An Extract of a Letter, Written by David Von Der Becke, a German Philosopher and Physitian at Minden, to Doctor Langelott, Chief Physitian to His Highness the Duke of Holstein Now Regent, Concerning the Principles and Causes of the Volatilifation of Salt of Tartar and Other Fixed Salts: Printed at Hamburg, 1672

that of the two other Satellites, together with their periods, agrees better with 80 days. Therefore in the Ephemerid which we give of one Revolution, we follow this, until we get a more precise determination, which requires a greater number of Observations, that cannot be begun but towards the next summer Solstice, by reason of the Oblique Ascension of Saturn, and his Southern latitude, which will keep him long in the beams of the Sun. An Extract of a Letter, Written by David von der Becke, a German Philosopher and Physician at Minden, to Doctor Langelott, Chief Physician to his Highness the Duke of Holstein now Regent, concerning the Principles and Causes of the Volatilisation of Salt of Tartar and other Fixed Salts: Printed at Hamburg, 1672. This Learned Author, having exploded the Useless and Empty terms of Faculties, Qualities, &c. and recommended the Investigation of Nature by Experiments guided by Reason; commends, for the practice of this latter, that excellent Naturalist and Physician, Dr. Joel Langelott, in that Discourse of his, touching the great Use of Digestion, Fermentation, and Grinding in Chemistry; of which a Breviate was given in Numb. 87. of these Tracts. Out of which Discourse he chuseth, before all, to elucidate that part, which treats of the Volatilisation of Salt of Tartar, as a Subject, which he had likewise considered and inquired into. Having therefore (as he affirms, and as will appear by the sequel,) formerly taken pains in the like Fermentation of Tartar for the Volatilizing the Fixt Salt thereof, he endeavours here to declare his thoughts about the Causes of his undertaking that labour, and of the Manner how that Volatilisation is performed. In the doing of which he labours to shew, firstly, The Causes of the Fixation of the Salt of Tartar: Secondly, The Reasons of the Volatilisation: And lastly, what degree of Volatility the Salt of Tartar hath acquired in that Fermentation made with its own Ferment. As to the first, he begins with blaming those, that divide Salts into Fixt and Volatile, forasmuch as, in his opinion, that Division is unknown to Nature, there being not to be formally found in any Body before Calcination any Fixt Salt, such as the Alcalisate Salt of Tartar and other Fixt Salts are, produced by Calcination. He therefore informs us, That Salts that are Volatile before Incineration, are by the action of the Fire, as the Efficient, so colliquated among themselves and with the Earthy particles, as to be fixed thereby. For the clearing of which, he presupposeth with some others, that there are Two kinds of Salts, an Alcali and an Acid, as the genuin Instruments of Nature, by which the several Kinds and Seeds of things are put forth, and which every where are employed in the Germination of Plants, and the first Conceptions of Animals, and in all the beginnings of Fermentations. These two Salts he affirms to be both Volatile, and therefore easily resoluble by the supervening Salt of the Air: since it appears, that all Vegetables, especially Aromatics, if they be any considerable time exposed to the Air, loose their Salts; and that Wood in particular, by the action of the Air, consuming the Volatile Salt, doth in time quite moulder away. Whilst therefore these Salts are loosen'd and set at liberty by the fire, (for else they would not act,) they begin to operate on one another; the Volatile Acid, whilst it works upon the volatile Alcali, fixeth it, and they are colliquated together. Which operation of Nature being well observed, it will be manifest, that that received Axiome, Things Volatile are fixed by those that are Fixt, and things Fixt rendred volatile by those that are Volatile, is false. Now, that Volatile Salts are consumed by the Air, and colliquated by Fire, is so notorious, that Common people are wont to sink in water such Timber as they would preserve from putrefaction, thereby to keep it from Air, and to harden it to a great degree for strong supports of buildings. Hence also they slightly burn the ends of Timber to be set in the ground, that so by the Fusion made by Fire the Volatile Salts, which by the accession of the moisture of the Earth would easily be consumed to the corruption of the Timber, may catch and fix one another. For which reason also, namely the fusion of the same volatile Salts, Ship-wrights are wont to burn the lowermost ermost part of Ships; that lies under water. And to use a very common Instance, Soot; 'tis known, that whilst the Wood is burning, the smoak ascends, wherein the two Volatil Salts are contain'd, that coagulate one another into Soot, which two Salts may thence easily be separated and made visible; and these Volatil Salts, constituting the smoak and the soot, rise so long, until the wood be quite reduced to Ashes, in which the remaining Volatil Salts are colliquated to a