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exccdÍlIl' tlJtll

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¡,Ig

!rtlla.

'fo ehlni" [mil

PI.JII,

!Ij

diJIilling

Ih~m

wilh Ihe

1IIeol/ D:g/'a o( hMI bmvun [reezlI/g ond boiling

II'nler, o Lifuor i/l/pregnaled 'IJIilh Inri/' PrincipIe

o[ OJollr.

IN the morning, befare Cun·riCe,

g~ther

the plant

from which you defign to extr.ICt iu odoriferou! water.

ChuCe the plant in iu full vigour, perfeCtly Cound, and

free from all adventitions maners, except. dew. Put

this plant, without fqueezing it, into the body of a tin–

Ded cupper

al~mbic,

and fet it in a water·bath. Fit on

its head, and to the naCe thereof lute a glaCs receiver with

wet bladder.

Warm the bath tO the mean degree between freezing

and boiling water. You will Cee a liquor difiill and fall

drop by drop into the receiver. Continue the difiilla–

tion

ith this degree of hm , till no more drop! fall

from the naCe of the alembie. Then unlute the velfels ;

ann if you have not as mueh liquor as you want, take

OU I of the cucurbit the plant already dillilled, and

put a frdh one in its place. Difiill as

bcfor~, ~nd

on thus till you ha"e a fufficient quantity of odorife–

rous liqnor. Put it into a bonle; Ilop it cloCe; and Cet

it in a ':001place.

'The liquor obtained from plants, with the degree of

heat here preCeribed, confifis of the dew thH was on the

pldnt, and Come of the phlegm of the plant it(elf, toge–

ther with its odorons principie. Mr Boerhaave, who

examined this odoriferons part of plants with great care,

calls it the

fp¡"i/rll

flor.

The nature of this fpiril is

not yet thorollghly aCcertained; beeauCe il is

very 1'0-

latile, thal it eannot eafily be CubjeCted to the experi.

ments that are neceITary tO analiCe it, and to diCcover all

its properties. IC thebonle containicg the liquor. whieh

mal' be confidered as the vehicle of this fpirit, be not

exceeding cmfully fiopped, it flies quite olf:

that in a

few days nothing wiU be fOUJld but an infipid inodoroul

Waltr.

Great pan of the virtue of plants refides in this their

principie of odour; and tOit mufi be aCeribed the moll

fingular and the mofi wondarful elfeCts

every day

Cee

produccd by them. Every body knows that a great

nllmber of odorous plants affeél, in a panicular manner,

by their fcent only. the brain and the

gel/ul mrvo(1I1/1,

of Cuch eCpecially whoCe nerves are very Cenfible. aocl

CuC–

ceptible of the Oightell impre!lion; fll ch as hypoehon·

driacal or melancltolymen, and Ityfierical women . Tite

Cmell of the tuberofe, for infiance, i, eapable of thro.v–

in~

fuch perConl into fitl,

as to make thcm dropdown

and (woon away. Thefmell of rue again, which i,

eq\l~lIy

(!roog and penetrating, but of a different kind, is a Cpe.

cifle remedy againfi the ill effeéls of the tIIberoC. ; and

bringl thoCe perCons tO life again, with as qnick and al

furprifing an eflicacy as that by whieh theyIVere rednced

to a llate DOl unlike dmh. This is Mr Boerhaave's ob–

fervation.

The oJoraus exltalations of plants mu!! be conr,dered

al a continual emanation of tlteir

fpirilllJ

"fI.r:

but as

growing pl,nts are in a cnndition tO repair, every in–

l1~n

, the lolfes they fuO ain by this means, al well as by

tranCpiration, it is not fnrpriliog that they are DOt foon

exhaulled while they continue in vigour. ThoCe, on the

contrar)", which IVe difiill, having no Cuch refource,

are very

Coon

emirely exhaufied of this princirle.

The Ceparation of the

fpirilul rrElor

from planu re–

qui res but a very gentle heat, equally difianl from the

freezing point, and from the heat of boiling water. Ae–

cordingly the hm 01 the Cun in fummer is Cufficient to

dillipate it almoll entirely. Thi, Olews why it i, dange–

rous to fiay long in ficlds, or woods, where many noxi–

OUl plants grow. Thevirtues of plams refiding chiefly in

tbeir exhalationl, which the heat of the Cuo increaCes

confiderably, aCort of atmoCphere is formed round them,

and carried by the air and the wind to very great di–

fiancel.

For the fame reaCon the air of a couotry inay be reo–

dered falutary and

medicin~l,

by the exhalationl of

wholeCome plaots growing thereio. from the facility

with which the odorous principie of plants evaporates,

we learp what care ought to be takeo in drying thoCe in–

tended for medieal ufel, fo as lO preCerve their virtues.

They mull by no means be expofcd to the fun, or laid

in a warm place: a cool, dry place, ioto which the

r~ys

of the Cun never penetrate, is the properefi for dryiog

plants with as liule 10Cs of their vinue as pollible.

Though there is reaCon to belicve that everyvegetable

maller hath a

[pirilul f(Ror,

feeiog eaeh hath its parti–

cular Ccent, yet this priociple is cot very perceptible in

aoy but thoCe wbieh have a very maoifefi odour : and ae–

cordingly it is

~xt raéled

chlefly from aromatíe plaots, or

the mofi odorif.rous pam of plants.

exlro{/ Ihe Fol Oi"

Plonll by Ih( Dm{/ion

ill

hDi!illg Waler. Cacao·Bul/a.

PO UN O or bruiCe in a marble monar your vegetable

fubfiances abounding with the fat oil which you intend

to extraél by decoélion: tie them up io a lineo cloth:

put this packet into a pan, \Vith fe"eo or eight times

muchwater, and makc the water boil. The oil will be

fep~rated

by the ebllllition, aod float

th,e Culiace of

the water. Skimit off carefully with a ladle, and con–

tinue boiling till no more oil appear.

The hcat of boiliog water is capable of feparating 1he

fat oils from vegetablematlers that contaio any: but this

is tObe effeCted by aCtnaldecoélion only, and not by di–

fiillation; becaufe theCe oils will not

riC~

in an alembie

with the heat of boilinll. water. We are therefore ne–

cellitated toO eolleCt them from the furface of the water,

as above direéled

The water uCed in this coCtion generallybecomes milky,

Itke an emulfion. Neverthelefs this way ofobtaining the

f"t oils il not generally praéliCed;

becauC~

the heat.

which they are expoCed in the operation, occaGons their

being lefs mild than they generally are: but it is 3n

excellent method, aod iodeed the only one that can be

employed, for extra[ting fl"OOl particular vegetables cer–

uio concrete oily matters, in the form ofbuner or wax ;

which