It is very remarkable that, on this occasion, the Mercury may be

exposed, without any danger of subliming, to a much greater heat than

it is capable of bearing when not combined with the Vitriolic Acid;

which shews that this Acid hath the property of fixing Mercury to a

certain degree.

The white matter, that remains after the evaporation of the fluid, is

one of the most violent corrosives, and would prove an actual poison if

taken internally. By washing it several times in warm water it is freed

from a great deal of its Acid, and so considerably sweetened. The proof

is this; if the water used in washing the Turbith be evaporated, there

remains after the evaporation a matter in form of a Salt, that being

set in a cellar runs into a liquor called _Oil of Mercury_, which is a

powerful corrosive. Several authors further direct Spirit of Wine to be

burnt on the Turbith, to sweeten it still more.

If, instead of washing the white matter that remains after the moisture

is drawn off, fresh Oil of Vitriol be poured on it, and then abstracted

as before; this treatment being repeated two or three times, there

will at last remain in the retort a matter having the appearance of an

oil, which resists the action of the fire, and cannot be desiccated:

qualities which are owing to the great quantity of Acid particles thus

united with the Mercury. This Oil of Mercury is one of the most violent

corrosives. The Mercury may be separated therefrom, by precipitating it

with an Alkali, or a metallic substance that hath more affinity than

Mercury with the Vitriolic Acid: Iron, for instance, may be employed in

this precipitation. Mercury thus separated from the Vitriolic Acid need

only be distilled to recover the form of Quick-silver.

PROCESS IV.

_To combine Mercury with Sulphur. Æthiops Mineral._

Mix a dram of Sulphur with three drams of Quick-silver, by triturating

the whole in a glass mortar with a glass pestle. By degrees, as you

triturate, the Mercury will disappear, and the matter will acquire a

black colour. Continue the triture till you cannot perceive the least

particle of running Mercury. The black matter you will then have in

the mortar is known in medicine by the name of _Æthiops Mineral_. An

Æthiops may also be made by fire in the following manner.

In a shallow unglazed earthen pan melt one part of flowers of Sulphur:

add three parts of running Mercury, making it fall into the pan in

the form of small rain, by squeezing it through chamoy leather. Keep

stirring the mixture with the shank of a tobacco-pipe all the while the

Mercury is falling: you will see the matter grow thick and acquire a

black colour. When the whole is thoroughly mixed, set fire to it with a

match, and let as much of the Sulphur burn away as will flame.

_OBSERVATIONS._

Mercury and Sulphur unite together with great ease; cold triture alone

is sufficient to join them. By this means the Mercury is reduced into

exceeding small atoms, and combines so perfectly with the Sulphur that

the least vestige thereof is not to be seen.

Sulphur is not the only matter which being rubbed with Mercury will

destroy its form and fluidity: all fat substances that have any degree

of consistence, such as the fat of animals, balsams, and resins, are

capable of producing the same effect. This metallic substance, being

triturated for some time in a mortar with these matters, becomes at

last invisible, and communicates to them a black colour. When thus

divided by the interposition of heterogeneous particles, it is said to

be _Killed_. But Mercury doth not contract such an intimate union with

these other matters as it doth with Sulphur.

The Æthiops prepared by fusion is a more perfect and accurate

combination of Mercury and Sulphur than the other: for, the quantity

of Sulphur directed to be used in making it being much greater than

is absolutely necessary to fix the Mercury, the redundant Sulphur is

destroyed by burning, and none left but what is most intimately united

with the Mercury; and hindered by the union it hath contracted with

that metallic substance from being so easily consumed. The Æthiops

therefore, which is prepared by fusion and burning the Sulphur,

contains a much greater proportion of Mercury than that which is made

by simple triture; so that in Medicine it ought to be prescribed in

different cases, and in smaller doses.

If no more Sulphur than is just necessary to kill the Mercury be added

to it at first, it will be difficult to obtain a perfect mixture;

because that quantity is very small: it is better, therefore, to employ

at once the quantity above directed.

PROCESS V.

_To sublime the Combination of Mercury and Sulphur into Cinabar._

Grind to powder Æthiops mineral prepared by fire. Put it into a

cucurbit; fit thereto a head; place it in a sand-bath, and begin with

applying such a degree of heat as is requisite to sublime Sulphur. A

black matter will rise, and adhere to the sides of the vessel. When

nothing more will rise with this degree of heat, raise the fire so

as to make the sand and the bottom of the cucurbit red; and then the

remaining matter will sublime in the form of a brownish red mass, which

is true _Cinabar_.

_OBSERVATIONS._

Æthiops Mineral requires nothing but sublimation to become true

Cinabar, like that found in Quick-silver mines: but our Æthiops

contains still more Sulphur than ought to be in the composition of

Cinabar; for which reason we have directed the degree of fire applied

at first to be no greater than that which is capable of subliming

Sulphur. As Cinabar, though consisting of Mercury and Sulphur, is

yet much less volatile than either of these substances alone; which

probably arises from the Vitriolic Acid contained in the Sulphur;

therefore, if there be any redundant Sulphur in the Æthiops, which hath

not contracted an intimate union with the Mercury, it will sublime by

itself in this first degree of heat. Some mercurial particles also will

rise with it, and give it a black colour.

Cinabar contains no more Sulphur than about a sixth or seventh part of

its weight: so that, instead of employing the common Æthiops to make

it, it would be better to prepare one on purpose that should contain

much less Sulphur; because too much Sulphur prevents the success of the

operation by blackening the Sublimate. Indeed in whatever manner you

go about it, the Cinabar always appears black at first: but when it is

well prepared, and contains no more than its due proportion of Sulphur,

the blackness is only external. This black coat therefore may be taken

off; and then the internal part will appear of a fine red, and, if

sublimed a second time, will be very beautiful.

As artificial Cinabar hath the same properties with the native, it may

be decomposed by the same means: so that, if you want to extract the

Mercury out of it, recourse must be had to the process above delivered

for working on Cinabar ores.

PROCESS VI.

_To dissolve Mercury in the Nitrous Acid. Sundry Mercurial

Precipitates._

Put into a matrass the quantity of Mercury you intend to dissolve: pour

on it an equal quantity of good Spirit of Nitre, and set the matrass

in a sand-bath moderately heated. The Mercury will dissolve with the

phenomena that usually attend the dissolutions of metals in this Acid.

When the dissolution is completed let the liquor cool. You will know

that the Acid is perfectly saturated, if there remain at the bottom of

the vessel, notwithstanding the heat, a little globule of Mercury that

will not dissolve.

_OBSERVATIONS._

Mercury dissolves in the Nitrous Acid with much more facility, and

in much greater quantity, than in the Vitriolic; so that it is not

necessary, on this occasion, to make the liquor boil. This solution

when cold yields crystals, which are a Nitrous Mercurial Salt. If you

desire to have a clear limpid solution of Mercury, you must employ an

_aqua fortis_ that is not tainted with the Vitriolic or Marine Acid:

for, the affinity of these two Acids with Mercury being greater than

that of the Nitrous Acid, they precipitate it in the form of a white

powder, when they are mixed with the solvent.

Mercury thus precipitated in a white powder, out of a solution

thereof in the Spirit of Nitre, is used in Medicine. To obtain this

precipitate, which is known by the name of the _White Precipitate_,

Sea-salt dissolved in water together with a little Sal Ammoniac is

used; and the precipitate is washed several times in pure water,

without which precaution it would be corrosive, on account of the great

quantity of the Marine Acid which it would contain.

The preparation known by the name of _Red Precipitate_ is also obtained

from our solution of Mercury in Spirit of Nitre. It is made by

abstracting all the moisture of the solution, either by distillation in

a retort, or by evaporation in a glass bason set on a sand-bath. When

it begins to grow dry it appears like a white ponderous mass. Then the

fire is made strong enough to drive off almost all the Nitrous Acid,

which, being now concentrated, rises in the form of red vapours. If

these vapours be catched in a receiver, they condense into a liquor,

which is a very strong and vastly smoking Spirit of Nitre.

By degrees, as the Nitrous Acid is forced up by the fire, the mercurial

mass loses its white colour, and becomes first yellow, and at last

very red. When it is become entirely of this last colour the operation

is finished. The red mass remaining is a Mercury that contains but

very little Acid, in comparison of what it did while it was white:

and indeed the first white mass is such a violent corrosive, that it

cannot be used in Medicine; whereas, when it is become red, it makes an

excellent escharotic, which those who know how to use it properly apply

with very great success, particularly to venereal ulcers.

This preparation is very improperly called a _Precipitate_: for the

Mercury is not separated from the Spirit of Nitre by the interposition

of any other substance, but only by evaporating the Acid. It is also

called _Arcanum Corallinum_.

It must be observed that Mercury, by its union with the Nitrous Acid,

acquires a certain degree of fixity: for the red precipitate is capable

of sustaining, without being volatilized, a stronger degree of heat

than pure Mercury can; which, as we observed before, is the property of

Turbith Mineral also.

PROCESS VII.

_To combine Mercury with the Acid of Sea-salt. Corrosive Sublimate._

Evaporate a solution of Mercury in the Nitrous Acid till there remain

only a white powder, as mentioned in our observations on the preceding

process. With this powder mix as much Green Vitriol calcined to

whiteness, and as much decrepitated Sea-salt, as there was Mercury in

the solution. Triturate the whole carefully in a glass mortar. Put

this mixture into a matrass, so that two thirds thereof may remain

empty, having first cut off the neck to half its length: or instead

thereof you may use an apothecary's phial. Set your vessel in a

sand-bath, and put sand round it as high as the contents can reach.

Apply a moderate fire at first, and raise it by slow degrees. Vapours

will begin to ascend. Continue the fire in the same degree till they

cease. Then stop the mouth of the vessel with paper, and increase the

fire till the bottom of the sand-bath be red-hot. With this degree of

heat a Sublimate will rise, and adhere to the inside and upper part

of the vessel, in the form of white, semi-transparent crystals. Keep

up the fire to the same degree till nothing more will sublime. Then

let the vessel cool; break it, and take out what is sublimed, which is

_Corrosive Sublimate_.

_OBSERVATIONS._

In this operation the mineral Acids act, and are acted upon, in a

remarkable manner. Every one of the three is at first neutralized,

or united with a different basis; the Vitriolic being combined with

Iron; the Nitrous with Mercury, forming therewith a Nitrous Mercurial

Salt; and the Marine with its natural Alkaline basis. The Vitriolic

and Nitrous Acids, which are united with metalline substances, being

both stronger than the Acid of Sea-salt, strive to expel it from its

basis, in order to combine with it themselves; but the Vitriolic Acid,

being the strongest of the two, would take sole possession of this

basis exclusive of the Nitrous, which would continue united with the

Mercury, if the Marine Acid had not a greater affinity than the Nitrous

with this metallic substance. This Acid therefore being expelled from

its basis by the Vitriolic Acid, and so set at liberty, must unite with

the Mercury, and separate the Nitrous Acid from it; which now hath no

resource but to unite with the Iron deserted by the Vitriolic Acid. But

as all these changes are brought about by the means of a considerable

heat, and as the Nitrous Acid hath not a very firm connection with the

Iron, it is driven off by the force of the fire; and this it is which

we see rise in vapours during the operation. It also carries off with

it some parts of the other two Acids, but in a very small quantity.

After the operation therefore there remains, 1. A combination of the

Vitriolic Acid with the basis of Sea-salt; that is, a Glauber's Salt:

2. A red martial earth, being that which was the basis of the Vitriol:

these two substances are blended together, and remain at the bottom of

the vessel because of their fixity: 3. A combination of the Marine

Acid with Mercury; both of which being volatile, they ascend together

into the upper part of the vessel, and there form a Corrosive Sublimate.

If we reflect on this process with attention, and recollect distinctly

the affinities of the different substances employed in it, we shall

perceive that it is not necessary to make use of all those matters, and

that the operation would succeed though several of them were left out.

First, the Nitrous Acid may be omitted; since, as hath been shewn, it

is not an ingredient in the Sublimate, but is dissipated in vapours

during the operation. From an accurate mixture therefore of Vitriol,

Sea-salt, and Mercury, a Corrosive Sublimate must be obtained: for

as the Acid of the Vitriol will disengage the Acid of Sea-salt, the

latter will be at liberty to combine with the Mercury, and so form the

compound we are in quest of.