Fixt Salt, easily to be wash't out by water. These two Volatil Salts therefore afford the matter, of which the Fixt Salt is made by means of the Fire: Whence 'tis evident, that we must, (as really we do,) obtain so much the more Fixt Salt, the more Volatil Salt there was before Incineration in the Mixt Body; as also, why out of herbs, freshly burnt to ashes, we get a greater quantity of Fixt Salt, than when they have been dried up; because the Air by its operation (which is somewhat advanced by the moisture in the plant itself, dissolving the Salts,) hath robbed them of the greatest part of their Volatil Salts. Upon which same account, wood decayed and moulder'd away contains almost no Fixt Salt, as it hath also lost almost all its weight. Having thus shew'd, that before Incineration there is found in Mixt bodies no Fixt Alcalifat Salt at all, and how the Volatil Salts by calcination are brought to fusion and so fixed; the Author, further to make out the Fixation of such Volatil Salts, takes notice of the Mixture of Earthy parts in such bodies; some of which, when those two Volatil Salts, thus open'd by the Fire, act on one another, are con-coagulated with them. Which he conceives to be the case, when the said two Salts being concreted in the Kidneys, they by their asperity wound their sanguineous Vessels (whence the Nephritique pain,) and so coagulate together with them the extravasated Blood, which makes the Stone of the Kidneys reddish; as the Stone of the Bladder is whitish from the mucous substance of the bladder, therefore given it by nature, lest the sharp Urine by working upon its membranes should cause pain, being coagulated together. And so he observes, that the Stones concreted in the Bladder of Gall, tast bitter by reason of the Gall that is coagulated. This Earth then, when by the Fire is intimately united with the Salts, and has been in a manner vitrified with them, keeps them so close together, that they can no more rise and fly away than birds fast'n'd to a rock; those Salts being rendered so fixt, that by a gentle fire they are not so much as at all moved; by a strong one, brought to fusion; and, united with a considerable quantity of Earthy particles, by an extreme degree of heat vitrified. So if you mix fixt Salt of Tartar with Cinnabar of Antimony, or with Quicksilver, all the Quicksilver, though a very ponderous body, will pass into the Retort, but the Salt of Tartar by reason of its Earth remain at the bottom of the Vessel. Whence he esteems it evident, that the Fixt Alcalies, especially that of Tartar, cannot, by reason of the colliquation of the Earthy parts, penetrate into bodies to be dissolved, nor consequently remove the inmost seeds of Diseases. Now, in the second place, though the Volatilizing such Fixt Salts, and particularly that of Tartar, have been hitherto found a very difficult work; yet doth our Author conceive it would be very easy, if we took but Nature for our Guide, and but separated from Salt of Tartar the Fixing Earth, that has been proved to be mixed with it. For the doing of which he refers to the prescript of Dr. Langelot, requiring that the Fixt Salt of Tartar be mixed with its genuin Ferment, viz. crude Tartar, or (if in the Fermentation you have a mind to see the grape-like bubbles) Creme of Tartar, and so expos'd to fermentation. In which commixture of Ferment he would have this especially observ'd, that it be mixed to the very degree of Saturation, and until the fermenting agitation and the motion of the saline particles do cease, as a sign, that there is not any particle of the fixt salt of Tartar left un-conjoined with the acid particles of the Crude Tartar or its Creme, nor any acid part of the crude Tartar not Saturated by the Fixt Salt. Which being observed, the Distillation will, the action of the Salin particles being thus stopp'd, the more securely be done. Meantime, that only the Acid particles of the crude Tartar are laid hold on by the Fixt Salt, and not the Alcalisat, he promises proof of hereafter. But since the main Question is about the New Volatilisation of the Fixed Salts, the Author is altogether persuaded, that in his Fermentation of Tartar 'tis not chiefly the very Fixed Alcali of Tartar that is again volatilised, but rather the added Ferment, which is the Crude Tartar. For in this crude Tartar, though there be no fix't Salt in it, (which he hath asserted generally of all Mixts,) yet the volatil Alcalisate particles of the Tartar are detained by the Volatil Acids of the same, commixed with it to the very degree of saturation; whence they are fixed, forasmuch as these two when conjoined do fix one another, when separated, become again Volatil. Which manner of Fixation he calls Natural, being shew'd us by Nature; as that, which is made by the Colliquation of the Earth by Fire, Artificial, because only perform'd by Art; upon the account of which, Volatil Salts are detained no otherwise, than Birds tyed to a rock are restrained from flying away. Now, though indeed the Fixed Alcali of Tartar is in this fermentation freed from that Earth, to which by the fusion of the fire it was intimately united; yet