654 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1683. 



ExPT. V. Being a new Experiment with Ebullition and Incalescence. 



Among the various mixtures, wherein great heats and effervescences with 

 much ebullition were produced, none were so considerable as this, which was also 

 shown at the same meeting. On 1 oz. of spirit of nitre, if you pour 2 or 3 

 drachms, gradually, of the highest rectified spirit of wine, the heat and ebulli- 

 tion will be exceedingly great. And whereas in the former experiment you must 

 wait some time for the effervescence, here it is performed in an instant. So 

 that I had more reason to expect, from the mighty action of these liquors on 

 each other, a production of actual fire or flame, than from Borrichius's experi- 

 ment. Possibly some may be ready to imitate this experiment, which may fail 

 them, unless they observe some little directions. It must be the red spirit of 

 nitre, and a very high rectified spirit of wine. In the next place, you must 

 first pour into the glass the spirit of nitre, which is the heavier liquor, and 

 then the spirit of wine after; for if you invert the order, there will be no 

 ebullition. 



ExPT. VI. Of Cold produced without Ebullition, giving some Account of Hyste' 



rical Paroxysms, 



In about a pint of water we dissolved a quarter of a pound of sal ammoniac; 

 when the solution was found to be so very cold to the touch, that we needed 

 no weather glass (thermometer) to convince us of the effect.* 



ExPT. VII. Of Cold, produced by a very great Ebullition; wherein the cold and 

 hot Fits of an Ague are resembled by a mixture of Liquors. 



If we use in this experiment any acid, whether of vinegar, verjuice, wood- 

 sorrel, oranges, lemons, or perhaps yet milder ones; by casting into these 

 juices a volatile salt of human blood, I always observed a notable ebullition 

 would ensue, which I never could find would heat as such boiling liquors are 

 apt to do ; but on the contrary, affected a good weather glass (thermometer) so 

 as to make the liquor descend, which was a manifest token of cold. Here I 

 found that the higher the acid was, the greater the ebullition and the cold 



commixtion with a concentrated nitrous acid. This effect, however, may be greatly promoted, by 

 adding to the nitrous acid a small quantity of strong vitriolic acid. 



* In a manner by no means satisfactory to philosophers or physicians, the author endeavours to 

 account for the paroxysms of hysteria, upon the supposition that the salts of the blood being diluted 

 by a super-abundance of lymph, a cold effect is produced, as in the abovementioned solution of sal 

 ammoniac in water. 



