Quicksilver is changed by simple Distillation.
The Operation.
18 Ounces of Quicksilver, Weight of Amsterdam, I forced by a Sand-Heat, out of a pure Glass Retort, into the Receiver that was filled with the purest Water, 4 Inches high from the Bottom: This I continued to do till there was no more running Mercury left in the Belly of the Vessel. I dried and cleaned the Mercury with clean dry blotting Paper, till it was perfectly dry, cleaned from any Dirt that might have fallen in, and from the Black which in distilling is raised every time with the Mercury as it distills: Then I poured this Mercury into another Retort, and forced it again as before. This I repeated in the same manner 52 times. In each Distillation there was produced in the Retort a red shining Powder.
The Effect.
There was then four Drams and a half after 52 Distillations of a sharp, red, shining Powder, purging upwards and downwards: There remained 16 Ounces and 5 Drachms of Quicksilver; so 6½ Drachms were lost. This could not be help’d. Some part expires thro’ the Glew; something black, with a little Quicksilver, sticks to the Blotting-Paper every time the Mercury is dried. This is but very little at one time; but when the Work comes to be often repeated, it comes by Degrees to be a considerable part. The Powder produced was heavy, of a red shining Colour, very brittle, of a very sharp, metallic Taste, nauseous, penetrating, hardly to be taken out of the Mouth, disordering the Human Body very much, and for a long time, and disposing to Excretions. The Mercury which had been thus treated, appeared more fluid than common Mercury.
Corollaries.
1. Quicksilver thus forced by Fire, is turned from a Fluid into Powder, in about the ¹/28 part of its whole Weight.
2. From a Silver Brightness, like Looking-Glass, into a shining red Colour.
3. From very insipid Taste, into one very sharp, rough, metallic, and penetrating.
4. From very mild, into sharp, virulent, venomous, disordering the Body, and exciting Pains.
5. From volatile into more fixed; which is no longer volatile by the same Degree of Fire as it flew up with before.
6. As to its other part, it changes into more fluid, in other respects like what it was before.
7. When the Vessel is stopt close, a mechanic Motion, and a small Fire, give Quicksilver a black Colour; a greater Fire gives it a red Colour.
