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fpirit.of Vitriol. See the articles Spirit, Colcotiiae, &?c. Cyd. and Suppl.
OHof Vitriol. Mr. Boyle informs us, that if the caput mor- tuum, after the diftillation of the oil of V{ 'trial ', be fuffered to lie a confide rable time in the air, it will be {o impregnated with new faline particles, as to be worth a fecond diftillation. "Works abr. vol. r. p. 142.
This ftrong acid, when expofed to the air, attracts the moi- fture from it in very great quantity, increafing in weight gra- dually to more than three times what it was when firft ex- pofed, and gradually diminifhing in ftrength. The quantity of water it attracts from the air, in any given time, is not, however, in proportion to its own quantity, but to its fur* face ; and Mr. Boyle has found by experiment, that if the
! fame quantities be expofed to the fame air in glafTes, in the one of which the furface is nine times greater than the other, that with the larger furface will gain eighteen grains addition in weight, while the other gains only two grains; and fo in proportion for any longer time.
When the oil of Vitriol is fully fatiatcd in the moifteft air, or wetteft weather, it afterwards retains o.r lofes its acquired weight, as the air proves more or lefs moift. It may there- fore be very practicable to make it a means to eftimate the moi- ft ure and drynefs of the air. A very eafy machine may be contrived to anfwer this purpofe ; for even a common pair of fcales will do very well; and by a fcale, on which the tongue of the balance fhould move, would mark out the fnjallcft changes in the moft nice and accurate manner. If a quantity" of oil of Vitriol be expofed in a wide-mouthed glafs, till thoroughly Cited with- the moifture of the air, and then put into a fcale, and in the moifteft weather exactly poifed with a weight in the oppofite fcale, it will only continue
- exactly poifed fo long as the weather continues in that moift ftate j but as the air becomes gradually more and more dry, it
"will weigh lefs and lefs, and mount, while the fcale with the weights preponderates and finks.
The tongue of a ballance of but an inch and half long, thus defcribesan arch of the third.of an inch, by the different rifing and falling of the fcale in which the oil of Vitriol \% ; and con- fequently if the tongue were a foot long, it would defcribe an arch of near three inches, which would be a fufficient fpace to mark a fcale of -degrees very nicely upon ; and, as the tongue is pointed to thefe, it would be an excellent hygrometer. This ballance may be contrived two ways, either fuch whofe pin mould be in the middle of the beam, with a very flender tapering tongue, of a foot or a foot and half long, pointed to thedivifions on a broad arched place fixed above; or elfe the fcale with the liquor may be hung to a point of the beam, very near the pin, and the other extreme made fo long as to mark a large arch on a board, placed conveniently for that purpofe ; and the fcale, in either cafe, may very conveniently be a con- cave glafs of four or five inches in diameter. On the divifion of the arches fhould be inferibed the different temperature^ of the air me wn by the liquor. Phil. Tranf. N\ 157.
- The oil of Vitriol y being a cauftic of an oppofite nature to lapis infernally has been known to remove the pain occafioned by the application of the latter. See the article Opposite Cqu-
flics.
VITRIOLIC [Cyd.) — Vitriolic Minerals are compound foflile fubftances, formed of various ftony and earthy particles, mixed with others of iron and copper, and that either feparately or conjunctly ; fo that, in effedt, they are ores of Vitriols. The different kinds of thefe minerals are, 1. The chalcitcs. 2. The mify. 3 Sory or rufma. 4. Melanteria. 5. Hy- rites, or fire-ftone. 6. Marcafites. See the articles Ch a l- citis, Misv, &c. Cyd. and Suppl.
InEurope the only ufe made of chalcitis is as an ingredient of Ve- nice-treacle, and even here its place is generally fupplied with common green Vitriol calcined to a rednefs. The antient Greeks ufed it externally in hemorrhages and collyriums for the eyes ; alfo for the herpes and eryfipelas ; but never ventured to give it internally.
The anticnts ufed mify for the fame purpofes as chalcitis, be- ing efteemed ruilder than this laft.
At prefent it is no where put to any ufe, nor indeed does it merit it, as containing no other virtues than thofe of green Vitriol, though we are not fure what pernicious fubftance it may be mixed with.
Vitriolic Waters. The countries which abound with mines of copper and iron ufually afford a great many vitriolic wa- ters.
One of the moft remarkable fprings of this kind, of which we have an account, is that near Padderborn in Germany : This is a fort of treble fpring, having three openings, and all three yielding very different waters. Two of thefe openings are not more than a foot and half diftant from one another, and yet of (o different qualities, that the one is limpid, bluifh, milk-warm, and bubbling, and contains fal armoniac, ochre, iron, vitriol, alum, fulphur, nitre and orpiment ;, all thefe fubftances having been feparated in its analyfis. The other is cold as ice, and is turbid, whitifh, and much heavier, and ftronger to the tafte than the other. This holds much orpi- ment, with fome fait, alum, nitre, fal armoniac, and vitriol. The firit of thefe waters is taken by the people in 7
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the neighbouihood, againft worms, and diforders of trie lplcen as alfo againft epileptic, ; the: other is poifonous to buds, all that drink of it dying in a very little time. The experiment has been tried on common hens, with the water brought from the fprings into other places, and given them to drmk.
