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, for he is ful of tempest. he fulfilli[th] his course i{n} .ij. [gh]eere. [[leaf 26, back]] [P] [Th]e sonne is [th]e worthiest planet, y-set i{n} myddis. he fulfilli[th] his course in CCClxv dayes & vj. howr{is}, [th]e whiche causen bisext. [P] Venus is apte to alle thyng{is} to be gendrid. he fulfilli[th] his course in CCCxxxvj daies. [P] Mercuri swyft is y-seid a messeng{er} of daies [[? heuene]]. he fulfilli[th] his course i{n} CCCxxxvj daies. [P] [Th]e mone is a planete ny [th]e er[th]e. [[_ends._]] * * * * * NOTES ON THE CHEMISTRY OF THE TEXT By C. H. GILL, Esq., of University College, London P. 4. Direction to submit any wine _that is not sour_ to distillation. (_Sour_ wine is deficient in alcohol; that body having been changed into acetic acid by oxidation.) In the language of the mystical ideas which prevailed in the dawn of Chemistry, the colouring matters, sugar, &c. of the wine are called 'the .4. elementis,' or as it were the 'rotten faeces of wine'?? The direction to distill the wine seven times is a good practical suggestion for the obtaining of strong alcohol which will burn well. Then follows a description of the distilling apparatus, which seems to have been arranged to ensure a very slow distillation, so as to obtain a product as colourless and scentless as possible. P. 5. The second way to make the Quinte essence depends on distillation of alcohol by means of the heat of fermenting horse-dung; also the fifth manner. P. 6. The directions for gilding burning water are all nonsense; but as the writer had no means of testing the truth of his statements, they may have been made in good faith. P. 7. The idea which he expresses, that this gilt burning water will make you well and young, is difficult to explain, except on the assumption that, it being the strongest of alcohol, a very little served to produce that elevation of spirits which seemed to bring back the spring of youth. P. 7, l. 6 from the bottom. The word _liquibles_ in the text does not mean liquids, for a liquid cannot be made hot enough to be _quenched_. If the original _liquibles_ cannot be retained I should substitute the word _liquiables_, meaning those things which can be liquefied by heat. Indeed in the next passage we find stated that if Saturn (the alchemists' mystical name for Lead) be quenched, &c., and that if then Mars (Iron)
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