Secondly, if we make use of Mercury dissolved by the Nitrous Acid,

we may omit the Vitriol; because the Nitrous Acid having a greater

affinity than the Marine Acid itself with the basis of Sea-salt, and

the Acid of Sea-salt having a greater affinity than the Nitrous Acid

with Mercury, these two Acids will naturally make an exchange of the

bases with which they are united: the Nitrous will lay hold on the

basis of Sea-salt, and form a quadrangular Nitre, while the Marine Acid

will join the Mercury, and with it form a Corrosive Sublimate.

Thirdly, instead of Sea-salt its Acid only may be employed; which being

mixed with the solution of Mercury in the Spirit of Nitre, will, by

virtue of its greater affinity with that metallic substance, separate

it from the Nitrous Acid, unite with it, and form a white mercurial

precipitate, which need only be sublimed to become the combination

required.

Fourthly, instead of Mercury dissolved in the Nitrous Acid, Mercury

dissolved by the Vitriolic Acid, or Turbith, may be used; only mixing

Sea-salt therewith: for these two saline substances will mutually

decompound each other, by virtue of the affinities of their Acids,

and for the same reasons that Sea-salt and the Mercurial Nitrous Salt

decompound each other. The Vitriolic Acid quits the Mercury with which

it is combined, to unite with the basis of the Sea-salt; and the

Acid of this Salt being expelled by the Vitriolic, combines with the

Mercury, and consequently forms our Corrosive Sublimate. In this case a

Glauber's Salt remains after the sublimation.

These several methods of preparing Corrosive Sublimate are never used,

because each of them is attended with some inconvenience; such as

requiring too long triture, yielding a Sublimate less corrosive than it

should be, or a smaller quantity of it. We must, however, except the

last; which was invented by the late Mr. Boulduc, of the Academy of

Sciences, who found none of these inconveniencies attending it[9].

[9] See the Memoirs of the Academy for 1730.

Corrosive Sublimate may also be made only by mixing Mercury with

Sea-salt, without any additament. This may appear surprizing when we

consider that, as Acids have a greater affinity with Alkalis than with

metallic substances, the Acid of Sea-salt ought not to quit its basis,

which is Alkaline, to unite with Mercury.

In order to explain this phenomenon it must be remembered that

Sea-salt, when exposed to the fire without additament, suffers a little

of its Acid to escape. Now this portion of the Marine Acid unites with

the Mercury, and forms a Corrosive Sublimate. Moreover, as there is a

pretty strong affinity between the Marine Acid and Mercury, this may

help to detach from the Sea-salt a greater quantity of Acid than it

would otherwise part with. Nevertheless, the quantity of Sublimate

obtained by this means is not considerable, nor is it very corrosive.

On this occasion we must also mention another combination of the Marine

Acid with Mercury; which is made by mixing that metallic substance

perfectly with Sal Ammoniac, by the means of triture. Mercury, like all

other metals except Gold, possesses the property of decompounding Sal

Ammoniac, separating the volatile Alkali which serves it for a basis,

and combining, by the help of a very gentle heat, with its Acid, which

is well known to be the same with that of Sea-salt. This decomposition

of Sal Ammoniac, by the metalline substances, is a full exception

to the first column of Mr. Geoffroy's Table of Affinities, and is

the basis of several new Medicines invented by the late Comte de la

Garaye[10].

[10] See the Memoir given in by me on this subject to the Academy of

Sciences in the _Memoires l'Acadamie_ 1754.

Corrosive Sublimate is the most violent and the most active of all

corrosive poisons. It is never used in Medicine, but in external

applications. It is a powerful escharotic; it destroys proud flesh,

and cleans old ulcers: but it must be used by those only who know how

to apply it properly, and requires an able hand to manage it. It is not

commonly applied by itself, but mixed in the proportion of half a dram

to a pound of lime-water. This mixture is yellowish, and bears the name

of _Aqua Phagadenica_.

Water dissolves Corrosive Sublimate, but in a small quantity. If a

Fixed Alkali be mixed with this solution, the Mercury precipitates in

the form of a red powder. If the precipitate be procured by a Volatile

Alkali, it is white; if by Lime-water, it is yellow. This Mercurial

Salt dissolves pretty easily in boiling Spirit of Wine.

PROCESS VIII.

_Sweet Sublimate._

Take four parts of Corrosive Sublimate; pulverize it in a glass

or marble mortar; add by little and little three parts of Mercury

revivified from Cinabar; triturate the whole carefully, till the

Mercury be perfectly killed, so that no globule thereof can be

perceived. The matter will then be grey. Put this powder into an

apothecary's phial, or into a matrass, whose neck is not above four or

five inches long, leaving two thirds thereof empty. Set the vessel in

a sand-bath, and put sand round it to one third of its heighth. Apply

a moderate fire at first; and afterwards raise it gradually till you

perceive that the mixture sublimes. Keep it up to this degree till

nothing more will rise, and then break the vessel. Reject, as useless,

a small quantity of earth which you will find at the bottom; separate

also what adheres to the neck of the vessel, and carefully collect the

matter in the middle, which will be white. Pulverize it; sublime it

a second time, in the same manner as before; and in the same manner

separate the earthy matter left at the bottom of the vessel, and what

you find sublimed into the neck. Pulverize, and sublime a third time,

the white matter you last found in the middle. The white matter of this

third sublimation is the _Sweet Sublimate_, called also _Aquila Alba_.

_OBSERVATIONS._

The Acid of Sea-salt in the Corrosive Sublimate is very far from being

perfectly saturated with Mercury; and thence comes the corrosive

quality of this saline compound. But though Mercury, as appears by this

combination, is capable of imbibing a much greater quantity of Acid

than is necessary to dissolve it; nay, though it naturally takes up

this super-abundant quantity of Acid, yet it doth not follow from thence

that this redundant Acid may not combine with Mercury to the point of

perfect saturation, so as to lose its corrosive acidity.

This is the case in the operation here described. A fresh quantity

of running Mercury is mixed with Corrosive Sublimate; and the fresh

Mercury, combining with the super-abounding Acid, deprives the

Sublimate of its acrimony, and forms a compound which comes much nearer

the nature of a Neutral Metallic Salt.

Trituration alone is not sufficient to produce an union between the

newly added Mercury and the Acid of the Corrosive Sublimate: because,

generally speaking, the Acid of Sea-salt cannot dissolve Mercury

without the help of a certain degree of heat, and unless it be reduced

into vapours.

Thus, though the newly added Mercury becomes invisible by trituration,

and seems actually combined with the Corrosive Sublimate, yet the

union is not intimate. There is only an interposition of parts, but

no true dissolution of the newly added Mercury by the super-abundant

Acid of the Corrosive Sublimate. For this reason the mixture must be

sublimed; and by this sublimation only is the true union effected. Nor

is one single sublimation sufficient: no less than three are necessary

to deprive the Sublimate of the corrosive quality which renders it

poisonous. After the third sublimation, the Sublimate being put upon

the tongue gives no considerable sensation of acrimony; nor doth it

retain any more of its former activity than is requisite to make it a

gentle purgative, when administered from six to thirty grains for a

dose.

If a less quantity of Mercury than that above directed be mixed

with the Corrosive Sublimate, the super-abundant Acid will not be

sufficiently saturated; and the less Mercury is added, the more of its

corrosive virtue will the Sublimate retain.

If, on the contrary, a greater quantity of Mercury be added, there

will be more than the Acid can possibly dissolve, and the superfluous

quantity will remain in its natural form of Quick-silver. It is better

therefore to err in the excess than in the defect of the proportion of

Mercury to be added; because the Corrosive Sublimate will take up no

more than is necessary to dulcify it.

Part of the Acid of the Corrosive Sublimate is also dissipated in

vapours during the operation; and it is necessary to allow room for

these vapours to circulate, and a vent to give them passage, or else

they will burst the vessels. These are our reasons for leaving an empty

space in the subliming vessels, and for having their necks no more than

five or six inches long.

The matter which sublimes into the neck of the vessel is always very

acrid; for which reason it must be separated from the Sweet Sublimate.

There remains also at the bottom of the matrass an earthy, reddish

matter; which probably comes from the Vitriol employed in making the

Corrosive Sublimate. This matter must likewise be rejected as useless

after every sublimation.

PROCESS IX.

_The Panacea of Mercury._

Pulverize some Sweet Sublimate, and sublime it in the same manner as

you did thrice before. Repeat this nine times. After these sublimations

it will make no impression on the tongue. Then pour on it aromatic

Spirit of Wine, and set the whole in digestion for eight days. After

that decant the Spirit of Wine, and dry what remains, which is the

_Panacea of Mercury_.

_OBSERVATIONS._

The great number of sublimations, which the Sweet Sublimate is made to

undergo, sweeten it still more, and to such a degree that it leaves no

sensation on the tongue, nor hath any purgative virtue.

The Spirit of Wine in which it is digested after all the sublimations,

is designed to blunt still more the sharpness of any acid particles

that may not have been sufficiently dulcified by the preceding

sublimations.

As Mercury is the specific remedy for venereal disorders, sundry

preparations thereof have been attempted with a view to produce

different effects. Sweet Sublimate is purgative; and for that reason is

not quite proper for procuring a salivation, because it carries off the

humours by stool. The Panacea of Mercury, which, on the contrary, is

not purgative, may raise a salivation when taken inwardly.

SECTION III.

_Of Operations on the_ SEMI-METALS.

CHAP. I.

_Of_ ANTIMONY.

PROCESS I.

_To Separate Antimony from its Ore by Fusion._

Having drilled some small holes, of about two lines in diameter, in

the bottom of a crucible, put into it your Antimonial Ore broken into

little bits, about the size of a hazel nut; lute on its cover; set the

crucible thus prepared in the mouth of another crucible, and close the

joints with lute.

At the distance of half a foot from this compound vessel place bricks

all round, so as to form a furnace; the sides of which must rise as

high as the brim of the uppermost crucible.

Let the bottom of this furnace be filled with ashes, up to the top of

the lower crucible, and the rest of the furnace with lighted coals.

Blow the fire, if it be necessary, with bellows, till the upper

crucible become red. Keep it up in this degree for about a quarter of

an hour. Then take your vessels out of the furnace, and you will find

the Antimony collected in the bottom of the lower crucible, having run

through the holes of the upper one.

_OBSERVATIONS._

The ore of Antimony is one of the most fusible: it always contains a

great deal of Sulphur, and cannot sustain a fire of any force without

being dissipated into vapours. It requires no additament to flux it:

for it is not necessary, on this occasion, that the earthy and stony

matters mixed therewith be brought to fusion. It is sufficient that

the Antimonial part be melted; which, as soon as it becomes fluid, is

carried by its weight to the lower part of the crucible. Thus it is

separated from all heterogeneous matters; which are left in the upper

crucible, while it passes through the holes in its bottom, and forms a

mass in the lower.

The precaution of closing all the apertures of both crucibles is

necessary, on account of the volatility of this mineral: and that the

Antimony, when once melted, may not continue exposed to a great heat,

it is made to run down into a vessel surrounded with ashes only, and

by that means very little affected with heat; ashes being one of those

solid mediums that transmit least of it.

PROCESS II.

_The common Regulus of Antimony._

Reduce crude Antimony to powder. Mix it with three fourths of its

weight of white Tartar, and half its weight of refined Salt-petre,

both pulverized. Into a large crucible made red-hot in the fire,

throw a spoonful of your mixture, and cover it. There will be a very

considerable detonation. When it is over, throw in a second spoonful

of your mixture, and cover the crucible as before: this will produce a

second detonation. Go on thus, till you have thrown in all your mixture.

