The works of the highly experienced and famous chymist, John Rudolph Glauber: containing, great variety of choice secrets in medicine and alchymy in the working of metallick mines, and the separation of metals. Also, various cheap and easie ways of making salt-petre, and improving of barren-land, and the fruits of the earth / Translated into English, and pub. for publick good by Christopher Packe.

  • Glauber, Johann Rudolf, 1604-1670.
Date:
1689
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The works of the highly experienced and famous chymist, John Rudolph Glauber: containing, great variety of choice secrets in medicine and alchymy in the working of metallick mines, and the separation of metals. Also, various cheap and easie ways of making salt-petre, and improving of barren-land, and the fruits of the earth / Translated into English, and pub. for publick good by Christopher Packe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    748/820 (page 38)
    ^,rhkh are jo f.II of mnj\ greH Labours and tphofe event too U oftentimes very uncertain, b or 1 have heard forne fay, that the fmalleji Errour may defray^ the nwole IFork, and quite foil it, and fo grievoufy afe^ juch as operate about fuch great Secrets, with a very great lojs of long time, and great Expences. And therefore fuch a Wm\, as I can attend upon without letting my taking Care of my Family, and which will need the disburfment of but a few Expences, will pleafe me better than thofe other Cojily ones ivould. B. I readily believe, that this very thing you de¬ li c, will nor only be exceedingly pleafiiig unto your felf, but alfo unto m.aliy dthiers faelides. The Expen¬ ces are but very fmall, and the Labours thereupon but little, fo thk each days Fire, which the Matter is to he fet upon , niay be taken Care for, in half an hours fpace. But now, though the Philofophers have made mention of very fmall Expences,. and have comprifed them in the cot-npafs of a couple of Elands, yet is that laying to be otherwife underftood. Thofe An¬ cients made .ufe of the greateft Florins, yizi the nifh ones/ and alfo the Hungarian Crowns, each of which is of the value of five of our Florida And if you thus underftand it after this compute, I can ealily Ihew unto you the Truth of their AlTcrtionj e. I do even think, as you fay : Sure we mnft Hot ex¬ pedi, any \_fuch2 thin^ for nothing > 1 am content, {jind therefore,pray~] let us proceed,. B. If our Work be called the labour of Women, and Boys play, it is expedient, that it be like unto Womens work, and Boys play ; For elfe the Philofo¬ phers would have ufed an unfit fimilitude. You well know, what Labours your Wife is chiefly bulled about, and what her daily Labour is Ihe imploys her felf if* - . • C. Tes, veriy 1 daily fee, that jhs doth boyl F ood ne- cejjary for the Ufe of the whole F^amily, and being boyl d feti it upon the fable to be eaten, T-his Labour jhe per¬ forms, at leaf! twice every doy \ when t>inKer and Supper is ended, (he doth wajh the Fifes, Pots, Goblets, and other Vejje'ls, and cleans them, and makes them fit to put other new Food in, and to be ferved out to the fable. Befides too, this is her Ofiice and Care\ if haply a Pet be broken, or crackt, whereby it is made unfit to .hold moi- jitire any more, to fubflitute (in defeVt of Iron Pots a new Pot mads of Potters Clay, in the flead thereof: Such and the like Labours, as thefe, are in our Country called the Womens work. B. Well, be' it fo ; I w\\\ likewife lhe\Y unto thee, Tuch a Labour in Chymical Operations,as refembles this. Therefore, like as the Female Sex do firft walh the Flejh, Fijh, Rapes, Pot-h'er*bs, Roots, Apples, Pears, or other things with pure Water, which they mean to boyl, and then put them into the Pot, and pour there¬ unto as much VVater 'as is requifife, and place it over the Fire, and boyl it fo long, fill all the crudity, or rawnefs being yaniflit , the Meats become grateful to the Palat, and pleafant, and eafily digefiible by the Stomach. L So do we J They do likewife fometimes pour Wine upon Fltfli and FiOi, inftead of Water, and add as much Salt as is convenient, together with fome Spices, or odoriferous Herbs, by which they give the Filb and