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The like Calx will be afforded as I have try'd by a Solution of that shining Mineral Tinglass dissolv'd in Aqua Fortis, and Præcipitated out of it; and divers of these Calces may be made at least as Fair and White, if not better Colour'd, if instead of Oyl of Tartar they were Præcipitated with Oyl of Vitriol, or with another Liquor I could Name.

And Red Lead or Minium being Dissolv'd in Spirit of Vinegar, yields not a Red, but a Clear Solution, the Redness of the Lead being by the Liquor Destroy'd.

Take then a little Yellow Wax, scraped or thinly sliced, and putting it into a Bolts-head or some other Convenient Glass, pour to it a pretty deal of Spirit of Wine, and placing the Vessel in Warm Sand, Encrease the Heat by degrees, till the Spirit of Wine begin to Simper or to Boyl a little; and continuing that degree of Fire, if you have put Liquor enough, you will quickly have the Wax dissolv'd, then taking it off the fire, you may either suffer it to Cool as hastily as with Safety to the Glass you can, or Pour it whilst 'tis yet Hot into a Filtre of Paper, and either in the Glass where it Cools, or in the Filtre, you will soon find the Wax and Menstruum together reduc'd into a White Substance, almost like Butter, which by letting the Spirit Exhale will shrink into a much Lesser Bulk, but still retaining its Whiteness.

For Lead dissolv'd in Spirit of Vinegar or Aqua-fortis gives a Solution cleer enough, and if the Menstruum be abstracted appears either Diaphanous or White. But here I must take notice, that of all the Metalls, there is not any which doth so easily and constantly disclose its unobvious colour as Copper doth.

Another Muse they tell us, they have dissolv'd into a Liquid, and kept with wondrous Art, the Vertues of which are Soveraign against Ideotism, Dullness, and all sorts of Lethargick Diseases; but if given in too great a quantity, creates Poesy, Poverty, Lunacy, and the Devil in the Head ever after.

For Gold dissolv'd in Aqua Regia, whether you Precipitate it with Oyl of Tartar which is an Alcaly, or with Spirit of Urine, or Sal Armoniack which belongs to the family of Volatile Salts, will either way afford a Yellow substance: though with such an Acid Liquor, as, I say not Spirit of Salt, the Body that yields it, being upon the matter an Ingredient of Aqua Regis, but Oyl of Vitriol it self, I did not find that I could Precipitate the Metall out of the Solution, or destroy the Colour of it, though the same Oyl of Vitriol would readily Precipitate Silver dissolv'd in Aqua-fortis.

Thus Silver and Tin separately dissolv'd in Aqua Fortis, will the one Præcipitate it self, and the other be Præcipitated by common Salt-water into a White Calx, and so will Crude Lead and Quicksilver first dissolv'd likewise in Aqua Fortis.

Let me add, that having made divers Tryals with that Blew substance, which in Painters shops is call'd Litmase, we have sometimes taken Pleasure to observe, that being dissolv'd in a due proportion of fair Water, the Solution either oppos'd to the Light, or dropp'd upon White paper, did appear of a deep Colour betwixt Crimson and Purple; and yet that being spread very thin on the Paper and suffer'd to dry on there, the Paper was wont to appear Stain'd of a Fine Blew.

How had the knot of Rebellion been dissolv'd in England, if it had not been untied by the very Hands of those that knit it? All the contrary Force had been entirely broken and subdu'd, and the Restoration of Monarchy had never happen'd in England, if Union and Agreement had been found among the managers of that Age.

Having then observ'd, that Mercury being dissolv'd in Some Menstruums, would yield a dark Yellow Precipitate, and supposing that, as to this, common Water, and the Salts that stick to the Mercury would be equivalent to those Acid Menstruums, which work upon the Quick-silver, upon the account of their Saline particles, I substituted a Solution of Sublimate in fair Water, instead of a Solution of Mercury in Aqua-fortis, or Spirit of Nitre, that simple Solution being both clearer and free from that very offensive Smell, which accompanies the Solutions of Mercury made with those other corrosive Liquors; then I consider'd, that That, which makes the Yellow Colour, is indeed but a Precipitate made by the means of the Oyl of Tartar, which we drop in, and which, as Chymists know, does generally precipitate Metalline Bodies corroded by Acid Salts; so that the Colour in our case results from the Coalition of the Mercurial particles with the Saline ones, wherewith they were formerly associated, and with the Alcalizate particles of the Salt of Tartar that swim up and down in the Oyl.