When the whole has thus fulminated, increase the fire so as to bring

the matter into fusion; that being done, take the crucible out of the

furnace, and immediately pour its contents into an iron cone heated and

greased with tallow. Strike the floor and the cone some gentle blows

with a hammer, to make the Regulus precipitate: and when the matter

is fixed and cold, invert the cone and turn it out. You will see it

consist of two distinct substances; the uppermost of which is a saline

scoria, and the undermost the reguline part. Strike this mass a blow

with a hammer, in the place where these substances join, and you will

by this means separate the scoria from the Regulus; the latter of which

will have the form of a metallic cone, on whose base you will observe

the signature of a bright star.

_OBSERVATIONS._

Antimony, though separated by a former fusion from the earthy and stony

parts of its ore, must nevertheless be still considered as an ore, on

account of the great quantity of Sulphur it contains, which mineralizes

the metalline part or Regulus. Therefore, if you desire to have this

Regulus pure, you must separate it from the Sulphur that is combined

with it. This may be done several ways. The method above proposed

is one of the readiest and easiest, though not altogether free from

inconveniencies, as we shall shew.

The Salt-petre in the mixture detonates by means of the Sulphur of

the Antimony, which it consumes, and from which it separates the

reguline part: but lest it should also consume some of the phlogiston

which gives the Regulus its metalline form, Tartar is added; because

it contains a great deal of inflammable matter, and so is capable

of furnishing enough for the detonation of the Nitre, or rather for

restoring to the metallic earth of the Antimony, the phlogiston that

may be consumed by the Nitre.

If we consider what passes in this operation we shall soon be convinced

that a great deal must be lost in it, and that we do not thereby obtain

near the whole of the Regulus that the Antimony is capable of yielding:

for, 1. the Regulus of Antimony being a volatile substance, much of it

must be dissipated during the detonation; and so much the more as the

detonation is frequently repeated, and continued for a considerable

time. The flowers that may be collected by presenting cold bodies to

the smoke that rises in the operation, and which may be reduced to a

Regulus by the addition of a phlogiston, sufficiently prove what is

here advanced.

2. All the Sulphur of the Antimony is not consumed by the Nitre on

this occasion; and moreover, the Acid of that part thereof which is

burnt, uniting with some of the Alkali produced by the deflagration

of the Nitre and Tartar, forms a Vitriolated Tartar, which meeting

with a sufficient quantity of phlogiston in the mixture produces new

Sulphur. Now this Sulphur, whether not consumed, or reproduced, in the

operation, combining with the Alkali forms a Liver of Sulphur; and that

dissolves part of the Regulus, which by this means remains confounded

with the scoria. The proof of this is, that, if the scoria be mixed

with filings of iron, and fused a second time, you will find at the

bottom of the crucible a button of Regulus, which it contained, and

which is separated therefrom by the interposition of the Iron. We shall

say more on this subject in the process for making the Martial Regulus,

which immediately follows this. If, instead of melting the scoria

with iron filings, we pulverize it, boil it in water, and then pour

an acid into that water; the liquor will instantly grow turbid, and a

Sulphureous Precipitate will fall, commonly called _the Golden Sulphur

of Antimony_; which is nothing else but common Sulphur still combined

with some particles of the Regulus; a new proof of what we advanced

concerning the production of Liver of Sulphur in this operation.

As Regulus of Antimony is of no great value, the loss sustained in

this process is seldom regarded. However, we shall have occasion, in

the sequel, to point out a method of obtaining this Regulus with less

disadvantage.

PROCESS III.

_Regulus of Antimony precipitated by Metals._

Put one part of small iron nails into a crucible, and set it amidst

burning coals, in a melting furnace. When the iron is thoroughly

red-hot, and begins to grow white, add thereto little by little, and at

several times, two parts of crude Antimony in powder. The Antimony will

immediately flow and unite with the Iron. When the Antimony is entirely

melted, add thereto, at several times, the fourth of its weight of

pulverized Nitre: a detonation will ensue, and the whole mixture will

be in fusion.

After you have kept the matter in this condition for some minutes, pour

it into an iron cone, first heated and tallowed. Strike the sides of

the cone with a hammer, that the Regulus may fall to the bottom; and,

when all is cold, separate it from the scoria by a blow with a hammer.

Melt this first Regulus again in another crucible, adding a fourth

part of its weight of crude Antimony. Keep the crucible close shut,

and give no more heat than is necessary to melt the matter. When it is

in perfect fusion, add to it at several times, as you did before, the

sixth part of its weight of pulverized Nitre; and, in half a quarter

of an hour after this, pour the whole into a cone as you did the first

time.

Lastly, melt your Regulus over again a third, or even a fourth time,

always adding a little Nitre, which will detonate as before. If after

all these fusions you pour the Regulus into an iron cone, you will find

it very beautiful, and the star well formed: it will be covered with a

semi-transparent, lemon-coloured scoria. This scoria is extremely acrid

and caustic.

_OBSERVATIONS._

Though Regulus of Antimony unites very readily with Sulphur, and is

always found combined therewith in the earth, we must not thence

conclude that it hath a greater affinity than other substances with

that mineral: on the contrary, all the metals, except Gold, have a

greater affinity than this Semi-metal with Sulphur. Hence it follows

that all the metals, except Gold, are capable of decomposing Antimony,

and separating the sulphureous part from the metalline; so that,

instead of employing Iron, as in our process, Copper, Lead, Tin, or

Silver, may be used, and a Regulus obtained by means thereof.

But as Iron is, of all the metallic substances, that which hath the

greatest affinity with Sulphur, it is on this occasion preferred to

the rest. And from hence two advantages arise: the first is, that the

operation is performed sooner and with greater ease: the second, that

the Regulus is purer, and contains less of the precipitating metal. For

it is a general rule, that, when one metallic substance is employed

to precipitate another, the precipitated substance is always a little

adulterated by the admixture of some particles of the precipitant. Now,

the greater affinity the precipitant hath with the matter united to

that which is to be precipitated, the less doth the precipitate retain

of the precipitant.

In this process the Iron melts very easily by means of the union it

contracts with the Sulphur; which, as we observed before, hath the

property of rendering this metal very fusible, though of itself the

most refractory of all.

The scoria found on the Regulus of the first fusion is a combination

of Iron with the sulphureous part of the Antimony. This scoria is

extremely hard, and not to be separated from the Regulus without some

trouble. The Nitre added, being alkalizated and united therewith,

renders it a little softer, and gives it the property of relenting in

the air. Any Alkaline Salt may be substituted for the Nitre.

The Nitre that is alkalizated in the operation, or the Alkali that is

added, procures moreover another advantage; namely, that, by uniting

with part of the Sulphur of the Antimony, it produces a Liver of

Sulphur, which dissolves the Iron, retains it, and hinders that which

is not yet combined with pure Sulphur from uniting so readily with the

Regulus as it otherwise would do.

Lastly, the addition of Nitre, or an Alkali, contributes greatly to

promote the fusion, to render it more perfect, and to procure a more

complete precipitation of the Regulus.

The second fusion which the Regulus is made to undergo is intended to

purify it from any mixture of Iron. When the fresh Antimony added on

that occasion comes to melt with the Regulus, the Sulphur contained

in the Antimony joins with the ferruginous parts in the Regulus; and

the Iron becoming lighter by this union is thrown up to the surface

of the matter. There it forms a sort of scoria, with which a good

deal of Antimony is mixed; the Regulus not being wholly precipitated,

because there is not Iron enough in the mixture for that purpose. The

Salt-petre added here produces the same effect as in the first fusion.

But if, on one hand, the Regulus precipitated in the first fusion be

purified, by this addition of fresh Antimony, from most of the Iron

with which it was alloyed; on the other hand, this same Regulus cannot

be kept from re-uniting with some sulphureous parts.

In order therefore to separate it entirely from these, it must be

melted over again once or twice more, and a little Nitre added each

time, to consume them by deflagration. But this cannot be done

without consuming also some of the very phlogiston which gives the

Regulus its metalline form: whence it comes to pass that part of the

Regulus is converted to a calx, which, by means of the alkalizated

Nitre, is turned into glass; and it is this glass which mixing with

the scoria gives it the yellow colour observed therein. This yellow

colour may also be in part produced by some ferruginous particles,

of which a small quantity always remains combined with the Regulus,

notwithstanding its former depuration by Antimony.

It is of no use to repeat the fusions of the Regulus oftener than

is above proposed, or to add fresh Nitre with a view to consume the

Sulphur it may still contain: for after the second fusion it contains

none at all, and retains only the phlogiston necessary to give it the

metalline form. So that, by prosecuting the matter further, you would

only calcine and destroy the Regulus to no manner of purpose.

From what hath been said it is plain that, even by this process,

we do not obtain all the Regulus which our Antimony is capable of

yielding; seeing part of it is destroyed by the fusions it must

necessarily undergo with Nitre, in order to its purification. We shall

give a process for obtaining from Antimony the greatest quantity of

Regulus it can possibly be made to yield, after we have treated of its

Calcination, which is in some sort the first step of that process.

PROCESS IV.

_The Calcination of Antimony._

Take an unglazed earthen vessel, wider at top than at bottom; put

into it two or three ounces of crude Antimony finely pulverized. Set

this vessel over a weak charcoal fire, and increase the heat till you

see the Antimony begin to smoke a little. Continue the fire in this

degree, and keep incessantly stirring the Antimony with the shank of a

tobacco-pipe all the while it is upon the fire.

The powder of Antimony, which, before calcination, was of a brilliant

colour inclining to black, will become dull, and look like an earth.

When it comes to have this appearance raise your fire till the vessel

be red-hot, and keep it up in this degree till the matter cease

entirely to smoke.

_OBSERVATIONS._

Antimony, as hath been already said, is a sort of ore consisting of a

metalline or reguline part mineralized by Sulphur.

The design of this calcination is, by the action of fire, to dissipate

the sulphureous part, which is the most volatile, in order to separate

it from the metalline part. It is evidently a real torrefaction; but

the operation is very difficult, and requires a good deal of attention;

for Antimony very easily melts, while at the same time it is necessary

to our success that it do not melt; because when the matter is in

fusion the Sulphur requires a much greater degree of heat to carry it

off. Now, as Regulus of Antimony itself is very volatile, a good deal

of it would be dissipated along with the Sulphur, if it were exposed to

the degree of heat necessary to carry off the Sulphur when the mass is

melted.

Therefore if it happen that the Antimony begin to melt during the

calcination, which is easily perceived by its running into clots, it

must be taken off the fire, and the clotted parts be again pulverized;

after which the calcination is to be prosecuted with a less degree of

heat.

When the Antimony has lost all its brightness, and is become like an

earth, it is time to augment the degree of heat, in order to complete

the calcination; because the last portions of the Sulphur are the

most difficult to raise. Moreover, the inconveniences just mentioned

are not now to be apprehended: for, as the great fusibility of the

reguline part is owing to the Sulphur, what remains, after you have

dissipated the greatest part of the Sulphur, is much less fusible; and,

as the redundant Sulphur of the Antimony cannot be driven off, without

dissipating at the same time a good deal of the phlogiston necessary

to metallize its Regulus, the matter that remains comes much nearer

to the nature of a calx, than to that of a metalline substance; and

consequently partakes of the nature of all metallic calces, which is to

be very fixed.

Antimony may also be calcined by mixing with that mineral an equal

quantity of charcoal-dust. As charcoal is incapable of fusion, it

prevents the Antimony from clotting, as well as from losing so much of

its metallizing phlogiston as it otherwise would: and hence it comes

to pass that the calx of Antimony, prepared in this manner, comes

nearer to the nature of a Regulus, than that which is prepared without

addition.

If you happen to raise the fire too much, in this calcination with

charcoal-dust, the calx will be partly reduced to a Regulus, by means

of the phlogiston which the charcoal furnishes; and then the Regulus

will be dissipated in vapours, especially as this calx, which comes

very near the nature of a Regulus, is not so fixed as that prepared

without addition. For this reason it always continues to smoke, even

when it contains no superfluous Sulphur: and therefore you must not

wait till it cease to smoke before you put an end to your calcination;

for you will lose a great deal of it in vapours. It is time to stop

when the vapours that rise from it, while it is moderately red, do not

smell of burning Sulphur.

PROCESS V.

_Calx of Antimony reduced to a Regulus._

Mix the calx of Antimony, which you intend to reduce, with an equal

quantity of black soap. This mixture will make a thin paste. Put it

little by little into a crucible, previously made red-hot amidst live

coals. Thus let the soap burn till it cease to emit any oily smoke.