notwithstanding this, 'tis fixed again, saith he, by the Acid of the Tartareous Ferment. For the clearer proof of which, he makes use of the Urinous Spirit of Sal Armoniac, in which there are two Volatil Salts, an Urinous, and Acid. These two Salts, saith he, though they be Volatil when separate, yet when united they detain one another, emulating as 'twere the nature of Fixt ones, since they are neither dissolved in the Air, nor emit any odour, as true Volatils are wont to do. Now to obtain out of this Salt the Urinous volatil Spirit, there is requisite a Separation of these two Salts; for this bond being dissolved, the Urinous immediately riseth. To obtain which, water is powred upon the Sal Armoniac (because Salts act not but when dissolved,) and then there is added a Fixt Sal Alcali, which whilst 'tis Joined with the Acid portion of the Sal Armoniac, (for the more fixed Acid is sooner united with the fixed Alcali, than with the Volatil;) the volatil Urinous part quickly deserts its fellow Acid, and being conjoined with the water, yields a most volatil and piercing spirit, which, though the Sal Armoniac before the com- commixture of the Fixt Salt was quite inodorous, yet now after the addition thereof strikes the nose most violently, and that even when put from the fire; insomuch that if you do not, after the mixing of the Fixt Salt, very accurately close your vessel, you will afterwards find no Spirits at all. Wherefore as in this Example of Sal Armoniac, the Fixt salt added, freeth the Alcalisat portion of the Salts; so in this Fermentation of Tartar, the Tartar calcined to blackness, or the Fixt salt of Tartar, freeth the Alcalisat part of the crude Tartar from the Acid parts. For, saith he, in the crude Tartar or its purified Creme there are, as in Sal Armoniac, two Volatil Salts, an Alcali and Acid, from the colliquation of which (as hath been said) the Fixt salt results: since 'tis notorious, that in the fermentation of wine the Acid particles do coagulate the superabounding Alcalisat with the Terrestrial ones to the very degree of saturation, and so by their increased weight take place in the lower part of the vessels. If therefore to this Tartar, pregnant with Salts, crude, or depurated by a solution in water, you add a calcined Tartar, or, which is the same, Salt of Tartar itself, immediately this Fixed salt will lay hold on the Acid portion of the crude Tartar, and, as in the Sal Armoniac, so here, free the volatil Alcalisat; from which conflict and action of the salt on one another, grape-like bubbles will arise. And this injection of calcin'd Tartar must be continued, until all Fermentation do cease, that is, to the very degree of Saturation: which unless it be well observed, many inconveniences will obstruct the Operator. But this volatil Alcali, being by means of the calcined Tartar freed from its Acid, (like the Urinous of the Sal Armoniac,) will presently fly away. Wherefore if this volatil Spirit could forthwith be received, it would afford a real volatil Salt of Tartar, especially if by art it were freed from its phlegme (which makes it a fluid Spirit,) and, without the addition of any extraneous thing, coagulated into Salt. But this cannot be, saith he, seeing that before all the fermentation and motion of the saline particles shall have ceased, this mixture cannot be put into the Cucurbit, because it would break the vessel; nor can the Fixt salt be added to the dissolved crude crude Tartar all at once, but at several times, because else all the fermented part would quickly get out at the edges of the Cucurbit: Now then, since every time there is, by the addi- tion of the Fixt Salt, so much of the Volatil Acid freed out of the crude Tartar, as much as there is added of Fixt Salt, and that presently flies away, it certainly follows, That, if by in- jections several times repeated you come at last to the point of Saturation, there will remain no volatile Alcalifat salt at all of the crude Tartar. Since therefore there is no hopes of obtaining the Volatil Salt from crude Tartar this way, we must endeavour to get it by an addition of Tartar calcined, or Fixt Salt; and how this is to be done, hath been already intimated, viz. by the sep- aration of the Earthy parts. For as the volatile Alcalifat par- ticles, upon a very vehement colliquation of the fire, are, by an intimate union with the Earthy parts, kept from ascending; so also, when freed from these Terrestrial fetters, they are re- stored to their former freedom and volatility. And this Sep- aration of the Earth we obtain by this Fermentation of the Tartar; for, in the same moment that the Acid portion of the crude Tartar is conjoined with the Tartar's Fixt Salt, to set the Volatile Alcali of the crude Tartar at liberty; there is also made a precipitation of that insipid Earth, which by the ex- treme degree of Fire was united with the Salt of Tartar, and had fixed it before. But to expose this Fixing Earth to the view of all, I shall allege the Example of Vitriolat Tartar, known to the very Apprentices of Apothecaries. In this operation, whilst the Spirit of Vitriol is affused to the dissolv'd Salt