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SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY • NUMBER 33 

®1(^ (3lnc0mpkat ©Ifgmfet 

BEING AN ESSAY ON THE EIGHTEENTHCENTURY CHEMIST IN HIS LABORATORY, 

WITH A DICTIONARY OF OBSOLETE 

CHEMICAL TERMS OF THE PERIOD 

lion ^felunh 

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS 

City of Washington 

1975 
OFFICIAL TUBUCATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded 

in the Institution's annual report, Smithsonian Year. SI PRESS NUMBER 5214. 

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 

Eklund, Jon. 

The incompleat chymist. 

(Smithsonian studies in history and technology, no. 3,8) 

Supt. of Docs, no.: SI 1.28:33 

1. Chemistry—History. 2. Chemistry—Dictionaries. I. Title. II. Series: Smithsonian Institution. 

Smithsonian studies in history and technology, no. 33. 

QD14.E38 .540'.9'O33 74-13368 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing OfRce 

Washington, D.C. 20402—Price .SI.3.") 

Stock Number 047-001-00125-7 
®t{^ (3lnt0mpkat OII{gntfet 

BEING AN ESSAY ON THE EIGHTEENTHCENTURY CHEMIST IN HIS LABORATORY, 

WITH A DICTIONARY OF OBSOLETE 

CHEMICAL TERMS OF THE PERIOD 

lion ^klunh 

INTRODUCTIO N 

It would be preferable to be able to call this 

work "Th e Compleat Chymist," but the existing 

title reflects an unfortunate reality. Th e truth is 

that our knowledge of the aspirations and activities of chemists in the eighteenth century is woefully incomplete. Tha t this is so suggests first that 

we have an insufficient number of interested historians of chemistry; and if this remains so it may 

signify something unfortunate about current historiographic trends. 

Specifically, there has been a tendency of late to 

treat eighteenth-century chemistry as an almost exclusively cerebral science. This is in part an understandable reaction to an earlier historiographic 

mode which is perhaps best described as Whiginductivist. Although there were variations, the 

chemical variety of the basic Whig-inductivist 

scheme was to describe the experiment, give its 

contemporary interpretation, translate the phenomenon into modern terms, give the modern interpretation, and then make a normative judgment on 

the basis of the closeness of fit between the original 

and the modern interpretation. Sometimes the 

judgment was omitted, and the work became primarily a series of descriptions of important reactions. Even here, however, there was an implicit 

judgment in the selection process—those experi-

]on Eklund, Department of Science and Technology, National 

Museum of History and Technology, Smithsonian Institution, 

Washington, D.C. 20560. 

ments most relevant to modern textbook schemes 

were the ones chosen for exegesis. 

Surely it isn't necessary here to once again beat 

down the presumed phoenix of Whig-inductivism, 

as its evils seem well understood and agreed upon. 

But to be repelled by the narrow normative excesses of an earlier historiography is one thing; to 

shun all its practices uncritically is quite another. 

Thus, it seems to me a non sequitur to arrive at the 

idea that narratives of experiments are necessarily 

bad or that all translations of the results into 

modern terms (assuming one can avoid the all-tooobvious pitfalls) are useless. 

More dangerous still is the tendency for historians to largely ignore the details of practice. Without doing an injustice to the intellectual content 

of the chemistry of that time, such an oversight 

seems to me to create a serious historical imbalance. Indeed, for historians to assume that the 

chemists of the eighteenth century were primarily 

concerned with theory may be to ignore most of 

their working hours. Certainly by far the greatest 

portion of the literature in contemporary journals 

was not concerned with theories of matter but 

with specific empirical problems related to the 

determination of chemical composition. Since they 

were personal vehicles which allowed greater 

depth, even treatises which one logically would 

expect to contain discussions of a more philosophical nature were composed, for the most part, of 

the details of chemical experiments. Surely we 

must characterize the chemistry of that period in 

1 
SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

accordance with the actual record left by the chemists of the time. 

Although this work is concerned principally 

with the laboratory settings, equipment, and practices of French and British chemists of the period 

1690-1770, nothing seen in the chemical literature 

of any country seriously weakens the remarks made 

above. On the contrary, the more one reads, the 

more one realizes that to overemphasize the theoretical in this chemistry is to commit an anachronism. Those who felt themselves to be primarily 

concerned with chemistry were insistent on the 

importance of the operations of chemistry; indeed, 

they were virtually unanimous in stressing the 

active, operational nature of their science. Thus, 

for example, the well-known seventeenth-century 

French chemist Nicolas Le Fevre (1615-1669) 

grandly defined chemistry as "the Art and Knowledge of Nature itself," and he made its operative 

aspects definite by adding that it was "A practical 

and operative science of things natural " and by 

pointing out that "by her means we examine the 

principles out of which natural bodies do consist 

and are compounded." ^ Th e great German chemist and physician and author of the phlogiston concept, Georg Ernst Stahl (1660-1734), saw chemistry 

as "the art of resolving mixt, compound or aggregate Bodies into their Principles and of [re]composing such bodies from those Principles." - Th e 

author of the most successful French chemistry text 

of the late seventeenth century and early eighteenth century, Nicolas Lemery (1645-1715), called 

chemistry "an art which teaches how to separate 

the different substances which are found in a 

compound." ^ 

This emphasis on the operations of chemistry 

continued into the eighteenth century. Wilhelm 

Homberg (1652-1715) of the French Academy of 

Sciences characterized chemistry early in the century as "the art of reducing compounds into their 

principles by means of fire, and composing new 

substances in the fire by the mixture of different 

materials." "* Th e gieat Dutch physician and chemist Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738) was more prolix but less specific when he defined chemistry as 

. . . that Art, that teaches us how to perform certain physical 

operations, by which bodies that are discernible by the senses 

. . . may by suitable instruments be so changed, that particular determin'd effects may be thence produced, and the causes 

of those effects understood by the effects themselves." 

But in beginning his volume on the practice of 

chemistry Booerhave insisted that "natural constituent parts . . . only should be extracted, which 

being afterwards properly compounded together 

. would again produce exactly the very same 

body." ^ 

Although he greatly admired Boerhaave, the 

English physician and chemist Peter Shaw (1694-

1763) was more definite than the continental 

chemist in his view that chemistry was an active 

empirical discipline: 

Philosophical Chemistry we define, a rational Art of (1) 

dividing or resolving all the Bodies within our Power (2) by 

means of all the Instruments we can procure; (3) as well into 

integrant as constituent parts; and (4) joining these parts 

together again; (5) so as to discover the Principles, Relations, 

and Changes of Bodies; (6) make various Resolutions, Mixtures and Compositions; (7) find out the Physical causes of 

physical Effects; and (8) hence improve the State of natural 

Knowledge, and the Arts thereon depending.'^ 

While Shaw suggested the importance of synthesis in chemical analysis in the phrases which he 

numbered (4) and (5), later chemists in France 

such as G. F. Rouelle (1703-1770), P.-J. Macquer 

(1718-1784), and Antoine Baume (1728-1804) 

were even more insistent on synthesis as both a criterion for proper analysis and an integral part of 

their definition of chemistry. Rouelle's definition 

made this particularly clear: 

Chemistry is a physical art which, by means of certain 

operations and instruments, teaches us to sepai'ate the various 

substances which enter into the composition of bodies, and 

to recombine these again, either to reproduce the former 

bodies, or to form new ones from them.® 

In order that no one missed his point, Rouelle 

quickly gave an example of the proper way that 

chemistry seeks its facts: 

If, for example, one asks [of chemistry], "What is cinnabar?" it responds that [cinnabar] is a compound (compose) 

of sulfur and mercury. To prove it, [chemistry] extracts these 

two substances from [cinnabar], and shows them separated. It 

does more—it composes a true cinnabar with sulfur and mercury." 

Macquer was as adamant as Rouelle on the importance of chemical analysis as he described his 

own conception of chemistry in the first edition 

of his Elemens cle chimie theorique: 

The object and principle end of chemistry is to separate 

the different substances that enter into the composition of 

bodies; to examine each [of these substances] separately; to 

discover their properties and relations; to decompose, if possible, these [component] substances; to compare them to-
NUMBER 33 

gather, and combine them with others; and to reunite them 

into the original substance with all of its properties.i" 

Baume concurred in this opinion. Noting that 

chemistry involved both decomposition and recomposition, he added that "analysis [in the narrow 

sense of "decomposition"] has as its goal the separation of the principles which make up a substance, 

and composition, on the contrary, has as its object 

the reunification of principles which have been 

separated by analysis, to reform the compounds just 

as they were before." ii Baume saw the goal of nature itself as composition and recomposition, so it 

was natural that huma n art should follow in nature's wake in attempting to understand the nature 

and properties of natural bodies.^^ 

Macquer's definition was the most specific and, 

at the same time, most comprehensive of all. It 

seems peculiar the first time it is seen, for the 

modern reader will tend to interpret it not as a 

definition of chemistry but of chemical analysis in 

the modern sense of that term.^^ Taken literally, 

Macquer's definition would have kept every chemist at his table and furnace throughout the working day, busy at the task of determining the 

chemical composition of all known substances and 

synthesizing new ones. 

As the above definitions demonstrate, the practice of chemistry with its apparatus and operations 

must somehow be made an integral part both of 

narrative and of interpretation in the history of 

that science in that time. No more is attempted 

here than to encourage solution to the problem by 

making the reader more familiar with this aspect 

of eighteenth-century chemistry. It is a beginning, 

not the end, of a more fitting equilibrium between 

theory and practice in the history of chemistry. 

I do not wish to create the impression that the 

drift away from the empirical is due to purely arbitrary or perverse decisions by historians. It seems 

to me that there are at least two reasons for that 

drift. First of all, the circumstance that impelled 

the chemist-historians of previous generations toward a recounting of the empirical was their own 

professional experience, and most of them were 

experimentalists. In contrast, the general background and specific professional training of most 

historians—including historians of science—are 

seldom long on laboratory experience. Bottles and 

boltheads seem dull stuff next to visions of atoms, 

thus, and the unpalatable inductivism of the traditional studies adds additional impetus away from 

the unfamiliar. 

T h e second reason for the drift from the empirical is a fact of history rather than an accident of 

biography. Prior to the reform of chemistry by 

Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794) and his followers 

in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, the 

nomenclature of chemistry was a hodgepodge of 

idiosyncratic practices and the residue of alchemy. 

Often, for example, there were several names for 

the same substance and, worse, each name was 

thought to represent something different. Thus, 

one requires a great deal of additional research in 

the nomenclature before he can read even the most 

basic literature with comprehension, if not ease. 

T o encourage others, then, to attempt the further studies of eighteenth-century chemistry that 

are so desperately needed, this essay attempts to 

provide a reasonably accurate impression of the 

activities typical of a chemist of the period and to 

describe in terms of his apparatus, operations, and, 

to some extent, his own feelings of what it was like 

to really practice chemistry at that time. Th e basic 

terminology associated with chemical experiments 

is presented in a context of chemical operations as 

they were likely to occur in chemical analysis. For 

further clarification, several actual contemporary 

research efforts are analyzed to give substance and 

meaning to the terms introduced and discussed in 

the body of the text. 

Finally, appended to the essay is a short dictionary of the most common chemical terms used in 

Britain during the eighteenth century. These terms 

include a number of Latin words, a reflection not 

only of the still important (though declining) 

place of Latin in science during this period but 

also of the long-term relationships among chemistry, medicine, and pharmacy. Readers interested in 

French and German equivalents for the terms 

given here are advised to consult Macquer's important Dictionnaire de Chemie in the original editions (1766, 177-) or Leonardi's heavily annotated 

German translation.^^ 

T H E EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY CHEMIST 

IN HI S LABORATORY 

Pierre-Joseph Macquer has left us a giaphic description of what it was like to pursue actively the 

art of chemistry in the eighteenth century. Th e 

first requirement, of course, is to have a place in 

which to work—a laboratory. Almost all contempo-
SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

rary illustrations of eighteenth-century laboratories 

usually reveal a confusing conglomeration of furnaces, bric-a-brac, vessels, etc. While some of the 

confusion shown in such sources may be attributed 

to artistic license, Macquer tells us that the eighteenth-century chemist, absorbed by his work, was 

likely to have a laboratory as disorderly as that of 

a chemist of any other era: 

It is true that it is extremely disagreeable and difficult to 

continually stop in the midst of the most interesting researches, and to use considerable precious time in cleaning 

vessels, arranging them, putting on inscriptions etc. These 

things are quite capable of cooling or retarding the progress 

of genius. They are tedious and disgusting, but they are 

necessary.^^ 

For purely practical reasons, however, no chemist 

can long afford such careless lapses. As the work 

progresses, the amount and kinds of accumulation—and thus confusion—increase. In the midst 

of his efforts, moreover, our hero is likely to forget 

possible complications: 

He thinks he shall easily know again the products of previous operations, so he takes no time to put them in order. He 

pushes on with the latest experiments, but the vessels used, 

the glasses, the bottles filled so multiply and accumulate that 

the laboratory is full of them. He can no longer distinguish 

them or at least there is doubt and uncertainty about many 

of the earlier products. It is even worse if a new work suddenly spreads through the laboratory or if other occupations 

oblige him to leave the laboratory for some time. All is confused and falls more and more into ruin. From this it often 

happens that he loses the fruits of much labor and throws 

away almost all the products of his experiments." 

In the midst of exciting research, of course, this 

carelessness may be understood, if not forgiven: 

When one has a certain ardor, the experiments follow one 

after the other rapidly. Some are found to be striking and 

appear to decide the question or give birth to new ideas. He 

cannot stop himself from making [these experiments] immediately and he is led, without thinking, from one to the other." 

Then, as now, such high points were unusual. Th e 

days in the laboratory were not always so pleasant. 

Indeed, there probably were a greater number of 

days in which the work seemed "tedious and disgusting." 

If the time in the laboratory was to be as pleasant and profitable as possible, a number of technical problems had to be solved. Laboratories on the 

ground-floor level, for example, often had serious 

problems with moisture. Upper-floor installations 

had an inconvenience in that water had to be 

transported u p somehow, but they were preferable 

since the ventilation was usually better, especially 

if the chimney had a good draught. 

Given good ventilation and freedom from moisture, the next requirement was a convenient and 

sufficient surface area for work. A large central 

table for general use, one or more small movable 

tables, and perhaps a bench or stool provided the 

basic furnishings. Over time, the active chemist 

would fit up the remainder of the room with those 

vital trifles which allowed him to retain his sanity 

while carrying out experiments: pegs, hooks, and 

shelves for the storage of chemicals, apparatus, 

and bottles full of half-completed reactions.^^ 

An illustration (Figure 1) from the Commercium Philosophico-Technicum of William Lewis 

gives an idea of the wide range possible in the 

chemist's laboratory. Th e laboratory as shown 

here seems less than ideal for general chemical 

work as the surface area for work or storage seems 

inadequate. This facility, which at least approximates his own laboratory, reflected Lewis' interest 

in applied chemistry.^^ It was especially suited for 

assaying and for metallurgical and mineralogical 

work since it included a wide variety of furnaces 

and weighing apparatus but relatively little glassware. 

Given the place in which to work, the eighteenth-century chemist's next requirements, aside 

from material on which to experiment, were methods or devices for effecting chemical change. As 

Homberg's definition of chemistry (quoted above) 

implies, the primary method or "instrument " was 

fire. Th e use of fire to effect chemical change probably has been the most constant characteristic of 

chemistry. In the heyday of alchemy one of the 

primary requirements of the adept was that he 

know his heats, both high and low.-** Le^Fevre calls 

fire "the most potent Agent that Natur e hath 

furnished us withall under Heaven, to perform the 

Anatomy [decomposition] of Mixt Bodies [compounds]." -^ Although Robert Boyle had attacked 

the slavish reliance on fire of chemists in the late 

seventeenth century, Nicolas Lemery defended 

its use, noting that "indeed, almost all of the chemical operations are made to occur by means of 

fire." -- Boerhaave and Macquer were somewhat 

more sophisticated in their admiration of the efficacy of fire. Boerhaave, in particular, noted the 

many pitfalls for the unwary in the use of fire, 

particularly its ability to produce contradictory 
NUMBER 33 

FIGURE I. A chemical laboratory of the mid-eighteenth century. This particular facility was 

designed for assaying, with metallurgical or mineralogical work in mind, as it had an unusually 

wide variety of furnaces and weighing apparatuses yet relatively little glassware. It falls somewhat short of having the ideal amount of surface area for work or storage. [From William Lewis, 

Commercium Philosophico-Technicum or the Philosophical Commerce of the Arts (London, 

1765), frontispiece.] 
SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

analytical results on the same material when other 

conditions were altered.23 Macquer worried less 

about these difficulties. With the advantage of almost two generations of work by the German analytic school, he had a great advantage in interpretation of difficult results, though little in terms of 

advances in technique. Nevertheless, he maintained 

that "as all chemical operations may be reduced to 

decompositions and combinations, fire is therefore 

in chemistry, as in nature, a universal agent." --^ 

If fire was the central instrument of the chemist, 

then the operational heart of the chemical laboratory was the furnace (or furnaces) and the chimney.25 Ther e were many types and sizes of furnaces. 

T h e design of a given furnace depended on a number of factors, including the range of temperature 

desired, the size of vessels to be accommodated, and 

the whim of the chemist, for these furnaces were 

built by hand. Many chemical treatises gave rather 

detailed instructions for their construction. Later 

in the eighteenth century there were more complicated devices of cast metal construction, and these 

had to be contrived by specialists.^*^ 

T h e most common type of furnace was the reverberatory furnace, which had a heating chamber 

with a hemispherical top in which the heat was 

supposedly reflected or "reverberated." Boerhaave 

recommended the simple "student's furnace" 

(shown in Figure 2) because of its simple construction and general applicability.^^ Lemery suggested that several reverberatory furnaces of different sizes be available to accommodate the various 

vessels.-^ Two or three furnaces were the minimum 

desirable number, but the numbe r in any one laboratory was limited since they involved some expense and considerable work to construct and 

maintain. 

T h e importance of the furnace reflected the 

seventeenth and early eighteenth century practice 

of performing reactions in the "dry way," where 

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FIGURE 2. A simple furnace design. The vessel to be heated was placed in the upper or draft 

chamber. The fire in the lower chamber was controlled through its own construction (banking) 

and by opening or closing the four draft holes (X) with stoppers (Z). [From Elements of Chemistry, Peter Shaw's translation of Herman Boerhaave's Elementa Chemiae of 1732 (London, 1741), 

volume I, plate 13.] 
NUMBER 33 

the temperature requirements were higher. It also 

reflected the large role played by distillation in the 

chemistry of this period. While heat was (and is) 

a common requirement for most reactions, the 

temperature ranges were considerable. On the one 

hand, there were reactions involving minerals (especially dry distillation of minerals as in the preparation of spirit of sulphur from green vitriol or 

the extraction of some of the metals) that required 

a high degree of heat or even the hot blast provided by bellows. On the other hand, it had long 

been recognized that slower and more delicate 

organic processes called for carefully controlled 

heat where it was necessary to avoid direct contact 

of the reaction vessel with the flame. This was accomplished by several means. There was the water 

bath or balneo mariae in which the water kept 

the temperature constant because of its latent heat 

of vaporization; and some of the larger and more 

complicated furnaces had chambers heated by currents of hot air from the fire box. There was also 

the sand bath, which, though it required more 

alertness to maintain constant temperature, could 

work at a higher range than the water or steam 

baths. 

For temperatures between these limits, furnaces 

were controlled by means of flues which regulated 

the draft on the fuel, the selection of the fuel itself, 

and the construction of the fire. Charcoal produced 

high heats, wood gave lower ones, and special 

mixed or dilute fuels could lower the temperatures 

still further. Some furnaces had a number of separate chambers at various distances from the fire to 

give several degrees of heat at one time. 

It is clear that the control of temperature at this 

time was a major art which could be learned only 

through practice with an expert. Lemery listed 

four degrez du feu that were differentiated by 

such criteria as three versus four lighted coals; and 

these might even have given heats which were 

tres-petite or endurable by the hand for some 

time.29 Boerhaave rejected this sort of "very obscure account." He could well afford to do so, for 

he had access to the excellent thermometers of 

Daniel Fahrenheit (1686-1736). Using these along 

with physical indicators for temperatures above 

600°, Boerhaave defined six degrees of "chemical 

fire." 30 The importance of this development depended not on the number of these "degrees of 

heat" but on the use of the instrument itself, although few chemists followed Boerhaave in this 

practice.31 Macquer himself was strongly influenced 

by Boerhaave's views on fire, but he did not use the 

latter's formal division of chemical fire into ranges 

or "degrees" of fire. Instead, he was content to 

note that chemists "have sought and found the 

means of procuring any degree of heat, from the 

weakest to the strongest, by using different intermediates and even more by the careful use and 

construction of furnaces." ^~ Since the furnaces 

described by Macquer do not differ significantly 

from those of his predecessors, it is clear that there 

had been little technological advance in that 

area."*'^ Nevertheless, it is equally clear that the 

chemists of this period had succeeded in solving 

their basic problems of supplying controlled heat 

for their reactions. 

With the furnace ready, the eighteenth-century 

chemist might then look for a suitable vessel in 

which to perform the first reaction in the analytic 

procedure. I have used the general term "vessel" 

to emphasize the severe limitations of glass technology in the eighteenth century that forced the 

use of other types of materials. It was not mere 

whim or slavish habit that led chemists to use materials other than glass. Macquer, for example, was 

wistfully cognizant of what good glassware should 

be: 

Vessels intended for chemical operations should, to be perfect, be able to bear without breaking the sudden application 

of great heat and cold, be inpenetrable to every substance 

and inalterable to any solvent, be unvitrifiable and capable 

of enduring the most violent fire without fusing. But up to 

the present no vessels are known which combine all of these 

qualities.^* 

Under conditions of extreme heat or great 

changes in temperature, vessels of metal or earthenware were substituted for glass. The disadvantages 

of metal vessels lay in their reactions with common reagents such as acids. Earthenware vessels, 

on the other hand, tended to be porous, trapping 

reactants and products into the fabric of the vessel 

itself. Aside from the loss of material into the 

pores, the problem of contamination in later experiments could render the vessel unfit for further 

use. Some of these problems could be reduced by 

tinning the metal vessels and glazing the earthenware ones, but tin is still reactive to a number of 

acids and bases, and glazing renders a vessel more 

brittle. 

Thus, glass vessels were used wherever possible 

"because they neither change, add or take away 
SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 
NUMBER 33 

from the Bodies they contain; and whilst they are 

exposed to the action of the Fire, they suffer nothing to transude through them from within, nor 

admit any thing from without, except fire, and 

Magnetism." ^5 in addition, as Macquer pointed 

out, "because they are transparent, [glass vessels] 

allow the chemist to freely observe what is happening in their interiors, which is always useful and 

interesting." ^e The best glass was the so-called 

"German green glass,'' which Boerhaave claimed 

could resist heat at least up to 600° and was therefore suitable for use at fairly high heat in distillations of corrosive materials.^'^ 

Several types of vessels were in common use in 

the eighteenth-century chemical laboratory, and 

many were modifications of the wide variety of 

vessels used by the alchemists.^^ With the passage 

of time these were standardized so that, as Macquer 

noted, "the vessels which are needed in a laboratory are now few and simple." ^^ The most common of these, and of widest general use, was the 

"matrass," which closely resembled the modern 

florence flask. It could have a round or a flat bottom, and was adaptable to a wide variety of uses 

as a reaction vessel or as part of a distillation apparatus. 

There were three basic types of apparatus for 

distillation (Figure 3). The "alembic," used in 

general-purpose distillation work, consisted of three 

parts: the body or cucurbit, which might be a 

matrass; the neck (if there were not already a neck 

on the cucurbit); and an upper condensation 

chamber called the head. The head might not be 

permanently attached to the neck, depending on 

whether the vapors were particularly subtle and 

thus liable to escape at joints. If they were, a onepiece glass alembic was usually employed. AlemFicuRE 3. Distillation apparatus. "Fig. 1" and "Fig. 2" are 

"retorts." The former has the shape most commonly associated 

with the term "retort," but the latter's tear-drop shape also 

was common. "Figs. 3-5, 8" are "alembics." The first three 

are of glass, and they vary only in the relative dimensions of 

their parts or in the number of separate pieces. "Fig. 8" is 

an alembic made of metal. Its principal parts are as follows: 

A, the "cucurbite'' or "matrass"; c, the "capital" or "bolthead"; G, the "receiver." "Fig. 6" shows one version of the 

"pelican." "Figs 9-11" are parts and accessories for metallurgical furnace work. In "Fig. 12" the degree of sophistication of eighteenth-century apparatus is suggested. [From 

Dictionary of Chemistry, 2nd English edition of Andrew 

Kier's translation of Pierre-Joseph Macquer's Dictionnaire 

de chymie of 1766 (London, 1777), volume 3, plate 1.] 

bics made of metal were used primarily for organic 

extractions, where there was less chance of corrosion. 