Then cover the crucible; make the fire strong enough to melt the

matter, and you will hear it effervesce and boil. When this noise is

over let the crucible cool, and then break it: you will find in it a

beautiful scoria, marked with circles of several colours; and under

that a button of Regulus, which is not yet quite pure, and must be

purified in the following manner.

Pound this Regulus, and mix it with half its weight of an antimonial

calx as perfectly desulphurated as possible. Put it into a crucible,

and cover it: melt the whole, so that the surface of the melted matter

may be smooth and uniform. Let the crucible cool, and then break it:

you will find in it a beautiful button of very pure Regulus, covered

with a scoria having the appearance of an opaque glass, or a kind of

greyish enamel, moulded on the finely radiated surface of the Regulus.

_OBSERVATIONS._

Of all the metalline calces that of Antimony is most easily reduced.

Any matter that contains the phlogiston, even charcoal-dust alone, is

sufficient to procure it the form of a Regulus, without the addition of

any thing to facilitate its fusion; because this calx, which is not of

itself altogether refractory, becomes still more fusible as it combines

with the phlogiston, and approaches to the reguline state.

Though all inflammable matters are capable of procuring the reduction

of the calx of Antimony, yet there are some with which the operation

succeeds better, and produces a greater quantity of Regulus, than it

does with others. Fatty matters, joined with Alkalis, are those which

answer best in this reduction, as they do in most others. The black

flux, for instance, is very proper for this purpose: but Mr. Geoffroy,

who made many experiments on Antimony, found by repeated trials that

black soap is still fitter for it, and that a greater quantity of

Regulus was obtained by its means, than by any other reducing flux

whatever. The process here given is taken from one of the Memoirs on

this subject, which he laid before the Academy of Sciences.

Black soap is made of the lye of a Fixed Alkali, such as potash

for instance, with quick-lime, incorporated by boiling with oil of

lint-seed, rape-seed, or hemp-seed, and sometimes also with animal fat.

The oily matters, contained in this reducing flux, are first burnt and

charred to a coal in the crucible. As soon as they are brought to this

state, the crucible is covered, and the fire is increased, till the

matters melt. At that instant the reduction begins to take place; and

the bubbling noise observed is an effect thereof.

The Regulus obtained by this first fusion is not yet very pure,

being adulterated with the mixture of some unmetallic earth that was

contained in the Antimony, and with a portion of the calcarious earth

of the soap.

Mr. Geoffroy found that his Regulus was contaminated with this

substance, by putting it into water: for on that occasion he observed

a very brisk ebullition about the reguline buttons, which sometimes

lasted above four and twenty hours; and on examining them with a glass,

he discovered some little holes, imperceptible to the naked eye,

through which the water entered, to unite with the lime retained in the

internal parts of the Regulus, which having been recalcined in the

operation required to be slaked.

This Regulus may be purified by simple fusion, without any additament,

because the particles of lime, being lighter than those of the Regulus,

will be thrown up to the surface, on which they will form a sort of

scoria. But Mr. Geoffroy took notice that, in this case, the surface

of the Regulus is never very neat; that it is always sullied with a

very adhesive scoria, and that no star is formed upon it. Besides,

the Regulus must be kept a long while in very thin fusion, that the

heterogeneous matters, which hinder the perfect re-union of its parts,

may have time to rise to the surface by their lightness. But the longer

the Regulus is kept in fusion, the more of it evaporates, because of

its volatility. He was therefore obliged to have recourse to other

means.

We have in the process described the method which succeeded best with

Mr. Geoffroy. It consists in melting the Regulus over again, with the

addition of a little fresh calx of Antimony thoroughly freed from

its Sulphur. This calx being in its nature easily vitrifiable, and

combining with the earthy parts that deprave the Regulus, and which

cannot be vitrified without addition, scorifies these matters, and with

them forms the opaque glass, or kind of enamel which is found over the

Regulus purified in this manner.

The star on that part of the Regulus of Antimony, which was contiguous

to the scoria, is a mark of its purity, and a proof that the operation

was well performed. This star is nothing but a particular disposition

of the parts of the Antimony, which have the property of running

naturally into facets and needles. The perfect fusion, both of the

Regulus and the scoria that covers it, leaves the parts of the Regulus

at liberty to range themselves in this order. This disposition appears

not only on the upper surface of the Regulus, but, if you break the

button, you find the same in its internal parts. There are some round

pyrites whose insides have nearly the same appearance, and seem to

consist of rays issuing from a common center.

The quantity of Regulus obtained by Mr. Geoffroy's process is more than

double of what is procured in the common way, which yields but about

four ounces in the pound; whereas this gives from eight to ten ounces.

When Antimony is calcined with charcoal-dust, what remains after the

dissipation of all the Sulphur is not, properly speaking, a calx of

Antimony; but a sort of Regulus quite formed, and differing from the

common Regulus only in that its parts are disunited, and not collected

into a mass. For if this pretended calx of Antimony be melted, it

directly coalesces into a Regulus, without the addition of any

inflammable matter fit to procure its reduction. Indeed less Regulus is

obtained by this means than when a reductive is added: but nevertheless

this experiment still proves what I advanced; seeing Regulus of

Antimony cannot be melted without losing more or less thereof, either

because some of it is dissipated in vapours, or because part of it

loses its phlogiston in the fusion, and so is converted into a calx.

PROCESS VI.

_Antimony calcined with Nitre. Liver of Antimony. Crocus Metallorum._

Pulverize and mix perfectly together equal parts of Nitre and Antimony:

put the mixture into an iron mortar, and cover it with a tile, which

however must not shut it quite close. With a live coal set fire to the

matter in the mortar, and immediately withdraw it. The mixture will

flame, with great detonation; which being over, and the mortar cooled,

invert it, and strike its bottom to make all the matter fall out. Then,

by a blow with a hammer, separate the scoria from the shining part,

which is the _Liver of Antimony_.

_OBSERVATIONS._

In this operation the Nitre takes fire and detonates with the Sulphur

of the Antimony; and nothing remains but the metallic earth of the

mineral, which, meeting with no substance to restore its phlogiston,

cannot take the form of a Regulus; but, being combined with a large

quantity of fused saline matters, begins itself to flow, and forms a

sort of vitrification; which, however, is not a complete one, because

the matters do not continue long enough in fusion, but cool too soon.

This preparation of Antimony is a violent Emetic. It is used to make

Emetic Wine and Tartar Emetic: it is also given in substance to horses.

The saline matters found after the operation in the form of a scoria,

or perhaps confounded with the Liver of Antimony, are combinations

of Fixed Nitre, partly with the Acid of the burnt Sulphur, forming a

Neutral Salt of the same kind as Vitriolated Tartar, and partly with

some unburnt Sulphur, forming a sort of Liver of Sulphur that contains

a little Regulus. It is usual to pulverize this Liver of Antimony and

wash it with water, in order to dissolve and carry off all the Salts.

When thus pulverized and washed it is called _Crocus Metallorum_. If

Liver of Antimony be melted with any inflammable matter, it will be

reduced to a Regulus; because it is nothing but a metalline calx half

vitrified.

PROCESS VII.

_Another Calcination of Antimony with Nitre. Diaphoretic Antimony._

Materia Perlata. Clyssus _of Antimony_.

Mix one part of Antimony with three parts of Nitre; project this

mixture by spoonfuls into a crucible kept red-hot in a furnace. Each

projection will be attended with a detonation. Continue doing this till

you have used all your mixture: then raise the fire, and keep it up

for two hours; after which throw your matter into a pan full of hot

water. Let it lie steeping in water kept hot for a whole day. Then pour

off the liquor: wash the white powder you find at bottom in warm water;

and repeat the ablutions till the powder become insipid. Dry it, and

you have _Diaphoretic Antimony_.

_OBSERVATIONS._

This operation differs from the preceding one, in respect of the

quantity of Nitre deflagrated with the Antimony. In the former we added

one part only of Nitre to one part of Antimony; but in this three parts

of Nitre are put to one of the mineral; and the calx resulting from

this mixture is of course very different from the other.

In the first place, Liver of Antimony hath a reddish colour; whereas

Diaphoretic Antimony is very white. Secondly, Liver of Antimony is in a

manner half vitrified; Diaphoretic Antimony is, on the contrary, in the

form of a powder, the parts of which have no connection together.

The reason of these differences will easily appear, if we consider,

that, Liver of Antimony being the result of calcination with one part

of the Nitre only, which is not sufficient to consume all the Sulphur

of the mineral, what remains after the detonation is not entirely

deprived of its phlogiston; from whence arise the colour it retains and

the ease with which it flows in the fire: but that, when three parts of

Nitre are added instead of one, this quantity is not only sufficient to

consume all the Sulphur and the phlogiston of the Antimony, but even

more than enough; seeing that, after the operation, some Nitre is still

found undecomposed.

The calx of Antimony, prepared by calcining it with three parts of

Nitre, is therefore deprived of all its phlogiston. This is the cause

of its whiteness, and the reason why it is not half vitrified by

the operation, as Liver of Antimony is: for we know that the more a

metallic calx is deprived of its phlogiston, the less fusible and

the less vitrifiable it is. This calx of Antimony bears the name of

_Diaphoretic Antimony_, or _Diaphoretic Mineral_: because, being

neither emetic nor purgative, it is thought to have the virtue of

promoting perspiration.

Antimony may be calcined with various proportions of Nitre, between

that used to make Liver of Antimony, and this with which Diaphoretic

Antimony is prepared; and from these calcinations will result calces

possessed of properties both chymical and medical, of an intermediate

nature between the extremes of those two preparations. The nearer

the proportion of Nitre comes to that employed in preparing Liver of

Antimony, the more will the resulting calx resemble that preparation;

and in the same manner, a calx prepared with a greater proportion of

Nitre will so much the more resemble Diaphoretic Antimony, as the

proportion of Nitre used comes nearer three parts of Nitre for one of

Antimony.

It is not necessary that Antimony in substance be employed to make the

Diaphoretic Mineral: you may, if you please, make use of its Regulus.

But as the Regulus contains no Sulphur, nor any more phlogiston than

is requisite to secure its metalline form, it is needless to put three

parts of Nitre to one of Regulus; an equal quantity thereof being

sufficient.

The matter is projected by spoonfuls, to the end that, by gradual and

repeated detonations, the Antimony may be more perfectly calcined:

it is also with a view to destroy entirely the small remainder of

phlogiston, which may have escaped the action of the Nitre, that the

matter is kept red-hot in the crucible for two hours.

The whole is afterwards thrown into hot water, and left steeping

therein for several hours, with design to give the water time to

dissolve all the saline matters that are mixed with the Diaphoretic

Calx. When crude Antimony is used in making this preparation, these

saline matters are, 1. an Alkalizated Nitre; 2. a Neutral Salt formed

by the union of the Acid of Sulphur with part of that Alkali, as in the

preparation of Liver of Antimony; 3. a portion of undecomposed Nitre.

The water in which the Diaphoretic is washed takes up moreover a

portion of the calx of Antimony, which is exceeding finely attenuated,

and continues united with the fixed Nitre, and suspended therewith in

the liquor. This matter is to be separated from the Fixed Nitre, by

mixing the water wherein it is dissolved with an Acid, which unites

with the Alkali, and precipitates this matter in the form of a white

powder, to which the name of _Materia Perlata_ hath been given.

Because it is precipitated in the same manner as the Golden Sulphur of

Antimony, and, like that, is found in the water with which the saline

matters are washed out, after the detonation of Nitre with Antimony,

some Chymists have given it, though very improperly, the name of the

_Fixed Sulphur of Antimony_.

This matter is a true Calx of Antimony, and differs from Diaphoretic

Antimony in nothing but its being still more perfectly calcined. It

is so indeed to such a degree that it is impossible to restore its

metalline form, or reduce it to a Regulus, by the addition of an

inflammable matter. Diaphoretic Antimony, on the contrary, may be

re-metallized, by supplying it with phlogiston: but it must be observed

that, in whatever manner you go about this, you will obtain a much

smaller quantity of Regulus, than when you use a Calx of Antimony

prepared with a smaller quantity of Nitre.