of Tartar or its Oil made per deliquium, you may observe a very great Efferv- escence, during which and the action of the Acid of the Vi- triol upon the Alcali of the Tartar, there is precipitated an Earth (for the separation of all which, care is to be had of the degree of Saturation between the Spirit of Vitriol and the Salt of Tartar,) which afterwards may be sever'd by filtration. Now that this Earth is precipitated not out of the Spirit of Vitriol, but rather the Salt of Tartar, none, versed in these things, can be ignorant of. This precipitated Earth some call the Magi- A a a a a a Story of Vitriolat Tartar, and very impertinently prefer it often in their prescriptions to the true Vitriolat Tartar itself. This Earth indeed hath a Saline taste; but these Salts, as is usual in all Precipitations, did only adhere to the matter precipitated, and may by a repeated ablution be easily separated; which done, there remains nothing but an utterly insipid Earth, which can have no other virtue but that of exsiccation. Wherefore after the self same manner, whilst the Acid part of the crude Tartar is united with the Alcalisate of the Salt of Tartar, the Earth also of the Fixt Salt of Tartar in the said fermentation will be precipitated. The greatest difficulty being thus dispatch't, our Author proceeds in the third place to a lesser, yet remaining, which is; That the Acid part, by means of which the Earth was precipitated, detains the volatil Alcalisat part, and fixeth it anew; so that his Volatil Salt of Tartar hath hitherto acquired no greater degree of volatility, than crude Sal Armonia or the Flowers thereof are known to have. For these, though they are made up of volatil parts, yet they diffuse no odour before the separation of the volatil parts; they also endure the Air; which no volatil salts, truly such, will do: Wherefore they cannot yet be reckon'd among Volatils, strictly so call'd. Now then, to give to this Volatil Alcali of Tartar the last and highest degree of Volatilisation, the Author esteems it necessary, there should be made a New addition of Fixt Salt of Tartar, which in the same manner, as before it had freed the Alcalisat part of crude Tartar from its Acid, must here also take from the manifest Acid of crude Tartar the Alcalisat part of the Fixt Salt of Tartar, already freed from Earth; whereby this Alcalisat part of the Salt of Tartar, truly volatilised, being joined to the water (which was before added for the free action of the Salts,) will constitute a most Volatil Spirit, which he saith is coagulable, without addition, into volatil crystals, having the perfect taste of Tartar. So far this Author of the Volatilisation of Fix't Alcalies, and particularly of Tartar; concerning which 'tis wish't by some of our Philosophical Chymists here, that this Author would please to make good proof, 1. That all Salts are Volatil before Calcination, cination, and consequently, that in Mixt Bodies there is no Fixt Alcalisat salt at all, that is originally such, but that all Volatile Salts are fixed by Calcination, by means of which the Earthy parts in them commixed are concoagulated with them; and that upon this ground the Volatilisation of Fixed Salts may be easily perform'd by only separating from them that Fixing Earth, said to be commixed with them. 2. That in the Volatilisation of Salt of Tartar, perform'd by the Fermentation of Dr. Langelot, 'tis not chiefly the Fixed Alcali of Tartar, that is again volatilised, but rather the Crude Tartar added for a ferment. 3. That in Sal Armoniac there are only those two Salts, which he calls an Urinous and Acid, and both Volatile; whereas 'tis well known, that there is a Sea-salt in it, which contains many parts, that will for a long while endure a strong fire. Some Observations touching the Nature of Snow, presented to the R. Society by Dr. Nehemiah Grew. If those great Philosophers, Aristotle and Cartesius, and others, of their Followers, who have written of Meteors, and amongst them of Snow, have not yet given us a full account hereof; it will not be needless to enquire further of it. He that will do this, will do it best, not by the pursuit of his phantasy in a Chair, but with his Eyes abroad; where if we use them well fixed, and with good Caution, and this in a thin, calm and still Snow, we may by degrees observe; First, with Monsieur Des Cartes, and Mr. Hook, that many parts hereof are of a regular figure; for the most part, as it were, so many little Rowells or Stars of 6 points; being perfect and transparent Ice, as any we see upon a pool or vessel of water. Upon each of these 6 points, are set other collateral points, & those always at the same angles, as are the main points themselves. Next, amongst these irregular figures, though many of them are large and fair; yet, from these taking our first Item, many others, alike regular, but far less, may likewise be discover'd. Again, amongst these not only regular, but entire parts of Snow, looking still more warily, we shall perceive, that there are divers others, indeed irregular, yet chiefly but the broken points, parcels and fragments of the regular ones. Lastly,