The head itself was often equipped with a spout 

or beak to direct the condensed vapors to some 

other vessel. If it were not so endowed, it was 

known as a "blind head." A matrass could be 

equipped with a head for use in distillation. This 

gave the chemist some flexibility in separating 

volatile fractions since the length of the neck of 

the alembic was the determining factor in the 

"subtlety" of the vapors reaching the head. If the 

neck were rather long, only the most "subtle" vapors would be captured. With progressively shorter 

necks, more and more of the heavier fractions 

would be included in the distillate*" 

The second basic type of distillation apparatus, 

the "pelican," has become familiar through recent 

studies of Lavoisier's experiment to test the transmutation of water into earth.^^ By the time it was 

employed by Lavoisier, however, the pelican had 

enjoyed a long history as a common piece of alchemical apparatus. It was a reflux device, which 

means that a portion of the reactants was kept in 

the vapor phase if it were thought that such a procedure would favor the reaction. In particular, 

the pelican was the natural choice where it was 

suspected that the reaction required a long time 

for completion.'*- The action of the device was 

simple: the vapors condensed in the head and returned to the liquid in the bottom of the vessel via 

the two curved beaks which connected the head to 

the cucurbit. As we know now, if the desired reaction took place primarily in the vapor phase the 

condensed vapors would be relatively rich in product. The process continued until someone decided that the liquid in the cucurbit contained a 

sufficient amount of product. After stopping the 

process, the chemist faced the problem of separating the newly formed product from whatever 

quantity of reactant remained. The task might be 

relatively easy, depending on the respective chemical and physical properties of reactant and product 

and to what extent the reaction went to completion. On the other hand, it might be impossible 

to get really meaningful data from distillation 

products of complicated animal and vegetable 

substances.•*'^ 

The distillation of "heavy'' or less volatile liquids was done in the third basic type of distillation 

apparatus, the "retort." Here the principal move-
10 

SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 
NUMBER 33 11 

ment of vapor was lateral rather than vertical. In 

the one-piece retort the primary problem was to 

introduce the substance to be distilled. It had to be 

loaded by means of tubes or long ladles. Some retorts were made with a flange opening at the top 

that was sealed by means of a glass stopper. While 

these "tubulated retorts" were easier to load, it 

was necessary to seal the stopper in order to prevent the escape of the vapor. Thus, the tubulated 

retorts usually were employed only for processes 

in which it was absolutely necessary to add one or 

more reactants during the reaction. Clearly, unsealing and resealing a hot glass vessel required a 

great deal of skill. 

The problems of handling expanding vapors and 

preventing them from escaping were partially 

solved by using an oversized vessel as a "receiver" 

at the end of the spout on the distilling head. 

These larger varieties of receiver, commonly 

known as "balloons" (French, ballon), resembled 

the modern short-necked, round-bottomed flask. 

For extra volume as well as greater condensation, 

small receivers, called "adopters" (French, allonge), with a neck at each end were so constructed that two or more could be connected in 

tandem between the spout of the distilling head 

and the receiver. While its primary function was to 

receive and collect the product of the distillation 

process, the receiver also served to correct the problem of heat control (see above). Distillation, especially when there were several fractions, was 

(and is) a delicate process. If the heat were too 

low, little or no vapor reached the head and the 

process was inexorably slow if it proceeded at all. 

On the other hand, if the heat were too high the 

distilling head might be unable to condense all the 

vapor which reached it, and some of the vapor 

might escape. To avoid such loss, eighteenthcentury chemists (1) used oversized receivers to 

FIGURE 4. An apparatus sampler. From top, left to right: 

i, k, I, an alembic; g, h, a vessel with a paper cone suspended 

over it to collect sublimated "flowers of benzoin"; m, n, an 

apparatus for preparing "spirit of sulfur" (sulfuric acid 

anhydride) by burning sulfur under a bell in a humid atmosphere; /, mortar and pestle; a-e, 2L fusion furnace; y, a. mold 

for "pierre infernale" (fused silver nitrate); u, x, a stack of 

"aludels" with a head on top; o, a general-purpose mold; s, 

an apparatus for refluxing; p, q, r, a copper alembic. The 

bucket-like item at lower left is a small furnace, and above 

it are two "coupels," metal vessels for testing precious metals. 

[From Nicolas Lemery, Cours de chymie, 6th edition (Paris, 

1687), plate 2.] 

contain the vapors and (2) increased the distance 

between the receiver and the head by means of 

adopters which lowered the temperature of the 

receiver and increased the secondary condensation 

which occurred after the head.'** 

If the product of a distillation were a finely divided solid (usually referred to as "flowers," e.g., 

"flowers of sulfur") a series of earthenware distilling 

heads without beaks was used. Such heads were 

called "aludels." Except for the top aludel, which 

was open only at the bottom, these vessels had a 

fitted opening at top and bottom so they could be 

stacked. This increased the flexibility of the device, 

for if the reaction had a high yield or if much product were wanted, a larger number of units could be 

put into the stack. 

Besides specialized vessels such as those described 

above, there was a wide variety of dishes, bottles, 

basins, etc. An appreciation of the varieties of apparatus can be gained from Figure 4. A mortar 

and pestle were standard equipment, of course, as 

was the crucible. Macquer recommended that crucibles be made of the same kind of earth as the 

pots in which butter was brought from Brittany. 

In fact, "ces pots eux-memes sont de fort bons 

creusets." *^ 

In addition, there were the odds and ends of 

everyday chemical use that one could easily imagine but that, as far as I know, have been listed together only by Macquer. These included glass stirring rods, spatulas of various materials (including 

ivory), thin pieces of board for collecting material 

that had been crushed and giound fine, white 

paper for keeping notes and for use in filtrations, 

and "a good supply of clean straw, cut to a length 

of eight to ten inches (pouces), which serve to stir 

mixtures in glass [vessels], and to support filter 

papers in glass funnels." ^^ 

A major problem for the chemists of the time was 

the jointure of two or more vessels, especially 

those made of glass. Since the glassware of this 

period was hand blown, there was no possibility of 

producing standard fittings like those in use today. 

The problem was not due to an inability to produce individual, ground-glass joints but because 

such construction was both fragile and expensive 

and each joint was unique.^'^ One of the most 

striking aspects of contemporary illustrations of 

eighteenth-century apparatus is the rarity of glass 

tubing in connecting individual pieces. But in the 

absence of rubber tubing there was little to be 
12 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

gained by such connections. Instead, most pieces 

of apparatus that were designed to be connected 

with others were provided with tapered flanges, 

spouts, beaks, etc. In this way, the closest mechanical fit possible was obtained (considering that both 

the male and the female fittings were usually out 

of round). Once the mechanical fit was obtained, 

the joint was sealed with various substances having 

the generic name "lutes." 

T h e ideal lute was a substance soft enough to be 

worked into and around the joint to form a vaportight (later, a gas-tight) seal and, at the same time, 

of sufficient mechanical strength to endure the 

rigors of the experiment. Apparently there were 

no permanently pliable substances which met all 

of these requirements. Those that had mechanical 

strength tended to dry into a brittle mass, while the 

most pliable of lutes—the "fat lute"—required 

separate mechanical support. Some lutes had clay as 

a base since it was the right consistency when wet 

to work into the joint. T o offset the brittleness of 

the clay when it dried, other substances were added 

to the clay to endow it with the right consistency.-*^ 

T h e preparation of lutes was something of an 

art. Th e recipes varied from such a simple expedient as wet paper strips to the more exotic arcanum of "soft cheese, Lime and Rye flower." ^^ 

Simple seals for noncorrosive or nonpenetrating 

vapors were made with strips of paper or cloth 

soaked in flour paste. Stronger seals were obtained 

from strips of bladder soaked for a long time in 

water. Th e soaking process apparently elicited some 

sort of sticky gelatinous matter similar to the active 

ingredient of animal hide glues. 

In extremes, the chemist of the period could 

call upon the "fat lute," the term given to a mixture of fine clay and boiled linseed oil. Th e advantage of the fat lute was that it did not harden and 

thus would not shrink or become brittle. Unfortunately, all surfaces had to be almost perfectly dry 

or the fat lute would not adhere. Because it did 

not harden, fat lute was totally lacking in mechanical strength and had to be covered with a second 

lute of linen strips soaked in a mixture of quicklime and egg white. This latter concoction also was 

used as a lute by itself.^o 

For joints that were not reached by heat, various 

mixtures of beeswax and resins were employed as 

lutes. 

T h e problem of joining pieces of glass apparatus 

remained with chemists over a long period. A comparison of Macquer's recommendations for preparing lutes in 1766 with those of Le Fevre in 1670 or 

Lavoisier in 1789 shows far more similarities than 

differences.•'^i Because of the technical problem involved, individual pieces of apparatus had to be 

closely coupled, with one piece joined to another 

by means of short, strong connections and, therefore, heavy joints. As a result, the apparatus of this 

period has an awkward appearance to anyone familiar with its modern counterparts. As Lavoisier's 

elegant and expensive later apparatus ^- shows, this 

was not due to a lack of design ingenuity. But 

until the development of extrusion processes for 

glass and rubber in the mid-nineteenth century 

made standardized rubber and glass tubing possible, the construction of more complicated apparatus remained a special problem. 

Along with glassware and hardware, the chemist 

of this period usually had at his disposal a number 

of chemical reagents. In the ordinary laboratory 

one might expect to find all of the common mineral acids: vitriolic (sulfuric), nitrous (nitric), and 

marine (hydrochloric).^^ Similarly, the common 

alkalis were useful to have on hand, including solutions of alkalis rendered caustic by treatment with 

quicklime (which changed the carbonates to hydroxides). Such solutions would include vegetable 

alkali (potassium carbonate), mineral alkali or 

soda (sodium carbonate), fixed alkali of tartar 

(also potassium carbonate), and vegetable alkali 

(ammonia). 

Limewater (calcium hydroxide) and quicklime 

(calcium oxide), although not classed as alkalis ar 

the time, were common reagents. Of substances 

which now would be classed as organic reagents, 

there were distilled vinegar (which contained acetic 

acid), vitriolic ether (diethyl ether), oils of various 

substances including turpentine and olives, soap, 

and, of course, the purest and most highly rectified 

(i.e., having undergone several distillations) spirit 

of wine (ethanol). 

Common sulfur and as many metals and semimetals as possible also were required. 

This selection of materials was sufficient to prepare a large niunber of common compounds, particularly neutral salts. Some of these compounds, 

particularly those that were commonly available 

from the apothecary shop, probably would have 

been on hand in most laboratories. These would 

include common salt, alum, borax, blue and green 

vitriol (copper and iron sulfates), sedative salt (boric 
NUMBER 33 13 

acid), sal ammoniac (ammonium chloride), chalk 

(calcium carbonate), marble (also calcium carbonate), sand, and such common industrial chemicals as ceruse (lead carbonate), minium (red lead 

oxide, PbgOi), litharge (yellow lead oxide, PbO) 

and corrosive sublimate (mercuric chloride). 

In addition to these reagents, several substances 

had come into standard use for definitive tests for 

the presence of important compounds or classes of 

compounds. Many of these tests for acids and alkalis had been invented or compiled by Robert Boyle. 

T h e substances most commonly used in these tests 

were oak galls, turnsole, and syrup of violets.^^ 

Besides physical appointments and reagents, a 

number of recognized procedures were a standard 

part of the laboratory repertoire of the eighteenthcentury chemist. For convenience we classify these 

as preparative, reactive, separative, and purificative 

and will treat them in that order.5'' 

Solids usually were first prepared by "division' : 

a separation of the parts of the substances by 

purely mechanical means. Then, as now, the purpose was to facilitate solution or to speed u p a reaction being carried out "in the dry way" by increasing the surface area. Another term for this 

separation was "trituration" although more often 

it was used to signify grinding or pulverizing several substances simultaneously to prepare mixtures 

for reaction in the dry way. Metals were divided 

by pouring the molten metal slowly into water that 

was continuously agitated. This resulted in small 

particles or shot. Filing also was possible, but it 

was not recommended because of the possibility of 

introducing iron impurities. 

Soluble substances often were put into solution 

directly by "extraction": the separation of a substance from a mixture by means of a solvent or 

"menstruum." If no heat were involved, the product of this process was called an infusion; if the 

solids and solvent were heated, the result was a 

"decoction." Other processes related to these included "maceration," which was essentially the 

same as infusion, and "digestion," which, though 

sometimes used in a way similar to decoction, 

usually implied a spontaneous reaction that needed 

the aid of prolonged moderate heat.^** Digestion, 

often carried out in the matrass, was felt to be 

"useful to favor the action of certain substances 

upon each other." ^'' It also was used as a preparative procedure "to soften and open certain bodies," 

especially in the animal and vegetable realms. 

Organic liquids also were prepared by the purely 

mechanical method of "expression" or squeezing 

in a press. 

A solution that might be too dilute when first 

prepared would have to be concentrated by evaporation in large open earthen dishes or, in some 

cases, by distillation. Th e term "dephlemation" 

was used synonymously with "concentration" for 

removing excess watery parts of a solution, but it 

often had the specific meaning of making an acid 

more concentrated. 

Although there were no adequate criteria for 

purity, there was a sense of freeing a substance or 

separating it from unwanted foreign bodies. Thus, 

when a chemist separated a solid substance from 

acids by washing it with cold water, the process 

was known as "edulcoration." It was preferable to 

have an insoluble solid for this operation, but with 

care even a somewhat soluble substance could be 

made milder in this way. 

Some reactions proceeded spontaneously to a 

satisfactory product, but for those that did not the 

chemist had recourse to several reactive processes. 

Perhaps the best known was "calcination," a general term for exposing a solid reactant to the action of fire to produce some change in it. Less well 

known is the fact that the term calcination also 

was applied somewhat loosely to a variety of operations in which volatile principles were carried off 

but not collected as they were in distillation. Such 

a process was regarded as intermediate between the 

physical and chemical. In this sense, calcination 

could be carried out in the absence of air, although 

the presence of air was recommended since it had 

the ability to mix with and help carry off volatile 

matters.^^ 

In the sense that calcination involved a destruction of the properties of a substance through the 

loss of an essential component, "reduction" (or 

"revivification") was its opposite. Reduction was 

the restoration of the substance to its natural state. 

As in calcination, reduction usually referred to 

metals. Th e calx was believed to have lost phlogiston, so the obvious cure was to restore the phlogiston by action with a substance that was rich in 

this principle. Carbon was the common choice for 

restoring phlogiston to metals, but other substances such as liver of sulphur could be employed 

in reactions involving relatively small quantities 

of calx. As with calcination, there was a second 

sense of the term "reduction." Tha t term also 
14 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

meant the restoration of a substance to its natural 

state through a removal of heterogenous matters 

which had combined with the original substance 

to alter or mask its natural state.^'^ 

Another important process was "dulcification" 

in which caustic and corrosive substances were 

rendered "milder" by being combined with another 

substance. Instead of thinking of this process as 

producing an entirely new substance—a product per 

se—most chemists viewed it as a method for varying the properties of the original substance which, 

though still present after the process was complete, 

was to their intents and purposes harmless.^" 

Aside from simple heating and distillation, further reactions in the liquid state were performed 

by "cohobation," which is analogous to the modern 

method of refluxing. We have noted this process 

before in the discussion of the apparatus known 

as the pelican. It was not recognized at this time 

that the reaction really occurred in the vapor phase 

as the vapors went through the evaporation and 

condensation cycle. For early chemists the primary 

virtue of the process appears to have been the 

length of time it took. By the eighteenth century, 

however, the mystical advantages which surrounded any long-term process seem to have lost 

their charms somewhat, for Macquer commented 

that cohobation "is one of those operations which 

the ancient chemists practised with great patience 

and zeal, and which are now neglected." ^^ Sad to 

say, this may have been because "the modern chemists have not so much patience as the ancient chemists had for making long experiments.""- A second 

use for cohobation, and one which was not so neglected, was for dissolving a substance which normally went into solution with difficulty. 

T h e process known as "detonation" was used not 

only to describe reactions of explosive force but 

also to apply to the often spectacular and violent 

inflammation of nitre with various combustible 

substances."^^ 

T h e increasing importance of solution chemistry 

is reflected in the fact that "precipitation" was regarded as a true reaction (i.e., a process in which 

a new substance was formed). Indeed, Macquer 

saw precipitation as "one of the most general and 

most important oj^erations of chemistry." ^'^ It was 

seen as a chemical decomposition caused by an 

intermediate substance. 

Once a reaction was complete, it usually was 

necessary to separate the products from the reaction solution, if any, or from each other. In the 

case of liquid products, or a solid-liquid mixture, 

the usual choice was distillation, still attractive 

albeit venerable. 

If there were only one liquid product, or if the 

supernatant liquid which remained after the completion of a reaction were required for further 

work, "decantation" was used. Although distillation 

has acquired a considerable sophistication over the 

years, decantation has not; thus, decantation provides a methodological link with eighteenth-century 

chemistry. 

A more bothersome but more complete method 

than decantation for separating liquids from solids 

was (as now) "filtration." ^'' Standard commercial 

paper (classified then by color—brown, white, or 

gray), free from paste or sizing, was used. If a large 

quantity was to be filtered, various kinds of cloth 

stretched over a wooden frame were preferred. 

Caustic substances represented a greater problem. 

Sand could be used for these if one were willing 

to put up with great difficulty in recovering the 

desired solid substances after filtration. If a noncorrosive substance was difficult to filter, it was 

heated to make the liquid less thick. 

In a mixture (or sometimes even a substance 

assumed to be a compound) in which the soluble 

portion was desired, the process of "lixiviation" 

was used. This process consisted of treating the 

substance with a menstruum for a rather Ions: 

period of time and then separating the solution 

from any remaining solids. It is not clear what criteria differentiate lixiviation from infusion, although in the latter the mixture often was prepared for use in another reaction rather than just 

to prepare a liquid product.**•'• 

If the liquid part of the solution was of little 

interest, the solid might be collected by "evaporation to dryness" in large open dishes. This process 

differed from crystallization in that the latter usually was used for purification. 

T h e problem of "purification" loomed large in 

eighteenth-century chemistry. Purification was defined as "any chemical operation by which substances required to be obtained pure and single are 

.separated from other heterogeneous matters with 

which they happen to be mixed." But the operational criteria by which a body could be judged 

pure were ill-defined at best. Th e process of purification used almost all of the other processes of 
NUMBER 33 15 

chemistry, but particularly "rectification," "sublimation," and "crystallization." 

Rectification simply was repeated distillation. 

Chemists had long recognized that liquids such as 

spirit of wine (ethanol) came over free from 

obvious foreign particles in the first phases of distillation.c^ Thus, Baume, for example, could recommend that the first fifteen or so pints of the 

distillate from 300 pints of aqua vitae (crude alcohol 

from fermentation) could be regarded as spirit of 

wine in the purest form possible."^ Th e only criteria mentioned to test the effectiveness of the 

rectification of spirit of wine involved sight, smell, 

and taste. Ther e was no chemical test felt to be 

reliable at that time.*59 

Although technically one could have used the 

boiling point to test the quality of liquid substances 

such as spirit of wine, the thermometer was not 

commonly found in chemical laboratories of the 

eighteenth century. While processes that required 

control of heat were difficult in conjunction with 

furnaces, as we have noted, they were hardly impossible. Yet in spite of several suggestions for its 

use, the thermometer was not employed even in 

distillation.•^o In fact, the thermometer, like the 

ordinary analytical balance, was not even given an 

entry in the first edition of Macquer's Dictionnaire, 

although by that rather late date (1766) adequate 

thermometers had long been available. 

In spite of the lack of adequate criteria for determining purity, to obtain pure substances in many 

cases was possible because a numbe r of the inherent 

physical properties of the processes could produce 

nearly pure substances if reasonable care were 

taken. Distillation, as mentioned above, was one 

such process; another was "sublimation." Although 

that term now refers to the production of the 

vapor phase directly from a solid, in the eighteenth 

century it had a wider meaning. Sublimation included, for example, reactive processes in which 

all volatile matter driven off from solids was 

chemically combined in the vapor phase and collected separately as it condensed. Th e term sometimes even described the production of volatile substances which condensed as liquids, but the terminology was not entirely consistent here and such 

processes usually were simply called distillation. 

T h e primary technical problem in sublimation 

was removing the product after it had condensed 

as a solid. If the solid product were soluble, there 

was little difficulty; if it were not soluble, however, 

the condensing apparatus sometimes had to be 

broken to remove the product.'^ ^ 

Certainly the most important purificative process 

was "crystallization." As we know now, most substances crystallize out of solution in an almost pure 

form. In many cases this is true even in a mixture 

of salts, although the problems become much more 

complicated. In general, however, if the crystallization is stopped well before the solution is evaporated 

to dryness, the principal component in the crystallized solid mass will be the substance which is least 

soluble. In rare cases where two or more of the substances in the solution are isomorphic, a mixed 

species such as alum can be formed, but if other 

processes are available for purification such mixed 

crystals can be detected. Excluding this problem, 

repeated crystallization was, then, perhaps the best 

method of obtaining pure solids, and particularly 

salts. 

Ther e is, of course, more to crystallization than 

evaporation. Ther e is a strong temperature dependence in the solubility of many salts, so that one salt 

may crystallize out of a given solution at one temperature but another will do so later at a lower 

temperature. Concentration is a factor as well. 

Eighteenth-century chemists were well aware of 

these factors in crystallization. Macquer recommended repeated crystallizations as the primary 

method for obtaining pure salts.'''- T o separate mixtures of two salts, Antoine Baume used various 

properties which offset crystallization. Th e paradigm case was a mixture of nitre (potassium nitrate) and sea-salt (sodium chloride). Depending 

on the relative concentrations of these two salts, 

Baume's method of alternately evaporating and 

cooling the solution to encourage the crystallization of first sea-salt and then nitre produced not 

only a separation but nearly pure salts as well. Th e 

difficult properties of the solution aptly illustrate 

Baume's ingenuity in separating the desired products. "'••'^ 

T h e process of alternately cooling and evaporating to separate out fractions of NaCl and KNO;^ 

must, of course, be repeated a number of times before either fraction can be regarded as pure. 

Thus properly armed with a vocabulary and a picture of the eighteenth-century chemist's tools and 

surroundings, we may consider examples of chemical research in that period. Th e first is a short work 

by the masterful German chemist A.-S. Marggiaf 

(1709-1782). In 1746 Marggraf reported the sue-
16 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

cess of some attempts to dissolve silver and mercury 

in such weak vegetable acids as vinegar, Rhine 

wine, and citron.'''^ 

Early investigations on the nature of phosphorous had led Marggraf to the discovery of various 

ammoniacal salts from urine. These salts would 

react with silver and gold to produce precipitates 

which in turn could be dissolved in some of the salts 

of strong acids. It was reasonable, then, for Marggraf to see if these and other alkaline precipitates, 

which were thought to be related to these salts from 

urine, could be dissolved in the weaker vegetable 

acids. 

Although this was a logical, if minor, step in 

Margraf's investigations, his style and organization 

make the paper appear to be a self-motivated unit. 

This standard practice often makes it difficult, of 

course, to determine the motivation for a given 

piece of work. Marggraf tied it to the claims of 

such earlier chemists as Borrichius, Becher, and 

Henckel that the precious metals, properly treated, 

could be dissolved in vinegar.'^'^ Of these, only a 

chemist named Kessler gave definite instructions on 

the procedure, and Marggiaf's careful repetition of 

Kessler's manipulations gave a product which, when 

tested by the usual methods, showed no sign of 

silver. 

But our goal here must be to understand Marggraf's procedure in detail, looking over his shoulder as it were.''''' Marggiaf began by preparing a 

solution of silver in the conventional way, dissolving 

it in nitric acid solution. But Marggraf's elaborate 

efforts to insure that the silver be "the purest and 

very free of copper" were definitely not conventional. Similarly, he demanded that the spirit of 

nitre be of the "best purity," the water distilled, 

and the vinegar used in a later operation not only 

to be distilled but concentrated by the glacial 

method. 

T o the silver solution, Marggraf added a specially 

prepared solution of the salt of urine (primarily 

ammonia) drop by drop until no more precipitate 

was formed. Th e precipitate was yellow, and Marggraf edulcorated it "perfectly" with boiling distilled 

water and separated it out (perhaps by filtering). 

He then let it go to dryness. 

One dram of the precipitate was divided into a 

fine powder in mortar and pestle and transferred 

to a narrow-mouth bottle. Four ounces of distilled 

vinegar, "perfectly" concentrated,'^''' was jDOured in 

and the mixture of solids and solvent was digested 

in a sand bath until "coction." Th e mixture was 

allowed to cool and then was filtered. Th e procedure was repeated on the solids, this time with six 

ounces of the vinegar. 

Marggraf then concentrated the solution in a 

glass retort down to I14 ounces. It was now the 

characteristic gray-brown of a finely divided silver 

suspension, which was Marggraf's interpretation 

of the result. Filtering the mixture to remove the 

suspended silver once again, he found the liquor 

to be yellowish. 

T h e remaining yellow solids, which had not dissolved in the vinegar, were edulcorated in boiling 

water, dried, and weighed. They had decreased in 

weight "by one scruple and several grains." 

But weighing was, for Marggraf, only an indirect 

test for dissolution. For a direct test for the presence of silver, he added common salt. Th e precipitate proved to be good horn silver (silver chloride). In addition, two other tests—reducing the 

silver with a blowpipe and precipitating it through 

displacement with solid copper—provided further 

confirming evidence in case anyone doubted the 

first results.'^** 

T h e strategy of this investigation is quite straightforward. Marggraf had produced the precipitate of 

silver before. He had dissolved it with various dissolving agents before. Clearly the compound had 

reactive properties which the metal, a notably inert 

substance, did not have. "Everything lies," he said, 

"in the exact preparation of the silver precipitate; 

it is this [process] which prepares this metal to 

allow entry to the vegetable acids." '^ 

T o maximize the likelihood of dissolution, Marsfgraf divided the precipitate into a fine powder. T o 

further aid the hoped-for dissolution, he digested 

it thoroughly. In case the precipitate were only 

slightly soluble, Marggraf would repeat the process. 

In either case, he then concentrated the resulting 

solution. Great care was taken throughout to use 

pure substances in order to minimize the possibility 

for unknown side reactions which might inhibit or 

mask any dissolution. Finally, out of elegance as 

much as caution, Marggraf used not one but three 

tests to demonstrate beyond any doubt the presence 

of the silver. 

In his insistence on purity and his care in developing evidence, Marggraf must be seen as rather an 

exception. His attention to details and the care in 

which he wrapped even such a relatively simple 

investigation as this suggest that we should view 
NUMBER 33 17 

his work as the upper boundary in elegant chemical analysis. Moreover, although more complicated 

examples of Marggraf's work could be analyzed, this 

particular piece of work is not as pedestrian as it 

might at first seem. Dissolution was becoming 

more and more important as chemistry moved 

away from simple distillation analysis and the limited method of performing reactions in the dry 

way. T o do reactions in solution one must, obviously enough, get the reactants into solution. Moreover, the solubility properties of a substance were 

an important defining characteristic. Many chemists, notably those who admired Stahlian chemistry, 

saw dissolution (quite properly) as a reaction, i.e., as 

a chemical rather than a physical process. At any 

rate, solubility was used at least implicitly as a defining characteristic for a chemical species. 