If you attempt to reduce either Liver of Antimony or Diaphoretic

Antimony, great care must be taken to wash them thoroughly, in order

to free them from every thing saline: for, without this precaution,

the Acid of the Sulphur, having, as was observed, formed a Neutral

Salt with the Alkali of the Nitre, will combine with the inflammable

matter added to revivify the calx of Antimony and reproduce a Sulphur;

which, uniting afterwards with the same Alkali, will produce a Liver

of Sulphur, that will dissolve part of the Regulus, hinder its

precipitation, and greatly lessen the quantity which might otherwise be

expected.

A particular sort of Diaphoretic Antimony is sometimes prepared for

Medical uses, which hath a purgative quality: it is not washed at all,

and is therefore called _Unwashed Diaphoretic Mineral_.

Diaphoretic Antimony may also be prepared in close vessels, by means

of which the vapours that rise during the operation are retained.

For this purpose a tubulated retort is employed, having a series of

adopters fitted to it. The retort is placed in a furnace, and heated

till its bottom become red: then a very small quantity of the mixture,

for making Diaphoretic Antimony, is introduced through the tube in

the upper part of the retort, and the tube immediately stopped. A

detonation ensues, and the vapours expand themselves into the adopters,

where they condense. This is repeated till the intended quantity of

matter be used. After the operation some white flowers are found

sublimed in the neck of the retort, and a small quantity of liquor in

the recipients. This liquor is acid. It consists of some of the Acid

of the Nitre, which the Acid of the Sulphur hath expelled from its

basis, and also a little of the Acid of the Sulphur carried up by the

heat before it could combine with the basis of the Nitre. This liquor

is called _Clyssus of Antimony_. The name of _Clyssus_ is given to all

liquors in general that are prepared by this method.

The white flowers found in the neck of the retort are flowers of

Antimony; that is, a calx of Antimony forced up by the heat, and by the

impetus of the detonation. These flowers may be reduced to a Regulus.

What remains in the retort is the same with the matter that remains

in the crucible, wherein the mixture of Nitre and Antimony for making

Diaphoretic Antimony hath been deflagrated.

Neither Diaphoretic Antimony nor the Pearly matter are soluble in any

Acid.

PROCESS VIII.

_Calx of Antimony Vitrified._

Take any quantity you please of calx of Antimony, made without

addition; put it into a good crucible, which set in a melting furnace:

kindle the fire gradually, and leave the crucible uncovered at the

beginning.

A quarter of an hour after the matter is red-hot, cover the crucible,

and excite the fire vigorously till the calx melt. You may know when it

is thoroughly melted, by dipping into the crucible an iron wire, to the

end of which a little knob of glass will adhere, if the matter be in

perfect fusion. Keep it in fusion for a quarter of an hour, or rather

longer if your crucible can bear it. Then take it out of the furnace,

and immediately pour out the melted matter on a smooth stone, made very

hot for the purpose: it will presently fix into a yellow Glass.

_OBSERVATIONS._

All the calces of Antimony, when exposed to a violent fire, are

converted into Glass; but not all with the same facility. In general,

the more of their phlogiston they have lost in the calcination, the

more difficult is their vitrification. This causes also a difference in

the colour of the Glass; which will be of so much a deeper yellow, and

the nearer to a red, the less the Antimony was calcined.

It frequently happens, when we employ a calx of Antimony which is not

sufficiently deprived of its phlogiston, that we find in the crucible a

button of Regulus, which, being heavier than the Glass, always lies at

the bottom. With a view to avoid this inconvenience, and to dissipate

completely the excess of phlogiston that may still be left in the calx

of Antimony, we direct the crucible to be left uncovered for some time,

at the beginning of the operation. If, notwithstanding this precaution,

any Regulus be still found at the bottom of the crucible, and you

resolve to vitrify it, the crucible must be returned to the furnace,

and the fusion continued; by which means the Regulus will at last be

converted into Glass.

If, on the contrary, you meet with any difficulty in effecting the

vitrification, on account of your having employed a calx that hath lost

too much of its phlogiston, such as Diaphoretic Antimony, or the Pearly

matter, the fusion may be greatly facilitated by throwing into the

crucible a little crude Antimony.

Glass of Antimony is a most violent emetic. This Glass, as well as

Liver of Antimony, is employed in preparing Emetic Wine and Emetic

Tartar.

It may be resuscitated, like the calces of Antimony, into a Regulus,

by re-uniting it with a phlogiston. For this purpose it must be

finely pulverized, thoroughly mixed with some black flux, and melted

in a covered crucible. This Glass, as well as that of Lead, hath the

property of greatly promoting the vitrification of matters that are to

be scorified.

PROCESS IX.

_Kermes Mineral._

Break any quantity you will of Hungarian Antimony into little bits:

put it into a good earthen coffee-pot: pour on it twice its weight of

rain-water, and a fourth part of its weight of well filtered liquor

of Nitre fixed by charcoal. Boil the whole briskly for two hours, and

then filter the liquor. As it cools it will acquire a red colour, grow

turbid, and leave a red powder on the filter.

Return your Antimony into the coffee-pot. Pour on it as much rain-water

as before, and three fourths of the former quantity of the liquor of

Fixed Nitre. Boil it again for two hours, and then filter the liquor.

It will again deposite a red sediment. Return your Antimony into the

coffee-pot: pour on it the same quantity of rain-water, and half the

first quantity of the liquor of Fixed Nitre. Boil it again for two

hours, and then filter the liquor as formerly. Wash all these sediments

with warm water, till they become insipid; then dry them, and you have

the _Kermes Mineral_.

_OBSERVATIONS._

If you recollect what we said concerning the property which Fixed

Alkalis possess of uniting with Sulphur, both by fusion, and, when

those Salts are resolved into a liquor, by boiling, and of forming

therewith a Liver of Sulphur, which dissolves all metalline substances,

you will readily comprehend the nature of this Kermes.

Antimony consists of a sulphureous and a reguline part. Therefore,

if this mineral be boiled in a solution of a Fixed Alkali, such as

Nitre fixed by charcoal, the Alkali will dissolve the Sulphur of the

Antimony, and form therewith a Liver of Sulphur, which, in its turn,

will dissolve the reguline part. Now, Kermes Mineral, prepared as above

directed, is no other than a Liver of Sulphur combined with a certain

quantity of Regulus of Antimony.

Mr. Geoffroy hath set this truth in the clearest light, by his

accurate analysis of the Kermes Mineral. The experiments he made on

that subject are circumstantially related in several Memoirs printed

in the volumes of the Academy for 1734 and 1735. By combining Acids

with the Kermes he demonstrated, 1. the existence of Sulphur in this

compound; having separated from it a burning Sulphur, which cannot

be mistaken for any other than the Sulphur of Antimony. In order to

obtain this Sulphur pure, an Acid must be employed that will not only

absorb the Alkali, but also perfectly dissolve the reguline part that

might otherwise remain united with the Sulphur. _Aqua regia_ was the

Acid which succeeded best with Mr. Geoffroy. 2. He also proved that

there is a Fixed Alkali in the composition of the Kermes; seeing the

Acids with which he precipitated the Sulphur became Neutral Salts, and

just such as those very Acids combined with a Fixed Alkali would have

constituted: that is, the Vitriolic Acid produced a _Sal de duobus_;

the Nitrous Acid a regenerated Nitre; and the Marine Acid a regenerated

Sea-salt. 3. Mr. Geoffroy demonstrated the reguline part of Antimony

to be an ingredient in the Kermes; having procured therefrom an actual

Regulus of Antimony, by fusing it with the black flux.

In preparing the Kermes it is necessary to renew the liquor from time

to time, as above directed; because, when it is once impregnated with

Kermes to a certain degree, it can take up no more; and consequently

the same liquor cannot operate again on the Antimony. Experience hath

shewn, that, if the doses above prescribed be applied, the liquor will

after two hours boiling be sufficiently saturated with Kermes.

If the liquor in which the Kermes is dissolved be filtered while it

is very hot, and almost boiling, it leaves nothing on the filter; the

Kermes passing through with it: but as it cools it grows turbid, and

gradually deposites the Kermes. Therefore it ought not to be filtered

till it be cold; or, if it be filtered while it is boiling hot, in

order to separate from it some coarse particles of Antimony not yet

converted into Kermes, it must be filtered a second time when it is

cold, in order to get the Kermes.

Though in the method usually practised for making Kermes, the Antimony

is boiled only thrice, yet it does not follow that more Kermes may not

be obtained from it, or that but little more would be obtained by a

fourth and fifth boiling; on the contrary, it would yield considerably

more. Mr. Geoffroy observed, that he got more Kermes by the second

boiling than by the first, and still more by the third than by the

second; and that the yield goes on increasing in this manner to a very

great number of times, which he hath not determined. This increased

effect arises from hence, that by multiplying the frictions of the

little bits of Antimony against each other, new surfaces are exposed to

the action of the Alkaline liquor, and furnish it with more Sulphur;

while the addition of this sulphur renders the hepar more active and

more penetrating; or, if you please, produces a new hepar every time

the matters are boiled. When the Alkaline liquor is once saturated

with Kermes, it ceases to act, and forms no new hepar; but it does

not follow that its virtue is quite exhausted. To restore its ability

of acting as well as at first, or nearly so, you need only let it

cool, and deposite the Kermes dissolved in it. We owe this singular

observation also to Mr. Geoffroy: he had the patience to go through no

less than threescore and ten boilings with the same liquor, without

adding any thing but rain water, to supply the place of what was

dissipated by evaporation: and he always obtained a pretty considerable

quantity of Kermes by each boiling, for the reason given above.

Boiling is not the only means of making Kermes. Mr. Geoffroy found the

way of making it by fusion. For this purpose you must mix accurately

one part of very pure Fixed Alkali, dried and pulverized, with two

parts of Hungarian Antimony also pulverized, and melt the mixture.

Mr. Geoffroy made use of a retort. When the mass is melted, it must

again be pulverized, while it is still hot, and then put into, and

kept in, boiling hot water for an hour or two; after which the liquor,

now become saline and antimonial, must be filtered into another vessel

filled with boiling water. Every ounce of Antimony treated in this

manner yields, by thrice boiling the melted mass, from six drams to

six drams and a half of Kermes; which differs from the Kermes made by

boiling, only in that it is not quite so soft to the touch, having in

every other respect the same qualities.

As Liver of Sulphur is made two different ways, to wit, by boiling and

by fusion, and as the Kermes is nothing but a Liver of Sulphur in which

the reguline part is dissolved; it follows that Kermes may be made by

fusion as well as by boiling. It is necessary to pulverize the melted

mass, and to steep it in boiling hot water for an hour or two, that the

water may dissolve and divide it sufficiently to make the Kermes fine

and beautiful.

With the same view, that is, to make it finer and more perfect, Mr.

Geoffroy orders the water saturated with the Kermes made by fusion,

to be received, when filtered, in a vessel full of other boiling hot

water. He observed, that when the liquor impregnated with Kermes cools

too fast, the Kermes that precipitates is much coarser. The warm

solution of Kermes is diffused through the boiling-hot water into which

it is filtered, and is thereby enabled to retain its heat so much the

longer.

From what hath been said on the nature of Kermes, it plainly appears

that there must be a great resemblance between it and the Golden

Sulphur of Antimony, obtained from the scoria, either of plain Regulus

of Antimony, or of the Liver of Antimony; this Golden Sulphur being

no other than a portion of the Antimony combined with the Nitre

alkalizated during the operation.

Yet there is a difference in the manner of precipitating these two

compounds: for the Kermes precipitates spontaneously, on the bare

cooling of the water in which it is dissolved; whereas an Acid is

employed to precipitate the Golden Sulphur suspended in the water, with

which the scoria of the plain Regulus of Antimony, or that of Liver of

Antimony, hath been washed. This gives some ground to suspect that the

reguline part is not so intimately united with the Liver of Sulphur in

the Kermes, as in the scoriæ from which the Golden Sulphur is obtained.

PROCESS X.

