For the Reader may know by a Penny how a Shilling is coined.

 

Chemical Oils.

I desire you to take notice before I begin that chemical oils generally are not to be taken alone by themselves, by reason of their vehement heat and burning, but mixed with other convenient medicines.

They carry the very same virtue the Simples do, but are far more prevalent, as having far more spirit in them and far less earthly dross.

The general way of taking them is to drop two or three drops of them in any convenient liquor or other medicine, which the last Table will fit you with, and so take it; for some of them are so hot (as Oil of Cinnamon) that two or three drops will make a dish of pottage so hot of the Simple that you can hardly eat them.

Oil of Herbs.

Oil of Wormwood.

Take of dried Wormwood, one pound; Spring Water, twenty pound.

Infuse the Wormwood in the Water twenty-four hours, then distill it in a great Alembick with his refrigeratory; so shall you draw out the Oil with the Water, which you may separate with a funnel. 

Keep the Water for another distillation.

Your best way to learn to still chemical oils is to learn of an alchemist, for I rest confident the greatest part of the College had no more skill in chemistry than I have in building houses, but having found out certain models in the old rusty authors, tell people SO they must be done, I can teach a man SO how to build a house; first he must lay the foundation, then rear up the sides, then join the rafters, then build the chimneys, tile the top, and plaster the walls. But how to do one jot of this, I know not. And so play the College here, for the alchemists have a better way by far to draw them. 

The truth is, I am in a manner tied to their method here, from which I may not step aside. If my country kindly accept this (which is the beginning of my labours), I may happily put forth something else for the ingenious to whet their wits upon; only here, I quote the oils in the College order, and then quote the virtue of the chiefest of them, that for the Reader may know by a penny how a shilling is coined. 

After the same manner is prepared Oil of Chamomel Flowers, Celondine, Eyebright, Hyssop, Lavender, Marjoram, Mint, Watercress, Origanum, Pennyroyal, Roses, Rosemary, Rue, Savin, Sage, Savory, Thyme, Verbascum, and all other flowers and hot herbs.

I shall instance here only in Oil of Lavender, commonly called Oil of Spike, which helps the running of the reins, they being anointed with it; it expels worms, two drops of it being taken in Wine; the region of the back being anointed with it, it helps the palsy. 

For all the rest, the virtues of the herbs themselves. 

Oil of Seeds

Oil of Dill Seeds.

Take of Dill seeds bruised, two pounds; Spring Water, sixteen pints.

Steep them for twenty-four hours, then distill them in a great alembick with his refrigeratory, draw out the water and oil, which you may separate with a funnel.

In the same manner is prepared oil of the seeds of Annis, Caraway, Cumin, Carrots, Fennel, Wheat, Parsley, Rue, Saxifrage, etc.

Oil of Annis seeds, although it be often given and happily with good success in vertigos or dimness in the head, yet its chief operation is upon the breast and lungs; it helps narrowness of the breast, rawness and wind in the stomach, all infirmities there coming of cold and wind, strengthens the nerves.

Six drops is enough at a time, taken in broth or any other convenient liquor. 

As Annis seeds are appropriated to the breast, so are Fennel seeds to the head, the oil of which cleanses the brain of cold infirmities, lethargies, indisposition of the body, numbness, want of motion; also, it helps the stomach and expels wind. 

Cumin seeds, the oil of them, is a great expeller of wind, nothing better; it also wonderfully eases pains of the spleen, pains in the bladder in the reins and bladder, stopping of urine especially if it come of wind, and is a present remedy for the cholic.

For the way of taking them, see Annis seeds.

Oil of Berries.

Oil of Juniper Berries.

Take of fresh Juniper Berries, fifty pound. Bruise them, and put them in a wooden vessel with twenty-four pound of Water, adding to them a pint of sour leaven. Stop the vessel close, and let them stand in a cellar three months; then, distil them in an Alembick with a sufficient quantity of Water. Separate the Oil, and reserve the Water for another distillation. 

In the same manner is made Oil of Bay Berries and Ivy Berries.

Oil of Juniper Berries prevails wonderfully in pains of the yard, and running of the reins, the falling sickness; it is a mightily preservative against the pestilence and all evil airs. It purges the reins, provokes urine, breaks the stone, helps the dropsy.