Although it is not really fair to compare English 

chemists of that time with Marggraf or with any of 

a dozen or so skillful French scientists, one ought 

to look at one example of English chemistry for 

the sake of completeness if nothing else. T o soften 

the blow to English pride a bit, for our second 

example of eighteenth-century chemical research 

we consider an excellent piece of work by William 

Lewis (1708-1781).80 Lewis was widely read in 

chemistry, including pharmacy. He translated and 

rearranged the lectures of Stahl's pupil and follower, 

Caspar Neumann, into English and thus was instrumental in carrying phlogiston chemistry to 

England.81 

Sometime in the early 1750s, Lewis obtained a 

sample of the substance usually called platina, a 

heterogeneous mixture of ore residues from certain gold ores in the Spanish West Indies. Th e 

analysis of ore samples was one of the most common and important tasks of the eighteenth-century 

chemist. Orderly and controlled, Lewis' approach 

to the analysis can be viewed as reflecting organization and training rather than genius. This particular investigation also has intrinsic interest as one 

of the first studies on platinum in English.^2 

T h e so-called platina (Spanish, "little silver") 

was identified physically as "white shining grains" 

of definite crystalline figure. By physical means the 

investigators separated the grains from the heterogeneous mixture of granular mineral matter. T o 

clean the separated grains chemically, Lewis chose 

the (German) industrial technique for cleaning 

metals by treating them first with aqua fortis (nitric 

acid) and then with sal ammoniac (ammonium 

chloride) rather than with aqua regia directly. Th e 

intent was the same: to cleanse the metal of 

foreign chemical matter by a reaction in solution. 

Lewis determined the most important physical 

parameter—specific gravity—for both the cleaned 

grains and the heterogeneous mixture. Other 

physical characteristics such as malleability and 

friability also were tested. Also, there was some 

evidence of magnetic properties. 

Fire was the chemist's most basic tool, and it 

usually was the first treatment for any metal or ore. 

Lewis' approach was no exception. Gradually increasing the quantity and duration of the fire, Lewis 

attempted without success to fuse (melt) the metallic substance.83 After using the hottest fire he could 

obtain, he subjected the platina grains to various 

reducing mixtures, then in increasing order of 

effectiveness, to all the fluxes commonly used. Such 

techniques came from a long history of metallurgy, 

of melting and reducing hard metals and refractory ores. When they failed, as they did, it was clear 

to Lewis that he was seeking a metal unlike any 

which had been seen before. 

Having exhausted the efficiency of fire, Lewis 

"proposed to examine the effect of acid spirits, 

simple and compound, applied after various manners." Clearly these substances served him as chemical instruments to define the nature of the new 

metal, "to determine not only its relation or habitus to them, but likewise its less obvious agreement 

or disagreement with the metallic bodies, whose 

history is more known." Although Lewis does not 

specify the specific gravity of his acids or the 

amount of dilution, it is highly probable that he 

was using well-defined solutions, "both concentrated, and diluted with different proportions of 

water.84 Usually even the most refractory substances, save gold, yielded to one of the three mineral acids or to such related compounds as nitre or 

corrosive sublimate (mercuric chloride). But no 

mode of application of these substances, dilute or 

concentrated, cool or boiling, could affect the 

platina. 

As with many contemporary chemists testing the 

effects of both fire and acids, Lewis used change in 

weight of reactants when seeking positive indication that a chemical process had occurred. 

Lewis' conclusion after applying these techniques 

for fusing or dissolving gold was that the platina 

was "nearly as ponderous as gold [and] equally 

fixed and permanent in the fire" 85 and that 
1! SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

"equally with gold [it] resists the force of the vitriolic, marine and nitrous acids, tho' apply'd in such 

a manner as to be capable of perfectly dissolving 

all other known metallic bodies." 8c 

The array of techniques used by Lewis gave further indications that the new metal was similar to 

gold. It was not affected by sulphur and nitre, but it 

dissolved in liver of sulphur.87 

The next logical step for anyone who suspected 

that this strange metal had properties analogous 

to those of gold would be to subject it to the gentle 

persuasion of aqua regia.^^ It worked! It worked 

for every variety and dilution of that gieat solvent. 

But more important than the new knowledge that 

platina had yet another of gold's properties was the 

actual existence of a solution of the new metal. 

The reason for Lewis' perseverance and energetic 

pursuit of a solvent soon becomes apparent. Since 

gold clearly seemed an appropriate substance 

against which the new metal could be compared, 

what more could a chemist ask than to continue 

the comparative process by utilizing the extensive 

solution chemistry of gold? For economic reasons, 

few substances had been subjected to such intensive study as gold, but for chemical reasons these 

labors had produced little of interest to the philosophical chemist. Now at last a new substance had 

arrived which cried out for comparison to and contrast with the long-known reactions of gold. Certainly a situation which would send any chemist— 

save those whose operations were limited to the 

"salon"—to his bottles and bench. 

Thus Lewis ran quickly through the standard 

gold reactions but used dissolved platinum instead 

of gold solution. Hot marble, skin, feathers, and 

ivory did not stain as they did in the gold solution. 

These hoary and honorable indicator tests for gold 

would not serve for platina. There was a reaction 

with tin plates, however, though nothing like the 

distinctive purple tint which characterized solution 

of gold. The solution turned a rather disappointing 

olive brown, letting down a reddish brown precipitate and then losing its color again. Altogether, it 

was not a satisfactory result; that is, it was not a 

result on which he could establish a definitive test 

for use by later investigators. 

But on balance, the similarities and differences 

between the solution chemistry of gold and platina 

were enough to provide the all-important operational definition of the new substance. Aside from 

the properties discussed above, Lewis wrote that 

it differs from gold .. . in not being revived from its solutions by inflammable spirits, not being totally precipitible by 

alcaline sales: that in certain circumstances [platina] throws 

out gold from its solutions that platine is precipitated 

from its solutions by the vitriolic acid, and by the metallic 

substances, which precipitated gold, though scarcely totally 

by any; And that its precipitates resist vitrification and this 

perhaps in a more perfect manner than precipitates of gold 

itself.*" 

Specifically, these observations from experiment 

were able to afford "means of distinguishing a small 

proportion of gold mixed with a large one of platina, or a small proportion of platina mixed with a 

large one of gold." Since the latter condition was 

common in nature, the result was most useful. One 

thing was certain from these investigations: "the 

common methods of assaying or purifying gold by 

aqua fortis, aqua regis, or the regal cement can no 

longer be depended on." ^^ 

Continuing in a metallurgical vein, Lewis explored the relationship between platina and each 

of the other known metals and nonmetals. The 

most startling general result was that, in spite of 

its refractory nature, the platina melted into each 

of the metals, "occasioning remarkable alterations 

in their colour, texture and hardness." ^'^ The 

many and varied metallurgical properties of platina, though interesting, added little to what has 

already been said. They did, however, serve to define the new metal better. 

Our third example of chemical research of the 

period is an investigation carried out by a French 

chemist. Compared to the work of Marggraf and 

Lewis, it is somewhat more complex in its techniques, both in terms of apparatus and operations. 

The author was Francois de Tellier, Marquis de 

Courtanvaux (1718-1781), and the subject was the 

synthesis of "marine ether" (ethyl chloride). 

The reactions of vitriolic acid and nitrous acid 

on spirit of wine to produce vitriolic ether (diethyl 

ether) and nitrous ether (ethyl nitrate) led naturally to attempts to produce a marine either with 

marine acid and spirit of wine. But a number of 

chemists, including Baume, had only slightly encouraging results with the simple and direct approach of mixing the two substances and then 

distilling.'^^ £)g Courtanvaux applied the reasonable 

next step—the use of a preparation that included 

the marine acid, the "fuming liquor of Libavius." 

His explanation for this choice was plausible. Because they were extremely volatile, spirit of wine 

and spirit of salt could not take on the degree of 
NUMBER 33 19 

heat necessary to let the combination be made 

simply and directly. The tin in the fuming liquor 

gave it a greater density and weight, causing it "to 

take on a greater degree [amount] of heat during 

the distillation than spirit of salt alone. This brings 

a greater activity to the decomposition of the spirit 

of wine, and consequently to the formation of the 

ether." ^^ Whether that reasoning was a priori or 

ad hoc is difficult to say. Certainly it is possible that 

de Courtanvaux hit upon the fuming liquor of 

Libavius after trying a number of substances containing spirit of salt. Moreover, this substance was 

known at the time as a good source of marine 

acid.94 

De Courtanvaux revealed his theoretical sympathies by preparing the fuming liquor according to 

the method of Stahl.^s Adding small portions of a 

known weight of the fuming liquor to a known 

volume of spirit of wine and mixing carefully after 

each hissing, boiling, smoking bit of the reaction 

subsided, de Courtanvaux found himself with a 

retort partially full of hot, amber liquid. As receivers, he fitted two balloons, apparently in tandem, 

to the neck of the retort.^^ The second balloon 

had a tubulature for pressure relief. The jointure 

was made by using the fat lute, strengthened with 

linen strips soaked in quicklime and egg white. 

For the best condensation possible, each balloon 

was fitted into a shallow earthenware vessel by 

sitting it on the handy ubiquitous straw ronds 

or woven rings and fastening the neck with cord 

across the open top. Crushed ice cooled the lower 

part of each balloon while ice-cold towels (changed 

every few minutes) performed the same service for 

the exposed areas. 

To distill the ether, de Courtanvaux heated the 

retort in a sand bath. The air in the apparatus was 

allowed to escape until there was a distinct odor 

of spirit of wine, then the tubulature of the second 

balloon was sealed. In the actual experiment, the 

ice was added after this last step. Using these procedures, de Courtanvaux could do most of his distillation without having to open the system. The technical reason for this was that the liquid condensing 

in the balloon kept the pressure at low level. 

When the chemist judged that it was time to relieve the pressure in the balloon, de Courtanvaux 

recommended that he put a bottle over the mouth 

of the tubulature in the second flask "to evaluate 

the loss approximately." ^"^ 

The mixture in the retort had the nasty habit of 

boiling up suddenly if the heat were allowed to 

rise too high. To control this, de Courtanvaux 

would open some of the flues in the furnace and 

drop the fire, or rearrange or remove some of the 

sand around the flask. 

When no more vapor seemed to be coming over, 

the vessels were cooled, unluted, and their contents combined. The "ether non-purifi^" weighed 

one pound, two ounces, six gros. Also, there were 

one ounce of an oily liquid and two pounds fourteen ounces of residue. But this product was highly 

acidic, and to obtain a pure ether it had to be 

neutralized by adding base until blue indicator 

paper no longer turned red. The neutral solution 

then was rectified in the usual way by distilling it 

several times. From two pounds of the "impure" 

ether (the additional amount was from another 

preparation), only one pound two ounces of the 

purified marine ether was finally obtained. 

The procedure described above was the one 

which gave the maximum yield. Departures from 

the quantities of reactants, from the procedures, or 

even from the apparatus gave poorer yields of 

ether. 

On analysis, de Courtanvaux found that the residue was a butter of tin (primarily stannic chloride) 

with excess acid ("surabondance d'acide").^8 

By any reasonable standards, the Marquis de 

Courtanvaux had done in admirable piece of 

work; and the same must be said of Lewis and the 

incomparable Marggraf. But there is more to these 

investigations than demonstrations of the impressive skill of some eighteenth-century chemists. Not 

only chemical theory but chemical epistomology was 

being changed and refined at the hands—literally 

—of such men. In choosing to work with solutions, 

in accepting precipitations and liquid color 

changes as reliable indications of the presence of a 

chemical species, in developing operations whose 

purpose was to define substances in terms of their 

relationship with other substances rather than the 

unitary operations so common to classical distillation analysis—in all these things, such men were 

effecting a change in the old order. 

Moreover, many of the features seen here—such 

as measuring and weighing, giving some attention 

to purity, performing a series of operations on a 

given substance, and a fairly sophisticated approach to handling "vapours" or other subtile, 

elastic fluids—were, if not the rule, at least not the 

exception. Since these characteristics are usually 

associated with the chemistry of Lavoisier, they 

are particularly worthy of note. 
A Dictionary of British 

Eighteenth-Century Chemical Terms 

Just as Samuel Johnson pointed out that no dictionary of a living language 

can be perfect, so it must be argued that no dictionary for a living historical 

discipline will initially be complete or free from errors. Th e purpose of our 

dictionary is to make it easier for students to become acquainted with an esoteric 

and often confused nomenclature in order to more clearly interpret the technical 

activities of eighteenth-century chemists. This first effort is not truly multilingual, 

though it includes Latin and French phrases that were common in British 

journals and treatises. Those who wish to determine French and German equivalents usually can do so by finding parallel sections in the French, English, and 

German editions of Macquer's original Dictionnaire de Chymie,^^ though it is 

hoped that an expanded, multilingual edition may be prepared for publication 

sometime in the future. In any event, readers are encouraged to communicate 

additions and corrections to the present dictionary. 

For a full discussion of the significance of chemical nomenclature in the 

history of chemistry, the reader is urged to consult Maurice Crosland's classic 

Historical Studies in the Language of Chemistry.^^'^ 

ABSORBENT EARTHS: Chalk, marble, and clays. No 

specific formulas. Generally carbonates, silicates, 

and sulfates. 

ACESUNT: Any substance which is slightly acid, or 

turning sour. 

AcETATED EARTHS, METALS, ETC.: Acetates 

(-C^H.Oo-). 

ACETOUS ACID: Impure acetic acid from vinegar. 

ACETUM: Referring to vinegar, or to a compound 

made from vinegar, as in "acetum radicatum." 

ACID AIR (Priestley): Hydrogen chloride (HCl). 

ACID FROM ANTS: Formic acid (HCOOH). 

ACID, NITRI PHLOGISTIC: See Nitrous Air. 

ACID OF AMBER: Succinic acid 

(CiHcO^). 

ACID OF APPLES: Malic acid (C^HfjO-,). 

ACID OF ARSENIC: Arsenic acid (HgAsOj). 

ACID OF BARBERRY: Malic acid. 

ACID OF BENZOIN: Benzoic acid (CeHrjCOOH). 

ACID OF BORAX: Boric acid (H3BO3). 

ACID OF BURNING SULPHUR: Sulfurous acid (HoSO-,). 

ACID OF FLOUR SPAR: Hydrofluoric acid (mixed 

usually with silicon fluoride) (HF; SiF4). 

ACID OF LEMONS: Citric acid (CcHgO^). 

ACID OF MILK: Lactic acid (CgH^Os) 

ACID OF MILK-SUGAR: Mucic acid 

(COOH (CHOH)4COOH). 

ACID OF MOLYBDAENA: Molybdic acid (HoMoO^). 

ACID OF NITRE: Nitric acid (HNO3). 

ACID OF PHOSPHORUS: Phosphoric acid (H3NO4). 

ACID OF SALT: Hydrochloric acid (HCl). 

ACID OF SEA-SALT: Hydrochloric acid, alone, or in 

a compound (i.e., the C\- radical). 

ACID OF SORREL: Oxalic acid (COOH COOH). 

ACID OF SUGAR: Oxalic acid (COOH COOH). 

ACID OF TAMARINDS: Tartaric acid (C4HCO6). 

ACID OF TARTAR: Tartaric acid. 

ACID OF URINE: Phosphoric acid (H3PO4). 

ACID OF VINEGAR: Acetic acid (CH3COOH). 

ACID OF VITRIOL: Sulfuric acid (H0SO4). 

ACIDUM AEREUM: Carbon dioxide (COo). 

ACIDUM MEPHITICUM: Carbon dioxide (COo). 

ACIDUM PINGUE: J. F. Meyer's hypothesized "fatty 

acid." 

ACIDUM SACCHARI: Oxalic acid (COOH COOH). 

ACID VITRIOLATED TARTAR: Potassium hydrogen 

sulphate (KHSO4). 

ADOPTERS: Small, circular vessels with a necked 

20 
NUMBER 33 21 

opening and a spout opposite. They were connected between the distilling head and the 

receiver. See text, page 11. 

ADURATION: A union or combination into one. 

AERATED ALKALI: Any alkali carbonate (e.g., 

K2CO3). 

"AERATED" COMPOUNDS (Bergman): Carbonates 

(-CO3-2). 

AERATED LIME: Calcium carbonate (CaC03). 

AERATED WATER: Water containing dissolved carbon dioxide. 

A ER HEPATICUS: Hydrogen sulfide (HoS). 

AERIAL ACID: Carbon dioxide (COo). 

AERUGO (AERUCA) (RUST OF COPPER): See Verdigris. 

A ER URINOSUM: Ammonia (NH3). 

AETHIOPS MERCURIALES: See Aethiops Mineralis. 

AETHIOPS MINERALIS (AETHIOPS MERCURIALES): 

Black mercuric sulphide (HoS). 

AIR: Generally, any substance in gaseous state. 

A IR (Priestley): A gaseous substance which could 

not be liquified by cold. 

AIR, DEPHLOGISTICATED: Oxygen (Oo). 

AIR, FIXED: Carbon dioxide (COo). 

AIR, HEPATIC: Hydrogen sulphide (HoS). 

AIR, INFLAMMABLE: Hydrogen (Ho). 

AIR, MARINE ACID: Hydrogen chloride (HCl). 

AIR, MEPHITIC: Carbon dioxide (COo). 

AIR, PHLOGISTICATED: Nitrogen (N2). 

AIR, VITAL: Oxygen (Oo). 

AIR OF FLOUR SPAR: Hydrofluoric acid gas (usually 

with silicon fluoride) (HF). 

AIR OF VITRIOL: Sulphur dioxide (SOo). 

ALAUNERDE: Alumina (AloOg). 

ALCOHOL: Usually spirit of wine (CH3CH0OH) 

(sometimes ajiy very fine powder). 

ALEMBIC: A type of distillation apparatus. See text, 

page 9. 

ALEXIPHARMIC: A remedy or preservative against 

poison. 

ALICANT KELP: Crude sodium carbonate (NaoCOa). 

ALK. MIN . VITRIOL: Sodium sulphate (Na2S04). 

ALKAHEST: Originally, the universal solvent (alchemical term). 

ALKAHEST GLAUBERI: See Fixed vegetable alkali 

(K0CO3). 

ALKAHEST OF REAPOUR: See Fixed vegetable alkali 

(K2CO3). 

ALKAHEST OF VAN HELMONT (GLAUBER'S ALKAHEST): 

Concentrated potassium carbonate (K0CO3). 

ALKALESCENT: Any substance which is slightly alkaline or turning alkaline. 

ALKALI, CAUSTIC: Hydroxides ( —OH-). 

ALKALI, COMMON MINERAL: Sodium carbonate 

(NaoCOa • lOHoO). 

ALKALI, CONCRETE VOLATILE: Ammonium carbonate (NH4)oC03). 

ALKALI, FOSSIL: Sodium carbonate (NaoCOa). 

ALKALI, MARINE: Sodium carbonate (NaoCOg). 

ALKALI, MILD: Carbonates ( —CO3). 

ALKALI, VEGETABLE, FIXED: Potassium carbonate 

(K0CO3). 

ALKALI, VEGETABLE, MILD: Potassium carbonate 

(K0CO3). 

ALKALI, VOLATILE: Ammonia (NH3). 

ALKALI OF SODA: Sodium carbonate (NaoCOs). 

ALKALI OF TARTAR: Potassium carbonate (K0CO3). 

ALKALI OF WIN E LEES: Potassium carbonate 

(K0CO3). 

ALKALI VEG. SALITUM: Potassium chloride (KCl). 

ALKALI VEG. VITRIOLAT.: Potassium sulphate 

(K2SO4). 

ALKALINE AIR (Priestley): Ammonia gas (NH3). 

ALKALIZED NITRE: See Fixed Nitre. 

ALLAY: Alloy. 

ALLONGE: See Adopters. 

ALTERANT: Anything which alters or changes the 

state of another. 

ALUDELS: A unit of a multiple-head, earthenware 

distilling apparatus. Usually used for sublimations. See text, page 11. 

ALUM: Mixed double salts of aluminum sulphate 

with potassium sodium or ammonium sulfate. 

(The potassium salt, when pure, was most commonly called "alum."). (AL (S04)3 • KoSO^ • 

24HoO); (Alo(S04)3 ' (NH4)2S04 ' 24HoO); 

(Alo (S04)3 • NaoS04 • 24HoO). 

ALUMEN: Aluminum sulfate (AL (S04)3. 

ALUMEN USTUM (BURNT ALUM): Alum dehydrated 

by heating. 

AMALGAM: Any mercury alloy. 

AMMONIACAL NITRE: Ammonium nitrate 

(NH4NO3). 

AMMONIUM FIXATUM (FIXED AMMONIAC): Th e residue on heating sal ammoniac with lime, i.e., calcium chloride (CuClo). 

AMMONIUM NITROSUM: Ammonium nitrate 

(NH4NO3). 

ANIMAL ALKALI: Ammonium carbonate ((NH4)o 

CO3). 

ANODYNE: A medicine or drug which alleviates 

pain. 
22 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

ANTICHLOR: Hydrated sodium thiosulfate (NaoSoO^ 

• 5HoO). 

ANTIMONIAL CAUSTIC: Antimony trichloride (SbClg). 

ANTIMONIUM DIAPHORETICUM: Mixture of antimony oxide and potassium antimoniate (Sbo03; 

KSbOs). 

ANTIMONY: Antimony sulfide (SboSg) (preeighteenth century). Pure antimony was called 

"regulus of antimony." 

ANTIZEUMIC: Opposed to fermentation. 

AQUA FORTIS: Concentrated nitric acid (HNO3). 

AQUA PHAGADENA or PHAGADENICA: A mixture of 

corrosive sublimate and limewater. 

AQUA REGIA: Mixture of HCl and HNO3. Various 

proportions were used, depending on the material to be dissolved. Commonly, more nitric acid 

than hydrochloric was employed. 

AQUA SECUNDA: Dilute nitric acid, often used for 

cleaning metals and minerals. 

ARDENT SPIRIT: Ethyl alcohol obtained after repeated distillations (CH3CH0OH). 

ARGILLACEOUS EARTH: Clay. 

AROMATIC OIL : Any "oil" with a sweet or exotic 

odor. Often an "essential" oil. 

ARSENIC: Arsenic trioxide (AS0O3). 

ARSENICAL SAL AMMONIAC: Ammonium arsenate 

(NH4)HAs04. 

ASH, BLACK: Impure sodium carbonate (NaoC03). 

AsH, PEARL: See Pearl Ash. 

AsH, POT: See Potash. 

ASHES OF TIN : Stannic oxide (SnOo). 

ASSAY: A quantitative determination of the metal 

in an ore or alloy. 

ATRAMENTUM: Ferrous sulfate (FeS04). 

ATTRITION: Th e action of rubbing one body against 

another; mutual friction. 

AURIPIGMENTUM: Arsenic trisulfide (AS0S3). 

AuRUM FULMINANS: An explosive gold compound 

prepared from gold dissolved in "Aqua Regia'' 

and a solution of ammonium carbonate. Th e 

exact formula is still in doubt. 

AVOLATION: Evaporation, escape, act of "flying 

away." 

AZOTE: Nitrogen (No). 

AZURE: A blue pigment from cobalt. 

AZURITE: Basic copper (cupric) carbonate 

(2CUCO3 • Cu(OH)o. 

BAKING SODA: Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCOg). 

BALLOONS: Vessels used to receive condensation 

products in distillation. See text, page 11. 

BALNEUM MARIAE: Th e water bath used for heating more delicate materials such as animal and 

vegetable matter. See text, page 7. 

BALSAM: Light oily aromatic extracts from trees 

which cure into resins. 

BARILLA: Impure soda extracted from soap-wort 

(impure NaoCOs). 

BARITE, BARYTE(S): Barium sulfate (BaSOj). 

BARYTA: Barium oxide (BaO). 

BASIS or BASE: Any substance "A" which (1) is 

dissolved by a substance "B" ; (2) receives "B" 

and "fixes" it; (3) forms a compound of "B. " 

BATH METAL: A 4:1 alloy of copper and zinc, respectively. 

BAY SALT: Sodium chloride (NaCl). 

BEAK: A tube, usually tapered, attached to a vessel 

to allow the exit of its contents. See text, page 9. 

BERLIN BLUE: Ferric ferrocyanide (Fe4[Fe (CN)(5]3. 

BERLIN GREEN: Ferric ferricyanide (Fe[Fe (CN)(j]. 

BERTHOLLET'S SALT: Potassium chlorate (KCIO3). 

BEZOARDICUM MINERALE: See Bezoar Mineral. 

BEZOAR MINERAL: Antimonic acid (H3Sb04). 

BISMUTH CORNE: Bismuth oxychloride (BiOCl). 

BITTER CATHARTIC SALT: Magnesium sulfate 

(MgS04). 

BITTER EARTH: Magnesium oxide or carbonate 

(MgO; MgCO,). 

BITTERN: Liquor remaining after salt-boiling; a 

solution containing magnesium salts. 

BITTER SALT: Magnesium sulphate (MgS04 * 

7HoO). 

BITTER SPAR: "Dolomite"—Calcium and magnesium carbonate (CaC03 • MgCOg). 

BITUMENS: An amorphous grouping of resinous and 

petroleum products: crude oil, amber, asphaltum, 

coal. 

BLACK ASH: Impure sodium carbonate (impure 

NaoC03). 

BLACK COPPER: Copper sulfide (CuS). 

BLACK FLUX: A mixed product from the deflagration of charcoal, metal filings, nitre, and excess 

tartar. 

BLACK JACK: See Blend. 

BLACK LEAD: Natural graphite of the sort used in 

pencils. 

BLACK WAD : Manganese dioxide. 

BLEND: A mineral which looks very much like 

galena (PbS) and thus sometimes called "false 

galena." Now known as sphalerite. Primarily zinc 

sulfide (ZnS). 

BLIND HEAD: Th e top portion of a distilling ap-
NUMBER 33 23 

paratus which is not equipped with a beak or 

spout. See text, page 9. 

BLUE VITRIOL: Copper sulfate (CUSO4). 

BOLE (OR BOLAR EARTH): Clays which adhere to the 

tongue when applied dry and which are colored 

yellow and red by a ferruginous (iron oxide) 

earth. 