_Regulus of Antimony dissolved in the Mineral Acids._

Compound an _aqua regis_ by mixing together four measures of Spirit of

Nitre, and one measure of Spirit of Salt: on a sand-bath moderately

heated place a matrass, into which pour sixteen times as much of this

_aqua regis_ as you have Regulus to dissolve. Break your Regulus

into little bits; and throw them successively one after another into

the matrass, observing not to add a new one till that put in before

is entirely dissolved: continue this till your Regulus be all used.

By degrees, as the dissolution advances, the liquor will acquire a

beautiful golden colour; which, however, will insensibly disappear, as

the white fumes that continually ascend from it evaporate.

_OBSERVATIONS._

Regulus of Antimony is one of those metalline substances that dissolve

with the greatest difficulty. Not but that most of the Acids attack

and corrode it; but they do not make a clear, limpid solution thereof:

they in some sort only calcine it, and this semi-metal, as fast as

it dissolves, precipitates of its own accord in the form of a white

magistery. In order to effect a complete dissolution thereof, it is

necessary to employ an _aqua regis_ compounded as directed, and in

the dose prescribed in the process, which is wholly taken from Mr.

Geoffroy's Memoirs on Antimony mentioned above.

If, instead of the Regulus, small bits of crude Antimony be thrown into

the _aqua regis_, the Acid will attack and dissolve the reguline part,

and so separate it from the sulphureous part which it will not touch.

When the dissolution is finished, the particles of Sulphur being now

become lighter, because no longer united with the metalline part, will

float upon the liquor. Being collected they form a true Sulphur, which

seems no way different from common brimstone. This operation, you see,

is a sort of Parting Process.

The Vitriolic Acid, whether concentrated or much weakened with water,

does not act when cold either on Antimony or on its Regulus. This Acid

only dims the splendour of the facets of the Regulus; but if one part

of exceeding pure Regulus of Antimony be put into a retort, and four

parts of clear concentrated Oil of Vitriol poured on it, as soon as the

Acid is heated it turns brown, and emits a most suffocating smell of

Sulphur, which increases as the Regulus is penetrated and corroded by

the Acid.

On raising the fire, there separates from it a matter that seems

mucilaginous; and when the Acid hath boiled some time, the Regulus is

converted into a white saline mass, as Mercury is in the preparation of

Turbith mineral. At the same time a little Sulphur sublimes into the

neck of the retort. At last all the Oil of Vitriol passes over into the

receiver, and leaves the Regulus in a white, spungy, saline mass in the

retort. When the fire is out, the vessels unluted, and the receiver

separated from the retort, there rises a white vapour like that of the

smoking liquor of Libavius.

The saline mass left in the retort, after the operation, is found

increased to near double its weight: this increased weight is owing to

the Acid that hath united with the Regulus.

This combination of the Vitriolic Acid with the Regulus of Antimony

is excessively caustic, and cannot, for that reason, be administered

internally.

The purest Spirit of Salt hath no sensible effect either on Antimony

or its Regulus: but if Antimony be coarsely pounded, it separates

therefrom, though slowly, some light, sulphureous flakes.

The action of Spirit of Nitre on this metallic substance is more

perceptible: by little and little it attacks the plates of the

Antimony, which discharge a great number of air-bubbles. As the

dissolution advances, the Acid acquires a greenish colour inclining to

blue; and if there be not too much of it, it will be almost entirely

imbibed by the Antimony, penetrate between its _laminæ_, and exfoliate

them in the direction of the needles that compose them. If there be

too much of the Acid, that is, if it rise above the Antimony, it will

destroy these plates, and reduce them to a white powder.

But when the Acid is imbibed slowly, we discover between the swelled

_laminæ_ little saline transparent crystals, that vegetate much in the

same manner as those of the pyrites, in which small crystals of Vitriol

are frequently observed, whose figures are not very well determined.

These little crystals between the Antimonial plates are intermixed with

yellow particles, which being carefully separated burn like common

Sulphur.

All these useful observations, concerning the action of the Acids on

Antimony and its Regulus, we owe likewise to Mr. Geoffroy; who advises

the collecting a quantity of these little crystals in time; because

they disappear soon after they are formed, being probably covered by

the white powder, or magistery, which is continually produced as fast

as the Nitrous Acid disunites and separates the needle-like fibres of

the Antimony.

Mr. Geoffroy observed the same sort of crystals on the Regulus of

Antimony, when substituted for crude Antimony in this experiment;

but it requires a great deal of care to separate these crystals;

for as soon as the air comes into contact with them they lose their

transparency; and if you wait till the Regulus be in some measure

converted into a magistery, they are not then to be distinguished.

In order therefore to have a good view of these crystals, the Regulus

must be broken to pieces; these pieces put in a glass bason, and Spirit

of Nitre poured on them to half their heighth, but not to cover them.

This Acid penetrates them, exfoliates them in white scales; and on the

surface of these scales the crystals shoot of a dead white colour. In

two or three days time these crystals vegetate and grow in the form

of cauli-flowers: they must then be gathered, to prevent their being

confounded in the white magistery which continues to be produced,

and would not suffer them to be distinguished. If you attempt to

dissolve the reguline part of Antimony by an _aqua regis_ compounded

in different proportions, and applied in a different dose from what

is prescribed in the process, the Regulus of Antimony will only be

calcined, as it is by the other Acids, and will precipitate in the form

of a white magistery as fast as it dissolves, so that no part thereof

will remain united with the solvent. The proof of this is, that if an

alkaline liquor be poured, even to the point of saturation, upon the

_aqua regis_ that hath thus dropt the Antimony, no new precipitate will

be deposited.

PROCESS XI.

_Regulus of Antimony combined with the Acid of Sea-salt. Butter of

Antimony. Cinabar of Antimony._

Pulverize and mix thoroughly six parts of Regulus of Antimony, and

sixteen parts of Corrosive Sublimate. Put this mixture into a glass

retort that hath a wide short neck, and let one half of its body at

least be left empty. Set it in a reverberatory furnace, and having

fitted a recipient thereto, and luted the joint, make a very small fire

at first, to heat it slowly. Increase it afterwards by degrees, till

you see a liquor ascend from the retort that grows thick as it cools.

Keep up the fire to this degree as long as you see any of this matter

come over.

When no more rises with this degree of fire, unlute your vessels, take

off the receiver, and in its place substitute another filled with

water. Then increase your fire by degrees till the retort be red-hot.

Some running Mercury will fall into the water, which you may dry and

keep for use; it being very pure.

_OBSERVATIONS._

In our observations on the preceding process, we took notice that the

purest Marine Acid, in the form of a liquor, will not dissolve the

reguline part of Antimony. Here this very Acid combined with Mercury,

and applied in a dry form to the Regulus of Antimony, quits the Mercury

with which it was united, in order to join this very Regulus, as having

a greater affinity therewith. This operation is a further proof of what

we advanced on the subject of Mercury; to wit, that several metallic

substances, which are not soluble by certain Acids when in a fluid

state, may be dissolved by those Acids when most highly concentrated;

as they are when combined with any other substance in a dry form, and

are separated from it by the force of fire. Their efficacy is also

further promoted by their being reduced, on this occasion, into subtile

vapours.

The Marine Acid combined with the reguline part of Antimony doth not

form a hard, solid compound; but a kind of soft substance, that melts

in a very gentle heat, and also becomes fixed by the least cold, much

in the same manner as butter; and from this property it hath its name.

Soon after mixing the Regulus with the Corrosive Sublimate, the matter

sometimes grows considerably hot: this is occasioned by the Marine

Acid's beginning to act on the reguline part, and to desert its Mercury.

The Butter of Antimony rises with a very moderate heat; because the

Acid of Sea salt hath the property of volatilizing, and carrying up

along with it, the metallic substances with which it is combined: and

for this reason a very gentle heat only is required at the beginning of

the operation.

It is absolutely necessary that the neck of the retort be wide and

short: for otherwise if the Butter of Antimony should fix and be

accumulated therein, it might stop up the passage entirely, and

occasion the bursting of the vessels. By this operation we obtain eight

parts and three quarters of fine Butter of Antimony, and ten parts of

running Mercury; there being left in the retort one part and a half of

a rarefied matter, black, white, and red. This is probably the most

earthy and most impure part of the Regulus of Antimony.

It is of the utmost consequence to the operator that he avoid with the

greatest care the vapours that issue from the vessels, because they are

extremely noxious, and may occasion mortal disorders. The Butter of

Antimony is a most violent Corrosive and Caustic.

When all the Butter is risen, the receiver is shifted in order to

receive the Mercury; which, being disengaged from the Acid that gave

it a saline form, appears in its natural form of Quick-silver: but it

requires a much greater degree of heat than the Butter of Antimony to

raise it by distillation.

If crude Antimony, instead of Regulus of Antimony, be mixed with

Corrosive Sublimate, a Butter of Antimony will be obtained in the same

manner; but, instead of having a running Mercury after the Butter, you

will find a Cinabar sublimed into the neck and upper concavity of the

retort.

The reason of this difference is easily conceived: for when the

Regulus is used, the Mercury being deserted by its Acid finds no other

substance to unite with, and so rises in the form of Quick-silver; but

when crude Antimony is employed instead of its Regulus, as the reguline

part thereof cannot combine with the Acid without quitting its Sulphur,

so this Sulphur, being at liberty, unites with the Mercury, which is so

likewise, and therewith forms a Cinabar; which from its origin is named

_Cinabar of Antimony_. When you intend to make both Butter and Cinabar

of Antimony at the same time, six parts of Antimony must be mixed with

eight of Corrosive Sublimate; and care must be taken, while the Butter

is coming over, to warm the neck of the retort by holding some live

coals near it, with the precautions necessary to avoid breaking it.

This warmth makes the Butter melt and run into the receiver; whereas,

being thicker and of a much denser consistence than that made with the

Regulus, it would otherwise gather in the neck of the retort, choak it

entirely, and burst the vessel.

When the Butter is drawn from crude Antimony, more circumspection is

necessary to make it of a beautiful white colour, than when it is

obtained from the Regulus: for, if the fire be too strong during the

distillation, or if the receiver be not soon enough separated from the

neck of the retort, certain red sulphureous vapours, the fore-runners

of the Cinabar, will at last ascend, and mixing with the Butter give it

a brown colour.

In order to restore its beauty it must be put into a clean retort,

and rectified by distilling it over again with a gentle sand-heat.

By this rectification the Butter of Antimony becomes more fluid; and

by re-distilling it a second time you may give it the thinness and

fluidity of an oil.

After the operation there will be found in the receiver three parts and

three quarters of Butter of Antimony, and some small crystals adhering

to its inside, in the form of sprigs. When you break the retort there

exhales from it a sulphureous odour; and you will find in it seven

parts of Cinabar of Antimony, the greatest part of which is usually in

compact glebes, that are heavy, smooth, shining, blackish throughout

most of the mass, but in some places red: another part thereof appears

in shining needles, and the rest in powder.

When all the Butter of Antimony is come over, and you begin to see the

red vapours that predict the approaching ascent of the Cinabar, the

receiver containing the Butter must be removed, lest the colour of the

Butter should be spoiled by those sulphureous vapours. Another receiver

is usually fitted on, without luting; in which a small quantity of

running Mercury is sometimes found, when the operation is finished.

There remains, at the bottom of the retort, a fixed, shining,

crystalline, black mass, which may be reduced to a Regulus by the

common method.

Butter of Antimony may also be obtained from a mixture of Antimony with

any of the other preparations of Mercury in which the Acid of Sea-salt

is an ingredient; such as sweet Sublimate, the Mercurial Panacea, and

White Precipitate: but as none of these combinations contain so great

a proportion of that Acid as is in the Corrosive Sublimate, the Butter

obtained by their means is far from being so caustic and so fiery as

that which rises from a mixture of Antimony, or its Regulus, with

Corrosive Sublimate.

Silver precipitated by the Acid of Sea-salt, and ready to be melted

into a _Luna cornea_, being mixed with powdered Regulus of Antimony

yields likewise a Butter of Antimony.

