cially when Distill'd with strong Fires. And we elsewhere
note, that ev'n Soot, as Black as it is, has fill'd our Receivers with such
copious White Fumes, that they seem'd to have had their In-sides wash'd
with Milk. And no less observable may be, the Distill'd Liqours, into which
such Fumes convene, (for though we will not deny, that by skill and care a
Reddish Liqour may be obtain'd from Nitre) yet the common Spirit of it, in
the making ev'n of which store of these Red Fumes are wont to pass over
into the Receiver, appears not to be at all Red. And besides, that neither
the Spirit of Vitriol, nor that of Soot is any thing White; And, besides
also, that as far as I have observ'd, most (for I say not all) of the
Empyreumatical Oyls of Woods, and other Concretes, are either of a deep
Red, or of a Colour between Red and Black; besides this, I say, 'tis very
remarkable that notwithstanding that great Variety of Colours to be met
with in the Herbs, Flowers, and other Bodies wont to be Distill'd in
_Balneo_: yet (as far at least as our common Distillers Experience
reacheth) all the Waters and Spirits that first come over by that way of
Distillation, leave the Colours of their Concretes behind them, though
indeed there be one or two Vegetables not commonly taken notice of, whose
Distill'd Liqours I elsewhere observe to carry over the Tincture of the
Concrete with them. And as in Distillations, so in Sublimations, it were
worth while to take notice of what comes up, in reference to our present
scope, by purposely performing them (as I have in some cafes done) in
conveniently shap'd Glasses, that the Colour of the ascending Fumes may be
discern'd; For it may afford a Naturalist good Information to observe the
Congruities or the Differences betwixt the Colours of the ascending Fumes,
and those of the _Flowers_, they compose by their Convention. For it is
evident, that these _Flowers_, do many of them in point of Colour, much
differ, not only from one another, but oft times from the Concretes that
afforded them. Thus, (not here to repeat what I formerly noted of the Black
Soots of very differingly Colour'd Bodies) though Camphire and Brimstone
afford _Flowers_ much of their own Colour, save that those of Brimstone are
wont to be a little Paler, than the Lumps that yielded them; yet ev'n of
Red _Benzoin_, that sublim'd Substance, which _Chymists_ call its
_Flowers_, is wont to be White or Whitish. And to omit other Instances,
ev'n on