BORAX: Sodium tetraborate (NaoB407 • lOHoO). 

BRASS; An alloy of copper and zinc. 

BRAUSTEIN: Manganese dioxide (MnOo). 

BRIMSTONE: Sulphur (S). 

BRONZE: An alloy of copper and tin. 

BuDDLiNG DISH: A flat pan or vat used in washing 

ores. 

BURNING SPIRIT OF SATURN: Impure acetone 

(CH3COCH3). 

BURNT ALUM: Exsiccated alum (AlK (S04)o. Product of heating potassium alum. 

BURNT LIME: See Quicklime. 

BUTTER OF ANTIMONY: Deliquescent antimony trichloride (SbCls). 

BUTTER OF ARSENIC: Arsenic trichloride (AsClg). 

BUTTER OF TIN : Stannic chloride (SnCl4). 

BUTTER OF ZINC: Zinc chloride (ZnClo). 

BuTYRUM ANTIMONII: See Butter of Antimony. 

CADMIA: A term used for various forms of several 

substances, including cobalt. Minerals containing 

carbonates of zinc and various compounds of 

iron, among other things, were often called cadmia or "calamine." 

CALAMINE: In its purest form, zinc carbonate 

(ZnC03). 

CALAMY (CALAMINE): Zinc carbonate (ZnC03), 

sometimes (ZnoSi04 " H2O). 

CALCAREOUS EARTH: Usually chalk (CaCOg). Also 

possible: magnesia and/o r alumina and/or 

barytes. Also lime. 

CALCARIUM POTENTIALE: Potassium carbonate 

(K0CO3). 

CALCIC LIVER OF SULFUR: Calcium sulfide (CaS). 

CALCINATION: Th e action of fire on mineral substances in which the reactants (a) often lose a 

noticeable amount of weight, (b) acquire a white 

color, (c) become friable (easily crumbled or 

pulverized). Almost always, a very high heat is 

employed. See text, page 13. 

CALCINED METALS: Oxides. 

CALCITE: Calcium carbonate (CaCOg). 

CALLUS: Any hard formation on the surface of a 

liquid or another solid. 

CALOMEL: Mercurous chloride (HgoClo). 

CALX: Any powder obtained by strongly heating a 

substance in air. Almost always an oxide. 

CALX ACETOSELL: Calcium oxalate (CaC204). 

CALX AERATA: Calcium carbonate (CaC03). 

CALX CITRATA: Calcium citrate (Cag (C6H5C7)2 ' 

4H2O). 

CALX MOLYBDAENATA: Calcium molybdate 

(CaMo04). 

CALX OF ANTIMONY: Antimony trioxide (SbsOg). 

CALX OF GOLD: Not a true compound, but small 

discolored pieces of gold formed after exposure 

to relatively high heat. 

CALX OF STONE: Calcium oxide (CaO). 

CALX PLUMBI AERATA: See White Lead. 

CALX SACCHARATA: Calcium oxalate (CaC204). 

CALX TARTARISATA: Calcium tartrate (CaC4H40o * 

4HoO). 

CALX VIVA: Quicklime (CaO). 

CAMPHIRE (CAMPHORA, CANFORA, ETC.): See Camphor. 

CAMPHOR: An aromatic extract from the sap of 

certain trees found in Brazil and the Far East. 

CAPUT MORTUM: Most commonly signifies any solid 

residue remaining after dry distillation. Sometimes used for ferric oxide (FeoO^). 

CARBONATE OF LIME: Calcium carbonate (CaCOg). 

CARBONIC ACID: Carbon dioxide (CO2). 

CARBONIC OXIDE: Carbon monoxide (CO). 

CARBURETTED HYDROGEN GAS: Methane (CH4). 

CATHARTIC SALT OF GLAUBER: Sodium sulphate 

(Na2S04). 

CAUSTIC ALKALIS: Hydroxides ( — OH"). 

CAUSTIC BARYTA: Barium hydroxide (Ba (OH)o * 

8H2O). 

CAUSTIC CALCAREOUS EARTH: Calcium hydroxide 

(Ca(OH)2). 

CAUSTIC LEY (CAUSTIC LEES, ETC.): See Caustic Lye. 

CAUSTIC LYE: Since "lye" had several meanings, 

this phrase was often used to refer specifically to 

the three strong mineral (NaOH, KOH, and 

NH4OH) bases and usually meant potassium hydroxide (KOH). 

CAUSTIC PONDEROUS EARTH: Hydrated barium hydroxide (Ba (OH)2 • 8H2O). 

CAUSTICUM ANTIMONIALE: Probably antimony trichloride (SbClg). 

CAWK: Barium sulphate (BaS04). 

CEMENTATION: Any process by which a solid is 

caused to penetrate and combine with another 

substance. 
24 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

CENDRES GRAVELLEES: Potassium carbonate (K2CO3). 

CERUSE (CERUSSA) (CERUSSE): See White Lead. 

CERUSSE ANTIMONY: White antimony trioxide 

(Sb203). 

CHALK: Calcium carbonate (CaCOg). 

CHALYBEATE (WATER): Any water which is impregnated or flavored with iron. 

CHALYBS CUM SULPHURE PREPARATUS: Ferrous sulfide (FeS). 

CHALYBS TARTAR (TARTARIFIED IRON): A substance 

produced by the action of cream of tartar on iron 

filling. Probably (FeC4H406). 

CHYMIST'S SPIRIT: Any solution of ammonia 

(NH4OH). 

CINERES CLAVELLATI: Potassium carbonate (K2CO3). 

CINNABAR: Mercuric sulfide (HgS). 

CINNABAR OF ANTIMONY: Mercuric sulphide (HgS), 

when produced by heating together mercuric 

chloride and crude antimony (antimony trisulfide). 

CIRCULATION: Cyclic distillation or refluxing. 

CITRATED ALKALIES: Citrates. 

CLAYS: Any stiff but malleable and sticky mineral 

solid. 

CLYSSUS: Any vapors from the detonation of nitre 

with other substances which have been condensed 

and collected, as in "clyssus of sulphur." 

COAGULATION: Reducing fluids to solid form. 

COAGULUM: A precipitate. 

COBALT: Cobalt ore. Pure cobalt was "regulus of 

cobalt" (CoAsS). 

COCHINEAL: A scarlet dye made from the insect 

Coccus cacti, native to Mexico and Central 

America. 

COCTION: Any process in which heat was applied 

over a long period. This term usually implied 

less strenuous applications of heat than calcination, but it was used more broadly than "decoction." 

COHOBATION: Repeated distillations, or any cyclic 

process in which a liquid is vaporized and condensed as, for example, in refluxing. See text, 

page 14. 

COLCOTHARS: Any colorless sulfates (vitriols) in 

which the water of hydration was removed 

(-SO4). 

COLCOTHAR: Ferric oxide (Fe203). 

CoLCOTHAR VITRIOLI: Red oxide of iron (Fe203 • 

FeO) produced by heating green vitriol. 

COLLATURE: Filtration through a relatively coarse 

filter, e.g., a hair sieve, woolen cloth, etc. 

COLOPHONY: A resinous substance from distillation 

of light oil from turpentine. 

COMMON AMMONIAC: Ammonium chloride 

(NH4CI). 

COMMON CAUSTIC: Potassium hydroxide or, less 

often, sodium hydroxide. 

COMMON MAGNESIA: Magnesium carbonate 

(MgCOg). 

COMMON MINERAL ALKALI: Sodium carbonate 

(Na2C03). 

COMMON NITRE (SALTPETER): Potassium nitrate 

(KNO3). 

COMMON SALT: Sodium chloride (NaCl). 

CONCENTRATION: Any process in which the solute/ 

solvent ratio is increased. Less often, this term 

was used to describe the separation of a substance "A" from a substance "B" by joining it 

to a third substance, "C." See text, page 13. 

CONCRETED: Solidified, congealed, coagulated, or 

(as verb) to unite, combine physically, as in 

solidity. Very rarely used for chemical combinations. 

CONCRETE VOLATILE ALKALI: Ammonium carbonate ((NH4)oC03). 

COPPERAS: Originally blue vitriol. Later sometimes 

used for the entire class of vitriols (sulfates). Also 

sometimes ferrous sulfate (FeS04 • 7H2O). 

CORNEOUS (HORN) LEAD: Lead chloride (PbCU). 

CORNING: Any process in which a whole or coarsely 

ground substance is granulated. 

CoRNu CERVI: Impure ammonium carbonate 

((NH4)2C03) . 

CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE: Mercuric chloride (HgCU). 

CORUSCATE: T o give off intermittent flashes of light, 

to sparkle. 

CREAM OF LIME: Fine precipitate of calcium hydroxide (Ca (OH)2) from water. 

CREAM OF TARTAR (TARTAR): Potassium hydrogen 

tartrate (KHC4H4O). 

CREECH: Calcium sulfate (CaS04). 

CREMOR: Any scum gathering at or ne'ar top of a 

liquid. Also, a thickening or change in color or 

consistency on top or within a liquid. 

CRETA ALBA: Gypsum (calcium sulfate dihydrate) 

(CaS04 • 2HoO). 

CROCUS: Any solid of a saffron or reddish color, as 

in "Crocus of Mars." 

CROCUS MARTIS: Ferric oxide (FcoOg). 

CROCUS OF IRON: Ferric oxide. 

CROCUS OF MARS: Ferric oxide. 

CROCUS SATURNI: Red lead (minium) (Pb304). 
NUMBER 33 25 

CRUDE ANTIMONY: Natural antimony sulfide (SbaSg). 

CRUDE FLUX: Nitre and tartar mixed in any proportion without detonation. 

CRYSTALLINE EARTHS: Any solid which is (1) not 

attached in acids, (2) friable, (3) hard enough to 

strike fire with steel. 

CRYSTALLISED ALKALI: Sodium carbonate (NaoCOg). 

CRYSTALLISED ALKALI OF TARTAR: Potassium hydrogen carbonate (KHCOg). 

CRYSTALLISED FIXED ALKALI: Sodium carbonate 

(NasCOg). 

CRYSTALLISED VERDIGRIS: Cupric acetate 

(Cu(C2H30o)2 • H2O). 

CRYSTALLISED VOLATILE ALKALI: Ammonium carbonate (NH4)2C03. 

CRYSTALLIZATION: Any process in which crystals are 

formed from a liquid. Usually accomplished 

through concentrating and/or cooling a solution. 

CRYSTALS OF COPPER: Mostly copper acetate 

(CU (CoH302)2). 

CRYSTALS OF SILVER (LUNAR CRYSTALS): Silver nitrate, usually as a powder (AgNOg). 

CRYSTALS OF VENUS: Copper acetate (Cu(C2H302)o). 

CUBIC NITRE: Crystallized sodium nitrate (NaNOg). 

CUCURBIT: Th e lower part of an alembic. Shorter, 

more squat and ovoid than a matrass. 

CYPRIAN VITRIOL: Copper sulfate (CUSO4). 

DAMPS: Any dangerous "vapors" in caves, mines, 

etc. 

DECANTATION: T O separate the supernatant liquid 

from a solid precipitate by pouring the liquid 

off, being careful that all of the solid remains in 

the vessel. 

DECOCTION: Continuous application of boiling heat 

to a reaction mixture. 

DECOMPOUNDED: Doubly compounded, or composed 

of three or more substances. 

DECREPITATION: Rapid physical decomposition of 

some crystals when heated. Characterized by a 

crackling noise. 

DEFLAGRATION: T O cause a substance to burn rapidly, with flame. 

DELIQUESCENCE: Th e property some crystalline substances have of dissolving spontaneously in liquid 

absorbed from the air. 

DELIQUIUM: Change of a salt from a solid to a 

fluid state by contact with air only. 

DEMI-METAL: See Semi-Metals. 

DEPHLEGMATION: T o remove water from a solution, 

usually one of an acid or alcohol. Ther e is a 

sense of refining or purifying about the term, as 

opposed to simple concentration. 

DEPHLOGISTICATED ACID OF SALT: Chlorine (CI2). 

DEPHLOGISTICATED AIR: Oxygen (O2). 

DEPHLOGISTICATED CALX OF IRON: Ferrous oxide 

(hydroxide) (FeO or Fe (OH)2). 

DEPHLOGISTICATED MARINE ACID: Chlorine (CI2). 

DEPURATION: T O free from impurities, purify. 

DESQUAMATION: Th e process of removing scaly 

crusts which form on a surface. 

DETONATION: Any rapid chemical reaction accompanied by noise and often by heat and light, e.g., 

explosions. 

DIAPHORETIC: Any substance which induces perspiration when administered to a patient. 

DIAPHORETIC ANTIMONY (DIAPHORETIC MINERAL): 

Mixture of antimony oxide and potassium antimonate (Sb203; KSb03). 

DIGESTION: Th e process in which heat is continuously applied to a substance without boiling it 

(usually in open vessels). 

DIGESTIVE SALT: Potassium chloride (KCl). 

DIGESTIVE SALT OF SYLVIUS: Potassium chloride 

(KCl). 

DIMINISHED NITROUS AIR (Priestley): Nitrous oxide 

(N2O). 

DISTILLATION: A process in which all or some portion of a substance is vaporized and then condensed and collected. 

DISTILLATION PER ASCENSUM: Distillation with the 

collecting vessel above the heated vessel. 

DISTILLATION PER DECENSUM: Any distillation where 

the collecting vessel is below the heated vessel. 

DISTILLATION PER OBLIQUIUM: Distillation in a retort used for substances of (a) relatively low 

vapor pressure and (b) other properties that 

make the distillation difficult, e.g., honey. 

DISTILLATION WITH ADDITION: Adding some substance prior to distillation that will aid the process by (1) loosening the desired volatile product 

chemically from its compound; (2) "fixing" the 

product not desired, thus retaining it in the vessel; (3) by adding a volatile substance to a fixed 

substance desired, thus making the fixed substance volatile (addition of properties). 

DIURETIC SALT: Potassium acetate (KC2H3O2). 

DIVISION: Any process in which mixtures are separated into their homogeneous components by mechanical means. 

DOCIMACY: Assaying. 

D RY WAY : Term used for all operations that are 
26 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

conducted without adding a liquid medium. Reactions done through fusion, however, are still 

regarded as in "the dry way." 

DULCIFICATION: Any process in which a caustic substance is rendered less corrosive. 

[AN] EARTH: Usually a carbonate, oxide or hydroxide. "Earths" were originally classified by physical properties as "absorbent," "crystalline," and 

"talky." They also were described variously as 

"dry," "insipid," "not inflammable," "fusible" 

solids which often recovered their original texture after fusion. 

EARTH, CALCAREOUS, CAUSTIC: Calcium hydroxide 

(Ca(OH)2). 

EARTH, CALCAREOUS, MILD: Calcium carbonate 

(CaCOa). 

EARTH, MAGNESIAN, MILD: Magnesium carbonate 

(MgC03). 

EARTH, SILICIOUS: Silica (Si02). 

EARTH OF RHUBARB: Calcium oxalate (CaCo04). 

EARTHY SALTS: Compound of acids and "earths." 

EAU FORTE (STRONG WATER): Usually concentrated 

nitric acid (HNO3), sometimes (1) spirit of wine 

(ethanol), (2) caustic soda solution. 

EBULLITION (EBULITION): Th e agitating, bubbling 

action of a liquid that is undergoing rapid, active 

boiling. 

EDULCORATED QUICKSILVER: Mercurous chloride 

(Hg2Cl2). 

EDULCORATION: Th e washing of a solid (often a 

precipitate) with water to free it from soluble 

impurities such as salts and acids. Because of 

the latter, there are overtones of "sweetening," 

"purification," and "softening" with this term. 

See text, page 13. 

ELAEO.SACCHARUM: A mixture of an oil and sugar. 

Used to make "oils" soluble in water, wines, 

spirits, etc. 

ELECTUARIES: Medicinals in the form of a paste or 

conserve. 

ELIXATION: Th e action of boiling or stewing. 

ELUTRIATION (ELEUTRIATION): Separation and purification of a mixture of gianular solids with 

water by (a) decanting, (b) straining, or (c) 

washing. 

EMETIC: Any substance that induces vomiting. 

EMETIC POWDER: Potassium antimonyl tartrate 

(KSbC4H407 • I/2H2O). 

EMPLASTRUM SIMPLEX: Impure lead oleate 

(Pb(C,8H330o)o). 

EMPYREUMATIC: Tasting or smelling of burnt organic matter. 

EMPYREUMATIC OILS: Liquid oils that (a) are acid, 

(b) are soluble in ardent spirits, (c) do not retain 

the taste and odor of the substance from which 

they are obtained, (d) have a taste and/o r odor 

of burnt organic matter. 

ENFILADED BALLOON: A spherical vessel with opposed, necked openings. 

ENGLISH LAXATIVE SALT: Magnesium sulphate 

(MgS04). 

ENGLISH SALT: See Bitter Salt. 

ENS MARTIS: A mixture probably consisting of iron 

chlorides and ammonium chloride. Used as a 

medicine. 

ENS VENERIS: A mixture probably consisting of copper chlorides and ammonium chloride. Used as 

a medicine. 

EPSOM SALTS: Magnesium sulfate (MgS04). 

ESSAY: See Assay. 

ESSENCE: Any essential oil. 

ESSENTIAL OIL : Any "oil" that smells the same as 

the vegetable from which it was obtained and 

has a low boiling point (below that of water). 

ESSENTIAL OI L OF TURPENTINE: Th e most volatile 

portion of turpentine. 

ETAIN DE GLACE: Bismuth (Bi). 

ETHER: In the 18th century, alkyl chlorides and nitrates often were confused with true ethers, such 

as ethyl ether (CH3CH2-O-CH2CH3). 

ETHER OF BENZOIN: Ethyl benzoate 

(C0H10O2). 

ETHER OF NITRE: Mainly ethyl nitrite (C2H5NO2). 

ETHER OF VINEGAR: Ethyl acetate 

(C4H8O2). 

ETHER OF VITRIOL: Ethyl ether 

(C4H10O). 

ETHIOPS MINERAL: Mostly black mercury sulfide 

(Hg2S). 

EVAPORATION: Any process in which the liquid portion of a solution or mixture is vaporized, often 

with the help of heat. 

[To] EXALT: T O make more spiritous, volatile, or 

generally more active; to activate. 

EXSICCATE: T O dry; remove moisture. 

EXHALATION: When parts of substances are separated by heat from the solid and fly off into the 

air. Used as a tool to obtain "fixed parts" as well 

as "volatile parts." This includes calcination, 

distillation, etc. 
NUMBER 33 27 

EXPRESSION: T O separate a component from organic 

matter or any other solids or semisolids by 

squeezing the material in a press. A mechanical 

rather than a chemical means of separation. 

EXTEMPORANEOUS ALKALI: See white flux. 

EXTRACTION: T O separate one substance from 

others by using solvents. 

EXTRACT OF LEAD: Impur e lead actetate 

(Pb (C2H302)2). 

EXTRACT OF MARS: Solid ferrous tartrate 

(FeC4H406). 

EXTRAVASATION: Th e escape of an organic fluid 

(e.g., blood, sap) from its proper vessels into surrounding tissues. 

FAINTS: Th e second identifiable, thin, and light 

liquid fraction from distillation. 

FEARCE: T O pulverize or mascerate. 

FEBRIFUGAL SALT: Potassium sulphate (K2SO4). 

FEBRIFUGAL SALT OF SYLVIUS: Potassium chloride 

(KCl). 

[A] FERMENT: A substance actually fermenting, inclined to ferment, or used to cause fermentation, 

e.g., yeast. 

FETID OIL : Any oil substance that was "empyreumatic," i.e., had the odor of burned animal matter. 

FILTRATION: T O separate a liquid from a particulate solid by passing the liquid through a porous 

material, e.g., cloth or paper. 

FINERY CINDER: Iron oxide (Fe304). 

FIRE AIR: (Scheele): Oxygen (Oo). 

FIXED AIR: Carbon dioxide (COo). 

FIXED ALKALI (SODA): Sodium carbonate (Na2C03). 

FIXED ALKALI SALT: Solid potassium carbonate 

(K2CO3). 

FIXED AMMONIAC (FIXED SAL AMMONIAC): Calcium 

chloride (CaCla). 

FIXED NITRE: Usually potassium carbonate; sometime potassium sulfate (K2CO3; K0SO4). 

FIXED SULPHUR OF ANTIMONY: Oxides of antimony, 

probably primarily the trioxide (SboOg) which 

forms when antimony ore (Sb2S3) is heated in air. 

Antimony calx. 

FIXED VEGETABLE ALKALI: Potassium carbonate 

(K2CO3). 

FLXITY: Th e degree of solidity of a substance as 

measured by the ability of that substance to resist the action of fire. Th e opposite of volatility. 

FLORES: See Flowers. 

FLORES AC VITRUM ANTIMONY: Probably antimony 

trioxide (Sb203) with small amounts of antimony trisulfide (Sb2S3). 

FLORES ANTIM.: See Flowers of Antimony. 

FLORES BENZOINI: Benzoic acid (CgHgCOOH). 

FLORES MARTIALES (ENS VENERIS): Impure ammonium chloride (NH4CI). Also includes iron 

filing used in the reaction, with possibly some 

chlorides of iron. 

FLORES SULPHURIS: See Flowers of Sulfur. 

FLORES VIRIDIS AERIS: Crystallized cupric acetate 

(Cu (C2H302)2). 

FLORES ZINC: See Flowers of Zinc. 

FLOWERS (FLORES): Any solid product of sublimation. Usually a powder. 

FLOWERS OF ANTIMONY: Antimony trioxide (Sb203). 

FLOWERS OF ARSENIC (WHITE ARSENIC): Arsenious 

oxide (AS0O3). 

FLOWERS OF BENJAMIN: See Flowers of Benzoin. 

FLOWERS OF BENZOIN: Benzoic acid (CgHgCOOH). 

FLOWERS OF PHOSPHORUS: Volatile oxides of phosphorous (P0O3; P2O5). 

FLOWERS OF SULFUR: Sublimed and condensed sulfur vapors (S). 

FLOWERS OF ZINC: Volatile zinc oxide (ZnO). 

FLUOR: (as adjective): "Flowing," an adjective indicating that the substance cannot be made solid, 

e.g., "fluor volatile alkali"; or, in referring to a 

mineral, a solid that is easily fusible. 

FLUOR ACID AIR: Silicon fluoride (SiF4). 

FLUORSPAR: Calcium fluoride (CaF2). 

Focus OF A FURNACE: Tha t part of a furnace where 

the fuel is actually burned. 

FOLIATED EARTH OF TARTAR: Potassium acetate 

(KC2H0O2). 

FOSSIL: Any mineral substance. 

FOSSIL ALKALI: Sodium carbonate (NaoCOg). 

FOSSIL CADMIA: A cobalt mineral, probably cobaltite (CoAsS). 

FOSSIL OIL : Clear, distilled crude oil. 

FRIGORIFIC: Having property of producing cold. 

Fucus: A substance which can act as a (usually 

opaque) surface coloring agent. 

FULGINOSITY: Soot or any black deposit from flames 

of oily substances. 

FULMINATION: Any very rapid reaction which produces heat, light, and noise; e.g., explosions. 

FUMING LIQUOR OF BOYLE: Ammonium polysulfide 

((NH4)2S,). 

FUMING LIQUOR OF LIBAVIOUS: Stannic chloride 

solution (SnCl4). 
28 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FUSION: Changing a solid body to a liquid by the 

action of fire. 

GALENA: Lead sulfide (PbS). 

GALLEY: A type of furnace in which several vessels 

are heated side by side simultaneously. 

GALLS: Parasitic giowths, commonly found on oaks, 

which, when dried, ground, and dissolved were 

useful as chemical indicators for iron. 

GENTLE CALX OF LEAD: Lead nitrate (Pb (N03)2. 

GERMAN ASH: Potassium carbonate (K2CO3). 

GERMAN POTASH: Probably a mixture of potassium 

carbonate and oxide. 

GERMAN VITRIOL: An ore with both copper and 

ferrous sulfates (CUSO4; FeS04). 

GLACIAL OI L OF ANTIMONY (BUTTER OF ANTIMONY): 

Antimony trichloride (SbCl3). 

GLASS OF (A SUBSTANCE): Th e fused form of the 

substance, especially if semitransparent. 

GLASS OF ANTIMONY: Probably antimony oxysulfate 

(Sb202S04). Prepared by fusion of antimony sulfide, antimony, and an oxide of antimony. 

GLASS OF BORAX: Fused borax. 

GLASS OF LEAD: Any fused lead compound (especially ceruse, minium, or litharge). 

GLAUBER'S ALKAHEST (ALKAHEST OF VAN HELMONT): Concentrated potassium carbonate solution (KoC03(aq)). 

GLAUBER'S SAL AMMONIAC: Ammonium sulphate 

(NH4)2S04). 

GLAUBER'S SALT (SAL MIRABILE): Sodium sulphate 

(NaoS04). 

GLAUBER'S SPIRIT OF NITRE: Fuming nitric acid 

(HNO3). 

GLOBULI MARTIALES: Iron powder boiled in cream 

of tartar solution. Presumably contains some ferrous tartrate (FeC4H406). A pharmaceutical 

preparation of iron. 

GLUCINUM: Beryllium (Be). 

GOLDEN SPIRIT OF SULPHUR: Ammonium sulphide 

((NH4)2S). 

GRAVES: Th e residue left after extracting oils from 

animal fat by means of heat and moderate pressure. 

GRAVID: Heavy or dense. 

GREEN VITRIOL (VITRIOL OF MARS): Ferrous sulfate 

(FeS04). 

GRUME (S) (GRUMOUS): (1) Viscous, clotty; (2) 

heap (s), clusters. 

GuAic (GUYAC, GUAICUM): A tropical wood, sometimes used for the resinous extract of that wood. 

GUM : Resinous or musiloginous extracts from 

plants, shrubs, or trees. 

G UM ACACIA: Like gum arable, but thought to be 

distinguishable from it; the dried resinous exudation of certain varieties of the acacia tree. 

G UM ARABIC: Th e dried exudation of certain varieties of the acacia tree. 

G U M BENZOIN: Th e dried resin of the tree Styrax 

benzoin. 