If you propose to make it by this means, you must mingle one part of

the Regulus of Antimony in powder with two parts of the Precipitate;

put this mixture into a glass retort of such a size that it may fill

but one half thereof; set it in a furnace; apply a receiver; begin

with a gentle heat, which will make a clear liquor come over; and then

increase your fire by degrees. White vapours will rise and condense

into a liquid Butter; and in the mean time there will be a slight

ebullition in the receiver, attended with a little heat. Continue the

fire till nothing more will come over; then let your vessels cool and

unlute them.

You will find in the receiver an Oil or Butter of Antimony, partly

fluid and partly congealed, somewhat inclined to yellow, weighing an

eighth part more than the Regulus of Antimony made use of.

The inside of the retort will be carpeted over with small white

flowers, of a brilliant silver colour, and an acid taste; and in the

bottom of the retort will be found a hard, compact, ponderous mass,

difficult to break, yet falling of itself to a powder; its colour

externally grey, white, and blueish; internally black, and shining much

like Regulus of Antimony; having a saltish taste on its surface, and

weighing about a sixteenth less than the Precipitate of Silver employed

in the operation.

This experiment demonstrates that the Acid of Sea-salt hath a greater

affinity with Regulus of Antimony than with Silver.

The Butter of Antimony prepared by this method is somewhat less caustic

than that made with Corrosive Sublimate. It is called the _Lunar Butter

of Antimony_.

The effervescence that arises in the receiver is remarkable. Probably

the Acid of Sea-salt, though reduced into vapours when it ascends out

of the retort, is not yet perfectly combined with the reguline part

of the Antimony, which it nevertheless carries over with it, and the

union is completed in the receiver; which occasions the effervescence

observed.

The little white silvery flowers, adhering to the inside of the retort,

are flowers of Regulus of Antimony, which sublime towards the end of

the distillation.

The compact mass, found at the bottom of the retort, is no other than

the Silver separated from its Acid, and combined with a portion of the

Regulus of Antimony. The colours and the saltish taste of its surface

are occasioned by a remainder of the Marine Acid. This Silver is

rendered brittle and eager by the union it hath contracted with some of

the Regulus of Antimony.

It is easy to purify it, and restore its ductility, by separating it

from the Regulus of Antimony. There are several ways of doing this:

one of the most expeditious is to flux it with Nitre, which burns and

converts to a calx the semi-metal with which the Silver is adulterated.

PROCESS XII.

_Butter of Antimony decompounded by means of Water only. The_ Pulvis

Algaroth, _or_ Mercurius Vitæ. _The Philosophic Spirit of Vitriol._

Melt with a gentle heat as much Butter of Antimony as you please.

When it is melted, pour it into a large quantity of warm water. The

water will immediately grow turbid, but whitish, and let fall a great

quantity of white powder. When all the precipitate is settled, decant

the water: pour on fresh warm water; and having thus edulcorated it

by several ablutions, dry it, and you have the _Pulvis Algaroth_, or

_Mercurius Vitæ_.

_OBSERVATIONS._

In the preceding processes we observed that the Marine Acid will not

dissolve the reguline part of Antimony, unless it be very highly

concentrated, and more so than it can possibly be while in the form of

a liquor. Of this the experiment before us is a further proof. Whilst

the Marine Acid is so perfectly dephlegmated, as it is in Corrosive

Sublimate and Butter of Antimony, it remains combined with the reguline

part of Antimony; but if this combination be dissolved in water, the

moment the Acid is weakened by the interposition of the particles of

water, it becomes incapable of continuing united with the semi-metal

which it had before dissolved; deserts it, and lets it fall in the

form of a white powder.

The _Pulvis Algaroth_ is therefore no other than the reguline part of

Antimony, attenuated and divided by the union it had contracted with

the Acid of Sea-salt, and afterwards separated from that Acid by the

intervention of water alone. The proof is, that this powder retains

none of the properties of the Butter of Antimony: it is neither so

fusible nor so volatile; on the contrary, it is capable of sustaining a

very strong degree of fire, without subliming and without melting: it

may be reduced to a Regulus: it hath not now the same caustic nature:

it is only an emetic; which however is extremely violent, and on that

account is never prescribed by any prudent physician.

Another proof, that the Marine Acid is separated from the Regulus of

Antimony in the precipitation of the _Pulvis Algaroth_, is, that the

water in which this precipitation is made becomes acid, or a sort

of weak Spirit of Salt. If it be evaporated, and concentrated by

distillation, a very strong acid liquor may be obtained from it. This

Acid goes, very improperly, by the name of the _Philosophic Spirit of

Vitriol_; for it is rather a Spirit of Salt.

The _Pulvis Algaroth_, made with Butter of Antimony procured from the

Regulus, is whiter than that made with Butter of Antimony procured

from crude Antimony; probably because the latter always retains some

sulphureous particles.

Butter of Antimony exposed to the air attracts the moisture thereof,

and partly runs into a liquor; but, as fast as this liquor is

produced, it deposites a white sediment, which is an actual _Pulvis

Algaroth_. This also is very agreeable to what we advanced touching

the decomposition of Butter of Antimony by the addition of water. The

Butter attracts the moisture of the air, because the Acid it contains

is exceedingly concentrated; and this moisture produces the same effect

as water purposely added.

PROCESS XIII.

_Bezoar Mineral. The Bezoartic Spirit of Nitre._

Melt Butter of Antimony over warm ashes, and put it into a phial or

matrass. Gradually pour on it good Spirit of Nitre, till the matter

be entirely dissolved. This usually requires as much Spirit of Nitre

as there is Butter of Antimony. During the dissolution fumes will

rise, which must be carefully avoided. Pour your solution, which will

be clear and of a reddish colour, into a glass cucurbit, or a pan of

stone-ware: set it in a sand-bath, and evaporate to dryness with a

moderate heat. There will be left a white mass, weighing a fourth part

less than the whole quantity used, both of the Butter and the Spirit

of Nitre. Let it cool, and again pour on it as much Spirit of Nitre as

you used the first time. Place the vessel again in the sand-bath, and

evaporate the moisture as before. You will have a white mass that hath

neither gained nor lost in weight. On this pour, for the third time,

the same quantity of Spirit of Nitre as you did the first time. Again

evaporate the moisture to perfect dryness: then increase your fire,

and calcine the matter for half an hour. You will have a dry, friable,

light, white matter, of an agreeable acid taste; which will fall into

a coarse powder, and must be kept in a phial carefully stopt. This

is _Bezoar Mineral_: it is neither caustic nor emetic, and has only

a sudorific virtue. It obtained the name it bears, because, like the

animal Bezoar, it was imagined to have the property of resisting poison.

_OBSERVATIONS._

It is not surprising that the Nitrous Acid poured on Butter of Antimony

should dissolve it, and unite with it: for with the Marine Acid, which

makes a part of this combination, it forms an _aqua regis_, which we

know is the true solvent of the reguline part of Antimony. But in this

dissolution, and the changes it produces, there are some things very

remarkable and worthy of attention. 1. The Nitrous Acid, by uniting

with the Butter of Antimony, deprives it of its property of rising with

a very gentle heat, and makes it much more fixed: it can now be dried,

and suffer all its moisture to be evaporated; which is not to be done

with pure Butter of Antimony: for that, being exposed to a certain

degree of heat, instead of letting go its moisture and remaining dry,

rises wholly, without the least appearance of any separation of parts.

2. The Butter of Antimony, which, before its combination with the

Nitrous Acid, is a most violent Caustic and Corrosive, becomes so mild

after it, that it may not only be taken internally without danger, but

hath scarce any sensible operation.

The following considerations will lead us to a reasonable explanation

of these phenomena. 1. The Nitrous Acid, when combined with metallic

substances, doth not communicate to them the same volatility as they

acquire from the Marine Acid. Hence it follows, that, if the Nitrous

Acid be added to any combination of a metallic substance with the

Marine Acid, this new compound will be rendered less volatile, and

consequently more able, without rising in vapours, to bear a degree of

heat sufficient to carry off part of its Acid. This is the case with

Butter of Antimony, after Spirit of Nitre is mixed with it; especially

considering, 2. That the Nitrous Acid cannot unite with the reguline

part of the Butter of Antimony without weakening the connection between

it and the Marine Acid; whence it follows, that the combination of the

Nitrous Acid further facilitates the separation of the Marine Acid

from the Regulus. Now as soon as the Marine Acid quits the reguline

part, that part becomes more fixed, and consequently more capable of

enduring the degree of heat requisite to discharge all the adhering

Acid; and not only the Marine, but even the Nitrous also. It is not

therefore surprizing that, after the Antimony which remains combined

with the Nitrous Acid is dried, it should not possess that corrosive

power which it derives only from the Acids wherewith it is armed. In

order to free it more perfectly from all Acid, we order the fire to be

increased after the third desiccation; and the remainder of the Butter

of Antimony to be calcined for a full half-hour longer.

That the Marine Acid is separated from the reguline part of the Butter

of Antimony, by the desiccations it undergoes in converting it into

Bezoar, is proved by this, that, when these desiccations are performed

in close vessels, the liquor drawn off is a true _aqua regis_, known by

the name of the _Bezoartic Spirit of Nitre_.

It remains to be considered why the Bezoar mineral, though freed from

all acid, is not emetic; while the _Pulvis Algaroth_, which is likewise

the reguline part of the Butter of Antimony deprived of its Acid,

is such a violent emetic, and even to be dreaded for its remaining

causticity.

In order to discover the reason of this difference, it is proper to

observe that, when we say Bezoar mineral and the _Pulvis Algaroth_

contain no Acid, we must not be understood in too strict a sense: on

the contrary, there is reason to think that a certain quantity of Acid

still remains in each of them; which however is scarce worth notice,

in comparison of the quantity each contained at first. This being

allowed, it will not be hard to find the difference between these two

preparations of Antimony. The _Pulvis Algaroth_ is deprived of its

Acid by the addition of water alone, which only carries off all the

loose Acid it can take up, without making any change in the nature of

that which continues in combination with the reguline part. Now, as

the Marine Acid is not intimately united with the reguline part in

Butter of Antimony; as it still retains some of its properties, such as

attracting the moisture of the air, giving manifest tokens of its Acid

nature, &c.; and as the corrosive quality of this compound depends on

this last in particular; the small portion of Acid left in the _Pulvis

Algaroth_ will in some degree preserve its former character: and hence

comes the effect of this powder, which still retains a little of the

corrosive quality that belonged to the Butter of Antimony.

But this is not the case with the small remainder of Acid, which

possibly still continues united with the Bezoar mineral prepared as

here directed. This compound hath been exposed to a fire sufficient,

not only to dry it, but even to calcine it. Now fire is capable of

producing great changes in the texture of bodies. It must have forced

off from the Bezoar all the Acid that was not intimately combined

with it; and that part which it could not drive off, because of its

obstinate adhesion, it must have further united and combined more

closely with the metallic earth: for we see that fire greatly promotes

the action of solvents on the matters with which they are united.

With regard to the properly emetic quality of the _Pulvis Algaroth_,

it cannot be imputed to the combination of any Acid with that powder;

since we see that the most powerfully emetic preparations of Antimony,

_viz._ its Regulus and Glass, contain no Acid: it must therefore be

attributed to some cause different from that on which its corrosive

quality depends. This cause we shall easily find by attending to the

different manners in which the Marine Acid, when alone and in _aqua

regia_, operates on the reguline part of Antimony.

The Marine Acid alone dissolves the Regulus of Antimony, but with

great difficulty; nor doth it effect a complete dissolution thereof,

as is evident from what hath been already said: whereas the Marine

Acid, combined with the Nitrous Acid, and therewith forming an _aqua

regis_, as in the preparation of Bezoar, dissolves the reguline part

of Antimony completely and radically. Now, it is certain that, the

more efficaciously Acids operate on metallic substances, the more of

their phlogiston do they destroy; and we cannot but recollect that

the preparations of Antimony are so much the less emetic the less

phlogiston they contain, or the further they recede from the nature

of a Regulus, and the nearer they approach to that of Diaphoretic

Antimony: consequently it is plain how Bezoar mineral, which is a

sort of calx of Antimony entirely deprived of its phlogiston by the

intimate dissolution thereof made by the Acids of the _aqua regis_,

may be in no degree emetic; while the _Pulvis Algaroth_, being a true

Regulus of Antimony, on which the Marine Acid hath operated but very

superficially, and which still contains a great deal of phlogiston, is

a most violent emetic.

