A CERTAIN ACID SPIRIT OF SULPHUR WITH SULPHUR & SALTPETRE, WHICH IN ALL THINGS ANSWERS AND IN SOME EXCELLS OYL OR SPIRIT OF VITRIOL
Year: 1749

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WHITE, of Twickenham, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Second, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the
Twenty-third day of June, in the twenty-third year of His reign, reciting that
whereas Joshua Ward, Esquire, of the Parish of Saint Martin's in the Fields,
Westminster, & the said John White, have, by their Petition, humbly repre-
sented unto His said Majesty, that they had with much study, labour, and at
a very great expence, found out, invented, & made "A CERTAIN ACID SPIRIT
OF SULPHUR WITH SULPHUR & SALTPETRE, WHICH IN ALL THINGS ANSWERS AND
IN SOME EXCELLS OYL OR SPIRIT OF VITRIOL;" which Invention they, the said
Joshua Ward and John White, apprehend will tend greatly to the advantage
of the nation in general; His Majesty did therefore, of His especial grace,
certain knowledge, & meer motion, give & grant unto the said Joshua
Ward and John White, their executors, administrators, and assigns, His
especial licence, full power, sole privilege & authority, to make, use, exercise,
and vend their said Invention throughout England, Wales, and Berwick-
upon-Tweed, to hold to them the said Joshua Ward & John White, their

page_text: executors, administrators, & assigns, for the term of fourteen years from the
date of the said Letters Patent; in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso that if the said Joshua Ward and John White should not particu-
larly describe and ascertain the nature of their said Invention, & in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under their
hands and seales, or under the hand and seal of one of them, & cause the
same to be enrolled in the High Court of Chancery within four calendar
months after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters
Patent, and the liberties and advantages thereby granted, should cease &
become void, as in & by tho said Letters Patent, relation being thereunto
had, may more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John White, in pursuance of the said
proviso in the said Letters Patent contained, do hereby describe and ascertain
the nature of our said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed (that is to say):―
The said acid spirit of sulphur is made by powdering and mixing a propor-
tionable quantity of rough, stone, or flour of brimstone and saltpetre, and
putting the said mixture into a glass vessel and setting the said mixture on
fire, which, by burning, afterwards condenses into an acid spirit of sulphur;
the just quantity of sulphur & saltpetre cannot be ascertained, more or less
of one or other being required, not only according to the quality of the
sulphur and saltpetre, but also according to the various seasons of the
year & different weather, when the air has at various times so extraordinary
effect that without proper alterations the matter yields not above half the
quantity of spirit as at other times; for which changes it is impossible to
give any general rules, nor is it to be known but by observations and
experience.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth
day of October, in the twenty-third year of the reign of His said
Majesty King George the Second, and in the year of our Lord One
thousand seven hundred and forty-nine.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBRED, that on the said Twelfth day of October,
the aforesaid John White came before our Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the Writing aforesaid, and all and every matter and
thing therein contained and specified, in form above said. And the said
Writing was stamped according to the form of the Statute made in the
sixth year of the reign of the late King William and Queen Mary, and so
AND BE IT REMEMBRED, that on the said Twelfth day of October,
the aforesaid John White came before our Lord the King in His Chancery,
and acknowledged the Writing aforesaid, and all and every matter and
thing therein contained and specified, in form above said. And the said
Writing was stamped according to the form of the Statute made in the
sixth year of the reign of the late King William and Queen Mary, and so
Torta.
Inrolled the said Twelfth day of October, in the said Twenty-third year
of the reign of His said Majesty King George the Second.