The Triumphal Chariot of Antimony, xxxi. 



gives the method of obtaining brandy 

 by the distillation of wine and. beer, 

 rectifying the product of the distillation 

 on calcined tartar (carbonate of potass). 

 He even teaches the extraction of copper 

 from its pyrites (sulphur), by first of all 

 transforming it into vitriol of copper 

 (sulphate of copper), with the help of 

 moist air, and afterwards plunging a bar 

 of iron into the aqueous dissolution of 

 this product. This operation, which Basil 

 Valentine was the first to describe, was 

 often profitably made use of by Alchem- 

 ists at a later date, but, notwithstanding 

 the fact of the precipitation of metallic 

 copper, they mistook it for a transmuta- 

 tion of iron into copper, or at least as 

 the commencement of a transmutation 

 which could be perfected by art. . 

 One may regard this Alchemist as 

 having been the first to obtain sul- 

 phuric ether, which he prepared by 

 distilling a mixture of spirit of wine 

 and oil of vitriol. In a word, there 

 are few chemical preparations known 

 to his period concerning which Basil 



