Remarks concerning Factitious Salts; Drawn from a Discourse Written by Sen Francisco Redi

V. Remarks concerning fictitious Salts; drawn from a Discourse written by Sen. Francisco Redi. The Happy Genius of the Cardinal de Medici favouring and promoting Mathematical and Philosophical Studies, as well as others, makes him among his most weighty Affairs, not pass by such things as may serve the Virtuoso's as well for Private as Publick Advantage, hence it is that Seignior Francis Redi has been induced to collect divers Writings and Observations made some Years past in Florence, about Vegetable Salts; which being not ready to be published, you will here receive an Extract of them, for the Satisfaction of the Curious, and the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, being hereby conducted into the Manner of extracting the Salts, their Quantity and Different Figures, as likewise their Virtue and Purging Quality. Preparation and Circumstances. 1. Burn any sort of Herb, Flower, Fruit, Wood, or whatever it be, and make Ashes thereof, with the Ashes and with pure Water in its natural Temper make the Lye, which after straine through moist Paper or a Filter, so that it becomes as clear as possible. Afterward put the Lye into a Glass Vessel, and let it remain in Balneo Mariae until such time as a great part of it evaporates, according to the Proportion observed by those that are used to such Operations, and according as the Congelation of the Salt is desired to be more or less expedited or retarded. 2. If you keep the Lye to evaporate by the Fire in Vessels of Earth Glazed, you will lose a great Quantity of the Salts, for that as the Lye grows thicker, the Salt penetrates the Bottom and Sides of the Vessel of Earth, and is lost. 3. The Quantity of Water to make the Lye of is not determined; for the most part 5th of Water will extract all the Salt from 2th of Ashes. 4. The Ashes whereof we have already made the Lye, and by Consequence drawn out the Salt, may, if you burn the same again in a Brick Furnace, make you afterwards another new Lye, which usually yields some small Portion of Salt. 5. The Salts drawn in the manner aforesaid, when the Air is Moist use to melt, to obviate this Inconvenience, when you burn the Materials to reduce them to Ashes, 'tis requisite to use with them a due Quantity of Sulphur, and if it happen the Ashes should be made to your Hand, you may mingle them with Sulphur, and keep the same to the Fire till such time as it be burnt. By this Means the Salt will never come to run, but become more White and Christalline. 6. There is no General Rule concerning the Quantity of Sulphur to be put into the Materials you thus Burn; you may nevertheless at a guess say, to a Hundred Pounds of Materials 4 or 5 3 of Sulphur are usually sufficient. 7. All the Salts have a peculiar and determined Figure, the which they always keep, altho' they are often resolved into Water, and afterward congealed. 8. If in One only Liquid you dissolve together Two or Three sorts of Salt of different Figure, when they congeal, they all assume their ancient and Proper Figure, and this not only happens in Facitious, but also in Mineral Salts. If in a Vessel full of Water you dissolve equal or unequal Quantities of Vitriol of Cyprus, Roch Allum, and aud of purified Nitre; this Water will be all of an Azure Colour: But when the Water is evaporated, you will see in the Vessel, that the Vitriol, the Allum and the Nitre have re-assum'd distinctly their first natural Figures, and that the Vitriol hath recovered its most compleat Azure Colour, leaving the Nitre and the Allum with their usual transparent Whiteness. 