( ii\)

fertcd, the most Fixd Aleati may be Sublimed to a greät hcight withont Ad-tiicaments, by an Intense degree of Heat: For, I have frequently reduced aPound thereot unto 3 or 4 Ounces, and recovered a considcrable Proportionwhich was caught in well contriv’d Vessels, forne Yards above tbe Cruci-ble, little, it at all, altered from what it was immediately betöre it sofferedthis Violence. Upon this Account chiefly it is that Soot yields forne fmallQuantity of an Aleati, efpecially that ncarest the Focus.

4. Alcaltes , may be divided mto Oyl and Volattle Sah by facile and natu-ral methods of Procedure. I my scit have many times effected this in part:

And a very worthy Person, in whom I can perfectly Confide, assured me,he hath frequently Relolvcd the whole Body of Alcalies into the two distinctSubstances of Volattle Sah and 0 ) 1 ; receiving of the latter a fmall Propor-tion : Which is also consirm’d by thosc Tryals I have made on the fameSubject.

I could soggest many more Arguments and Experiments ; but these beingsufficient, and, I tbink, indiffoluble, I proceed to consute the Pretensionsof Acid Satis to an Interest in thisnew Production. First, WhatconcernsTartar , its Aetdity is driven away in great quantity betöre it can becomeAlcahzate • and a Volatile Sah may, to my Knowledge, be by divers Me-thods Separated from it. Secondly, as to Nitre , though that in Disttllationyields an Acid Sprit, yet it abounds also in Volatile Sati j as I could De-monstrate from the manner of its Generation, and from Irrefragable Expe-riments. And besides, peihaps in the Operation of the Sulphur on theAcid Sah, sopposing it such, there is a Comminution of its parts, and there-by that made a Volatile Sah which was betöre Acid, only Magnitude discri-minating betweenthem.

2. 1 have aflerted above, That Alcatizatt or FixedSalts extracted out of Nof«fibu Dis.the Aßes of Veget abies do not differ from each other; as neither their Vtnotts allvtSpirits ; yet withthis Restriction, if they were higbly reftiffdox purify'd theile SiitsAnd I may Add nor Volatile Satis, not only of Veget abies, but even thoscyielded by Animati or Minerals, with the before-mentiond Limitation of «!>./>. 154.due Furification.

f'irfi then, I sey, That Satis perfectly Alcatixdd differ not from each s<:!

other in Sensible, nor, (so far as I have had Opportunity to enquire) inHidden, properties. It hath been a constant and general perswasion thatmany Fixt Satis do retain, some at least, the Spiciscal Properties of thosc Ve-get abies out ofwhosc Affies they were extracted. The Sati of Wormwood,and Mint are faid to be Stomachical; that of the greater Celandine properfor Aäerickt j thosc of Broom, Aflt-Keys. Elder, Bean Stalks, &c. Dicureti-cal j of Rofmary, Sage, &c. Cephalick; and others, (too many now toenumerate,) which are thought to be cndowed with very different Medici-nal Properties. Iam not very forward toQuestionand Quarrcl with Opi-nions and Maxims •stablifh’t by universal Conscnt, and confirm’d by theExptrience of many Ages, unleß I have sufficient Reason to distrust theirYeraciry and Validity. In the presentCase, the Perswasion of the Ancients,

U u 2 and