calcining the Afhes in Pits brick'd within, andfprink- 
lingthem well with Lye, till they become hard and 
folid. But fuch a Calcination of Alhes with a lixivial 
Salt, mu ft render them whiter, inftead of black, and 
muft further deftroy the a&ive fulphureous Parts of 
the Wood, which we find in Pot-afh rightly made. 
So that this only leaves the Afhes in the Stare they 
were at firft, or turns them into a kind of indiffolva- 
ble Glafs, as we have found upon Trial. 
This, and the like Miftakes about the Way of 
making Pot-afh, feem to proceed from a general 
Error concerning the Nature of it ; for it is com- 
monly fuppofed to be only a kind of inert Calx, 
impregnated with nothing but a lixivial Salt. Some 
iuch Miftake feems to have fruftrated all the Attempts 
hitherto made of making Pot-afh in American for, 
upon Trial, what they have made there was found 
to be no better than common Afhes. 
But the moft general Miftake about the Way of 
making Pot-afh, feems to proceed from the Accounts 
we have of making it, from Glafswort, and fome 
marine Plants, which are faid to be eafily converted 
to this kind of Subftance, in the manner above- 
mentioned. But we apprehend, the Way of making 
it from Wood muft be very different : For thefe 
Herbs are eafily reduced to Afhes by a fmall Fire, 
that does not intirely confume their fulphureous 
Parts, which Wood is not. Thefe Afhes abound 
with a great Quantity of alkaline and fome neutral 
Salts, that readily convert them to a hard and folid 
Confidence, which Wood does not. They have 
likewife few or no terreflrial Parts, to run them 
into an indiflolvable Glafs, when fluxed in the Fire, 
$5 
