WITiI THE MARINE ACID/ 337 



pablc of diflolving five ounces of corrofivc mer- 

 cury; and that, during the folution, the heat 

 was incrcafcd fix or fcvcn degrees. When the 

 folution becomes cold, a part of the fait is formed 

 into cryftals ; to prevent which the corrofive 

 mercury mould be added very gradually, and as 

 each particle diflolves ; arid thus all increafe of 

 heat will be avoided. Thefe falts once combin- 

 ed in this manner are infcparable by any art, 

 and conflitute a particular compufition known 

 by the name offal alcmbroth, highly extolled by 

 the alchemifts ; if we believe Kunkel, Dip- 

 pel, and others, on account of its wonderful 

 power to diilblvc gold and other metals. 



5 xr. Corrofive Mercurial Sublimate dijjolvcd 

 in Spirit of Wine. 



AMONG the ancient profcflbrs of the chemi- 

 cal art, by whom the mixture of corrofivc mer- 

 cury and fpirit of wine had been made, we reck- 

 on R. Lullius, Bafil Valentinus, Salomon Trif-*" 

 mofinus, and many others. Pott alfo obfcrved 

 that this fait was altogether * deliquescent in 

 that mennruum ; but a fuller illuilration of it 

 has been given by Macqucr. Half an ounce of 

 fpirit of wine, of the temperature of 20 degrees, 

 diilblvcd three-eights of its weight of corrofivc 

 mercury, or when of a boiling heat it took up 



Y 195 



* Di(T. cle fptrtu falii vinofo, in Obf. Chcm. Coll, I. 



