BOOK FIVE

Preparation of Antimony 4. for ulcers. Take Antimony, colcothar The red residue left after the distillation of vitriol, used as a drying agent, and flowers of copper verdigris or copper acetate, equal parts of each as desired. Arrange them layer upon layer original: "S.S.S." or "stratum super stratum" and bring them to the degree of reverberation a high-heat process in a furnace where the flame is reflected onto the substance. Let an extraction be made with red wine, then reduce it into an Alkali a fixed salt remaining after burning and leaching. Reduce this alkali into an ointment using olive oil and smear it around the ulcers; it is a most effective cure.

An addition for ulcers: Take three ounces of this prepared Antimony, half an ounce of oil of colcothar, and enough oil of lentisk original: "olei lentiscini" to match the weight of all the ingredients combined. Let an ointment be made. It must be smeared all around the affected area. In this way, it cures not only common sores, but also Cancer, Elephantiasis, and Esthiomena term: Esthiomena (corrosive or "eating" skin ulcers that spread rapidly). Oil of lentisk is an oil made from the bark of the mountain phyllirea original: "filere montano," likely Phillyrea latifolia, sometimes used as a substitute for true lentisk or mastic. Now follow other various preparations of Antimony; first, however, we shall examine its calcination.

Calcination of Antimony.

The Calcination of Antimony: Take 4 pounds of choice stibium another name for Antimony and 5 pounds of prepared salt. Mix them together in powdered form. In a wide, flat-bottomed earthen vessel placed over a reverberatory furnace, let them be stirred continuously with an iron spatula for a space of 5 or 6 hours, until the smoke ceases. The stibium should become white and pale yellow (care must be taken diligently to avoid liquefaction and the harmful fumes). Afterward, grind it into a powder and wash out the salt by pouring on hot water, and then cold water several times. Once dried and powdered, sublime to heat a solid until it turns into vapor and then solidifies again in a purer form it by itself in an Aludel term: Aludel (a series of pear-shaped earthenware pots used as condensers in the sublimation process) for 12 hours, or even more, with a fire that is neither too intense nor too weak. When the "flowers" the pure, powdery sublimate have been collected, grind the caput mortuum the "dead head" or worthless residue remaining in the bottom of the vessel and reverberate it for the space of a month until it reaches a redness. The vessel should be closed off because of the ashes, so that the fire is not hindered from its proper operation. After calcination, extract the Tincture with radical vinegar concentrated, high-strength distilled vinegar. Further refine it by filtering the medium, separating it, and circulating it with cordial water a medicinal water intended to strengthen the heart and spirits.

The following addition to this Author should be noted: This Author commands the "flowers" to be collected here, perhaps so that they may be reserved for other uses. However, he fixes the ground caput mortuum into a state of permanency through continuous cooking in degrees of fire until it finally turns red, so that he may extract the Tincture from it. Yet, clear reasoning warns that one should act otherwise. For the sublimated flowers, being the nobler part compared to the caput mortuum, should be placed in a small vessel—either of glass or firm earth—that is round but with a somewhat long neck. There, by the benefit of the degrees of fire, they are to be fixed until they become like a most red ruby. Over these, the radical (but distilled) vinegar is poured so that it stands eight fingers deep. In this way, as time passes, the redness is extracted...