VENUS. 



Venus, in Chem'ijlry, is ufed for the metal Copper ; which 

 fee. Its charafter is 2 ; which, fay the adepts, expreifes 

 it to be gold, only joined with fome corrofive and arfenical 

 menftruum ; which, removed, copper would be gold. 



Venus is univerfally allowed, by the chemifts, &c. to be one 

 of the moil powerful medicines in nature : of this, is faid to 

 have been compofed the famous Butler's ftone, which cured 

 moft difeafes by only licking it. Of this is compofed that 

 noble remedy of Van Helmont, to'z. the fulphur of vitriol, 

 or ens vitrioli, fixed by calcination and cohobation. Of the 

 ens vitrioli of Venus is likewife compofed Mr. Boyle's ar- 

 canum, the colcothar vitrioli. 



It is certain copper is a powerful emetic, and an antidote 

 againft poifons ; for it is no fooner taken, than it exerts its 

 force : whereas other vomitories he a good while in the 

 ftomach : but one fingle grain of ruft of Venus immediately 

 vomits. Hence fyrups, that have ftood over night in copper 

 veffels, create a vomiting. 



However, pure copper, in its metallic ftate, or calcined 

 by fire, appears to be indifToluble, and of no confiderable 

 eJFeft, in the bodies of animals : but difTolved in the nitrous 

 or marine acids, and cryftallized or exficcated by heat, it 

 proves a ftrong cauftic. Preparations of this kind, though 

 formerly ufed, are now laid afide. Copper, combined with 

 the vitriolic acid, or with vegetable acids, or corroded by 

 the air, afts outwardly, as an efficacious detergent and a 

 gentle efcharotic, and internally as a virulent emetic and 

 cathartic. Some have ventured on fmall dofes, as quick 

 emetics for expelling poifons ; but the end may be obtained 

 by lefs dangerous means. 



It has been alfo reckoned an excellent medicine in chro- 

 nical cafes : hence a famous phyfician is recorded to have 

 cured Charles V. of a dropfy by the ufe of copper. 



A faturated folution of the metal in volatile fpirits is re- 

 commended by Boerhaave in diforders proceeding from an 

 acid, weak, cold, phlegmatic caufe. He fays, that if three 

 drops be taken in the morning in a glafs of mead, and the 

 dofe doubled every, day, to twenty-four drops, it proves 

 attenuating, warming, and diuretic ; that by this medicine 

 he once cured a confirmed afcites ; though in other fimilar 

 cafes it failed ; that it is the only preparation of copper which 

 does not prove emetic ; and that it may be tried with fafety. 

 Dr. Lewis, however, is of opinion, that in confiderable dofes 

 it would exert the fame virulent operation with the other 

 foluble preparations or folutions of copper. A folid pre- 

 paration of this kind, made by rubbing together in a glafs 

 mortar two parts of blue vitriol, and three of the volatile 

 fait, procured from fal ammoniac, till all effervefcence has 

 ceafed, and then gently drying the concrete, is ordered in 

 the laft Edinburgh Pharmacopeia, under the name of cuprum 

 ammoniacum. It has frequently been given with fuccefs in 

 epileptic and convulfive diforders. Lewis. See Sulphate 

 of Copper, See aKo Sapphirina Aqua, and Aqua Cupr'i 

 AmmontaU. 



Venus is diflbluble by all the falts known, both acid, 

 alkaline, and nitrous ; nay, even by water and air, confidered 

 as they contain fait. 



It is from this common reception of all menftruums, that 

 copper is called Venus, q. d. meretrix puU'tca, a common 

 proftitute : though others take the denomination to have 

 been occafioned by its turning of a fea-green colour, 

 when difTolved by acid. It muft be given internally, with 

 great caution. 



Venus, Cryjlah of. See Crystal, Verdegrease, and 

 Copper. 



Venus, Spirit of. See Acetic Acid. 

 Vol. XXXVI. 



Venus, in Mythology, the goddefs of love, thus invoked 

 by Lucretius : 



" Quae quoniam rerum naturam fola gubemas, 

 Nee fine te quicquam dias in luminis oras 

 Exoritur, neque fit Ixtum, nee amabile quicquam." 



