ll it, of Wormwood, drawn over with store of Water in a Limbec,
and warily Distilling the mixture in a Retort, there remain'd a scarce
credible quantity of dry Matter, Black as a Coal. And because the Oyl of
Wormwood, though a Chymical Oyl drawn by a _Virtuoso_, seem'd to have
somewhat in it of the Colour of the Plant, I Substituted in its Room, the
Pure and Subtile Essential Oyl of Winter-Savory, and mixing little by
little this Liquor, with (if I mis-remember not) an Equal weight of the
formerly mention'd Rectifi'd Oyl of Vitriol, and Distilling them as before
in a Retort, besides what there pass'd over into the Receiver, even these
two clear Liquors left me a Considerable Proportion, (though not so great
as the two former) of a Substance Black as Pitch, which I yet Keep by me
as a Rarity.

_EXPERIMENT VII._

A way of Whiting Wax Cheaply and in Great Quantity may be a thing of good
Oeconomical Use, and we have elsewhere set down the Practice of Trades-men
that Blanch it; But here Treating of Whiteness only in Order to the
Philosophy of Colours, I shall not Examine which of the Slow wayes may be
best Employ'd, to free Wax from the Yellow Melleous parts, but shall rather
set down a Quick way of making it White, though but in very Small
Quantities. Take then a little Yellow Wax, scraped or thinly sliced, and
putting it into a Bolts-head or some other Convenient Glass, pour to it a
pretty deal of Spirit of Wine, and placing the Vessel in Warm Sand,
Encrease the Heat by degrees, till the Spirit of Wine begin to Simper or to
Boyl a little; and continuing that degree of Fire, if you have put Liquor
enough, you will quickly have the Wax dissolv'd, then taking it off the
fire, you may either suffer it to Cool as hastily as with Safety to the
Glass you can, or Pour it whilst 'tis yet Hot into a Filtre of Paper, and
either in the Glass where it Cools, or in the Filtre, you will soon find
the Wax and _Menstruum_ together reduc'd into a White Substance, almost
like Butter, which by letting the Spirit Exhale will shrink into a much
Lesser Bulk, but still retaining its Whiteness. And that which is pretty in
the working of this Magistery of Wax, is, that the Yellowness vanishes,
neither appearing in the Spirit of Wine that passes Limpid through the
Filtre, nor in the Butter of Wax, if I may so call it, that, as I said, is
White.

_EXPERIMENT VIII._

There is an Experiment, _Pyrophilus_, which though I do not so exactly
remember