G UM DRAGON: See Gum Tragacanth. 

G U M LAC: Dark-red resinous incrustation produced 

in certain trees by the insect Carteria lacca. 

When refined by certain processes it becomes 

"shell-lac'' or "shellac." 

G U M TRAGACANTH (GUM DRAGON): Dried, gummy 

exhudation of the tree Astragalus gummifer and 

related species. 

GYPSEOUS EARTHS: Used for both gypsum or the 

"earth" contained in it, i.e., calcium oxide. Sometimes the oxide was confused with carbonate as 

the "earth" of gypsum. 

GYPSEOUS SUBSTANCES: Solid substances which (a) 

are not soluble in acids, (b) are not hard enough 

to strike fire from steel, (c) when mixed with 

water may form a paste which hardens into a 

solid, and (d) becomes powdery when exposed 

to fire. 

GYPSUM: Calcium sulfate dihydrate (CaS04 • 

2H2O). 

HALITUS: Matter in a very subtile form, as a 

"vapor"' or "exhalation." Like these, a "halitus" 

was often hypothesized if a phenomenon was 

ascribed to material causes, but no material could 

be detected by known means. 

HARTSHORN (HART'S HORN): Ideally, the horn of 

the male European red deer, but the horns of 

other deer species were acceptable substitutes. 

HARTSHORN CALCINED TO WHITENESS: Hartshorn 

subjected to heat over a long period and developing into a white substance. 

HARTSHORN PREPARED PHILOSOPHICALLY: Much like 

hart's horn calcined to whiteness, but usually 

with less heat and for a longer period. 

HEAD: Th e upper part of a distillation apparatus. 

Also, the bulb or other enlargement at the end 

of a tube. 

HEAVY CARBURETTED HYDROGEN: Ethylene (C2H4). 

HEAVY EARTH: Barium oxide (BaO). Also barium 

hydroxide and barium carbonate. 

HEAVY INFLAMMABLE AIR: Used at various times 
NUMBER 33 29 

for (a) carbon monoxide (CO), (b) water gas (a 

mixture of H2 and CO), or (c) methane (CH4). 

HEAVY SPAR: Barium sulfate (BaS04). 

HELLEBORE: A plant of the genus Helleborus. Usually Helleborus niger, the so-called "Christmas 

rose." Th e poisonous extract was used in dilute 

preparations as a medicinal in the 17th and 18th 

centuries. 

HEMLOCK: Th e vulgar name for the poisonous 

plant Conium maculatum and/o r its extract. 

HENNA: Th e plant Lawsonia inermis. Th e dried 

and powdered shoots and leaves were used as a 

dye or, with suitable medium, a cosmetic. 

HEPAR ANTIMONII: Antimony trisulfide (SboS3). 

HEPAR CALCIS: Calcium sulfide (CaS). 

HEPARS: Sulfides ( —S-^). 

HEPAR SULPHURIS (LIVER OF SULPHUR): Produced 

by heating potassium carbonate with sulphur. 

Not a true compound, it was a metastable 

mixture of potassium polysulfides and sulfate 

(K2S, K2S2, K2S3, K2S4, K2S5, K2SO4). 

HEPATIC AIR: Hydrogen sulfide gas (H2S). 

HESSIAN CRUCIBLE: A type of crucible made in 

Hesse, Germany, of a mixture of native clay and 

fine sand. Such crucibles were noted for being 

able to withstand sudden changes in temperature. 

HOMBERG'S (SEDATIVE) SALT: Boric acid (H3BO3 

(ortho); H2B4O7 (tetra)). 

HORN (CORNEOUS) LEAD: Lead chloride (PbCl2). 

HORN MERCURY: Chloride of mercury (HgCU; 

Hg2Cl2). 

HORN SILVER (LUNA CORNEA): Fused silver chloride 

(AgCl). 

HORN TIN : Stannous chloride (SnCU). 

HUNGARIAN VITRIOL: Usually ferrous sulfate 

(FeS04) but also used for copper sulfate (CUSO4). 

HYDROMEL: Mixture of honey and water, usually 

in equal proportions. Ferments into "mead." 

ICELAND SPAR (CALCITE): A particular crystal form 

of calcium carbonate (CaCOg). 

ICY BUTTER: Antimony chloride (SbCls). 

IMBIBITION: T O soak or saturate with a liquid. 

INFERNAL STONE: An alkali hydroxide (NaOH, 

KOH). [Not to be confused with the French term 

pierre infernale.] 

INFLAMMABLE AIR: Usually hydrogen (H2), though 

the usage is not constant among Priestley, Watt, 

Lavoisier, or Berthollet. Sometimes carbon monoxide (CO). 

INFLAMMABLE AIR FROM METALS: Hydrogen (H2). 

INFLAMMABLE AIR OF SULPHUR: Hydrogen sulphide 

(H2S). 

INFUSION: Th e extraction of chemical substances by 

soaking them in a solvent, usually water. Sometimes boiling water was poured on a mixture of 

substances and then allowed to cool in order to 

aid the extraction; but if the heat were used, the 

temperature could not exceed that of boiling 

water. 

INSOLATION: Digestion in which the heat was supplied by the sun rather than a furnace. 

INSPISSATE: T o thicken or condense. 

INTERMEDIATE SALT OF THE LEY OF BLOOD: Potassium ferrocyanide (K4Fe (CH)6). 

INTERMEDIATE SALTS: Usually normal salts; occasionally acid salts. 

INTERMEDIUM: Any reagent or reactant believed to 

be necessary for a reaction but which does not 

always appear on the product. 

INTUMESCENCE: Th e process of swelling up. 

IPECACUANHA: A preparation from the root of the 

South American plant Cephaelis Ipecacuanha. 

IRON OCHRE: A mixture of silica, clay, and various 

oxides of iron. In red ochre the oxide is simple 

Fe203; in yellow ochre it is Fe203 • HoO. 

IRON VITRIOL: Ferrous sulphate (FeS04). 

ISINGLASS: In the first half of the eighteen century 

a gelatinous substance extracted from the airbladders of certain fish. Later, a synonym for 

sheet mica. 

IVORY-BLACK: A black pigment prepared by the 

calcination of ivory in a closed vessel. 

JALAP: A powder from the dried roots of the Mexican plant Exogonium purga. Used as a purgative. 

JAMES' POWDER: A powder prepared by Dr. Robert 

James (1703-1776) that was used to reduce fevers. 

JAPANNING: Th e coating of an object with a very 

dark varnish. Th e original varnish came from 

Japan, but substitutes were later found. 

JOVE (OF JOVE): Tin, or some compound or alloy 

of tin. 

KA-LI: Th e plant Salsola kali or glasswort from 

which, oddly enough, "mineral" alkali (sodium 

carbonate) was extracted by calcination. Also 

sometimes used for crude sodium carbonate. 

KAOLIN: A fine, white clay used in the manufacture 

of porcelain. 

KELP: Impur e soda (Na2C03) from seaweed. In 
30 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

Britain, the term was sometimes used for crude 

sodium carbonate from any source. 

KERMES MINERAL: A natural mixture of antimony 

sulphide and antimony oxide or a mixture obtained in the laboratory by the action of potassium carbonate on antimony sulphide. 

L AC (LAQUE): A relatively thick solution of a colorant or coating. 

L AC SULPHURIS: See Milk of Sulfur. 

LAPIS CALAMINARIS (CALAMINE): Mineral form of 

zinc carbonate (ZnC03). 

LAPIS HAEMATITES: Hematite (Feo03). 

LAPIS INFERNALIS: Fixed vegetable alkali, i.e., potassium carbonate (KoCOg). 

LAPIS PHILOSOPHORUM: A mixture of fused alum, 

vitriol, bolus, cerussa, camphor, vinegar. 

LAPIS PONDEROSUS: Calcium tungstate (CaWOj). 

LAPIS SEPTICUS: Potassium hydroxide (KOH). 

LAPIS SERPENTIN: A mineral chiefly characterized 

by the presence of hydrous magnesium silicate 

(Mg3Si205 (OH)4). 

LAQUE: See Lac. 

LAUDANUM: Any medicinal preparation with opiuin 

as a primary ingredient. 

LEAD-GLANCE: Lead sulphide (PbS). 

L EY OF (OX-)BLOOD: Th e lixiviate from the residue 

produced by igniting blood with potashes. 

L EY OF SOAPBOILERS: Potassium hydroxide (KOH). 

LIGHT CARBURETTED HYDROGEN: Marsh gas or 

methane (CH4). 

LIGHT INFLAMMABLE AIR: Hydrogen (Ho). 

LIGNUM NEPHRITICUM: Two distinct woods were 

known as lignum nephriticum: (1) the small 

Mexican tree or shrub Eysenharcltia polystachya 

and the large Philippine tree Pterocarpus indica. 

In the sixteenth, seventeenth, and early eighteenth centuries, cups, powders, and dried extracts of this wood were thought to have great 

medicinal powers. Th e infusion was fluorescent. 

LIGNUM VITAE: "Tree of life." Th e wood, and 

sometimes the resin, of several semi tropical trees, 

but most often referring to Guaiacum. 

LIMATION: Filing on a metal piece to reduce it to 

filings. Sometimes used for simply polishing an 

object. 

LIME: Calcium oxide (CaO). 

LIME, CARBONATE OF: Calcium carbonate (CaCOg). 

LIME, QUICK: Calcium oxide (CaO). 

LIME, SLAKED: Calcium hydroxide (Ca (OH)o). 

LIMESTONE: Calcium carbonate (CaCOg). 

LIME WATER: A solution of calcium carbonate 

(CaCOg). 

LIQUESCENT (SALTS): See Deliquescence. 

LIQUOR FUMANS BOYLE (SPIRITUS FUMANS BOYLE): 

Ammonium polysulphide ((NH4)S2; (NH4)oS5). 

LIQUOR FUMANS LIBAVII (FUMING LIQUOR OF LIBAVIUS): Stannic chloride (SnCl4). 

LIQUOR OF FLINTS: See Liquor Silicum. 

LIQUOR OF HOFFMAN: A mixture of ethanol and 

ether. 

LIQUOR OF LIRAVIUS: See Smoking Spirit of Libavius. 

LIQUOR SILICUM (LIQUOR OF FLINTS): A solution of 

potassium silicate (KoSiOg). Sometimes used for 

other soluble silicates. 

LITHARGE: Yellow lead oxide (PbO). 

LITHOMARGE: Soft, claylike substances, such as 

kaolin. 

LITMUS: A blue pigment extracted from certain 

lichens. It is acid sensitive, turning red in the 

presence of an acid. Th e red form turns blue 

again when a base is added. 

LIVER OF ANTIMONY': Fused antimony sulfide 

(SboSg). Usually produced from the detonation of 

equal parts of crude antimony and potassium 

nitrate. 

LIVER OF ARSENIC: Fused mixture of potassium carbonate and (white) arsenic. May have contained 

some potassium arsenate. 

LIVER OF SULPHUR (HEPAR SULPHURIS): Produced 

by heating potassium carbonate with sulphur. 

Not a true compound, it is a metastable mixture 

of potassium polysulfides and sulfate. (K2S, KoSo, 

KoSg, K2S4, KoS-,, K0SO4). 

LixiviAL SALTS: Salts prepared by lixiviation. 

LIXIVIATE OF MARS (IRON): Possibly a tincture of 

iron, of which there were many different preparations. Typically, these were solutions of salts of 

iron to which rectified spirit of wine (ethanol, 

CHgCHoOH) was added. 

LIXIVIATION: Separation of soluble from unsoluble 

solid substances by soaking the mixture of solids 

and removing the resulting solution which contained the soluble material. See text, p. 14. 

LIXIVIUM: A solution produced by lixiviation. 

Sometimes used as a general synonym for "solution." 

LIXIVIUM OF TARTAR: A solution of potassium carbonate (KoCOg). 

LOAD (LODE) : Any ore. 

LOGWOOD: Th e American tree Haematoxylon Cam-
NUMBER 33 31 

pechionum, used in dying. It produces dark 

shades: blacks, blues, and dark grays. 

LUCILLITE: A variety of limestones. 

LUNA CORNEA (HORN SILVER): Fused silver chloride 

(AgCl). 

LUNAR CAUSTIC: Fused silver nitrate (AgNOg). 

LUNAR CRYSTALS: Finely divided parts of silver 

nitrate (AgNOg). In preparing these crystals 

great care was taken to use only the purest silver 

and nitric acid possible. 

LUNAR NITRE: Silver nitrate (AgNOg). 

MACERATION: Th e softening and weakening of a 

solid sample, even to the point of partial decomposition, by soaking it in a liquid. See text, p 13. 

MAGISTERIUM TARTARI VITRIOLATI: Probably potassium sulfate (K2SO4). 

MAGISTERY OF (ANY SUBSTANCE): A precipitate of 

any substance, i.e., a pure form of the substance 

which has been separated by precipitation. 

MAGISTERY OF BISMUTH: Basic bismuth nitrate 

(BiONOg • HoO); sometimes the oxide (BiO) or 

even the oxychloride (BiOCl). 

MAGISTERY OF CORAL: Calcium carbonate (CaCOg). 

MAGISTERY OF SULFUR: Precipitated milk of sulphur 

(S). 

MAGISTRY: Any substance prepared from the basic 

elements of that substance without impurities. A 

magistry was supposed to be closer to the ideal 

for a substance than was usual for real chemical preparations. 

MAGNESIA: Magnesium carbonate (MgCOg). [Modern magnesia = magnesium oxide (MgO)]. Some 

chemists called magnesium (Mg) by the name 

"magnesia." 

MAGNESIA AERATA: Magnesium carbonate (MgCOg). 

MAGNESIA ALBA: Magnesium carbonate (MgC03). 

MAGNESIA NIGRA: Manganese dioxide (Mn02). 

MAGNESIA SALITA: Magnesium chloride (MgCL). 

MALACHITE: Basic copper carbonate (CUCO3 * 

Cu (OH)2). 

MALIC ACID: An acid extracted from apples and 

various other fruits. Pure malic acid is C4HCO5. 

MALT: Barley or other suitable grains after a preparation for brewing or distilling that usually included soaking, germination, and drying. 

MANGANESE: Manganese dioxide (MnOs). Manganese as we know it was called "regulus of manganese." 

MANNA MERCURII: Mercurous chloride (HgaCL). 

MARBLE: A hard, crystalline, mineral form of calcium carbonate (CaCOg). 

MARCASITA PLUMBEA: Antimony (Sb). 

MARCASITES: Minerals similar in appearance or 

properties to iron pyrites (FeS2). Later, a general 

term for pyrites. Sometimes the term was used 

for sulfides of arsenic (AS2S0, AS2S3, AsaSg). 

MARCHPANE: See Marzipan. 

MARINE ACID: Hydrochloric acid (HCl). 

MARINE ACID AIR: Hydrogen chloride (HCl). 

MARINE ALKALI: Sodium carbonate (NaoCOg). 

MARL (MARLE): A loose soil of clays and calcium 

carbonate (CUCO3). 

MARS (OF MARS): A substance related in some way 

to iron. 

MARSH GAS: Methane (CH4). 

MARTIAL BALLS: A mixture of iron filings (Fe) and 

cream of tartar (KHC4H4OC). 

MARTIAL ETHIOPS: Hydrated ferrosoferric oxide 

(Fe304 * XH2O). Usually made by the action of 

water on finely divided iron. 

MARTIAL EXTRACT: Concentrated tincture of mars. 

A concentrated solution, the chief component of 

which may have been ferrous hydroxide 

(Fe(OH)2). 

MARZIPAN: A confection of pounded almonds, 

sugar, and other ingredients. 

MATRASS: A vessel with a round bottom and long, 

slender neck. Used as part of several common 

types of distillation apparatus. See text p. 9. 

MENSTRUUM: A solvent. See text p. 13. 

MEPHITIC (as adjective): Noxious; poisonous or 

pestilential. 

MEPHITIC ACID: Carbonic acid (H2CO3). 

MEPHITIC AIR: Carbon dioxide (CO2). 

MERCURIUS CALCINATUS: Mercuric oxide (HgO). 

MERC. CALCIN. NITRAT.: Mercuric nitrate 

(Hg(NOg)2). 

MERCURIUS CORROSIVUS: Mercuric chloride HgCU. 

MERCURIUS CORRISIVUS RUBER: Mercuric oxide 

(HgO). 

MERCURIUS DULCIS (CALOMEL, MERCURIOUS SUBLiMATus DULCIS, MILD MERCURY): Mercurous 

chloride (HgoCU). 

MERCURIUS PRAECIPITATUS PER SE: Mercuric oxide 

(HgO). 

MERCURIUS PRAECIPITATUS RUBER: Mercuric oxide 

(HgO). 

MERCURIUS SOLUBILIS HAHNEMANNI: Mercurous 

oxide (HgsO). 

MERCURIUS SUBLIMATUS DULCIS (CALOMEL, MER-
32 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

cuRius DULCIS, MILD MERCURY): Mercurous chloride (HgsCL). 

MERCURIUS SUBLIMATUS RUBEUS NON CORROSIVAS: 

Mercuric oxide (HgO). 

MERCURIUS VITAE: Mixture of antimony oxychloride and antimony oxides (SboOg; Sbo04, SboOj, 

SbOCl). In some contexts the term may mean 

just antimony oxychloride (SbOCl). 

MERCURIUS VITAE ANTIMONII: Mixture of antimony 

oxychloride and antimony oxide (SboOg; Sb204; 

SboOs, SbOCl). 

MERCURY OF LIFE: See Mercurious Vitae. 

METALLIC SALT: Compound of a metal and an acid. 

MIASMA (MIASMATA): A noxious or infectious subtle material (e.g., a vapor or exhalation) thought 

to be from decaying organic matter. Sometimes 

used for any unseen poisonous or infectious substance. 

MICA: A mixed mineral form composed mostly of 

aluminum silicate but with silicates of other 

metals. Several complicated minerals are variously, and in combination, referred to as mica; 

e.g., biotite K (Mg,Fe)3AlFeSi30^o (OH,F)o. 

MiCRocosMic SALT: Sodium ammonium phosphate 

(NaNH4HP04 • 4HoO). 

MILD ALKALI: Alkalies which produce effervescence 

with acids; i.e., carbonates ( —COg--). 

MILD CALCAREOUS EARTH: Calcium carbonate 

(CaCOg). 

MILD MAGNESIAN EARTH: Magnesium carbonate 

(MgCOg). 

MILD MERCURY: Mercurous chloride (HgoCL). 

MILD VEGETABLE ALKALI: Potassium carbonate 

(K2COg). 

MILK OF LIME: Calcium hydroxide (suspension) 

(Ca(OH)2). 

MILK OF SULFUR: Finely divided sulfur (S) in solution. Usually the product of the reaction between 

a soluble sulfide and an oxidizing acid. 

MINDERER'S SPIRIT: A solution of ammonium acetate (NH4C2H3O2). 

MINERAL ALKALI: Sodium carbonate (NaoCOg). 

MINERAL ANODYNE OF HOFFMAN (LIQUOR OF HOFF -

MAN): A mixture of ethanol and ether (C0H5OH), 

(CHgCHoOCHoCHg). 

MINERAL CRYSTAL: Sal prunella = potassium nitrate with a small admixture of potassium sulfate 

(HNO3; K2SO4). 

MINIUM (RED LEAD): Lead tetroxide (Pbg04). 

MIXT: A chemical union of two or more true "elements " or "principles." Later, any substance 

which could be resolved into constituent parts 

only by chemical means. Although the term had 

greater philosophical complexities, it was roughly 

equivalent to our term "compound," but the 

latter is not to be considered a synonym. 

MIXTURA SALINA: Saline mixture prepared by saturating potassium carbonate with lemon juice 

and adding syrup of black currants, julep. 

MOFETTE: An exhalation or vapor of a mephitic 

(noxious or poisonous) gas. 

MOHR'S SALT: Ferrous ammonium sulfate (FeS04 ' 

(NH4)2S04 • 6H0O). 

MOLYBDAENA: Native molybdenum sulfide (MoSo). 

MORDANT: Any substance which fixes or holds a 

colorant in the material to be dyed. 

MORTIFY: T o change or destroy the normal, external form or appearance of a substance. 

MOSAIC GOLD: Stannic sulfide (SnS2). 

MUCILAGENOUS MATTER: Any semisolid material 

that was soft, moist, and viscous. 

MuNDic (MuNDiCK): Iron pyrites (FeSo). Sometimes 

used for other pyrites or as a general term for 

pyrites. 

MURIATES: Chlorides ( — CI"). 

MURIATIC ACID: Hydrochloric acid (HCl). 

MURIATIC ETHER: Probably impure ethyl chloride 

(CHgCHoCl). 

NAPLES YELLOW: Lead antimoniate (Pbg (Sb04)2). 

NAPTHA: Any highly inflammable, volatile, naturally occuring mixture of hydrocarbons. Also 

could be obtained as the "lightest" fraction in 

the distillation of asphalts, bitumens, and petroleum. 

NATRIUM: Sodium. 

NATRON (NATRUM): Sodium sesquicarbonate, a 

naturally occurring combination of sodium carbonate (NaoCOg) and sodium bicarbonate 

NaHCOg) in the ratio 1:1 (Na2COg • NaHCOg * 

2H2O). 

NEUTRAL ARSENICAL SALT OF MACQUER: Potassium 

dihydrogen arsenate (KH2A3O4). 

NEUTRAL SALTS: Salts resulting from the reaction 

of an acid and a base (hydroxide) but having no 

characteristics of either acid or base. 

NIHIL ALBUM (sometimes just NIHIL): Flowers of 

zinc: zinc oxide (ZnO). 

NITRATED EARTHS, METALS, ETC.: Nitrates ( —NO3). 

NITRE (COMMON NITRE): Potassium nitrate (KNO3). 

NITRE FIXED BY TARTAR: A mixture of nitre and 

tartar left after reaction between the two. 
NUMBER 33 33 

NITRE WITH AN EARTHY BASIS: Usually calcium nitrate (Ca(N03)2). 

NITREUM (Bergman): Nitrous acid (HNO2). 

NITRO-AERIAL SPIRIT: Th e hypothetical subtle substance which was thought by some to be responsible for the ability of nitre to support combustion 

and to be a key component of detonations. 

NITROUS ACID: Nitric acid (HNO3). 

NITROUS ACID VAPOR (Priestley): Nitrogen dioxide 

(NO2). 

NITROUS AIR (Priestley): Nitric oxide (NO). 

NITROUS ETHER: Ethyl nitrite (CHgCH2NOo). 

NITROUS GAS (Lavoisier): Nitric oxide (NO). 

NiTRUM AEGYPTICUM: Sodium carbonate (Na2C03). 

NiTRUM ANTIMONIATUM: Product containing potassium nitrate, nitrite, and antimonate. 

NiTRUM COMMUN: See Common Nitre, 

NiTRUM CUBIC: See Cubic Nitre. 

NiTRUM FiXATUM (NiTRUM FiXUM, FiXED NITRE) : 

An often impure preparation of potassium carbonate (K2CO3). Usually prepared by deflagrating charcoal and saltpeter (KNO3). 

NITRUM FLAMMANS: Ammonium nitrate (NH4NOg). 

NiTRUM REGENERATUM: Potassium nitrate (KNOg). 

NITRUM SATURNI: Lead nitrate (Pb (N03)2). 

NITRUM STIBNATUM: Probably antimony nitrate 

2Sb203 • N2O5). 

NITRUM SULPHURE PURGATUM: Mixture of potassium nitrate and potassium sulfate (KNOg; 

K2SO4). 

NITRUM VITRIOLATUM: Mixture of potassium sulphate and potassium bisulfate (K2SO4; KHSO4). 

N O N METALS: A term used by William Cullen and 

his students for the following group of substances: zinc (Zn), antimony (Sb), bismuth (Bi), 

arsenic (As), platinum (Pt), cobalt (Co), nickel 

(Ni). 

OCHRE: A class of mineral solids which, in powdered form, were commonly used as pigments. 

Their colors varied from yellow to brown, including reddish hues. Chemically, the ochres are 

iron oxides, or mixtures of iron ovides, in varying states of hydration. For example, red ochre is 

primarily FegOg. Silicates, carbonates, sulfates, 

etc., also were commonly present with these 

oxides. 

OCHROITE: Cerium oxide (Ce02). 

OFF A HELMONTII: Potassium carbonate (K2CO3). 

OIL : Any relatively insoluble, inflammable, somewhat viscous liquid. 

O I L GAS: Mixture of methane, carbon monoxide, 

and butylene (CH4; CO; C4H8). 

O I L OF ANTIMONY (BUTTER OF ANTIMONY): Antimony trichloride (SbClg). 

O I L OF ARSENIC: Arsenic trichloride (AsClg). 

O I L OF CALAMINE: Concentrated zinc chloride solution (ZnCl2). 

O I L OF CHALK: Calcium chloride solution (CaCU). 

O I L OF CLOVES: An oily substance extracted from 

the buds and flower stalks of the clove tree Caryophyllus aromaticus. Used as a medicinal. 

O I L OF DIPPEL: Th e insoluble, viscous fraction 

from decomposed animal matter that has gone 

through repeated distillations. 

O I L OF HARTSHORN: A crude animal oil obtained 

from the destructive distillation of bones. 

O I L OF LIME: A solution of calcium chloride 

(CaClo). 

O I L OF RUE : Th e oil extracted from evergreens of 

the genus Ruta. Used as a medicinal. 

O I L OF SULPHUR: Concentrated sulfuric acid. Sometimes the term was used for alkaline sulphide of 

ammonia ((NH4)2S). 

O I L OF TARTAR: Concentrated potassium carbonate 

solution (K2CO3). 

O I L OF TARTAR PER IDELIQUIUM: Potassium carbonate, which is hydroscopic, dissolved in the 

water which it extracts from the air. 

O I L OF VENUS: Concentrated solution of copper 

nitrate (Cu (N03)2). 

O I L OF VITRIOL: Sulfuric acid (H2SO4). 

O I L OF WINE : A hypothetical component of alcohol 

thought to give it its odor and inflammability. 

OLEA TEREBINTHINE: Terpentine. 

OLEFIANT GAS: Ethylene (C2H4). 