9. Altho' it be said before, Number 7. That all the Salts have a proper and particular Figure, yet notwithstanding all this, Seignior Redi hath observed, That some manner of Salts have Two, Three and Four sorts of Figure. Two sorts have been seen in the Lettuce, in the Scorzoneras, in the Musk Melon, the Scopa, in the Roots of Esula, in the Black Hellebore, in Endive, in Eye-bright, in Wormwood, in Sorrel, and in Shoots of Vines; Three sorts in Black Pepper, and in Incarnate Rose; Four sorts in the Roots of White Hellebore. 10. Besides the before-mentioned diversity of Figures which are found in Salts, I have observed, that among all Salts of whatsoever Figure, there are found some Cubical; which, though they be never so often dissolved and congealed, appear still of a Cubical Figure, or inclining to it. 11. He knows not that it is a General Rule, that the different Parts of Herbs, Fruits, &c. make Diversity in the Figures of their Salts; but he says particularly, That the Salt of the Leaves of Lawrel differ from that of the Wood, and that the Figure of the Salt of the Pulp of a Gourd differs from that of the Rind. 12. Many Salts of different Matter have the same Figure, or at least very like: The Salt of Cucumber hath a Figure like the Salt of Eye-bright, Mechoacam, Scopa, and Lettuce; also the Salt of Orange Flowers, Roses, Ginger, Endive, Colloquintida, Scorzonera Root, White Hellebore Roots and Liquorish are like one another, Cole- wort and Rosemary-Flowers give a Salt of one and the same Figure, as likewise do among themselves Vine-Branches, Sorrel, Black Pepper, the Rind of Pomgranates, and the Roots of Black Hellebore. 13. To make the Bodies of the Salts when they congeal, rest distinct one from another (so as their Figures may be observed) and not be intangled and heaped together, 'tis necessary, he says, that very great Diligence be used in evaporating the Lye, for if that be wholly evaporated, or if too great a part thereof, the Salts make a confused Crust at the Bottom of the Vessel, if the Lyes are left too Weak, the Salts require a very long time to congeal in, 'tis Requisite therefore to use such a Diligence, which is not to be gained without long Practice. The Instruments for measuring the Weights of Liquids, may give a Rule, which if it be not General, will at least come very near it; the Lyes being reduced to a convenient Thickness, are put into little small Glasses closed with a Stopple, and kept in a dry shady Place, and you must expect by the Benefit of Time, that the Salts will congeal themselves into Christalline Stones, either in the Bottom or on the Sides of the Vessel. 14. Not all Herbs, nor Flowers, nor Fruits, nor Woods when they are burnt, render equally the same Quantity of Salt, but according to the Diversity of their Species, the Quantity of Salt which is drawn from their Ashes, is found different. The Seasons wherein the Plants are gathered make a great Diversity, as also does the Country, whether Montaneous or Champaine, or Sea-Coast or Marshy or Moist. 