22 Mayow 



burning the nitre. For tartar mixed with nitre effects 

 its calcination in the best way, as has been shown 

 above. And hence it is that antimony kept in the 

 flame of nitre, kindled by the sulphur of tartar and 

 long burning, is fixed by the nitro-aerial particles of 

 the nitre and becomes diaphoretic. Nor is it probable 

 that salt of tartar contributes anything to the fixation 

 of antimony. For a fixed salt such as that of tartar 

 is quite unsuitable for exalting the emetic property 

 of antimony. Otherwise salt of tartar, but not tartar 

 itself, would have to be used for the calcination of 

 antimony. We remark, lastly, with respect to the 

 fixation of antimony, that it appears advisable to 

 begin its calcination in the first instance with nitre 

 alone, so that the nitre may kindle and remove the 

 impure sulphur of the antimony, and then to mix 

 tartar with the nitre, that the remainder of the 

 nitre, now that the sulphur of the antimony has 

 been removed, may be burned by the sulphur of the 

 tartar, and the fixation of the antimony completed. 



By this hypothesis of ours, it is not difficult to 

 explain why fires that burn with a bright flame 

 purify the air from pestilential miasma, and are 

 consequently so beneficial in contagious diseases. 

 For no doubt the nitro-aerial particles which are 

 inhaled by animals in respiration (as will be shown 

 below) approach from all sides for the production 

 of the flame, and are hurried along in it with a 

 motion of the greatest velocity. And the result is 

 that these particles are purged by the motion and 

 the fire from their poisonous taint. But the subject 

 of fire will be treated more fully in Chapter VII. 



