_That this way also may be prepared from Auripigment and Arsenick a
Mercurial Oil, and a fixed Tincture._
_Recipe_ of Auripigment one Pound of our secret _Sal Armoniack_ four
Ounces, which reduced to Powder mix, and distil in a Retort by degrees
a volatile yellow corrosive Oil. At last, in the neck of the Retort
will ascend a sublimate Red as Blood, transparent and as beautifull
as an Oriental Ruby; the external use of which is famously medicinal
against Ulcers and gangrenous Affects. And the yellow Oil is a most
present Remedy for mortifying all gangrenous Ulcers, and laying a solid
Foundation for their Cure, if the part affected be onely anointed with
a Feather dipt therein. If any one pour Water upon the aforesaid Oil,
that corrosive, which ascended with the Auripigment, will be separated
and precipitated into a yellow _Calx_, which edulcorated and dried,
becomes so strong and vomitive, as it cannot safely be given inwardly:
but outwardly sprinkled upon Wounds, it lays a good foundation for
healing. But if from the aforesaid yellow Powder, Oil of Vitriol be
abstracted, it then becomes so fixed, as it will bear the force of a
most violent Fire, without any exhalation of fume; and then loseth
all its venome, and may be most safely used from 1, 2, 3, 4, to 6,
or 8 Grains, against the Pestilence, all Feavers, and such Diseases
where Sweat is needfull. It is to be admired, that this Subject so
very volatile and venomous, should by one onely abstraction of Oil
of Vitriol, become so fixed and constant in Fire. Also it is no less
admirable, that this Oil like any other Oil of Minerals, doth not
ascend in the form of a Liquor, but like and in the form of some fat
Vegetable Oil, whereas in it is not any fatness at all, because all
proceeds from the Auripigment.
Moreover, it will be profitable also to teach, that the aforesaid fixed
Auripigment (whensoever unto it, by the help of _Mercury_ of _Luna_,
ingress is procured) projected upon a Red-hot Plate of Copper, renders
the same totally white and as tractable as Silver. Which things being
known, although of little use, do notwithstanding savour of a pleasing
Curiosity, by which you will find, that of red Copper, white Silver
may be made. Also, after the same manner of white and red Arsenick,
such a medicinal Oil and Tincture may be prepared for _Venus_. _Note_:
Whosoever is desirous to labour herein, must studiously avoid the
venomous fume: For Arsenick cannot well be handled without peril.
I might here also say something of the running _Mercuries_ of Metals;
but since they rather appertain to the Transmutation of Metals, than
unto Medicine, I thought it best to pass over the mentioning of these
in this small Treatise, and to publish them in the following Centuries.