15. All Matters burnt give not the same Quantity of Ashes, but there is great Diversity which you may see by the following Proofs, the great Part in the Year 1660, in the Time of the Most Serene Great Duke Ferdinand II. of Glorious Memory. Pounds. | Pounds | Vegetables | Ashes | Salts | |--------|------------|-------|-------| | 100 | Of dried Flowers of Oranges | 4 06 00 | 00 00 05 | | 800 | Of Gourds new gathered which dried in the Oven were 36 lb | 4 00 00 | 00 10 00 | | 400 | Red Onions (being 720) roasted, the Coals turn'd to 16 lb to the Coals new added 43 of Sulphur. | 1 06 00 | 00 02 02 | | 150 | Eyebright fresh, and afterwards filled and burnt | 5 00 00 | 00 04 00 | | 120 | Distill'd Roses | 4 00 01 | | | 100 | Of Maidenhair | 9 00 00 | 00 00 04 | | 150 | Roots of Black Hellebore, which dried came to 50 lb | 6 00 00 | 00 01 00 | | 150 | Roots of White Hellebore fresh, which dried came to 50 lb | 2 00 00 | 00 04 00 | | 96 | Roots dried and burnt of fresh Esula | 3 00 00 | 00 02 00 | | 30 | Roots of Liquorish | 2 00 00 | 00 01 04 | | 20 | Pellitory | 1 00 00 | 00 00 06 | | 100 | Green Endive | 2 00 05 | 00 02 00 | | 90 | Green Bindweed | 1 00 00 | 00 02 00 | | 2000 | Leaves of Lawrel | 33 00 04 | 00 00 00 | | 500 | Leaves of Lawrel | 6 00 00 | 00 10 00 | | 1000 | Water Melons well ripe, the Seeds being taken | 25 00 01 | 00 09 00 | | 2400 | Cucumbers | 18 00 00 | 00 00 00 | | 300 | Wood of Ivy | 9 00 00 | 00 00 00 | | 50 | Scorzonera dried | 8 00 00 | 00 00 00 | | 300 | Pine Apples, the Nuts taken out | 3 00 00 | 00 00 00 | | 150 | Mugwort dried | 8 00 00 | 00 00 00 | | 130 | Leaves of Cyprus | 6 00 00 | 00 00 00 | | 10 | Peels of Pomgranates dried | 08 00 | 00 00 00 | | 2 | Sassafras | 00 00 | 00 00 00 | | 12 | Lignum Sanctum | 2 06 00 | 00 00 00 | | 4 | Yellow Sanders | 01 04 | 00 00 00 | | 4 | Black Pepper | 02 04 | 00 00 00 | | 30 | Ginger | 1 07 00 | 00 00 00 | | 12 | Turpith | 1 00 00 | 00 00 00 | | | Wood of Fire | 3 00 00 | 00 03 00 | | Scopæ | 16 00 01 | 00 04 00 | | Scopæ | 16 00 01 | 00 06 00 | Heads Heads of Old Garlick 32 lb were dried in a Furnace and burnt, from the Ashes there was hardly any Salt to be gathered. Thirty Pounds of Wheat-Flower burnt in a Furnace with a little Sulphur, and burnt anew in a Potter's Oven, give 8 3 of very black Ashes, the which being Baked again for Eight Days continually in a Brick Furnace, after the Lye was made, there could not be a Grain of Salt drawn. The like happened in 10 3 of Ashes drawn from a Stare and a half of Bran, burnt first in the Furnace with Sulphur, and afterwards baked in a Potter's Oven, and in one of Bricks. 16. All the Salts whatever drawn from the Ashes of Vegetables, taken by the Mouth, says he, have a Purging Faculty, and a great Measure more than what by some is believed in common Salt, which taken by the Mouth has little or none at all, or if it have any betwixt that of common Salt and Vegetables, the Proportion is but as Two to Eight. 17. This Solute Faculty is of equal Energy in all the Salts in such Manner that the Salt of Sumack, Peeles of Pomgranates, Mirtle Berries, or Mastick Purges as much as the Salt of Rubarb, Sena Turbith, Mechoacan, and all other like purgative Drugs. 18. The Dose to be used is the same in all the Salts, to wit, from Two Drachms and an half to half an Ounce, dissolved in Six Ounces of common Water; and Broth he has observed by infinite Experiments, that half an Ounce uses to Purge Three Pounds and a half, or Four, or thereabouts, of Matter more or less, according to the Complexions, and according to the Fulness of the Bodies. 19. In Purging he has found no difference betwixt these Salts that have Sharp Points, and those that are obtuse and blunt or cubical; he has made Proof very often in divers Persons, causing the like cubical Stones of Cucumbers bers, Ginger, Colewort, and of Liquorish to be picked out, and he has seen that they have worked with the same Energy as the most acute Hexagone Stones of the Salt of Pepper, of Carnation Roses, of Mechoacan, of Coleworts, of Cucumbers, &c. 20. From the aforesaid Observations, tho' you cannot establish a certain