fubjoin, thatall the Waters exhal'd from inodo-rous Plants, are not worth Diftilla-tion, becaufe they cannot raife anything befides Phlegm ; unlefs a veryfmall Portion or a nitrous Salt,which is ftrain'd into them withtheir Nouriihment from the Earth,or imbibed from the Air and Dews:

and