Fkfh a rhofi: excellent Tafle. But yet we mull not forget Salto^abovc all the other Spices, or Seafonings, and odorikrous Herbs, for it Corretffs .and maturates the Flclh, FiOa, and other hard Meats, more than oth^r Spices. For we can well enough want tl'.efe if they are not at hand, hut as for Salt, there is always.need of thatiabout the boyling'of Flelh, I'itb, and Oilier FooeL If'ihtfefore Flelh, dr Fiih are Part III. to be boy Id well, then Salt water is requifite and aS’ for all the other Additions of Herbs, and odoriferous Spices , they only ferve to give it a good pleafant Tarte, and make it acceptable to the Palar, and to the Smelling. For theFIeflaand Fifli when boyl’d of fiewed, do by their Magnttick Virtue attratff fo much Salt and grateful Savour, and Virtue, as they need : And that which remains, fiays in the Water. Now the curious Dames do fhut the tops of their Pots very well with their Covers, left the efficacious Vapours ffiould be forced away in fume by the'Eoyling, and not flay with theTleffi of other Meats. But the care- kfs Houfewifes do not much regard the covering of their Pob, from whence it comes to pafs, that they lofe thefe good and fweet Spirits, and then they fit up their Pots with new Wafer, by which doings, the Flefh/ or Fifh, do not get fo fweet a Savour, as they would have, if that efficacious Water had been kept in and conferved. Some Women that are yet more curious, and diligent about their Cookery, do put upon their Pots, wherein they boyl their Meats, fuch a Cover as hath a fold in it, by which the Col- ledfed fweet and odoriferous Vapours may diftildowrt into an under-put Veffel, which being thus gotten, they keep by them, to refrefh and chefifh with themj fuch as are weak and fick, when need requires. OtherSj to free themfelves from this kind of Labour, do add as much Water as need is, together with Sale and Spices, to their Flefh, and fo boyl it by little and little, fbutting in the Vapours with a Cover, which elfe would go away, and the Meat tafte of burning: And by doing thus, they are not neceffitated to pour on any new Water, though this flow boyling takes up more time than that, which is done by altrong and UDceifant Ebullition : I would have you well to obferve th''efe things, for ’tis not without caufe that I utter them. And now let us examine the other fimilitude, and fee what thofe Boys Plays are, that fo we may afterwards accommodate even them too, to our Philo- fophical work. What therefore do you fee concer¬ ning the Boys Plays, with what things, and after what manner do they Play } C. How can I tell ? fhey play as their Parents pleafe to let them, or as they can get opportunity of Playing ; As for my felf J do not grant my Children fo much Li¬ berty, to play when, and how they liji themfelves. I fend them to the School and to the Church, and fometimes I allow thern one hours Play for Recreations fakp, nor do 1 allow them any other Play but at Bowls, []cr Knickers ]J by which they moderately fiir their Bodies, and exereije themfelves, and ConcoSt their Meat, and this is far more profitable for them, than if they were conjirained to fit always at home, without any exercife at all: Other play than this, I allow them not. Cards and Fice are unfit plays for Boys, they are many' times very hurt¬ ful to rh fe of riper years, efpecially when by the too much abufe of them, they do fo unprcfitably wajie '-their precious time, and cannot tell how to ufe a mean. I have indeed otherwife feen Boys, that meeting with fome Sand get \[^thereout of^ bright Stones, and play with them, but jyft this is not ufual. However , there is no play more frequent amongfi Children,than that of Bowls, [/or Knic¬ kers /] which play they daily ufe, whatfoever time they can Jieal, to that purpofe, Lea both at their going to School^ and returning from School, you may fee them prefently bu- fied about their Rubbers, or Knickers-play. Ihey are very hardly rejirained therefrom. If they want A'Joney to buy the Bowls, or Knickers, they get a little piece of Potters Clay and moilien it with Water,and make up their little Bowls, or Pellets in their hands^ and harden them L‘he Book of Dialogues. I I I ( '( i ■5 \ ( I ( I d, 4 1 i '.i I