OLEUM ANIMALE: Any of the liquid oils (triglycerides) that could be extracted from animal matter. 

OLEUM DULCE: See Oil of Wine. 

OLEUM SULPHURIS PER CAMPANUM: Sulfuric acid 

(H2SO4) prepared by burning sulfur under a bell 

jar and later concentrating and purifying the 

product by heating to drive off water and sulfur 

dioxide. 

OLEUM SUCCINI: Concentrated succinic acid 

(HOOCCH2CH0COOH). 

OLEUM TARTAR PER DELIQUIUM: See Oil of Tarta r 

per Deliquium. 

OLEUM VITRIOLI: Oil of vitriol. 

ORPIMENT: Arsenic trisulfide (AS2S3). 

OXYCARBURETTED HYDROGEN: Water gas, mixture of 
34 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon dioxide (CO2). 

OxYMURiATic ACID: Chlorine (CU). 

PANACEA: Potassium sulfate (K2SO4). 

PAN-STONE: Calcium sulfate (CUSO4). 

PARTING: Th e operation by which gold and silver 

are separated from each other. 

PEARL ASH: Th e whitest potassium carbonate 

(K2CO3) extracted from calcined plants. In a 

sense, then, pearl ash is purified potash. 

PEARL WHITE: Bismuth oxychloride [BiOCl]. 

PELICAN: A special distillation apparatus. Th e condensing head had two curved tubes emerging on 

opposite sides. These tubes led down and entered 

the lower section or body of the vessel; thus, the 

condensed liquid ran back to the heated section 

where it was revaporized, giving a cyclic action. 

T h e pelican was especially effective for reactions 

that took place in the vapor phase. See text, 

p. 9. 

PELLICLE: Any thin saline crust that forms on a 

solution. 

P ER CAMPANUM: Any process carried out under a 

glass bell jar. 

P ER DELIQUIUM: A hygroscopic salt was said to "run 

per deliquium" when it changed from solid to 

liquid by extracting water from the air. 

PERLATE SALT: Sodium phosphate (Na3P04). 

PERSPIRATION: Spontaneous evaporation or (less 

often) vaporization through heating. Also used to 

indicate condensation of moisture on a relatively 

cool body. 

PERSPIRATIVE: A medicinal which promoted perspiration. 

PETROLIA: Liquid bitumens. 

PETUNTSE: A white mineral solid used in the manufacture of porcelain. 

PEWTER: An alloy of tin. Originally with up to onefifth lead, but later bismuth and copper were 

substituted for lead. 

PHILOSOPHER'S WOOL: Zinc oxide (ZnO). 

PHILOSOPHICAL FLOWERS OF VITRIOL: Boric acid 

(HgBOg). 

PHILOSOPHICAL FOLIATED EARTH: Potassium acetate 

(KC2H3O0). 

PHILOSOPHICAL MERCURY: An alchemical term signifying the property-bearing principle of chemical activity. 

PHILOSOPHICAL SAL AMMONIAC: Ammonium sulfate 

((NH4)2S04). 

PHILOSOPHICAL SPIRIT OF NITRE: Nitric acid prepared by distilling saltpeter with oil of vitriol 

(HNOg). 

PHILOSOPHICAL SPIRIT OF TARTAR: Potassium hydrogen tartrate (KHC4H4O6) distilled with wine. 

PHILOSOPHICAL SPIRIT OF VITRIOL: Hydrochloric 

acid (HCl). 

PHILOSOPHICAL SPIRIT OF WINE : Spirit of wine (alcohol) concentrated by freezing (CH0CH3OH). 

PHILOSOPHICAL WATER: Aqua regia. A solution of 

hydrochloric and nitric acids, usually in ratios 

from 2:1 to 4:1 (HCl to HNOg). 

PHLEGM: A general term for any aqueous fraction 

of a distillation. 

PHLOGISTICATED ACID OF NITRE: Nitrous acid 

(HNOo). 

PHLOGISTICATED ACID OF VITRIOL: Sulphurous acid 

(HoSOg). 

PHLOGISTICATED AIR: Nitrogen (N2). 

PHLOGISTICATED ALKALI: Potassium ferrocyanide 

(K4Fe (CN)c • 3HoO). 

PHLOGISTICATED CALX OF IRON: Ferrous oxide (hydroxide) (FeO). 

PHLOGISTICATED EARTH OF MOLYBDAENA: Th e solid 

reduction product of molybdic acid. 

PHLOGISTICATED MANGANESE: Manganous carbonate 

(MnCOg). 

PHLOGISTICATED NITRE: Impure potassium nitrite 

(KNOo). 

PHLOGISTICATED NITROUS ACID: Nitrous acid 

(HNO2). 

PHLOGISTICATED VITRIOLIC ACID: Sulfurous acid 

(H2SOg). 

PHLOGISTON: A hypothetical substance originally 

used to account for the property of inflammability. It later was made to carry many more 

properties and formed a central point for the 

theoretical beliefs of a number of eighteenthcentury chemists. 

PHLOGISTON ELASTICUM: Hydrogen (H2). 

PHOSPHORATED IRON: Ferric phosphate (FeP04). 

PHOSPHORATED MERCURY: Mercuric phosphate 

(Hgg (P04)2). 

PHOSPHORATED VEGETABLE ALKALI: Potassium phosphate (KgP04). 

PHOSPHOROUS: Sometimes used for any phosphorescent substance. 

PHOSPHOROUS OF BALDWIN: Calcium nitrate 

(Ca (NOg)o). 

PHOSPHOROUS OF HOMBERG: Calcium chloride 

(CaClo). 
NUMBER 33 35 

PHOSPHOROUS OF URINE: AS the name implies, a 

form of phosphorous (P) extracted from urine. 

PIERRE INFERNALE: Fused silver nitrate (Ag (NOg)). 

[Not to be confused with "Infernal Stone."] 

PINCHBECK: A gold-colored alloy of about five parts 

copper (Cu) to one part zinc (Zn). 

PiNGuious (PINGUINOUS): Fatty, oily. 

PLASTER: Any semisolid plastic mixture that could 

be applied to a surface and then spontaneously 

cured or hardened. One of the oldest plasters is 

a mixtvire of slaked lime (Ca (OH)o), sand, and 

hair. Th e term also was used to refer to impure 

lead oleate (Pb (Ci8Hg30o)2). 

PLASTER OF PARIS: Calcium sulfate monohydrate 

((CaS04)2 • HoO). 

PLATINA: Platinum (Pt.), or sometimes the usually 

impure form of platinum found in nature that 

is alloyed with other exotic metals. 

PLUMBAGO: Carbon (C) in the form of graphite. 

PLUMBUM ALBUM: Basic lead carbonate (2PbC03 * 

Pb (OH)2). Sometimes the term was applied to 

basic lead acetate (Pb (C2HgOo) ' Pb (OH)2 ' 

H2O). 

PLUMBUM CINEREUM: Bismuth (Bi). 

PLUMBUM CORNEUM (HORN LEAD): Lead chloride 

(PbCla). 

PLUMBUM STRIDENS: Ti n (Sn). 

PNEUMATIC: Pertaining to subtle, rarified, or vaporous substances such as air. In modern terms, gaseous. 

PNEUMATIC TROUGH: An apparatus developed over 

the eighteenth-century from John Mayow (1641-

1679) through Stephen Hales (1677-1761) to Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794). Th e trough was any 

large pan or vat in which inverted bottles full of 

water could be supported. Glass tubes conducted 

the gases from the vessels in which they were 

generated outside the trough to the inverted bottle in the trough, where the gases were trapped 

and held. 

POINT OF SATURATION: Th e instant when the exact 

proportions of the two "saline principles" (one 

from an acid, the other from a base) unite to 

form a perfectly neutral salt. 

POMPHOLIX: Flowers of zinc (ZnO). 

PONDEROUS SPAR: Barium sulfate (BaS04). 

P OT ASH: Potassium carbonate (K0CO3). 

POWDER OF ALGAROTH: Antimony oxychloride 

(SbOCl). 

PRECIPITANT: A substance serving as intermediary 

to separate two other substances from each other. 

PRAECIPITATE PER SE: Mercuric oxide (HgO). 

PRAECIPITATUS ALBUS: Mercurous chloride (Hg2Cl2). 

PRAECIPITATUS VIGONIS: Mercuric oxide (HgO). 

PRECIPITATE OF SULFUR: Precipitated milk of sulfur 

(S). 

PRECIPITATION: Th e phenomenon in which a solid 

is formed within a solution and falls to the bottom of the vessel in which the solution was contained. See text, p. 14. 

PRIMUS METAL: See Prince Rupert's Metal. 

PRINCE RUPERT'S METAL (BATH METAL, PRIMUS 

METAL, PRINCES METAL): A brass alloy in which 

the ratios of copper (Cu) to Zinc (Zn) are approximately 4 to 1. 

PRINCE'S METAL: See Prince Rupert's Metal. 

PRINCIPLE: One of the simplest forms of matter, 

from which other substances are formed through 

combinations with other principles or other 

combinations of principles. Although there are 

similarities to the modern term "element," the 

two are not truly synonymous. 

PROXIMATE PRINCIPLES: Components obtained 

through chemical analysis which themselves are 

compounds but presumed to be simpler than the 

original substance. 

PRUSSIAN BLUE: Ferric ferrocyanide (Fe4[Fe(CN)6]3). 

PRUSSIC ACID: Hydrocyanic acid (HCN). 

PuLVis ALGAROTHI: Antimonious oxychloride 

(SbOCl). 

PuLvis FULMINANS: An explosive mixture made 

from potassium nitrate, potassium carbonate, and 

sulfur. 

PUMICE: A light, porous stone of mixed silicates. 

PURE CLAY: Alumina. Aluminum oxide (AI2O3). 

PURE PONDEROUS EARTH: Baryta. Barium oxide 

(BaO). 

PURIFICATION: Any process in which one substance 

is rendered free, or relatively free, of any other 

substance. Common methods included distillation, crystallization, and precipitation. See text, 

p. 14. 

PYRITES: Originally, any mineral which could strike 

sparks from steel. Th e term was often used to 

refer to iron pyrites (FeSo). 

PYROLIGNEOUS ACID: Crude acetic acid from wood 

(HC0H3O0). 

PYROLIGNEOUS SPIRIT: Methyl alcohol (CHgOH). 

QUADRANGULAR NITRE: Sodium nitrate (NaNOg). 

QUARTATION: Th e process of combining gold (Au) 

and silver (Ag) in the ratio 1:3. When the com-
36 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

bination is dissolved in nitric acid, the silver is 

dissolved and the gold is separated, free from 

impurities. 

QUARTZ: A mineral whose primary component is 

silicon dioxide (Si02). Its color and other aspects 

of its appearance depended on the impurities 

present. 

QUICKLIME: Calcium oxide (CaO). 

QUICKSILVER: Mercury (Hg). 

QUICKSILVER CALCINED PER SE: Mercuric oxide 

(HgO). 

QUINTESSENCE: A mixture of an essential oil and 

alcohol. 

QUINTESSENCE OF LEAD: Acetone (CH3COCH3). 

RABEL'S WATER: Th e liquid obtained by macerating poppy flowers in a mixture of sulphuric acid 

and alcohol for some days and then filtering. 

RAMOUS: (1) Individual (fundamental) particles of 

viscous or rigid bodies; (2) branching or filimentlike parts of a liquid mixture. 

REALGAR: Arsenic disulfide (AS2S2). 

RECEIVER: Th e vessel attached to the condensing 

part of a distillation apparatus in order to receive the condensed products from the distillation. See text, p. 11. 

RECREMENT: Solid waste or refuse from a chemical 

operation, e.g., scoria. 

RECTIFICATION: Th e purifying or refining of a substance by one or (usually) more distillations. See 

text, p. 15. 

R ED ARSENIC (REALGAR): Native arsenic disulphide 

(AS2S2). 

R ED BOLE: A red clay that contained silicates of 

iron and aluminum. Used as a red pigment and 

as a base for gilding. 

R ED FLOWERS OF ANTIMONY: Probably antimony 

sulfide (Sb2S5). 

R ED LEAD (MINIUM): Lead tetroxide (Pb304). 

R E D OCHRE: A mineral solid approximately 95 

percent red iron oxide (Fe203). An old and important pigment. 

R ED PRECIPITATE: See Red Precipitate of Mercury. 

R E D PRECIPITATE OF MERCURY: Impur e mercuric 

oxide (HgO). 

R ED SAUNDERS (RED SANDERS): Th e wood from the 

tree Pterocarpus santalinus, commonly called red 

sandlewood. Used in dyeing. 

REDUCTION: Th e returning of a substance to a previous or original condition; e.g., the restoring of 

a metal to the metallic state from its oxide. See 

text, p. 13. 

REFRACTORY EARTHS: Mineral substances that do 

not fuse under the action of fire. 

REFRIGORATORY: A vessel at the top or head of some 

stills that is surrounded by or filled with cold 

water to condense any vapors in tubes or vessels 

within it. 

REGENERATED MARINE SALT: Potassium chloride 

(KCl). 

REGENERATED SEA SALT: Potassium chloride (KCl). 

REGENERATED TARTAR: Potassium acetate 

(KC2Hg02). In this form, the compound was 

made from distilled vinegar and salt of tartar. 

REGULINE CAUSTIC: Potassium carbonate (K2CO3). 

REGULUS: Th e pure form of a metal, e.g., regulus 

of antimony. 

RESINS: A vegetable product, almost always viscous 

and sticky, formed within a plant or tree. Resins 

usually are obtained as natural exudations, by 

incisions into the tree, or by treating the wood 

chemically. 

RETORT: A vessel with a long neck bent down at 

the point where it joins the body of the vessel. 

Especially suited for the distillation of substances 

under low heat. See text, p. 9. 

REVIVIFICATION: Th e restoration of a metal to the 

metallic state from one of its compounds. Similar 

to, but broader in scope, than "reduction." See 

text, p. 13. 

RISIGALLUM: See Realgar. 

ROB: A sort of conserve in which the juice of a 

fruit is extracted, condensed, and preserved with 

sugar. 

ROCHE ALUM: See Rock Alum. 

ROCHELLE SALT (SEIGNETTE SALT): Potassium sodium tartrate (KNaC4H406 • 4H2O). 

ROCK ALUM: Usually larger crystals or formations 

of potassium aluminum sulfate (KAl (S04)2 ' 

I2H2O). Alum of this quality often was imported 

from Italy. 

ROCK-CRYSTAL: Pure, colorless, transparent, crystalline quartz occurring naturally in large prismatic 

crystals. Silicon dioxide (SiOj). 

ROG: Concentrated native vegetable acid. From the 

usual preparations, it would be primarily citric 

acid (CGHSOT). 

ROMAN VITRIOL: Copper sulfate (CUSO4). In 

Britain this term was sometimes used for ferrous 

sulfate (FeS04). 

RUSSIAN PO T ASH: Potassium carbonate (K0CO3). 

RUST OF COPPER: See Verdigris. 
NUMBER 33 37 

SACCHARATED LIME : Calcium oxalate (CaC204). 

SACCHARUM SATURNI: Lead acetate (Pb (C2H302)2). 

SAFFRON: A range of orange-yellow colors. Th e 

color called saffron comes from the dye of the 

same name, which is an extract of the plant 

Crocus sativus. 

SAFFRON OF GOLD: See Aurum Fulminans. 

SAFFRON OF IRON: See Saffron of Mars. 

SAFFRON OF MARS: Any yellowish iron compound, 

e.g., hydrated ferroso ferric oxide (Fe304 * XH2O) 

or ferric sulfide (Fe2S3). 

SAFFRON OF METAL: A mixture of antimony sulfide 

(Sb2S3), nitre (KNO3), and antimony sulfate 

(Sbo (804)3). 

SAL ABSINTHI (SALT OF WORMWOOD): Mostly potassium carbonate (K2CO3). 

SAL ALBUS: Borax (sodium tetraborate) (Na2B407 • 

lOHoO). 

SAL ALKALI VITRIOLATUM: Potassium sulfate 

(K2SO4). 

SAL ALKALINUS VEGETABLIS: Potassium carbonate 

(K2CO3). 

SAL AMARUM: Magnesium sulfate (MgS04). 

SAL AMMONIAC (SAL ARMONIAC): Ammonium chloride (NH4CI). Sometimes used for other ammonium salts. 

SAL AMMONIACUM FIXUM: Calcium chloride 

(CaCla). 

SAL AMMONIACUM VOLATILIS: A term variously used 

for any salt solution that gave off the odor of 

ammonia. Whe n referring to solid salts the term 

meant ammonium carbonate ((NH4)oC03). 

SAL ANGLICUM (EPSOM SALT): Magnesium sulfate 

(MgS04). 

SAL CATHARTICUM: Magnesium sulfate (MgS04). 

SAL CATHARTICUM AMARUM: Magnesium sulfate 

(MgS04). 

SAL CATHOLICUM: Potassium sulfate (K2SO4). 

SAL DE DUOBUS: Potassium sulfate (K2SO4). 

SAL DE SEIGNETTE (SAL DE SOINETTE): See Seignette's 

Salt. 

SAL DIGESTIV: Potassium chloride (KCl). 

SAL DI MODENA: Magnesium sulfate (MgS04). 

SAL DIURETICUS: Potassium acetate (KC2H3O2). 

SAL DUPLICATUM: Potassium sulphate (K2SO4). 

SAL ENIXUM: Potassium sulfate (K2SO4). 

SAL EPSOM: (EPSOM SALT): Magnesium sulfate 

MgS04). 

SALES MEDII: See Sal Medium. 

SALES SALSI: See Sal Salsam. 

SAL GEMM E (SAL GEM) : Sodium chloride (NaCl). 

SAL GENTIANAE: Mostly potassium carbonate 

(K2CO3). 

SAL GLAUBER (GLAUBER'S SALT): Sodium sulfate 

(Na2S04). 

SAL GUAIACI EX LIGNO: Mostly potassium carbonate 

(K2CO3). 

SALINE BODIES (Cullen): Substances which are (a) 

sapid, (b) miscible with water, and (c) noninflammable. 

SALITED EARTHS, METALS, ETC.: Chlorides (Cl~). 

SAL JUNIPERI: Mostly potassium carbonate (K2CO3). 

SAL KALI (SODIUM CARBONATE): Soda (Na2C03). 

SAL MARINUS: Sea salt; mostly sodium chloride 

(NaCl). 

SAL MARINUS FONTAN: Sodium chloride (NaCl) as 

found in or near landlocked bodies of water. 

SAL MARINUS REGENERATUS: Potassium chloride 

(KCl). 

SAL MARTIS: Ferrous sulfate (FeS04). 

SAL MEDIUM (SAL SALSUM) (SALES MEDII): Any 

neutral salt that would not precipitate solutions 

made with acid or alkaline salts and would not 

change the color of syrup of violets. 

SALMIAC: See Sal Ammoniac. 

SAL MIRABILE (GLAUBER'S SALT): Sodium sulphate 

(Na2S04). 

SAL NITRIFORME INFLAMMABLE: Probably ammonium nitrate ((NH4)N03). 

SAL NITRII: Potassium nitrate (KNO3). 

SAL PERLATUM: Sodium phosphate (Na3P04). 

SAL POLYCHRESTUM: Potassium sulphate (K2SO4). 

SAL POLYCHRESTUM ANGLORUM (SAL POLYCHRESTUM 

GLASERI): Potassium sulfate (K2SO4). 

SAL POLYCHRESTUM DE ROCHELLE: See Sal Polychrestum de Seignette. 

SAL POLYCHRESTUM DE SEIGNETTE: Potassium sodium 

tartrate (NaKC4H406). 

SAL POLYCHRESTUM E NITRO ET SULPHURE: Potassium sulfate (K2SO4). 

SAL POLYCHRESTUM GLASERI: Potassium sulfate 

(K2SO4). 

SAL PRUNELLAE: A mixture of potassium nitrate 

and potassium sulfate (KN03;K2S04). 

SAL RUPELLENSIS (ROCHELLE SALT): Hydrated potassium sodium tartrate (KNaC4H406 * 4H2O). 

SAL SALSAM: (1) Any neutral combination of an 

acid with an absorbent earth; (2) any neutral 

combination of acid with alkali. (See also Neutral Salts, Sal Medium, or Salts.) 

SAL SAPIENTIAE: Potassium sulfate (K2SO4). 

SAL SATURNI: Lead acetate (PbC2Hg02). 
38 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

SAL SEDIVATUS (SEDATIVE SALT): Boracic or boric 

acid, (H3BO3) or (H2B4O7). 

SAL SENNERTI: Potassium acetate (KC2HgOo). 

SAL SODA (SALT SODA, SODA): Sodium carbonate 

(NaoCOg). 

SAL SUCCINI (SALT OF AMBER): Succinic acid 

(HO0CCH2CH2CO2H). 

SALT: In the 16th and 17th centuries this term denoted a group of solid, soluble, noninflammable 

substances with characteristic tastes. In the 18th 

century salts gradually became to be thought of 

in terms of process, as, for example, the product 

of the reaction between acids and bases, acids 

and other salts, or between two salts, etc. Some 

chemists regarded acids and bases themselves as 

salts or at least saline substances. In general, 

salts were increasingly recognized as the largest 

and most important class of substances as the 

eighteenth century progressed. 

SALT ALEMBROTH: A mixture of equal parts of corrosive sublimate (mercuric chloride, HgClo) and 

sal ammoniac (NH4CI). Used as a flux for 

metals. 

SAL TARTARI: Potassium carbonate (K2COg). It 

usually was produced by strongly heating tartar. 

SALT ASH: Magnesium chloride (MgClo). 

SALT OF AMBER: Succinic acid (C4H(;04). 

SALT OF ART: See Salt Alembroth. 

SALT OF BENZOIN: Benzoic acid (CcH^COOH). 

SALT OF CENTAURY: Solid residues obtained from 

the calcination of any of the plant species of the 

genus Centaurea. 

SALT OF CHALK: Calcium acetate (Ca (CoH30o)o). 

SALT OF COLCOTHAR: Probably impure ferric hydroxide (Fe(OH)3). 

SALT OF CORAL: Calcium acetate (Ca (CoHgOo)o). 

SALT OF CRAB'S EYES: Calcium acetate 

(Ca (CoH302)o). 

SALT OF ENGLAND: Ammonium carbonate 

((NH4)2COg). 

SALT OF EPSOM: See Epsom Salt. 

SALT OF GALL-NUTS: Tanni c acid (C-^c,^520-iG)-

SALT OF GLASS: A mixture of the various salts found 

in raw materials used in glassmaking. These included fixed alkali (potassium carbonate), common salt (sodium chloride), Glauber's salt 

(sodium sulfate), vitriolated tartar (potassium 

sulfate), etc. 

SALT OF HARTSHORN: Ammonium carbonate 

((NH4)2COg). 

SALT OF HUMAN BLOOD: A mixture of ammonium 

salts, including ammonium hydroxide (NH4OH), 

and various organic solids. 

SALT OF LEAD (SUGAR OF LEAD) (SAL SATURNI): 

Lead acetate (Pb (CoHg02)2). 

SALT OF LIME: Calcium carbonate (CaCOg) precipitated from limewater (calcium hydroxide solution, Ca (OH)o) by a carbonate compound. 

SALT OF MARS: Most often used for ferrous sulfate 

(FeS04). Occasionally used as a general term for 

any iron salt and as a specific name for ferrous 

acetate (Fe (C2H302)o). 

SALT OF MILK: Probably calcium lactate 

(Ca(C3H503)2). 

SALT OF OXBONE: Impure ammonium salts from 

bone extracts of cattle (NH4OH). 

SALT OF SCIENCE: See Salt Alembroth. 

SALT OF SEDLITZ: See Sedlitz Salt. (Sometimes sedlitz salt was confused with Glauber's salt.) 

SALT OF SODA: See Soda. 

SALT OF SORREL: Acid potassium oxylate (KHC0O4). 

SALT OF STEEL: Loosely applied to various iron 

salts. Most commonly applied to martial vitriol. 

(Ferrous sulfate; FeS04). 

SALT OF SULPHUR: Impure potassium sulfate 

(K0SO4). 

SALT OF SYLVIUS (FEBRIFUGAL SALT OF SYLVIUS): Potassium chloride (KCl). 

SALTS OF TACHENIUS: Impur e potassium and sodium 

carbonates (K2C03,Na2C03) obtained from the 

incomplete combustion of plant products. These 

salts contained organic impurities. 

SALT OF TARTAR: Potassium carbonate (K2CO3), 

SALT OF URINE: Impure ammonium salts extracted 

from urine. 

SALT OF VINEGAR: Impure potassium sulfate. Probably mixed with acetates and citrates. 

SALT OF WISDOM: See Salt Alembroth. 

SALT OF WORMWOOD: Mostly potassium carbonate 

(KoCOg). 

SAL VITRIOLI: Ferrous sulfate (FeS04). 

SAL VOLATILE FIXATUM: Ammonium sulfate 

((NH4)2S04). 

SAL VOLATILE OLEOSI: Any solid extracted from 

animal or vegetable matter containing ammonium salts, e.g., salt of hartshorn, etc. 

SANDARACH: (1) See Realgar; (2) a resin from the 

tree Callitris quadrivalvis. 

SANDIVER (GLASS GALL): A solution containing a 

mixture of salts found on the surface of glass 

after vitrification. 

SAPHIRE: See Sapphire. 
NUMBER 33 39 

SAPID: T O have a decided, yet pleasant taste. 

SAPONACEOUS: T O be soapy, slippery, sometimes 

foaming. 

SAPPHIRE (SAPHIRE): A clear blue gem material 

which is like ruby, a crystalline form of alumina 

(AI2O3). 

SARCOCOLLA: A gum resin imported from the Middle East. 

SARSPARILLA: Th e roots of plants of the family 

Smilaceae from which gummy and resinous extracts are obtained. 

SASSAFRAS: A term applied both to the tree Sassafras officinale and to its bark when dried and 

prepared. 

SATURATION: Th e action by which a "perfect" union 

between an acid and an alkali is accomplished. 

Its product is a neutral salt. 

SATURN (OF SATURN): Used in referring to lead or 

to compounds containing lead. 

SAUNDERS: See Red Saunders. 