The quantity to be taken at a time in any convenient liquor is three or four drops. Outwardly, by unction it helps the gout; two or three drops upon the navel helps the cholic. 

Oil of Bay Berries helps the cholic, and iliac passion.

Oil of Ivy Berries helps cold diseases of the joints, the stone, and provokes the terms in women. Use them as Juniper Oil.

Oil of Spices.

Oil of Cinnamon.

Take of bruised Cinnamon, five pound; Spring Water, fifty pints.

Steep them twenty-four hours, then distil them with an alembick.

After the same manner is made Oil of Cloves, Mace, Nutmegs, Pepper. 

One or two drops of Oil of Cinnamon is enough to take at a time, and is exceeding good for such as are in consumptions. See Cinnamon among the Simples.

Oil of Mace is excellent good for rheums in the head, and Oil of Pepper for the cholic. 

Oil of Barks.

Oil of Dried Barks of Oranges, Citrons, Lemons is prepared as Oil of Herbs.

Oil of Woods.

Oil of Guajacum.

Oil of Guajacum is made of the wood by a retort in a close reverberatory; let the sweeter and thinner part be separated from the grosser, and rectified with Salt or Tartar calcined, or Corcolthar, or Sand.

After the same manner is made Oil of Box, Oak, and other solid woods. 

Oil of Sassafras is made like Oil of Cinnamon, and so is made Oil of Rhodium, Juniper, Rosemary, Ivy.

Oil of Things to be Melted.

Oil of Wax.

Take of Yellow Wax, one pound. Melt it, and add to it three pound of Tyles beaten into powder; mix them, and put them into a retort, and draw out the oil with a convenient fire. It is rectified in a retort without Tyles, adding water to it. 

After the same manner is prepared oil of all fats. 

I am of opinion that Oil of Wax is as singular a remedy for burns and burning ulcers as any is, or need to be. 

Oil of Gums and Rosins.

Oil of Myrrh.

Take of Myrrh bruised, six pound; Conduit Water, thirty pound; Bay Salt, six pound. 

Mix them together and distil them in an alembick.

It keeps wounds (and all things else, says Fioravantus) fromputrifaction; it makes the face fair and yourhful, quickly cures wounds, and deafness being dropped into the ears. 

Oil of Turpentine.

Take of Venice Turpentine, eight and twenty pounds; Spring Water, ninety-six pound.

Distil them in a copper vessel with his refrigiratory; so will the oil come out thin and white, and the Colophonia will remain at bottom if the fire be increased. This white oil may commodiously be drawn in balneo Mariae without burning. 

It is wonderfully good in cold afflictions of the nerves, and all diseases coming of cold and wind; it corrects the cold afflictions of the lungs, as asthmas, difficulty of breathing etc., a drachm being taken in the morning.Outwardly, it adorns the body, takes away the prints of scabs and the smallpox, chops in the skin and breasts of women, and deafness being dropped into the ears.

Oil of Balsam.

Take of Myrrh, Aloes, Spikenard, Dargon's Blood, Frankincense, Mummy, Opopanax, Carpobalsamum or Cubebs, Bdellium, Ammoniacum. Sarcocolla, Saffron, Mastic, Gum Arabic. Liquid Styrax, of each two drams; Ladanum, Castorium, of each two drams and a half; Musk, half a dram; Turpentine, the weight of them all. 

The things being bruised, let them be mixed and distilled in an alembick according to art. 

It restores lost strength and preserves carcasses from putrefaction; the back bone (the region of it) being anointed with it keeps back the rigor of fevers. It takes away the falling sickness and such diseases, the fits of the mother, melancholy, and sadness without a cause etc.

Oleum Latiricium, Phylosophorum - Mesue. 

Take of Bricks made of red earth, beaten into pieces of the bigness of an apple. These being heat red hot, quench in Pil of Rosemary or old Sallet Oil, letting them remain in till they are full; then, take them out and beat them into powder, then still them in a glass retort, well luted. Stop the oil close, and keep it for your use. 

The oil will quickly penetrate, and is a sovereign remedy for the gout, and all cold afflictions in the joint and nerves, cramps, epilepsies or falling sickness, palsies. It mollifies hard swellings, dissolves cold sellings, as also cold distempers of the spleen, reins and bladder. 

