Chap. 8. Anomalo

lr > either, and fcarcely at all Inthe latter without the affiftance ofheat: of cold water in fummer,J t requires for its folution abouttwenty times its own weight, ofboiling water only about twice itsWeight. Expofed in a glafs velTel,to a heat a little greater than that°f boiling water, it firft melts,then rifes in a white fume, andconcretes again in the upper part°f the glafs, into fine white flakes,leaving, unlefs it was perfeftly pure,a little coaly matter behind. Itcffervefces with alkalies both fixta nd volatile, and forms with themNeutral compounds, greatly refem-bling thofe compofed of the famealkalies and vegetable acids.Mixed with acid liquors, it makesno fenfible commotion. Ground^ith fixt alkaline falts, it doesnot exhale any urinous odour.£>y thefe characters, it is con-ceived, this fait may be readilydiilinguifhed from all the othermatters that have been mixed with,or vended for it. With regardto its virtue, it is accounted a-Perient, diuretic, and, on account

is Salts. 48 3

of its retaining fome portion of theoil, antihyfteric: Boerhaave givesit the charafter of diureticorum etantibyjiericorum princeps. Its greatprice, however, has prevented itscoming much into ufe; and per-haps its real virtues are not equalto the opinion generally enter-tained of them.

The re&ified oil has a ftrongbituminous fmell, and a pungent,acrid tafte. Given in a dofe often or twelve drops, it heats, fti-mulates, and promotes the fluidfecretions : it is chiefly celebratedin hyiterical diforders, and in de-ficiencies of the uterine purga-tions. Sometimes it is ufed exter-nally, in liniments for weak orparalytic limbs^ and rheumaticpains. This oil differs from allthofe of the vegetable kingdom;and agrees with the mineral pe-trolea, in not being foluble, ei-ther in its reftified or unredifiedHate, by fpirit of wine, fixt al-kaline lixivia, or volatile alkalinefpirits; the oil, after long digefti-On or agitation, feparating as free-ly as common oil does from water.

t i z

9HAF.