SCAMMONY: A gummy, resinous juice from the root 

of the plant Convolvulvus scammonia. 

SCHEELE'S GREEN: Cupric hydrogen arsenite 

(CuHAsOg). 

SCHORL: A black mineral. Now known as a variety 

of tourmaline. 

SCHWARTZ BLEI WEISS (BLACK WHITE-LEAD): Plumago (graphite) (C^). 

SCORDIUM: Th e plant Teucrium scordium from 

which gummy and resinous extracts are obtained. 

It has an odor of garlic. 

SCORIA: Th e undesirable solid residues or slag 

which remain after a metal has been separated 

from an ore. 

SCORIFICATION: Any process which produces scoria 

or slag. Sometimes used for processes which yield 

metal or semimetals. Scorification usually involved the addition of other substances to the 

ore, then heating. 

SECRET FIXED SULPHUR OF THE PHILOSOPHERS: Calcined residue when sulfur is distilled with linseed 

oil. 

SECRET SAL AMMONIAC (GLAUBER'S SECRET SAL 

AMMONIAC): Ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2S04). 

SEDATIVE SALT: Usually boric acid, but sometimes 

sodium tetraborate (Na2B407). 

SEDATIVE SPAR: Calcium borate (CaB407). 

SEDLITZ SALT (EPSOM SALT): Magnesium sulphate 

(MgS04). 

SEIGNETTE'S SALT: Sodium potassium tartrate (Rochelle salt) (NaKC4H406). 

SELENITE: Th e various mineral forms of Calcium 

sulphate (CaS04). 

SELENITIC SPAR: Any mineral assigned to the family 

of "spars" that could be calcined like gypsum 

(CaS04 • 2H2O). 

SEMI-METALS: Substances which have the properties 

characteristic of metals except for ductility and 

which sublime. Different chemists had different 

lists, but most included antimony (Sb), arsenic 

(As); bismuth (Bi), cobalt (Co), and Zinc (Zn). 

Some included mercury (Hg) and, later in the 

century, nickel (Ni). 

SENA (SENNA): Several similar plants of the genus 

Cassia from the leaves of which gummy and 

resinous extracts were obtained. 

SENEGAL: A gum extract from the root of the North 

American species Polygala senega. 

SENNA: See Sena. 

SEPARATING-GLASS: A vessel narrow at the top, then 

bellying out in the center, and narrowing again 

to a hollow tube or stem. Shaped somewhat like 

the modern separatory funnel and often used for 

similar purposes. 

SERPENTINE: A steatite, usually green. 

SHOOT: When crystals appeared, especially suddenly 

in a saturated solution, they were said to "shoot." 

SIDERUM: Iron phosphide (FcgP). 

SiLEx: Silicon dioxide (Si02). 

SILICIOUS EARTH (SILICA): Silicon dioxide (Si02). 

SIMILOR: A copper zinc alloy with a color approximating that of real gold. 

SLAKED LIME: Calcium hydroxide (Ca (OH)2). 

SMALT: A blue, glassy substance used as a pigment. 

T h e blue comes from cobaltous oxide (CuO). 

Smalt also contains silica (Si02). 

SMELTING: Th e process of extracting a metal from 

its ore. 

SMO(A)KING SPIRIT OF LIBAVIUS: Primarily stannous 

chloride (SnCl2) but with chlorides of mercury 

mixed in. 

SMO(A)KING SPIRIT OF NITRE: Concentrated nitric 

acid (HNOg). 

SNOW OF ANTIMONY: See Flowers of Antimony. 

SOAP: In general, any chemical combination of 

acids, bases, or salts with oils that exhibit detergent action. Common soap was the product of 

sodium hydroxide with an oil or fat. 

SOAP OF GLASS: Manganese dioxide (Mn02) in its 

role of agent to remove color bodies from glass 

while the glass was molten. 

SoAP-RocK: See Steatites. 
40 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

SOAPSTONE: See Steatite. 

SODA: Sodium carbonate (Na2C03). 

SODA BARYLLIA (Spanish): Sodium carbonate 

(Na2C03). 

SODA HISPANICA (WASHING SODA): Sodium carbonate (Na2C03). 

SOLDER: Any fusible metal alloy used for joining 

two pieces of metal. Most types were alloys of tin 

and lead. 

SOLUBLE TARTAR: Normal potassium tartrate. Probably (K2C4H4O6). 

SOLUTION: Any liquid in which one component 

called the "solute" is dispersed in a second component called the "solvent." 

SoLVEND (Cullen): Solute. 

SOOT: Carbon and hydrocarbon deposits from incomplete combustion of fuels. 

SORREL: Various plants of the genus Rumex from 

which an acid salt (acid potassium acetate) was 

extracted. 

SPANISH EARTH: Vitriols (mixture) (CuS04;FeS04). 

SPANISH GREEN: Basic copper carbonate (2CUCO3 • 

Cu (OH)2). 

SPANISH WHITE : Bismuth oxychloride (or oxynitrate) (BiOCl;BiON03). 

SPAR: A class of compounds characterized by a 

crystalline form that features shiny reflective 

plate surfaces. 

SPATH (SPAT) STONE: A naturally occurring mineral 

solid containing mostly calcium sulfate (CaS04). 

SPATHIC IRON ORE: Ferrous carbonate (FeCOg). 

SPECIFICUM PURGANS PARACELSI: Potassium sulfate 

(K2SO4). 

SPERMACETI: Th e white fatty substance obtained 

from the head of the sperm whale. Used in 

pharmaceuticals and candles. 

SPHACELATED: Gangrenous. 

SPIKENARD: Th e aromatic extract from the Indian 

plant Nardostachys jalamansi. Th e term was also 

used for the plant itself. 

SPIRIT: (1) Any liquor obtained from another substance by distillation; (2) later, any subtle substance dissolved in another substance. Th e concept gradually veered toward what we now call 

the gaseous state. 

SP. AMMON. CUM CALCE VIVA: Ammonium carbonate ((NH4)2C03). 

SPIRIT. AMMON. SAL. VOL.: Mostly ammonium carbonate ((NH4)2COg). 

SPIRIT OF ALUM: Sulfuric acid (H2SO4) obtained 

from the destructive distillation of alum 

(KAl (S04)2 • 12HoO). 

SPIRIT OF HARTSHORN: Strong solution of ammonia 

produced by the distillation of hartshorn 

(NH4O4). 

SPIRIT OF LIBAVIUS: Stannic chloride (SnCl4). 

SPIRIT OF MINDERERUS: Ammonium acetate solution (NH4 (C2Hg02). 

SPIRIT OF WINE : Ethanol (ethyl alcohol) (C2H5OH). 

SPIRITUS ACETI: Th e acetic acid (HC2Hg02) obtained from distilling any fermented material 

which produces this acid, e.g., vinegar. 

SPIRITUS BEGUINI: Ammonium polysulfide (fuming 

liquor of Boyle) ((NH4)2S). 

SPIRITUS CC : Ammonium carbonate ((NH4)2C03). 

SPIRITUS NITRI COAGULATUS: Potassium nitrate 

(KNO3). 

SPIRITUS NITRI DULCIS (SWEET SPIRIT OF NITRE): 

Ethyl nitrite (C2H5NO2). 

SPIRITUS SAL AMMONIACUM: See Spirit of Sal Ammoniac. 

SPIRITUS SALIS AMMONIACI CUM SALE ALKALI PARATA: Ammonium carbonate ((NH4)2C03). 

SPIRITUS SALIS COAGULATUS: Potassium chloride 

(KCl). 

SPIRITUS SULPHURIS: See Spirit of Vitriol or Spirit 

of Sulphur. 

SPIRITUS SULPHURIS VOLATILUS BEGUINII: Ammonium polysulphide ((NH4)2S). 

SPIRIT VENERIS: Sulfuric acid (H2SO4). 

SPIRITUS VITRIOLI: See Spirit of Vitriol. 

SPIRITUS VITRIOLI COAGULATUS: Potassium sulfate 

(K2SO4). 

SP. MIND.: See Spirit of Mindererus. 

SPOUT: Any hollow projection from a vessel that is 

used to direct the liquid flow while pouring. 

This term was most commonly applied to the 

spout on an alembic. 

SPUMA Lupi: Th e mineral from which tungsten 

was extracted. 

STAGNANT GAS (MARSH GAS): Methane (CH4). 

STAMPING: Crushing of ores. 

STANNUM ANGLICI: Ti n (Sn) from England. 

STANNUM GLACIALE: Bismuth (Bi). 

STARKEY'S SOAP: Saponaceous substance from the 

reaction between potassium carbonate and essential oil of turpentine. 

STEATITE: A mineral substance composed mostly of 

various forms of magnesium silicate, e.g., 

(Mg3Si40n • H2O). 

STEEL: Regarded as a form of iron which (a) contained a larger portion of the inflammable prin-
NUMBER 33 41 

ciple and (b) had fewer chemical impurities. 

STIBIATED TARTAR: Potassium antimonyl tartrate 

(KSbC4H407). 

STIBIUM: Antimony sulfide (Sb2S3). 

STICK LAQUE: See Lac. 

STINKING SULPHUREOUS AIR: Hydrogen sulphide 

(H2S). 

STONE OF BOLOGNA: A variety of barium sulfate 

(BaS04) that became phosphorescent when calcined. 

SPIRIT OF NITER "BESOARDIQUE" : Nitric acid added 

to "Butter of Antimony" and the mixture distilled to get a liquor which holds the "Regulus 

of Antimony" in solution. 

SPIRIT OF NITRE: Dilute nitric acid (HNO3). 

SPIRIT OF SAL AMMONIAC: Ammonia (NH3), or 

ammonium hydroxide solution (NH4OH). 

SPIRIT OF SALT: Hydrochloric acid (HCl). 

SPIRIT OF SATURN: Impur e acetone made from lead 

acetate (CH3COCH3). 

SPIRIT OF SEA-SALT: Hydrochloric acid (HCl). 

SPIRIT OF SULPHUR: Mixture of sulfuric and sulfurous acids (H2SO4; H2SO3). 

SPIRIT OF TARTAR: Potassium hydrogen tartrate 

(KHC4H4O6). Product of the dry distillation of 

crude tartar. 

SPIRIT OF URINE: Ammonium carbonate 

((NH4)2C03). Derived from an impure solution 

of ammonia obtained by the distillation of urine. 

SPIRIT OF VENUS: Concentrated and relatively pure 

acetic acid (HC2H3O2). 

SPIRIT OF VERDIGRIS: Acetic acid (HC0H3O2). 

SPIRIT OF VINEGAR: Impure acetic acid obtained by 

distilling vinegar (HC2H3O2). 

SPIRIT OF VITRIOL: Dilute sulfuric acid (H2SO4) 

and/or sulfurous acid (H2SO3). 

STRONTIA: Strontium oxide (SrO). 

SUBLIMATE: Solid or concrete products of sublimation. Not powder. 

SUBLIMATION: A property possessed by some substances enabling their going directly from the 

solid to the gaseous state without passing through 

the liquid phase. (See text, p. 15). 

SUBSTANTIA FERREA VITRIOLI: Ferric oxide (Fe203). 

SUCCINUM: Amber. 

SUDORIFIC: Any medicinal substance which promoted, or was believed to promote, sweating. 

SUGAR OF (A SUBSTANCE): Usually signifying an acetate (-C2Hg02-) . 

SUGAR OF LEAD: Lead acetate (Pb (C2H302)2)-

SULPHUR: (a) As a "principle," in the seventeenth 

and early eighteenth centuries the substantive 

causes of the properties of inflammability, color, 

and odor; (b) in the doctrine of phlogiston, a 

compound composed of vitriolic (sulfuric) acid 

and the inflammable principle, "phlogiston." 

SULPHUR ALBUM FIXUM: Potassium nitrate (KNOg). 

SULPHURATED IRON: Ferrous sulphide (FeS). 

SULPHUR MINERALE: Solid mineral sulphur (S). 

SULPHUR OF ANTIMONY (GOLDEN SULPHUR OF ANTIMONY): Th e orange sulfide of antimony, usually 

a mixture of the trisulfide (Sb2S3) with some of 

the pentasulfide (Sb2S5). 

SULPHUREOUS SALT OF STAHL: Impure potassium 

sulfite (K2SO3). 

SULPHUREOUS ACID: Sulfuric acid (H2SO4). 

SuLPHURETs: Sulfides ( —S). 

SULPHUREUM (Bergman): Sulfurous acid (H2SO3). 

SULPHUROUS ACID (Pre-Lavoisier): Sulfuric acid 

(H2SO4). 

SULPHUR VIVUM: Naturally occurring sulphur (S). 

SuPEROLEFiANT GAS (Dalton): Butylene (C4Hg). 

SWEDISH ACID: Hydrofluoric acid (HF). 

SWEETENED SPIRIT OF SALT: Ethyl chloride 

(C2H5CI). 

SWEET MERCURY (MERCUREOUS DULCIS): Mercurous 

chloride (HgaCls). 

SWEET PRINCIPLE FROM OILS AND FATS: Glycerol 

(HOCH2CHOHCH2OH). 

SWEET SUBLIMATE: Mercurous chloride (HgoCl2). 

SYMPATHETIC INK: Any solution that is colorless 

but becomes dark (and thus visible) by heating, 

by addition of other chemicals, etc. 

SYRUP OF VIOLETS: A water extract of the petals of 

violets. 

SYRUPUS VIOLARUM: See Syrup of Violets. 

TABASHEER (TABACHIR): A white powder formed 

at the joints of bamboo shoots. Imported from 

the Orient and used as a medicinal. 

TALC: A mixture of magnesium metasilicilate 

(Mg3H2 (8104)3) "with magnesium silicate 

(Mg3Si40ii • H2O). 

TALKY EARTHS: (a) fibrous earths; (b) earths that 

suffer no change from the action of acids or fire; 

(c) earths that do not become viscid or hard when 

made into aqueous paste, e.g., asbestos. 

TANNIN: Any astringent vegetable substance that 

can react with animal hyde and convert it to 

leather. Th e most common tannin was tannic 

acid extracted from oak-galls. 

TAR: Th e dense, black, inflammable liquid or 
42 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

semisolid obtained from the distillation of various woods or coal. A complex mixture of hydrocarbons and other organic compounds. 

TARTAR: Potassium hydrogen tartrate (KHC4H4O6). 

TARTARATED ALKALI OF TARTAR: Potassium tartrate 

(K2C4H40e). 

TARTAR EMETIC (STIBIATED TARTAR): Potassium 

antimonyl tartrate (KSbC4H407). 

TARTARIFIED IRON: See Chalybs Tartar. 

TARTARIFIED TARTAR: See Soluble Tartar. 

TARTARIFIED TINCTURE OF IRON: Ferrous tartrate 

solution (FeC4H406). 

TARTARIN: A term occasionally used for potassium 

carbonate (K0CO3). 

TARTARIZED TARTAR: Potassium tartrate 

(K2C4H4O6). 

TARTARIZED TINCTURE OF MARS: Not a true alcohol 

solution, this medicinal was dubbed a tincture 

largely because of its deep color. Probably iron 

tartrate (FeC4H406) with various impurities. 

TARTARUM REGENERATUM (REGENERATED TARTAR): 

Potassium acetate (KC2H3O3) for the most part, 

but also used for assorted potassium salts. Not 

very well defined. 

TARTARUM SOLUBUS (SOLUBLE SALT OF TARTAR): 

Potassium tartrate (K2C4H4O6). 

TARTARUM TARTARISATUM: Potassium tartrate 

(K2C4H4O6). 

TARTARUM VITRIOLATUM (VITRIOLATED TARTAR). 

Potassium sulphate (K2SO4). 

TARTARUS CITRATUS: Potassium citrate (KgCgHgOy • 

H2O). 

TARTARUS NITRATUS: Potassium nitrate (KNOg). 

TARTARUS TARTARISATUS: Potassium tartrate 

(K2C4H4O6). 

TARTARUS VITRIOLATUS: Potassium sulfate (K2SO4). 

TARTRE STYBIE (TARTAR EMETIC): Potassium antimonyl tartrate (KSbC4H407). 

T A R WATER: A solution of the water-soluble components of tar. Mostly alcohols and polar organic 

materials. 

TECTUM ARGENTI: Bismuth (Bi). 

TEREBINTH: Th e resin from the terebinth tree 

Pistacia terebinthus. 

TEREBINTHACEOUS: Impregnated with turpentine, 

having turpentine as a component, or just similar to turpentine. 

TEREBINTHINE: Th e refined portion or the "spirit" 

of the resin from the terebinth and other trees 

having similar resins. Very similar to what we 

now call turpentine. 

TERRA ANGLICA RUBRA: Ferric oxide (Fe203). 

TERRA FOLIATA NITRI: Potassium acetate 

(KC2H3O2). 

TERRA FOLIATA TARTARI: See Regenerated Tartar. 

TERRA FOLIATA TARTARI CRYSTALLISABILIS: Sodium 

acetate (NaC2H302). 

TERRA FOLIATA SECRETISSIMA: Solid potassium acetate (KC2H3O2). 

TERRA FRANCISCA: Assorted sulfates (e.g., FeS04, 

CUSO4). 

TERRA MOLYBDAENAE: Molybdic acid 

(H2M0O4 • H2O). 

TERRA PONDEROSA: Barium sulfate (BaS04). 

TERRA PONDEROSA ACETATE: Barium acetate 

(Ba (CoH302)2). 

TERRA PONDEROSA AERATA: Barium carbonate 

(BaCOg). 

TERRA PONDEROSA MOLYBDAENATA: Barium molybdate (BaMo04). 

TERRE FOLIEE ANIMALE: Ammonium acetate 

(NH4C2H3O2). 

TERRE FOLIEE CRYSTALLISEE: Sodium acetate 

(NaCoHg02). 

TEST: A large cupel used for refining substantial 

quantities of gold and silver by means of lead. 

TESTACEOUS EARTHS: Mineral solids that came from 

or were chemically similar to shells. Thus, "testaceous powders" were prepared from shells. 

TESTING: Th e operation of refining gold and silver 

by means of lead. 

THERIAC: A general term for an antidote for the 

poison of a venomous snake. 

TiNCAL (TINKAL): Crude borax imported from 

India. 

TiNCT. TARTARI: Solution of potassium hydroxide 

(KOH) in alcohol. 

TINCTURA ANTIMONII: See Tincture of Antimony. 

TINCTURE: A solution in which ethanol is the primary solvent. Th e term was applied most often 

to colored solutions. 

TINCTURE OF ANTIMONY: A medicinal prepared 

from antimony metal and liver of sulphur (potassium polysulfides). 

TINCTURE OF CORAL: Crude acetone (CH3COCH3). 

TINCTURE OF MARS: A general term for various 

medicinal preparations Involving iron salts. Common components included ferrous hydroxide and 

mixed tartrates and oxides. 

TINCTURE OF MARS OF MYNSICHT: An alcohol solution in which the solute is primarily ferric chloride (FeClg). 
NUMBER 33 43 

TIN-GLASS: Bismuth (Bi). 

TINGING: When one substance tinges or slightly 

colors another. 

TORREFACTION: Roasting of ores in the hope of removing impurities. 

TOURMALINE (TOURMALIN, ASH-STONE): A mineral 

solid consisting of various forms of silicoborate, 

including the black mineral "Schorl." 

TOURNESOLE: See Turnsol. 

TRIPLE SALTS: Salts which seemed to have three 

components rather than the usual two; e.g., alum 

(KA1(S04) 2 • 12HoO). 

TRIPOLI (INFUSORIAL EARTH, ROTTEN-STONE): A 

finely divided mineral solid used for polishing. 

Obtained from the shells of diatoms. 

TRITORIUM: A vessel used for the separation of immiscible liquids. It was often shaped somewhat 

like two modern separatory funnels cut near their 

tops and fused together. Basically the same as a 

separating glass. 

TRITURATION: Mechanical breakdown or division 

of solid substances through grinding; e.g., with 

mortar and pestle, in a mill, etc. (See text, p. 13). 

TRITURE: See Trituration. 

TRONA: Naturally occurring sodium carbonate 

(NaaCOs). It usually had some bicarbonate 

(NaHCOg) in it as well. 

TUBULATED RETORT: A retort which had a scalable 

opening in the top to allow addition or removal 

of material without changing the position of the 

retort. See text, p. 11. 

TUNG SPAT: See Heavy Spar. 

TUNGSTEN (SCHEELITE): Native calcium tungstate 

(CaW04). 

TuRMARic: A powder made from the root of the 

imported East Indian plant Curcuna longa. 

TURNER'S YELLOW: Yellow lead oxychloride (PbCU * 

3PbO). 

TURNSOL(E): Th e bluish purple substance from the 

plant lichen Crozophora tinctoria. Used as an 

indicator. Synonymous with litmus. 

TURPENTINE: A resinous liquid extracted from various trees. Originally the extract of the terebinth 

tree Distacia terebinthus. 

TuRPETH MINERAL (TURBETH MINERAL): Basic 

mercuric sulphate (HgS04 * 2HgO). 

TUTENAG (CHINESE COPPER): A term occasionally 

applied to zinc (Zn). Also used for a white metal 

alloy (Chinese copper) which consisted primarily 

of copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), and nickel (Ni). Used 

to alloy silver in coins and jewelry items. 

TuTiA: See Tutty. 

TUTTY: Zinc oxide (ZnO). 

ULIGINOUS: Any watery, oozing matter like that in 

a swamp. 

ULMIN: A mucilagenous substance from the inner 

bark of the elm. 

ULTRAMARINE: A blue pigment made from the gem 

mineral lapis lazuli. Th e relative composition of 

ultramarine is not fixed, but the largest component is a sodium aluminum silicate combined 

with sulphur. 

UMBER: A mineral solid which exists in a range of 

brown hues. Chemically, umber is mostly a mixture of hydrous ferric oxide (Fe20g * XHoO) 

and manganese dioxide (MnOo). It was believed 

by many in the eighteenth century to be a fossil 

wood originally found in Umbria near Spoleto 

in Italy. 

UNCTUOUS: Oily; i.e., viscous, adherent and lubricating. 

UNCTUOUS OILS: Oils that have little or no taste or 

odor but are relatively "oily"; i.e., are viscous, 

adherent, and lubricating. 

URINOUS SALTS: Usually any ammonium salt. Sometimes any of the alkali carbonates. 

USTULATION: Th e loss of volatile components of a 

substance without loss of texture or body. Cf. 

Calcination. 

VAGUE ACID OF MINES: An aeriform fluid which was 

probably largely sulphur dioxide (SOo). 

VAPOUR: Rather loosely applied to any aeriform 

substance or phase. Perhaps the best eighteenthcentury definition was any aeriform substance 

that could be liquefied by cold. 

VAPOUR OF ARSENIC: Arsenious oxide (As20g). 

VARNISH: A resin in solution. "Spirit" varnishes 

were resins dissolved in turpentine or alcohol. 

"Oil" varnishes were resins dissolved in linseed 

and/or other oils. 

VEGETABLE ACID: Any acidic substance extracted 

from whole or fermented vegetable matter. Thus, 

the term was applied to acetic (CHgCOOH), 

citric (CoHgOy), and tartaric (C4HCOG) acids, 

etc. 

VEGETABLE ACID, FERMENTATIVE: Primarily acetic 

acid from vinegar (HC2H3O2). 

VEGETATIVE ACID, NATIVE: Citric acid (CBHSOT). 

VEGETABLE ALKALI (POTASH): Potassium carbonate 

(K0CO3). 
44 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

VEGETABLE AMMONIACAL SALT: Solid ammonium 

acetate (NH4C2H3O2). 

VEGETABLE SALT: See Tartarified Tarta r or Soluble 

Tartar. 

VENUS (OF VENUS): Usually suggested either copper 

or a compound of copper. Sometimes it simply 

indicated an acetate ( —CoH30o~). 

VERDIGRIS (VERDEGRISE): A basic copper acetate 

(Cu(C2H302)2 • 2Cu(OH)2). Long used as a 

green pigment. 

VERDITER (BLUE VERDITER; BLUE BICE): A blue 

pigment made from a basic copper carbonate 

(2CUCO3 • Cu(OH)2) which is chemically the 

same as azurite. 

VERMILLION: Th e red pigment made from cinnabar 

(mercuri sulfide, HgS). See Cinnabar. 

VINE BLACK: A preparation of carbon from the 

twigs and wood of vines. Used as a black pigment. 

VINEGAR OF LEAD: Primarily lead acetate 

(Pb (C2H302)2). 

VITAL AIR: Oxygen (O2). 

VITIATED AIR: Air from which oxygen has been removed, thus mainly nitrogen. 

VITRESANT (VITRIFIABLE): Any solid that could be 

made into "glass." 

VITRIFIABLE EARTHS (VITREOUS EARTHS): Mineral 

substances which fuse under the action of fire. 

VITRIFICATION: Th e chemical part of the process of 

making glass or of any high-temperature process 

which produced a glass-like substance. 

VITRIOL: Used mainly for ferrous sulphate (FeS04), 

but a generic term for sulfates. As with many old 

terms, the usage varied; e.g., some used the term 

for nitrates of silver and copper. 

VITRIOL, BLUE: Copper sulphate (CUSO4). 

VITRIOL, GREEN: Ferrous (or iron) sulphate (FeS04). 

VITRIOL, WHITE: Zinc sulphate (ZnS04). 

VITRIOL (OR VITRIOLIC) ACID: Sulphuric acid 

(H2SO4). 

VITRIOLATED EARTHS, METALS, ETC.: Sulphates. 

VITRIOLATED ETHER: Diethyl ether (C4H10O). 

VITRIOLATED TARTAR: Potassium sulfate (K2SO4). 

VITRIOLIC ETHER: Diethyl ether (C4H10O). 

VITRIOL OF GOSLAR (WHITE VITRIOL): Zinc sulfate 

(ZnS04). 

VITRIOL OF JOVE: Stannous sulphate (SnS04). 

VITRIOL OF JUPITER: Stannous acetate 

(Sn (C2H302)2). 

VITRIOL OF MARS (GREEN VITRIOL): Ferrous sulfate 

(FeS04). 

VITRIOL OF QUICK SILVER: Mercuric nitrate 

(Hg(NOg)2). 

