malleable, and eafily part with their phlogifton. Zinc and bismuth are free from the poisonous quality but arfenic is the most violent poifon; efpecially the fining crystalline calx of it, or flowers raised by the fire, and named white arfenic: and regulus of antimony is likewife a poifon; not in its nature, but because it always contains a portion of arfenic in its compofition.

The nature and compofition of Antimony.

Antimony is of a pretty white bright colour, and has the fplendor, opacity, and gravity of a metal, but under the hammer crumbles to duft. And moderate heat makes it flow, and a violent fire diffipates it into fmoke and white vapours. They adhere to cold bodies, and when the farina is collected, we call these vapors flowers of antimony.

What butter of antimony is.

Butter of antimony, good Sir, that wonderful corrofive, is a compound made by distilling pulverized regulus of antimony, and corrofive fublimate. The production, on operation, is a white matter, thick and scarce fluid, which is the regulus of antimony united with the acid of feafalt. Here the corrofive fublimate is decompounded, the mercury revivified, and

the

the acid combined with it, quits it to join the regulus of antimony, because its affinity with it is greater.

(Little Ribble, the Chemist, went on, and with difficulty I could refrain from laughing; not on account of the man's talking nonfenfe, for his difcourfe was the very reverfe of that; but by reafon of the gripe he had of my arm, the pulls he gave me, if I happened to look another way, and the furprizing eagerness with which he spoke; which fhewed, that he was chemically ftruck to an amazing degree.)

But liver of antimony, good Sir, is made of equal parts of nitre and antimony. On

Liver of Anti

mony.

the mixture's being expofed to the action of fire, a violent detonation enfues, and the deflagrating nitre confumes the fulphur of the antimony, and even a part of its phlogifton. A greyish matter remains after the detonation, and this is what we call liver of antimony. It contains a fixed nitre, a vitriolated tartar, and the reguline part of antimony vitrified.

The principal use the Chemifts make of antimony is to feparate gold from the other metals. All metals, gold

How antimony feparates gold from other me

tals.

excepted, have a greater affinity with fulphur than the reguline part of anti:nony. As to gold, it is incapable of contracting any union with fulphur. If therefore have a mafs compounded of various metals, and want to get the gold out, I melt it with antimony, and as foon as it flows, every thing in the mafs which is not gold, unites with the fulphur, in or of the antimony, and causes two feparations, that of the fulphur of antimony from its reguline part, and that of the gold from the metals with which it was mixed: This produces two new combinations The metals and the fulphur, in fufion, being lighter, rife to the furface; and the gold and the reguline part of antimony being heaviest, the combination of them finks to the bottom. Now the bufinefs is to part these two, and to this purpose, I expofe the combination to a degree of fire, capable of diffipating into vapors all the femi-metal the mass contains. The reguline being volatile, goes off by the great heat, and my gold remains pure and fixed in my crucible.

antimonial wine.

As to the antimonial wine, The excellence of made by the effence of antimony, that is, by impregnating the most generous white wine, with the minims or leafts of antimony, which

the

the physicians have found out, it is not the part of a chemift to fpeak of that; and therefore, I fhall only observe to you, that it is the best vomit, the best purge, and the beft thing for a fweat, in the world. I will tell you, good Sir, what I heard an eminent Doctor fay of it.-Affirmo fanctiffime, nihil inde melius, nihil tutius, nihil efficacius, deprehendi unquam, quam tritum illum, ac fimplicem vini automonialis infufum ex vino albo generofo, aromate aliquo ftomachico adjecto. Epotus largiter maximas movit vomitiones, in minuta tantùm quantitate, ad guttas puta viginta aut triginta, adhibitus fudores elicit benignos; paule tamen majoræ aleum folvit leniter. Medicamentum, paratu quidem facillimum, at viribus maximum.-And therefore, good Sir, when any thing ails you, let me recommend the antimonial wine to you. Thirty drops will sweat you effectually. About forty or fifty purge in a happy manner.

The nature of
Bifmuth.

But as to the fecond femimetal, bifmuth, it has almost the fame appearance as reguLus of antimony, but of a more dusky cast, inclining somewhat to red. It requires lefs heat than antimony to flow, and like it, and the other femi-metals, is volatile, by the action of a violent fire, and under the ham

mer

mer is duft. In fufion, it mixes well with all metals, and whitens them by union, but destroys their malleability. In flowing, it lofes its phlogifton with its metallic form. And it has a fingular property, which the other femi-metals have not, of attenuating lead fo as to make it amalgamatic with mercury, fo perfectly as to make it pass with it through fhamoy leather. As foon as the amalgama is made, the bifmuth goes off or feparates; but the lead for ever remains united with the mercury.

An extraordinary Sympathetic Ink.

It is of a folution of the ore of bifmuth, we make

that

curious and useful. very thing, called fympathetic Ink, which is a liquor of a beautiful colour, like that of the lilach or pipe-tree bloffom. The procefs in preparing this liquor is tedious and difficult by aqua fortis, aqua regis, and fire, and therefore the ink is rarely to be met with. It is not to be had unless fome gentleman who makes chemistry his employment, gives one a prefent of a bottle of it; as I do now to you, in hopes it may fome time or other, be of fingular fervice to you; for I have conceived a great regard for you, though I never faw you before, as you seem not only more teachable than

any