But for the more gracefull Trial of this
Experiment, 'twill not be amiss to observe, First, That there should not be
taken too much of the Solution of Sublimate, nor too much of the Oyl of
Tartar drop'd in, to avoid the necessity of putting in so much Oyl of
Vitriol as may make an Ebullition, and perhaps run over the Glass.
Secondly, That 'tis convenient to keep the Glass always a little shaking,
both for the better mixing of the Liquors, and to keep the Yellow Substance
from Subsiding, which else it would in a short time do, though when 'tis
subsided it will retain its Colour, and also be capable of being depriv'd
of it by the Oyl newly mention'd. Thirdly, That if any Yellow matter stick
at the sides of the Glass, 'tis but inclining the Glass, till the clarify'd
Liquor can wash alongst it, and the Liquor will presently imbibe it, and
deprive it of its Colour.
Many have somewhat wondred, how I came to light upon this Experiment, but
the Notions or Conjectures I have about the differing Natures of the
Several Tribes of Salts, having led me to devise the Experiment, it will
not be difficult for me to give you the Chymical Reason, if I may so speak,
of the _Phaenomenon_. Having then observ'd, that _Mercury_ being dissolv'd
in Some _Menstruums_, would yield a dark Yellow Precipitate, and supposing
that, as to this, common Water, and the Salts that stick to the _Mercury_
would be equivalent to those Acid _Menstruums_, which work upon the
_Quick-silver_, upon the account of their Saline particles, I substituted a
Solution of Sublimate in fair Water, instead of a Solution of _Mercury_ in
_Aqua-fortis_, or Spirit of _Nitre_, that simple Solution being both
clearer and free from that very offensive Smell, which accompanies the
Solutions of _Mercury_ made with those other corrosive Liquors; then I
consider'd, that That, which makes the Yellow Colour, is indeed but a
Precipitate made by the means of the Oyl of Tartar, which we drop in, and
which, as _Chymists_ know, does generally precipitate Metalline Bodies
corroded by Acid Salts; so that the Colour in our case results from the
Coalition of the Mercurial particles with the Saline ones, wherewith they
were formerly associated, and with the Alcalizate particles of the Salt of
Tartar that swim up and down in the Oyl.
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