VITRIOL OF SATURN: Lead acetate (Pb (C2H3O2)). 

VITRIOL OF SILVER: Occasionally, early in the century, silver nitrate (AgNOg). As the century 

progressed, the term was more reasonably applied 

to silver sulfate (Ag2S04). 

VITRIOL OF VENUS: Cupric sulfate (CUSO4). 

ViTRioLUM ALBUM: See White Vitriol. 

ViTRioLUM AMMONIUM: Ammonium sulfate 

((NH4)oS04). 

ViTRioLUM ANGLICUM: Ferrous sulphate (FeS04). 

VITRIOLUM VENERIS CUM ALKALI FIXO PRAECIPITATUM: Basic copper acetate (Cu(C2H302)2 * CuO * 

6H2O). 

ViTRiuM ANTIMONII (GLASS OF ANTIMONY): Fused 

antimony oxide (Sbo03). 

VIVIFYING SPIRIT: A hypothetical principle in the 

air which, according to some early eighteenthcentury chemists, was the active agent in combustion and respiration. 

VOLATILE: An adjective usually used to indicate not 

only that a substance naturally gave off some 

aeriform component (as indicated by an odor) 

but also that it decomposed easily and gave off 

one or more aeriform components to the air on 

heating. 

VOLATILE ACID OF NITRE: Nitrous acid (HNO2). 

VOLATILE ACID OF SULFUR (PHLOGISTICATED VITRIOLIC ACID): Sulfurous acid (H2SO3). 

VOLATILE ALKALI: A term most commonly used for 

solutions of ammonia; e.g., ammonium hydroxide. 

VOLATILE ALKALI IN ITS CONCRETE FORM: Ammonium carbonate (NH4COg). 

VOLATILE LIVER OF SULPHUR: Volatile product from 

heating sulphur with quicklime and ammonium 

chloride. 

VOLATILE SAL AMMONIAC: Ammonium hydroxide 

solution. 

VOLATILE SALT: Ammonium carbonate 

((NH4)2COg). 

VOLATILE SALT OF AMBER: See Salt of Amber. 

VOLATILE SALT OF HARTSHORN: Ammonium carbonate (NH4CO3). 

VOLATILE SPIRIT OF SAL AMMONIAC: Ammonium 

hydroxide (NH4OH) obtained from quicklime 

(calcium oxide) and sal ammoniac (ammonium 

chloride). 

VOLATILE SPIRIT OF SULPHUR: Th e aeriform product 

from burning sulphur; mostly sulphur dioxide 
NUMBER 33 45 

(SO2) with some sulphur trioxide (SO3). Th e 

term was also applied to sulphurous acid. 

VOLATILE VITRIOL OF VENUS: Copper acetate 

Cu (C2H302)2. 

WASH: Any fermented mixture which, after distillation, would produce distilled spirits (ethanol, 

CH3CH2OH, with impurities). 

WATER GAS: Mixture of hydrogen (H2) and carbon 

monoxide (CO). 

WATER OF MINDERUS: A solution of ammonium 

acetate (NH4C2H3O2). 

WATER OF RABEL: A solution of ethyl ether 

(CHgCH20CH2CH3) in ethanol (CH3CH2OH). 

WAX : A term referring to beeswax only, as the 

hydrocarbon waxes were not available in the 

eighteenth century. 

WHEY : Th e liquid which remains after milk is 

curdled, usually in the process of cheese-making. 

WHITE ARSENIC: Arsenious oxide (AS2O3). 

WHITE CALX OF ANTIMONY: Mixture of antimony 

oxide (Sb203) and potassium oxide (KgO). 

WHITE COPPER: An alloy of arsenic (As), copper 

(Cu), and zinc (Zn). 

WHITE COPPERAS: Zinc sulfate (ZnS04). 

WHITE LEAD: Basic lead carbonate (Pb (COg)2 * 

Pb (OH)2). 

WHITE MANGANESE: Manganous carbonate 

(MnCOg). 

WHITE PRECIPITATED MERCURY (PRECIPITATE OF 

THE SUBLIMATE OF MERCURY): Mercurammonium 

chloride (HgNH2Cl). 

WHITE VITRIOL: Zinc sulfate (ZnS04). 

WIND FURNACE: A reverberating furnace. See text, 

p. 6. 

WINE: Often used more broadly by eighteenthcentury chemists to include any potable liquid 

which had become "spiritous" through fermentation; e.g., beer, cider, and mead. 

WITHERITE: Barium carbonate (BaCOg). 

Wo AD: A blue dye prepared from the leaves of the 

plant Isatis tinctoria. 

WOLFRAM: A mineral substance Spuma lupi that 

was under investigation in the 18th century. 

WOOD ASH: Potassium carbonate (K2CO3). 

WORM : A long, coiled tube, usually of copper, attached to the head of a distillation apparatus for 

the purpose of increasing condensation. A worm 

commonly was used in distilling spirits. 

WORMWOOD: Th e plant Artemisia absinthium, the 

leaves of which were used to make an extract by 

distilliation. Used as a medicinal. 

WORT: An infusion of grain, usually malt, which 

was fermented to produce beer. 

WouLFE BOTTLE: A bottle with two or more necked 

orifices that was used in distillation. 

YELLOW: A yellow coloring agent produced by 

treating indigo with dilute nitric acid. This substance proved to be unstable and seldom was 

used as a dye. 

YELLOW AQUA FORTIS: Concentrated nitric acid 

(HNO3). 

YELLOW ARSENIC: Arsenious sulphide (AS2S3). 

YELLOW OCHRE: Hydrated ferric oxide (Fe20g * 

H2O). 

YTTRIA: A mixture of rare earth elements from the 

mineral gadolinite. Primarily the trioxide of 

yttrium (Y20g). 

ZAFFRE (SAFFRE): A gray or reddish powder composed mostly of cobalt oxide (CaO). 

ZEOLITES: A group of mineral solids which are various hydrated silicates, primarily of aluminum, 

calcium, potassium, and sodium. Although not 

really related, they shared the property of swelling and "boiling" under the heat of the blowpipe. 

ZINC (ZINCO, ZINETUM): Regarded in the eighteenth 

century as a semi-metal because of its relative 

brittleness. 
Not es 

^ NICOLAS LE FEVRE, A Compleat Body of Chymistry (London, 1670), part 1, pages 1-12. 

^GEORGE ERNST STAHL, Philosophical Principles of Universal 

Chemistry (London, 1730), page 1. This publication is a 

translation by Peter Shaw of Stahl's Fundamenta Chymiae of 

1723. The manuscript from which the original was published 

predates Stahl's use of the phlogiston concept. 

^ NICOLAS LEMERY, Cows de chimie, 8th edition (Paris, 

1696), page 2. 

^WILHELM HOMBERG, "Essais de chymie," Memoires de 

I'Academie Royale des Sciences (1702), page 33. 

^HERMAN BOERHAAVE, Elements of Chemistry (London, 

1735), volume 1, page 19. This publication is the authorized 

translation by Timothy Dallowe. 

® Ibid, volume, 2, page 2. 

''PETER SHAW, Chemical Lectures, 2nd edition (London, 

1755), page 1. Shaw's definition is closer to Boerhaave's than 

might appear at first glance. 

^ GUILLAUME-FRAN^OIS ROUELLE, "Cours de Chimie, ou 

Lemons de Monsieur Rouelle, Recueilles pendant les annees 

1754, 1755, et redigees en 1756. Revues, et corrigees, en 1757 

et 1758" (manuscript. Science Library, Clifton College, Bristol, England; micofilm copy courtesy Cornell University Library), page 1. 

" Ibid., page 3. 

^"PIERRE-JOSEPH MACQUER, Elemens de chymie theorique 

(Paris, 1749), page 1. 

^1 ANTOINE BAUME, Chymie experimentale et raisonnee 

(Paris, 1773), volume 1, page 13. 

^- Ibid., pages 2-7. 

" In the eighteenth century, "analysis" generally meant a 

decomposition reaction rather than the determination of 

chemical composition. I try to keep the two meanings straight 

by using "decomposition" for analysis in the eighteenthcentury sense whenever there seems to be some possibility for 

confusion. 

^'MACQUER, Chymisches Worterbuch, oder Allgemeine 

Begriffe der Chymie in alphabetischer Ordnung, 6 volumes 

(Leipzig, 1781-1783). Translated and annotated by Johann 

Gottfried Leonard!. 

^'MACQUER, Dictionnaire de chymie (Paris, 1766), volume 

2, page 9. 

^"Ibid., page 10. 

" Ibid. 

" As MACQUER {Dictionnaire, volume 2, page 4) observed, 

"In a laboratory where many experiments are made one cannot have too many shelves." Some scientific problems apparently are immutable. 

" F . W. GiBBS, "William Lewis, M.B., F.R.S. (1708-1781)," 

Annals of Science, volume 8 (1957) , pages 122-151. 

-"See, for example, JOHN READ, Prelude to Chemistry (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1966), especially pages 143-145. 

" L E FEVRE, A Compleat Body of Chymistry, part 1, page 

75. 

-- LEMERY, Cours de chimie, pages 2, 6-8. 

^BOERHAAVE, Elements of Chemistry, volume 1, pages 237-

241. 

-^MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 1, page 503. 

=^See, for example, the several illustrations of laboratories 

in FRITZ FERCHL AND A. SUSSENGUTH, A Pictorial History of 

Chemistry (London: Whitefriars, 1939) , pages 170-178. 

-" A complicated but intriguing furnace was designed by 

PETER SHAW (1694-1763) and exhibited in the appendix of 

his translation (1741) of BOERH.'VAVE'S Elementa Chemiae 

that was published in 1732. Essentially cylindrical in shape, 

it was made in sections that could be stacked vertically on a 

basic firebox. The upper sections were heating chambers that 

could accommodate vessels of various sizes. 

-'BOERHAAVE, Elements of Chemistry, volume 1, pages 510-

511 and plate 13. 

-^LEMERY, Cours de chimie, page 35. 

=°Ibid., pages 68-69. 

^"BOERHAAVE, Elements of Chemistry, volume 1, pages 241-

244. Henry Bolton has recorded that a Fahrenheit thermometer graduated to 600° (not, of course, in exact correspondence to our modern Fahrenheit scale) still survived in 

Leyden about 1900. See HENRY CARRINGTON BOLTON, Evolution of the Thermometer, 1592-1743 (Easton, Pennsylvania: 

The Chemical Publishing Co., 1900), page 77. 

^^ The use of thermometers in chemistry was uncommon at 

this time. Moreover, the great Swedish chemist Torbern 

Bergman (1735-1784) could write in 1779 that he "knew a 

chemist who considered thermometers, and such instrument, 

as physical subtleties, superfluous and unnecessary in the 

laboratory." TORBERN BERGMAN, Physical and Chemical Essays 

(London, 1788), volume 1, page xxxiii. (This work is Edmund Cullen's two-volume translation of Bergman's collected 

works.) 

''"MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 1, page 507. 

^ The magnitude of their problems becomes even more 

striking when one considers that the conditions outlined 

above were ideal. For those not fortunate enough to have 

access to a stable of furnaces there was only the fireplace, the 

alcohol lamp, and the lowly candle. But as Joseph Priestley's 

descriptions of his laboratory apparatus and operations 

proves, the lack of the best facilities did not cripple an adept 

experimenter. 

^* MACQUER, Elemens de chimie theorique, page 275. For 

those historians of technology of the Marxist persuasion, one 

might remark that this is a very good description of modern 

pyrex ware. 

''^BOERHAAVE, Elements of Chemistry, volume 1, page 501. 

^" MACQUER, Elemens de chemie theorique, page 277. 

"BOERHAAVE, Elements of Chemistry, volume 1, page 501. 

For a good summary of problems and methods of contemporary eighteenth-century glassmaking in France, see the article 

"Vitrification" in MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 2, pages 

650-673. 

46 
NUMBER 33 47 

^^See, for example, FERCHL AND SUSSENGUTH, A Pictorial 

History, passim; and READ, Prelude to Chemistry, especially 

pages 75-80. 

^MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 2, page 618. 

*°Cf. BOERHAAVE, Elements of Chemistry, volume 1, page 

504 and plate 15. 

*^ See, for example, A. N. MELDRUM, "Lavoisier's early work 

in science, 1763-1771," 75525, volume 20 (1934) , pages 396-425; 

and DOUGLAS MCKIE, Antoine Lavoisier, the Father of Modern Chemistry (Philadelphia, 1935). 

*^A favorite principle of the adept. After all, what truly 

sublime substance could be prepared in a short time? This 

view was reflected in Lavoisier's choice of a long experiment, 

where the length of the process was felt to add to its credibility. 

*^ See, for example, BOERHAAVE'S excellent example of the 

extraction of cinnamon in his Elements of Chemistry, volume 

1, pages 48-49; also pages 4-7 in volume 2 of the same work. 

For a general review of the problems faced by chemists in 

the early eighteenth century in their attempts to analyze 

animal and vegetable matter, see Louis LEMERY, "Reflexions 

physiques sur le defout et le peu d'utilite des analyses ordinaires des plantes et des animaux," Memoires de I'Academie 

Royale des Sciences, 1719, pages 173-188; 1720,' pages 98-107 

and 166-178. 

"BOERHAAVE, Elements of Chemistry, volume 1, pages 503-

507; MACQUER, Elemens de chimie theorique, pages 277-291; 

and MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 2, pages 361-363. 

*^ MACQUER, Elemens de chimie theorique, page 176. 

" MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 2, page 5. 

"BOERHAAVE (Elements of Chemistry, volume 1, page 502) , 

for example, strongly recommended the use of a type of 

bottle with a mouth "secured with a glass stopple, ground 

nicely to the concavity of the Neck," for storing volatile 

liquids. 

^^LE FEVRE, A Compleat Body of Chymistry, pages 88-90; 

Lemery, Cours de chimie, page 45. 

*^ LE FEVRE, ibid. 

^"BOERHAAVE, Elements of Chemistry, volume 1, pages 507-

515; MACQUER, Elemens de chymie theorique, pages 329-336; 

MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 2, pages 31-32; BAUME, 

Chymie experimentale et raisonnee, volume 1, pages cxviiicxxvii. 

"^MACQUER, Elemens de chimie theorique, pages 329-336; 

LE FEVRE, A Compleat Body of Chemistry, pages 88-89; ANTOINE LAVOISIER, Oeuvres de Lavoisier (Paris, 1864-1893) , 

volume 1, pages 332-337. 

^''See, for example, LAVOISIER, Elements of Chemistry (New 

York: Dover, 1965), plate 10, figure 1; plate 11; and plate 12, 

figure 8. (A reprint of the 1790 English translation of the 

Traite elementaire de chymie by Robert Kerr.) Much of this 

modern-looking apparatus was constructed of metal rather 

than glass; moreover, Lavoisier had far greater economic 

resources than most eighteenth-century chemists. 

^* MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 2, page 6. Macquer recommended having both concentrated and dilute acids on 

hand, but he gave no operational method for defining those 

terms. 

"* Boyle's chemical tests were scattered throughout his writings. For a discussion of this aspect of Boyle's work, see 

MARIE BOAS, Robert Boyle and Seventeenth Century Chemistry (Cambridge, 1958) , pages 126-141, and her introduction 

to the reprint of BOYLE'S Experiments and Considerations 

Touching Colours (New York: Johnson Reprint Corp., 1964) , 

pages vii-xxvi. 

''= These headings admittedly are imperfect since many 

chemical processes involved several steps. Thus, a separative 

procedure might involve a reaction which, in turn, was intended to prepare a substance for the next reaction, etc. For 

most purposes, however, these useful classifications adequately 

reflect the way in which these procedures were regarded by 

the chemists of that time. 

•^"Thus, fermentation was commonly associated with 

(chemical) digestion. 

"MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 1, p. 351; also NICOLAS 

LEMERY, Cours de chymie, Baron edition (Paris, 1756) , page 

42. The latter reference is to an edition prepared by Theodore Baron with considerable notes and additions to bring it 

up to date; as such, it is an interesting record of the growth 

of eighteenth-century chemistry, though Baron has many 

points of view not shared by other, contemporary chemists. 

^^ See, for example, BOERHAAVE, Elements of Chemistry, 

volume 2, pages 26, 280; LEMERY, Cours de chymie. Baron 

edition (1756) , page 94 and note; MACQUER, Elemens de 

chimie theorique, pages 61-63; MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 1, pages 233-234. 

^^ MACQUER, Elemens de chimie theorique, page 76. 

"MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 1, page 364. 

°^ BOERHAAVE, Elements of Chemistry, volume 2, pages 

48-51; LEMERY, Cours de chymie. Baron edition (1756) , page 

42; MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 1, page 271. 

"-MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 2, pages 182-183. 

"*Ibid., volume 1, page 350; LEMERY, Cours de chymie. 

Baron edition (1756), page 42. 

" MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 2, page 306. 

°° LEMERY, Cour5 de chymie. Baron edition (1756) , page 43; 

BOERHAAVE, Elements of Chemistry, volume 2, pages 90-91; 

MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 1, pages 508-511. 

""MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 2, pages 18-19. 

"'LEMERY, Cours de chymie. Baron edition (1756), pages 

44, 448, 725; BOERHAAVE, Elements of Chemistry, volume 2, 

pages 122-127; MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 2, pages 358-

363. 

"' MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 2, page 358. 

""Although Reaumur had made density measurements on 

water and alcohol in 1733, the problem was not fully explored until publication of M.-J. BRISSON'S "Memoire sur le 

rapport des differents densites de I'esprit-de-vin, avec ses 

difFerens degres de force," Memoires de L'Academie Royale 

des Sciences (1769 [1772]) , pages 433-452. Even then, satisfactory physical means of evaluating alcohol solutions had 

to await further work by Baume and Lavoisier. 

TM Although Boerhaave is well known for his interest in 

thermometers, neither he nor his illustrious student Cromwell Mortimer really were able to apply thermometric techniques to chemisty in a truly systematic manner. See CROMWELL MORTIMER, "Discourse Concerning the Usefulness of 

Thermometers in Chemical Experiments," Philosophical 

Transactions of the Royal Society of London, volume 44 

(1747), pages 672-695. 
48 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

''• LEMERY, Cours de chymie. Baron edition (1756), pages 

45, 97, 203-206; MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 2, pages 511-

513. 

"MACQUER, Dictionnaire, volume 2, pages 329-330. 

" A glance at the solubility versus temperature curves for 

KNO3 and NaCl shows that at room temperature the two 

plots cross (about 25° C) . Thus, in the normal course of 

crystallization it would be extremely difficult to separate the 

two solids by this method. Once this problem is recognized, 

however, these two salts are ideal, for the sodium chloride 

curve is almost flat over the range from zero to 100° C while 

the curve for KNO3 rises sharply from about 12 g. per 100 g. 

HoO at 0° C to about 140 g. per 100 g. HoO at 70° C. The 

rise of the KNO3 curve is almost exponential, so a difference 

of a few degrees above or below room temperature causes a 

sharp difference in solubility. 

''^ ANDRE SIGISMUND MARGGRAF, "Maniere aisee de dissoudrc 

I'argent et le mercure dans les acides des vegetaux," Histoire 

de I'Academie Royale des Sciences et Belles Lettres a Berlin 

(1746 [1748]) , pages 58-64. 

•"= Ibid., pages 58-59. 

"'"The informal, even intime style which was the standard 

for scientific literature until the late nineteenth century 

makes this possible, while modern, third-person passive, 

which is now the accepted scientific style, does not. 

•"By "perfectly," Marggraf here meant "totally," i.e., the 

vinegar was as concentrated as one could make it by freezing 

out the water. This was one more way of controlling quantity, for the glacial method [coyicentre par la gelee) gave a 

relatively uniform product. 

''MARGGRAF, "Maniere aisee de di.ssoudrc I'argent et le 

mercure," pages 60-61. 

'"Ibid., page 60. 

^ The first half of the eighteenth century was not England's 

"finest hour" vis-a-vis experimental chemistry. It was in large 

part dominated by intellectual exercises in Newtonian matter 

theory and thus was relatively sterile save for the genius of 

Stephen Hales. Parallel readings of the Philosophical Transactions of London's Royal Society and the Histoire et 

Memoires of the Academic Royale des Sciences of Paris provide a new dimension to the distinction between amateur 

(English) and professional (French) . The limitations of 

Newtonian matter theory are made clear by ARNOLD THACKRAY. Atoms and Powers (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard 

University Press, 1971). 

*^For biographical details on Lewis, see F. W. GIBBS, "William Lewis," pages 122-151, and J. B. EKLUND, "William 

Lewis" in Dictionary of Scientific Biography (New York: 

Scribners, 1973) , vol. 8, pages 297-299. 

*-WILLIAM LEWIS, "Experimental Examination of a White 

Metallic Substance . . ," Philosophical Transactions vol. 48, 

part 2 (1754) , pages 638-689. Sec also WILLIAM BROWNRICG, 

"Several Papers Concerning a New Semi-metal, Called Platina; 

Communicated to the Royal Society by Mr. Wm. Watson, 

F.R.S.," Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 

volume 46 (1749-1750) , pages 584-596. Includes some related 

communications by others. 

^ BROWNRIGG (ibid., page 587) reported, however, that "the 

Spaniards have a way of melting it down . . . and cast it into 

sword hilts, buckles, snuff boxes and other utensils.'' 

''Only a few years later, Lewis, following Neumann, defined oil of vitriol in terms of a specific gravity of about 1.87. 

He clearly distinguished among such terms as "power," "activity," and "strength" of acids. He was well aware, of course, 

of the effect on concentration of a sulfuric acid solution of 

the hydroscopic nature of the acid. See WILLIAM LEWIS, The 

Chemical Works of Caspar Neumann, M. D. (London, 1759), 

pages 160-163 and especially notes (m) and (g) . 

^ LEWIS, "Experimental Examination," page 645. 

'" Ibid., page 652. A comparison of Macquer's treatment of 

the various metals both in his Elemens de chemie theorique 

and in his Dictionnaire shows that fire and the three mineral 

acids, and sulfur and nitre as well, serve as defining reagents 

for these substances. 

"' "Liver of sulphur" has disappeared from chemical usage 

in name as well as in body. Produced by a reaction of potassium carbonate and sulphur, it was not a true compound but 

an unstable mixture of potassium polysulfides and potassium 

sulfate that tended to decompose ultimately into the sulfate. 

J. R. Partington has suggested the following overall reaction: 

16S -t- 12K„C03 = 8K„S -I- K„S, + 3K„SO, + 12COo. See J. R. 

PARTINGTON, General a??d Inorganic Chemistry (London: Macmillan, 1946), page 721. 

'^ One easily becomes suspicious about the order of the experiments as Lewis presents them. Any eighteenth-century 

chemist of Lewis' experience would have tried aqua regia 

long before the many variations of dissolution techniques 

with "acid spirits' listed by him. In view of the refractory 

nature of the metal, he may very well have tried it in aqua 

regia after the first few failures in the furnace and then followed up with other, more esoteric tests for completeness and 

to obtain possible anomalies. The order of presentation 

finally given must be in large part a matter of style, but this 

is important in itself. 

'"LEWIS, "Experimental Examination," pages 660-661. 

""Ibid. 

"Ubid., page 661. 

"-Although Partington ascribes this process to Rouelle, 

Macquer claimed Rouelle was unsuccessful. The secretary of 

the Academic Royale des Sciences, Condorcet, tightroped his 

way through the problem by remarking that the "diflficulte 

avoit ete reduite par Messrs. Rouelle'' and pointing out that 

dc Courtanvaux had studied with G.-F. Rouelle and had been 

assisted by H. M. Rouelle in the Marquis' laboratory at 

Comombe. Courtanvaux himself gave Rouelle credit only for 

the apparatus. See PARTINGTON, General and Inorganic Chemistry, volume 3, page 94; MACQUER, Dictio7i7iaire, volume 1, 

pages 469-470; TH E MARQUIS DE CONDORCET, "Elogc de M. le 

Mis. de Courtanvaux," Histoire de L'Academie Royale des 

Sciences (1781 [1784]) , pages 71-78; M. LE MARQUIS DE 

COURTANVAUX, "Memoire sur I'ether marin,'' Memoires de 

mathematique et de physique presentes a I'academie Royale 

de sciences par divers savans (1768) , pages 19-36 (paper read 

30 April 1762) . 

"*DE COURTANVAUX, "Memoire sur I'ether marin,'' pages 19, 

22-23. 

"* Its acidity was known to MACQUER (see his Chymie 

pratique, volume 1, pages 288-292) and Baron (LEMERY, 

Cours de chymie. Baron edition, 1756, page 361, note "o") . 
NUMBER 33 49 

"=DE COURTANVAUX, "Memoire sur I'ether marim," page 23. 

For a supposed student of Rouelle, it is curious that the 

Marquis employed phlogiston in ways his mentor did not. 

*"DE COURTANVAUX, "Mdmoire sur I'ether marin," page 25. 

Curiously, de Courtanvaux did not use the term "allonge," 

although from his description that was what it was. 

^'Ibid., page 26. 

"8 Ibid., page 32. 

""MACQUER, Dictionnaire de Chymie (Paris, 1766). Although 

he published this work anonymously, Macquer hastened to 

admit authorship when the Dictionnaire was well received. 

For other editions and translations, see, for example, H. C. 

BOLTON, "A Select Bibliography of Chemistry, 1492-1892," 

Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, volume 36 (1893) , 

pages 68-69. The most common English version of Macquer's 

Dictionnaire usually is thought to be a translation of Macquer's second and revised edition of 1778. However, a comparison of the English "second edition" with the original 

French first edition reveals only minor changes. Thus, although Robert Schofield has said that Macquer was sending 

the English translator, James Kier, sections of the new edition 

as fast as they were produced, it seems clear that Kier's 

primary interest was in publishing his own revised notes and 

additions to Macquer's work. In fact, the English second 

edition appeared in 1777, a year before Macquer's revision 

was published in France. Macquer's own additions and alterations were published separately by JAMES KIER as Additions 

to the Dictionary of Chemistry by M. Macquer (London, 

1779). 

^""MAURICE CROSLAND, Historical Studies in the Language 

of Chemistry (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University 

Press, 1962) . 

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