Oil of Lovage (I wonder how these gross oils came dropping in amongst the chemicals) is made of the flowers of Lovage and oil, as Oil of Roses, but cut off what is yellow. 

Oil of Lilies of the Valley is made like to it. 

Oil of Frankincense.

Take as much Frankincense as you will; put it in a retort, and draw out the oil with a convenient fire, then rectify it either by itself, or with sand or salt.

In the same manner is made Oil of Ammoniacum, Benzoin, Caranna, Jet (Hold, learned College! You can never draw an oil out of in that manner whilst your eyes are open), Mastix, Opopanax, Sagapenum, Liquid Styrax, Takamahacca.

Oil of Minerals and Stones.

Having perused these oils following, I would willingly have left them quite out; I mean, the manner allotted by the College to make them.

Because I fear they and the truth are separatists.

Because the ignorant will know as well how to make them as they did before, when I have done what I can. 

As to alchemists (to whose profession the making of them belongs), I shall seem like Phormio the Philosopher, who never having seen battle, undertook to read a military lecture before Hannibal, who was one of the best soldiers in the world. But, I am in a manner forced to it. He that is able to understand the receipt is able to understand that the failings are not mine, but the College's.

Oil of Antimony.

Take of crude Antimony, Mercury Sublimate, of each one pound.

Beat them into powder and put them into a glass retort with a wide neck; give fire to them by degrees in reverbaratory, so will a fat distil into a receiver, part of which sticking to the neck of the retort will easily be melted, a gentle fire being held under it. Let this fat be rectified in a small alembick or retort, and let the curd (Gujagulum. I know not what better English name to give it) be kept; if you would have it liquid, set it in a cellar in an open glass, and it will turn to water or oil, which keep in a glass well stopped.

Oil of Arsenic.

Take of Crystalline Arsenic (first sublimated with Colcolthar); mix it with an equal part of Saltpeter and Cremor Tartar. Let them be calcined between two little pitchers (the uppermost having a hole through it), even till they have done smoking; dissolve the substance thus calcined in warm water, that so the salt may be drawn out. The powder which remains at bottom, moisten with Oil of Tartar, and dry it by the fire; do so three times, again dissolve it in warm water that you may take out the salt, then will there remain a very white powder and fixed, which being set in a moist place will dissolve into an oil much like Butter. 

Oil of Salt.

Take of French Bay Salt made with the heat of the sun, not of the fire, as much as you will. Dry it by the fire, to which add its weight in burnt bricks; beat them together in a mortar before they be altogether cold. Put them into a retort with a long neck, lute a capacious receiver very well to it, give fire to it by degrees, and in twelve or fourteen hours you shall have the oil in the receiver. When the furnace is cold and the smoke well ceased; pour out the oil and keep it from the air in a glass well stopped, and rectify it from the phlegm.

But the best Oil of Salt is better made, if you make the salt into brine of such strength that it will bear an egg, then quench the bricks being red hot in this brine them into powder and put them into a retort well luted, and give the fire to it even to the highest degree, and then rectify it from the phlegm. 

Being mixed with Turpentine and applied outwardly, it helps the gout. Three drops taken every morning in convenient liquor, preserves youth, consumes the dropsy, resists fevers, convulsions and the falling sickness. Being mixed with ointments, it is exceeding good in ruptures and dislocations.

Oil of Amber.

Take of Yellow Amber, four ounces. Beat it into powder, to which being put in a large vial or a retort; pour as much sharp Wine Vinegar, digest it eight days in horse dung, then add to it twice its weight in dry sand. Distil it in sand, adding the fire by degrees, rectify it from the sand with salt or tartar calcined, then with water. 

It speedily helps all afflictions of the nerves and convulsions, falling sickness etc. Being given in convenient liquors, it is a singular remedy against poison and pestilent air, diseases of the reins and bladder, the fits of the mother; the nose being anointed with it, the cholic. It causes speedy labour to women in travail, being taken in Vervain Water. It strengthens the body exceedingly, as also the brain and senses, and is of an opening nature. 

Oil of Sulphur.

Take a glass bell still, which will hold sixteen pound at least (for the larger, it is so much the better it is); olace it upon an earthen vessel (Metreta. I know not what English name to give it) which has three or four upholders to which the bell may be commodiously fitted, then putting a sufficient quantity of Brimstone into the earthen vessel. Burn it under the bell, putting in fresh Brimstone when the first is consumed.

