V I N 



V 1 N 



liable to fpontaneous decompofition, it is fitter for pharma- 

 ceutical purpofep. Thomfon's Difp. 



Vinegar, Concentrated. See Concentration. 



ViN'EGAR of Lead, is a liquor formed by digefting cerufTe 

 or litharge, with a fufficient quantity to difTolve it perfeftly. 

 This is called the acetum Uthargyrites, and is prepared by di- 

 gefting four ounces of litharge about three days in a fand 

 heat, with a pint of ftrong vinegar, now and then (baking 

 the vefTel. The liquor, filtered, will receive a ftrong im- 

 pregnation from the litharge, and will be found to have dif- 

 folved about one-tenth of it. When a faturated folution is 

 required, the ceruffe is preferred to the litharge. This vine- 

 gar is of the fame nature with folutions of faccharum fa- 

 turni, and when diluted with a large quantity of water, it 

 abates external inflammations, the itching and other unea- 

 fineffes in cancerous ulcers ; and before Mr. Goulard's prac- 

 tice, it was nfed for bathing inflammations in fcirrhous tu- 

 mours, to prevent their becoming cancerous. Inflamma- 

 tions and inflammatory tumours, in general, are difperfed 

 by it. Dr. William Saunders has obferved, that the acetum 

 lithargyrites, or Goulard's extraft, is not the fame in its 

 operation and powers as the faccharum faturni, as medical 

 praftitioners have generally fuppofed. In the preparation 

 of the former, the acid is fully faturated with lead ; but in 

 that of the latter, the acid is in a much greater proportion 

 to the lead. The former, when diluted by the pureft dif- 

 tilled water, gives out a copious precipitation, which he 

 finds, by experiment, to be cerufle. The latter remains 

 diffolved in diftilkd water, and is, therefore, applied topi- 

 cally in a ftatc more immediately aftive, both on account of 

 its greater proportion of acid, and its preferving its folubility 

 under high degrees of dilution. He has alfo found by ex- 

 periment, that, by adding a very fmaU proportion of dif- 

 tilled vinegar to the aqua faturnina of Goulard, the white 

 precipitate is rediflblved, and that the folution procured in 

 this manner is more aftive, but lefs adapted to remove in- 

 flammation, and abate irntation, as a fedative, than the aqua 

 faturnina itfelf. Dr. Saunders, however, is perfeftly con- 

 vinced that no degree of dilution of faccharum faturni will 

 anfwer the many valuable purpofes obtained from the ufe of 

 the acetum lithargyrites. Water alone, in the cafe of the 

 aqua faturnina, proves a precipitant of lead, by attracting 

 the acid, and reducing the preparation to a itate of cerufle, 

 an intermediate Itate between lead and the faccharum faturni ; 

 fo that cerufle diffufed in water more nearly refembles the 

 aqua faturnina of Goulard, than a folution of the faccharum 

 faturni does. The faccharum faturni may be confidered as 

 an union of ceruffe with vinegar ; whereas Goulard's ace- 

 tum lithargyrites is an union of lead with vinegar. See Per- 

 cival's Phil. Med. and Exp. EfT. 1776. Append, p. 323, 

 &c. See alfo Lead. 



Vinegar of Meadow Saffron, Acetum Cokhic'i, is ordered 

 by the London College to be prepared by taking of the mea- 

 dow faffron root (bulb) fliced, I oz.; of acetic acid, a pint; 

 and of proof-fpirit, a fluid-ounce; macerating the root with 

 the vinegar in a covered glafs veffel for twenty-four hours, 

 then exprefling, and fetting the liquor afide, that the fecu- 

 lencies may fubfide, and adding the fpirit to the clear liquor. 

 This is given as a diuretic in afcites and hydrothorax, but is 

 lefs to be depended on than the fquill. The dofe is from 

 f 5fs to f 5j, united with honey, or any bland fluid. See 

 CoLCHlcuM and Meadow Saffron. 



Vinegar, Portable, a name given by the chemifts to a 

 fort of vinegar-powder, or vinegar in a dry form. It is a 

 preparation of tartar with vinegar, and is made in this man- 

 ner : Take white tartar, half a pound ; let it be carefully 

 waflied, then dried and powdered ; infufe this powder in tlie 



Vinegar of Rofes. 