PROCESS XIV.

_Flowers of Antimony._

Take an unglazed earthen pot, having an aperture in its side, with a

stopple to shut it close. Set this pot in a furnace, the cavity whereof

it may fit as exactly as possible; and fill up with lute the space,

if any, left between the vessel and the furnace. Over this vessel fix

three aludels, with a blind-head at the top; and light a fire in the

furnace under the pot.

When the bottom of the pot is thoroughly red, throw into the lateral

aperture a small spoonful of powdered Antimony. Stir the matter

immediately with an iron spatula made a little bending, in order to

spread it over the bottom of the vessel, and then stop the hole. The

flowers will rise and adhere to the insides of the aludels. Keep up the

fire so that the bottom of the pot may always continue red; and, when

nothing more sublimes, put in a like quantity of Antimony, and operate

as before. In this manner go on subliming your Antimony, till you have

as many flowers as you want. Then let the fire go out; and when the

vessels are cold unlute them. You will find flowers adhering all round

the insides of the aludels and the head, which you may collect with a

feather.

_OBSERVATIONS._

Antimony is a volatile mineral, capable of being sublimed into flowers;

but this cannot be effected without occasioning a notable change

in its parts. The reguline and the sulphureous parts are not united

so intimately, or in the same proportion, in the flowers as in the

Antimony itself; and accordingly we find these flowers have a strong

emetic quality, which Antimony hath not. They are of divers colours;

which probably arises from their containing more or less Sulphur. Three

or four aludels are placed one over another, not only with a view to

provide a greater surface, to which the flowers may adhere, but also to

give them room enough to circulate, without which they might burst the

vessels.

If you introduce the nosle of a pair of bellows into the pot that

contains the Antimony, and blow upon it, the sublimation of the flowers

will be much sooner effected. This is a general rule with regard to all

matters that are to be sublimed or evaporated; the reason of which we

have already given.

It is proper that no interval be left between the furnace and the pot

containing the Antimony, lest the heat should be thereby communicated

to the aludels, on which the flowers fasten best when they are cold.

After the operation, there remains at the bottom of the pot a portion

of Antimony half calcined; which being pulverized, and thoroughly

calcined till it emit no fume, may be employed to make the Glass of

Antimony.

PROCESS XV.

_Regulus of Antimony converted into Flowers._

Pulverize your Regulus of Antimony: put the powder into an unglazed

earthen pot: three or four fingers breadth above the powder, fit into

the pot a little cover, made of the same earth, and having a small

hole in its middle, so that it may with ease be placed in the pot, and

taken out when there is occasion: cover the mouth of the pot with a

common lid; set it in a furnace, and kindle a fire under it sufficient

to make the bottom of the pot red, and to melt the Regulus. When it

hath been thus kept in fusion for about an hour, let the fire go out,

and the whole cool. Then remove the two covers. You will find adhering

to the surface of the Regulus, which will be in a mass at the bottom

of the pot, white flowers resembling snow, intermixed with beautiful,

brilliant, silver-coloured needles. Take them out, and you will find

them make about one part in sixty-two of the whole Regulus employed.

Put the covers again in their places, and proceed in the same manner

as before; when the vessels are cold you will find half as many more

flowers as you got the first time.

Proceed thus till you have converted all your Regulus into flowers.

This will require a considerable number of sublimations, which, as you

advance, will always yield you a greater portion of flowers; respect,

however, being had to the quantity of Regulus remaining in the pot.

_OBSERVATIONS._

We must here repeat what we said just before, in our observations on

the preceding process; _viz._ that Regulus of Antimony is capable of

being wholly elevated and sublimed by the action of fire; but that it

must at the same time undergo a considerable change and alteration.

These flowers of Regulus of Antimony are very different from every

other Antimonial preparation. They resemble the Pearly Matter in this,

that they cannot be reduced to a Regulus by any means whatever: but

they differ from it, 1. in that they are not fixed; for, when melted

by fire, they fly wholly away in vapours: 2. in that they are capable

of being dissolved by _aqua regis_, much in the same manner as the

Regulus; whereas the Pearly Matter is known to be indissoluble by any

Acid.

As soon as Regulus of Antimony is in fusion, it begins to sublime into

flowers; so that it is needless to apply a greater degree of heat than

is just sufficient to melt it.

A pan of some width is preferable to a crucible for this operation;

because the upper surface of the Regulus melted therein is larger,

and, the larger that surface is, the more considerable is the quantity

sublimed from it.

The two covers which are applied within and over the pot are designed

to check, as much as possible, the dissipation of the melted

Regulus; yet without absolutely excluding the free access of the

air, the concourse of which is useful in all metallic sublimations.

Notwithstanding these precautions, it is impossible to prevent the

escape of some of the Regulus, in vapours that cannot be confined.

Somewhat less than three fourths of the Regulus made use of is nearly

the yield in flowers: the rest evaporates through the interstices left

by the covers, which must not be luted for the reason just assigned.

CHAP. II.

_Of_ BISMUTH.

PROCESS I.

_To extract Bismuth from its Ore._

Break the ore of Bismuth into small pieces, and therewith fill a

crucible either of earth or iron. Set the crucible in a furnace, and

light such a fire that the bits of ore may become moderately red. Stir

the ore from time to time, and, if you perceive it crackle and fly,

keep the crucible covered. At the bottom you will find a button of

Bismuth.

_OBSERVATIONS._

The extraction of Bismuth from its ore requires nothing but simple

fusion, without the addition of any inflammable matter, because it is

naturally possessed of its metalline form. Nor does it require any

flux; because it is very fusible: which allows us to melt it, and

collect it in a mass, without the necessity of fusing likewise the

earthy and stony matters in which it is lodged. These matters remain in

their first state; and the melted Bismuth descends by its gravity to

the bottom of the crucible. No greater degree of heat must be applied,

on this occasion, than is necessary to melt the semi-metal: for, as it

is volatile, part of it would be dissipated; so that much less thereof

would be obtained, if the fire were made too strong, and so much the

less as another portion thereof would be converted into a calx. For the

same reason, the crucible must be taken out of the furnace as soon as

you perceive that all the Bismuth contained in the ore is melted, and

that the button doth not increase.

The ore of Bismuth may also be treated like the ores of Lead and Tin;

that is, it may be reduced into a fine powder, mixed with the black

flux, a little Borax, and Sea-salt; put into a close crucible, and

fused in a melting furnace. In that case you will find a button of

Regulus covered with scoria. By this method rather more Bismuth is

obtained; and it is best to make use of it when the ore is poor,

because, in such a case, none at all would be obtained by the other

process. But here care must be taken to apply at once the degree of

fire necessary to melt the mixture: for, if it remain long in the fire,

much Bismuth will be lost, on account of the great volatility of this

semi-metal, and the facility with which it turns to a calx.

Bismuth is pretty frequently found pure in its earthy and stony

matrices; and when mineralized it is usually so by Arsenic, which,

being still more volatile, flies off in vapours while the ore is

melting, provided it be but in a small quantity: if there be much

of it, and the ore be smelted by fusing it with the black flux, the

Arsenic also is reduced to a Regulus, unites more intimately with the

Bismuth, becomes a little more fixed by that union, and increases the

quantity of the semi-metallic mass found after the fusion.

Though Bismuth be not usually mineralized by Sulphur, that is not

because it is incapable of uniting therewith; for, if equal parts of

Bismuth and Sulphur be melted together, after the fusion the Bismuth

will be found increased near an eighth part, and formed into a mass

disposed in needles much like Antimony.

When we come to treat of the ore of Arsenic, we shall have occasion

to say a good deal more concerning Bismuth and its ore; because these

minerals resemble each other very much.

Mr. Geoffroy, son of the Academician, hath shewn in a Memoir read

before the Academy of Sciences, that there is a great resemblance

between Bismuth and Lead. That Memoir, which contains only the

beginning of Mr. Geoffroy's course of experiments, proves that the

author supports with dignity the glory of his name. It is there

demonstrated, by a very great number of experiments, that fire produces

the same effects on Bismuth as on Lead. This semi-metal is converted

into a calx, into litharge, and into glass, as Lead is; and these

productions have the same properties as the preparations of Lead made

with the same degree of fire. Bismuth is capable of vitrifying all the

imperfect metals, and of carrying them off through the pores of the

crucible. So that Gold and Silver may be purified and cupelled by its

means, as well as with Lead. You may on this occasion turn to what we

have said concerning Lead.

PROCESS II.

_Bismuth dissolved by Acids. Magistery of Bismuth. Sympathetic Ink._

Into a matrass put Bismuth broken into little bits: pour on it,

by little and little, twice as much _aqua fortis_. This Acid will

attack the semi-metal briskly, and dissolve it entirely, with heat,

effervescence, vapours, and puffing up. The solution will be clear and

limpid.

_OBSERVATIONS._

Of all Acids the Nitrous is that which best dissolves Bismuth. It is

not necessary, on this occasion, to place the phial, in which the

dissolution is performed, on a sand-heat, as in most other metallic

dissolutions: on the contrary, care must be taken not to pour on all

the _aqua fortis_ at once; because it operates with so much activity

that the mixture will heave up and run over the vessel.

The bare addition of water is sufficient to precipitate the solution

of Bismuth. If this solution be mixed with a very large proportion

of water, the liquor grows turbid, appears milky, and deposites a

precipitate of a very beautiful white. This is that white which the

ladies use at their toilets.

Water produces this precipitation by weakening the Acid; which probably

is incapable of keeping the Bismuth dissolved, unless it have a certain

degree of strength.

If you would have a Magistery of Bismuth beautifully white, you must

perform the dissolution with an _aqua fortis_ that is not tainted with

any mixture of the Vitriolic Acid; for this gives the precipitate a

dirty white colour, inclining to grey. Several authors advise the use

of a solution of Sea-salt, instead of pure water, for precipitating

the Bismuth, imagining that this Salt will effect a precipitation here

as it does in the cases of Silver and Lead. But Mr. Pott, a German

Chymist, who hath published a long dissertation on Bismuth, pretends,

on the contrary, that neither Sea-salt, nor its Acid, is capable of

precipitating this semi-metal; and that when a precipitation takes

place on mixing them with our solution, it is brought about only by

means of the water in which those substances are diffused.

Bismuth may also be precipitated by the means of Fixed or Volatile

Alkalis; but the precipitate is not of so fine a white as when procured

by the means of pure water only.

If a greater quantity of _aqua fortis_, than that prescribed in the

process, be made use of to dissolve the Bismuth, a great deal more

water will also be required to precipitate the Magistery; because there

will be much more Acid to weaken. This white ought to be well washed,

in order to free it from any remainder of acidity; and it should be

kept in a bottle well stopped; because the access of the air makes it

turn brown, and if any of the Acid be left it will turn it yellow.

A solution of Bismuth prepared with the proper quantity of _aqua

fortis_, that is, with two parts of the Acid to one of the semi-metal,

concretes into little crystals almost as soon as made.

_Aqua fortis_ not only acts on Bismuth when separated from its ore,

and reduced to a Regulus, but attacks it even in its ore, and likewise

dissolves at the same time some portion of the ore itself. With

this solution of the ore of Bismuth Mr. Hellot makes a very curious

Sympathetic Ink, differing from all that were known before.

Mr. Hellot prepares the liquor in the following manner: "He bruises

the ore of Bismuth to a coarse powder. On two ounces of this powder

he pours a mixture of five ounces of common water with five ounces of

_aqua fortis_. He does not heat the vessel till the first ebullitions

are over. He then sets it in a gentle sand-heat, and lets it digest

there till he sees no more air bubbles rise. When none appear in this

heat, he increases it so as to make the solvent boil slightly for a

full quarter of an hour. It takes up a tincture nearly of the colour

of brown beer. The ore that gives the _aqua fortis_ this colour is

the best. He then lets the solution cool, laying the matrass on its

side, that he may decant the liquor more conveniently when all is

precipitated that is not taken up by the solvent.