Let this be done in some obscure place where neither wind nor sun comes. The oil will be more in quantity if the vessel that holds the Brimstone stand upon a furnace, and a fire be under it. Before you put on the bell, perfume it with the smoke of Sage. 

Prevails against diseases coming of cold, putrifaction or wind, fevers, agues, tertain, quartain or quotidian, pestilence, wounds and ulcers; affects of the brain, mouth, teeth, liver, stomach, spleen, matrix, bladder, entrails, and arteries coming of abundance of humours or putrifaction. Outwardly applied, it helps fistulas, ulcers of the mouth and gangrenes. 

The way to take it inwardly is thus: dip the top of a feather in oil, and wash it in the liquor or decoction you give it in. In quotidian agues, give it in wines in which Rosemary or Mint, or both, have been boiled; in tertian agues, in wine in which Centaury has been boiled; in quartan agues, in Bugloss Water; in all of them, a little before the fit come. In pestilences, in wine in which Radishes have been boiled, mingled with a little Venice Treacle; in the falling sickness, with decoction of Betony or Peony; in coughs, with decoction of Nettle seed and Hyssop, both of them made with wine; for phlegm, in Wormwood Water; for the wind cholic, in Chamomel Flower Water; for dropsies and cold livers, in Celondine Water and Honey; for the rickets and stoppage of the spleen, in Tamaris Water; for the French pox, in fumitory or Broom Flower Water; against worms, in Grass or Wormwood Water; for the fits of the mother, in decoction of Betony or Featherfew in wine; for suppression of urine, in decoction of Garlic with wine; for the gout, in decoction of Chamepitys with wine; in wounds and ulcers, the place is lightly to be touched with a feather wet in the oil; if a hollow tooth ache, put a drop into it; if all your teeth ache, make a decoction of Mint in wine, and put a drop or two of this oil to it, and hold it warm in your mouth. 

Oil of Tartar.

Take of Tartar, so much as you will. Put it into a large retort, with that proportion that but the third part of the vessel be filled. Distil it in sand with a strong fire; afterwards (the oil being first separated from the water, or Spirit of Tartar), rectify it with much water to correct the smell of it. Let it stand open a long time in the sun. 

Liquor Tartaria.
Commonly called Oil of Tartar.

Take of Tartar, so much as is sufficient. Fill an earthen vessel, not glazed, almost full of it; let it be calcined in a furnace twelve hours. When it is cold, put in Manica Hypocratis, which hang in a moist cellar that it may dissolve, placing a vessel under it to receive it; that which remains and will not dissolve in the hanging, dissolve in water and evaporate away the moisture till it begin to look like Alum. 

This is common to be had at every apothecaries. Virgins buy it to take the sunburn and freckles from their faces; it takes off the rust from iron, and preserves it bright a long time.

Oil of Vitriol.

Take of the best Vitriol, as much as you will. Melt it in a pan, then divide it into thick pieces, the which burn in the fire till they look reddish; then, beat them into powder, and sprinkle them with the best Spirit of Wine. Put them into earthen retorts which will bear the fire; increase the fire to them by degrees for three days, till the receivers which were obscured with smokecome to be clear; rectify that distilled liquor, and separate by themselves the Spirit of Wine, the sour Spirit of Vitriol, and the strong and powderous oil. 

It must be mixed with other medicines, for it kills being taken alone. It assuages thirst, allays the violent heat in fevers and pestilences, and a few drops of it gives a pleasant grateful taste to any medicine. 

Aqua Mellis.

Take of pure Honey four pound, dry Sand, two pound. Still them in a glass still (Cucurbita), so capacious that the matter may fill only the fifth part of the vessel. First, draw away the phlegm, then increasing the fire; draw off the water, yellowish in colour and sharp in taste. 

Paracelsus advises it to be drawn five times over, and calls it Quintessence of Honey, and extols the virtues of it to the skies, says it will revive dying men, which Mr. Charles Butler of Hampshire also affirms. 

Aqua Fortis.

Take of dried Vitriol, two pound; Saltpeter cleansed, one pound. 

Bruise them, and place them in a reverberatory in a retort, a large receiver being placed under it. Still it by degrees for twenty-four hours together; still it by degrees for twenty-four hours together, clarify it with a dram of Silver according to art.