 Vinegar o/" Squill. 

 Vinegar, Eels in. 

 covery of eels in vineg 



ftrongeft wine-vinegar ; then dry it, and infufe it again, re- 

 peating this operation ten times : after this the dry powder is 

 to be kept for ufe. At any time, a fort of extemporaneous 

 vinegar may be made by diflblving a fmall quantity of this 

 powder in any proper liquor. 



Vinegar, Prophykaic. See Acetum Prophylaaicum. 



Vinegar, Radical, is a name given to the acid of vinegar, 

 highly concentrated, by diftilhng verdigris, or cryftals of 

 verdigris. Sec. See Acetic Acid. 



M. de Laflbne has lately found, that in the procefs of 

 diftilling verdigris for this purpofe, a fluid efcapes of the 

 nature of thofe called by the ancient chemifts gas, and by 

 the moAerns fixed air ; and he alfo obferved, that if the dif- 

 tillation be fufpended the moment before the acid concen- 

 trated vapours appear under a white form, copperifti flower.s 

 are obtained : before this period, the radical vinegar con- 

 tains no copper ; it only begins to contain fome, when the 

 copperifh flowers, carried along by the acid vapours, mix 

 themfelves with this vinegar : if it is then reftified by a new 

 diliillation, thefe flowers are no more fublimed, and, there- 

 fore, a radical vinegar, exempt from copper, may be ex- 

 trafted from verdigris. The copperilTi flowers are in a 

 high degree cauftic, and may be confidered as a violent poi- 

 fon. Hift. Acad. Sc. Par. 1777. 



See Acetum Rofatum. 

 See Squill. 

 The common opinion, from the dif- 

 jar, that its fliarpnefs to the tafte was 

 occafioned by thefe animals, caufed the accurate Leeu- 

 wenhoeck to attempt a careful examination of it by the 

 microfcope. 



Some of the ftrongeft and ftiarpeft vinegar, after having 

 been expofed for fome hours to the air, and afterwards exa- 

 mined by the microfcope, entertains the fight with a number 

 of corpufcles, called the falts of vinegar, which are acute at 

 both extremities, and have many of them in the middle an 

 oblong figure of a brownifti colour, and others were altoge- 

 ther clear, pellucid, and bright as cryftal. Others of thefe 

 particles appeared of an oval figure, and fome of the half 

 of fuch a figure, hollowed hke a fmall boat, or the half of 

 a nut-lhell. The more perfeft figures, pointed at both 

 ends, and pellucid, are fo very minute, that fome thoufands 

 of them are comprehended in a fmall drop. 



Thefe feem to be what affect the tongue with the acid 

 fharpnefs, when we tafte vinegar ; and it is very probable, 

 that befide thefe, minute as they are, there are multitudes of 

 others, equally pointed, and infinitely fmaller than thefe. 



If vinegar be placed in an open glafs, and fuff"ered to re- 

 main fome weeks, the lurface of it will be found, on exa- 

 mination with good glafles, to be full of the fame figures, 

 double-pointed, and verv pellucid ; and in thefe, very often, 

 there may be cavities plainly difcovered ; but examining the 

 liquor a little deeper down, there are found numbers of mi- 

 nute eels ; yet thefe, though minute, are prodigioufly larger 

 than the fait particles, and can never be fuppofed to be the 

 occafion of the ftiarpnefs of vinegar to the tafte, by any 

 who rightly confider, fince it is not all vinegar that contains 

 them ; nay, the much greater part of vinegar is wholly 

 without them, and in winter they all die ; yet vinegar is not 

 lefs fliarp at that feafon than in the fummer. 



Mr. Mentzelius was fo lucky as to fee thefe undergo their 

 laft metamorphofis, and change into fmall flies ; and though 

 this is a fingle inftance, in regard to the microfcopical world 

 of animalcules, yet it is highly probable that the whole race 

 of thofe, whofe appearance in medicated fluids we have been 

 fo long puzzled to account for, may, like thefe, be the 

 vvorin-uate of fome winged aerial iufed, and have owed 



their 