Rule, you may nevertheless conjecture, not without some Reason, First, That the Salt drawn from the Ashes of Herbs, Flowers, and of Fruits, &c. do not conserve the Virtue, and that Faculty which Physicians believe the Herbs, Flowers, Fruits, &c. are endowed with. Secondly, You may very near be certain of the Proportion of Ashes rising from each Species of Vegetables, and of the Quantity of Salt which is afterward to be drawn from them; and it will not be ungrateful to the Reader that I put here the Differences by me computed (of the Ashes, after the rate of 100 Pounds of Vegetables, and of the Salts after the Rate of One Pound of Ashes) and depoſed according to the Order of the Excesses. A Table of the Ashes which 100 lb give. | Item | lb | 3 | 3 | 9 | gr. | |-----------------------------|----|---|---|---|-----| | Red Onions | 00 | 04| 04| 00| 00 | | Gourds | 00 | 06| 00| 00| 00 | | Cucumbers | 00 | 09| 00| 00| 00 | | Pine Nut-Shells | 01 | 00| 00| 00| 00 | | Yellow Sanders | 01 | 00| 04| 00| 00 | | Bindweeds | 01 | 01| 02| 02| 00 | | Laurel Leaves | 01 | 02| 00| 00| 00 | | Roots of White Hellebore | 01 | 04| 00| 00| 00 | | Other Leaves of Laurel | 01 | 07| 04| 02| 10 | | Endive | 02 | 00| 00| 00| 00 | | Wheat Flower | 02 | 02| 05| 01| 00 | | Water Melons | 02 | 06| 00| 00| 00 | | Ivy | | | | | | | Item | lb | 3 | 3 | 9 gr. | |-----------------------------|----|---|---|-------| | Ivy | 03 | 00| 00| 00 00| | Roots of Esula | 03 | 01| 04| 00 00| | Sassafras | 03 | 01| 04| 00 00| | Eyebright | 03 | 04| 00| 00 00| | Distill'd Roses | 03 | 04| 00| 00 00| | Roots of Black Hellebore | 04 | 00| 00| 00 00| | Orange Flowers | 04 | 06| 00| 00 00| | Leaves of Cyprus | 04 | 07| 03| 05 00| | Pellitory | 05 | 00| 00| 00 00| | Black Pepper | 05 | 02| 04| 00 00| | Ginger | 05 | 03| 02| 02 00| | Mugwort | 05 | 04| 00| 00 00| | Pomgranate Bark | 06 | 08| 00| 00 00| | Roots of Liquorish | 06 | 08| 00| 00 00| | Turbith | 08 | 04| 00| 00 00| | Maiden-Hair distill'd | 09 | 00| 00| 00 00| | Scorzonera | 16 | 00| 00| 00 00| | Lignum Sanctum | 20 | 10| 00| 00 00| **A Table of the Salts which are extracted from One Pound of Ashes.** | Item | lb | 3 | 3 | 9 gr. | |-----------------------------|----|---|---|-------| | Maiden-Hair | 00 | 00| 00| 01 08| | Roots of Black Hellebore | 00 | 00| 00| 04 00| | Orange Flowers | 00 | 00| 01| 00 08| | Lawrel Leas | 00 | 00| 03| 01 22| | Root of Esula | 00 | 00| 06| 00 00| | Roots of Liquorish | 00 | 00| 06| 00 00| | Pellitory | 00 | 00| 06| 00 00| | Water Melons | 00 | 00| 06| 01 11| | Red Onions | 00 | 00| 07| 01 00| | Endive | 00 | 01| 00| 00 00| | Furr | 00 | 01| 00| 00 00| | Roots of White Hellebore | 00 | 01| 00| 00 00| Scopæ In this Table you see some Variation in the same Species of Vegetables, the which do not give always the same Quantity of Ashes and Salt, and that which is considerable, some Vegetables, insipid and cold, as Endive, Pompion, and Roses, have given much more Salt than others of a stronger Savour, apertive, and incisive, as the Onions, Hellebore, Lawrel, Maiden-Hair, and the Garlick which is so strong, gives none at all: But it may perchance be said, that in these there is a greater Quantity of Volatile Salt. VI. A Letter from Dr. Rob. Conny, to the late Dr. Rob. Plot, F. R. S. concerning a Shower of Fishes. Since my last to you I have received an Account of the prodigious Rain you long ago desired of me, and this Opportunity offering of conveying it safely to you I wou’d no longer delay it, and had I received the Account as you promised me of that of the Herrings, I might possibly have said somewhat more, but I shall now