She is reprefented by the poets, painters, and ftatuaries 

 of antiquity, in a variety of alluring forms : with her hair 

 fometimes waving over her naked fhoulders, and fometimes 

 negligently tied behind in golden treffes ; with a mantle, 

 exhibiting all the colours of the rainbow, and glittering with 

 diamonds, fometimes flowing loofely, and at other times 

 bound with a girdle or belt, called ceflus, of which it is faid 

 that, " in eo deliramenta omnia inclufa erant ; ibi inerat amor, 

 inerat defiderium, inerat et amantium colloquium, itinerat et 

 blanda loquentia qus furtim mentcm prudentium fubripit :" 

 accompanied by two Cupids, the three Graces, and followed 

 by the beautiful Adonis, who held up her train ; and riding 

 in a chariot of ivory, finely carved, and beautifully painted and 

 gilt, and drawn by fwans, doves, or fwallows. She is fome- 

 times exhibited like a young virgin rifing from the fea, and 

 riding in a fhell ; at other times with a fhell in her h^nd, 

 and her head crowned with rofes ; fometimes with a mirror 

 in her hand, and golden fandles and buckles on her feet ; 

 fometimes with poppy in one hand, and an apple in the 

 other ; and at Ehs fhe was reprefented as treading on a tor- 

 toife ; the tortoife being an emblem of referve and modefty. 

 According to Cicero (DeNat. Deorum,lib.iii.) there were 

 four principal deities under the denomination of Venus ; one, 

 the daughter of Coelum and Dies, called Venus Urania, who 

 had a temple at Cythera, and alfo at Elis, with a ftatue of 

 gold and ivory, executed by Phidias : the fecond, produced 

 from the froth of the fea, called by the Greeks Aphrodite 

 and Anadtiomene, whofe cradle was a fhell, in which ftie 

 was driven by Zephyrus upon the ifland Cyprus, and re- 

 ceived by the Hours, or Horn, who educated her, and pre- 

 fented her to the gods, and who was at length, as fome fay, 

 married to Vulcan: the third, born of Jupiter and Dione, and, 

 as Cicero fays, married to Vulcan : and the fourth, born of 

 Syria and Tyrus, called Aftarte, and faid to have been married 

 to Adonis. Plato, in his " Banquet," allows only two ; one, 

 the daughter of Coelus, and the other, of Jupiter. Pau- 

 fanias diftinguifhes three ; one celeftial, which prefided over 

 chafte loves ; one terreftrial, or popular, who was the god- 

 defs of marriages ; and a third, named Apoftrophia, or the 

 averting Venus, who baniflied infamous pafRons. Among 

 the moderns, fir Ifaac Newton, in his " Chronology," feems 

 to own no other Venus befides Calycopis, the mother of 

 Eneas, and daughter of Otreus, king of Phrygia, whom 

 Thoas (or Vulcan 1, furnamed Cinyras, married, and erefted 

 temples to her at Paphos, at Amathus, in the ifland of 

 Cyprus, and at Byblos in Syria ; inftituting priefts to her 

 honour, a facred worlhip, and the fcandalous feafts called 

 the " Orgies ;" for which reafon fhe acquired the name of 

 the Cyprian and Syrian goddefs. This celebrated author 

 relies on the authority of Tacitus (Hift. 1. ii. c. 3.) who 

 thus fpeaks of her : " We are told that Cinyras confecrated 

 an ancient temple to Venus of Paphos, the landing-place of 

 this goddefs, who fprung from the foam of the fea." His 

 opinion may be eafily reconciled to Laftantius's account, 

 extrafted from Euhamerus's facred hillory, w'z. that this 

 was a woman of Cyprus, who by her behaviour encouraged 

 gallantry, and gave rife to the fable of Venus. 



Banier traces the origin of the fable of Venus to 



Phoenicia. He is of opinion that there never was another 



Venus worthipped among the Orientals but the Venns 



5 C Celeftis, 