Thofe to which fait is given, after the fwallowing this poifon- ous water, firuggle longer before they die by it ; and vinegar is found to fave them very often from death, after drinking largely of it ; but in this cafe they are fickly for feven or eight days after it, and have the pip, as the good women exprefs
In the ditieaing thofe birds which have died by drinking this water, the lungs are always found quite fhrivclled up. . J : he people of the country have not been deterred by this bad effect of the water, from uting it in medicine ; they take frnall quantities of it diluted in water, to deflroy the worms, and it performs this very well; but gives them a grievous ticknefs while it operates.
The third ftream, or opening of this remarkable fpring, is about twenty paces diftant from the "others ; the water is here very clear, of a greenifh colour, and of a four, but not very difagreeable tafte. If. is of a. middle weight, and of middle qualities between the other two, and is evidently formed of the joining of thofe two fprings with fome other frcfh water in the way; for a liquor exaifly refembling this third kind may be prepared, by mixing equal quantities of the other.:,two with a fufficient quantity of commom well-water. Phil. Tram". N». 8.
There is a fpring in Bafil difcharging its water through the tanners-ftrcet, or gerber-gaffe, which is of a bluifh colour, and fomewhat turbid. This holds blue vitriol, that is, cop- per, in the form of a fait, and with it bitumen and antimony ; but a much larger proportion of the firft ingredient, than" of either of the others. The analyfis of it mews, that it contains three parts copper to one of bitumen, and two of antimony. It ferves the tanners of the place to good purpofe, their fkins receiving one of their preparations from this native water. Tile fame town affords leverat other fprings of peculiar quali- ties, all owing to the veins of metalline ores, with which the earth of the place abounds. The one of thefe is called Bim- dulpb's-well, and affords a water of great ufe in medicine, fe- vcral being regularly and pcrfedly cured of hydropical diftem- pers by it. And another very remarkable one contains, as is found by its analyfis, fulphur, nitre, and fome gold. Thefe, however, are in fuch fmall quantity in it, as not to prevent its being fit for the common ufes of life. It is very ageeable to the tafte, and is much efteemed for drinking, and fent for all over the town.
Another vitriolic water runs out of a cavern near Gelfbach in Alface. It. is a fattifh and oily liquor, and is ufed by the country-people for greafing their wheels ; but it is fit for much better purpofes. If it be boiled to the evaporation of a third part, there will remain very little water, but a fatty bitumi- nous fubftance, like tar, will fubfide to the bottom, and there will fwim at the top a yellow, thin, and limpid liquor, very much refembling linfeed oil ; and this, diftilled in a fand heat, yields an oily and watry liquor ; the firft very good for exter - na] ufes, for burns and fcalds ; and the other a good internal medicine, in confumptions, and other difeafes of the lun^s. Id. Ibid.
Some time ago there was a water difcovered in England, that gave, on many experiments, an appearance of containing na- tural and perfect vitriol. This water was found near Egling- ham in Cumberland ; and being examined, by adding galls to it, it became abfolute ink, much deeper than any of the atra- mentous waters ever do : When one half the quantity was flowly evaporated, the remainder retained this quality to a higher degree than before ; and, on evaporating it yet farther, there concreted in it fair cryftals of pure and genuine vitriol. This was an appearance wholly new in England, and not eafily accounted for, as we have no mineral, except the common pyrites, which contains vitriol ; and it is very well known, that there requires a fermentation in the air, before the vitriol, contained in that ftone, will be difintangled from its other ptinciples, fo as to be capable of appearing in its own form ; and as this ftone, lying under water, can never impregnate that water with its vitriol, it did not feem eafy to conceive in what manner a genuine vitriol fhould be communicated to wa- ter, where there was no other fubftance which could give it. The fufpicions that thefe thoughts gave the gentleman who examined this water, occafioned his making a vitit to the place where it was produced, when he found that the fuppofed vi- triolic fprir/g was no other than an old drift made for the drain- ing the water from fome old wrought coal-pits ; the people who had worked in thefe, remembered to have feen great quantity of pyrites there. This drift was fometimes dry for a contiderable time together, and fometimes run in a plentiful ftream ; and there is no doubt but that, in thefe dry feafons, the air a£ted upon the pyrites, and caufed it to moot its vi- triol, which the next tide of water wafhed away, and it came offdiflblved in it, and highly impiegnatingit. This proved therefore no better a medicinal fpring than fome of a like kind, defcribed by Mr. Leigh in his natural hiflory
ef
