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348

General Btflory o/DRUGGS.

Vol, II.

trioi twenry-five Pounds, diflblve it in fairWater, ftrain it through a coarfe Cloth, boilit in a Copper Veffel for a Quarter of anHour; remove it from the Fire, and put toit immediately half a Pound of Spirit ofVinegar to caufe the earthy Parts to lettle ;let it ftand twelve or fourteen Hours that theTerra may precipitate, then decant the clearLiquor. This Terra, or precipitate Wafliwell, dulcify and dry over hot Embers; ofwhich take eight Ounces, put it into a GlafsRetort, upon which pour Spirit of Vitriol,well rectify*d from its Flegm, e ; ght Ounces;diftill with a gradual Fire, foft at firft, andat length very violent, continuing it fo 'tillnothing more will come. Take the CaputMortuum, reduce it to Powder, and withAlcool, or tartariz'd Spirit of Wine, enoughto cover it five Inches over, in a Matrafswell luted, fet it in a foft Heat to digeft fortwenty-four Hours, 'till the Spirit of Winebecomes very red ; filter it hot and draw offthe Spirit in a Glals Aiembick, fo youhave at the Bottom a whitifh Powder : Takeef this Powder one Ounce; Rain Waterfour Ounces, digeft in the Sun for fomeDays, then filter and keep it for Ufe : Butthe fame Perfon, in making the fame Water,did put double the above limited Quantityof Spirit of Vitriol, and then only drying theCaput Mortuum in a Crucible 'till it becameyellowi&, he to two Ounces of it put onlythree Ounces of Rain Water ; digefted themtogether for fotne Hours, then filtrated andkept the Liquor clofe ftopt for Ufe, asan extraordinary Remedy againft all Hemor-rages, or violent Fluxes of Blood.

To conclude, The German or Dant^ick^ Vi-triol is in green Chryftals, inclining to a blue,of an aftringent acrid Tafte ; it participatesof Copper, and is that which is us'd to makeAqua fortis.

The Englifh Copperas is in Chryftals of adark green Colour, of a fweet aftringentTafte, coming near to that of white Vitriol,it participates of Iron, and does not make itchange its Colour. It is more than half of itFlegm, a great deal of acrid Salt, Sulphur,and Earth. One may draw from this Vitriola very good Spirit of Vitriol by Diftillation,as I have fhown in my Book of Chymiftry.

This Vitriol is made in England, upon theliver of Thames, in vaft Quantities; of the

Marcafne Pyrites, or Fire-Stone, with Ad-dition of eld Iron. Of this Copperas, with-Galls, or any other aftringent Vegetables,you may make Ink, and the Black for Dyers jyet fome think that the Vitriol of Copper isbetter, becaufe that Experience teaches theRefiners that Aqua fortis made with Cop-peras, or Vitriol of Iron, will carry its Foul-nefs through all their mediate Solutions,even to the Verditer itfelf, which it willmake of a dirty green Colour, whereforeAquafortis is made of Dant^ick. Vitriol only.

Dark green, or Roman Vitriol, vulgarlycall'd Common Green Copperas, is prepir'd a-bout t\eme in Campania, being extractedout of Clots or Lumps, of an afli Colour in-clining to black, like Potters Clay, whichbeing expos'd to the Air gradually hear andferment, and being diflolv'd lome Daysafter in fair Water they yield this Sort ofVitriol, but from the frelh Clots no Vitriolcan be obtain'd. This i\oman Vitriol is al-fo prepar'd in fome Parts of the Kingdom ofNaples ; it is of a paler green than the Ger-man Vitriol, but alrnoft of the fame StyotickTafte.

The Blue Vitriol, or Celeftial Stone, iscall'd Cyprian, or Hungarian Vitriol, becaufeit is brought to us from thofe Countries ; itis in Chryftals of a very fine Sky-colour'dBlue. It is not certainly known after whatManner ir is made; fome think it is extractedby the Evaporation and Chryftaihzation cfthe blue Water that is found in the CopperMines : Others fay it is an artificial Opera-tion, perform'd by a Diflolution of Copper,in a weak Spirit of Vitriol, evaporated anachryftalli'z'd. However it be, it participatesmuch of the Copper, which gives it the blueColour ; it' is acrid and fomethng cauftick ;it comes in great and leflir Pieces, the littleones are pointed like Diamonds : I: containsmuch acrid Salt, or a coi rofive Acid of Sul-phur, but lefs Flegm and Earth than otherVitriols.-

The artificial Vitriol of Venus is made bytaking little thin Pieces of Brafs, about theBignefs of a Shilling ; firft put a Layer ofSulphur, then a Layer of Pieces, filling aPot fuii, Stratum fuper Stratum, and cal-cine in a Furnace for two or three Hours ;or calcine firft the Copper by itfelf, andthen beating the Calx to Powder, calcine it

again.

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