Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/586

 S U L

SUM

in 'ill the operations for the making oil of fulphur ^ the wea- ther is a material thing to be regarded ; tor when the ope- ration is performed in moift weather, there is always a greater quantity of fpirit or oil prepared, than when in dry ; and Drebbel acknowledged, that he could obtain one fourth more in thefe, than in other feafons. This great chemift tells us, that lie was convinced the contrivance he ufed was capable of very great improvements, and that he made no doubt of carrying it fo far, at length, as to obtain an equal weight of arid fpirit to that of the fulphur ufed in the ex- periment ; the humidity of the air, at leaft, adding as much as the quantity of the fulphur loft in the operation. There are feveral common menftrua, by means of which fulphur may be reduced into the form of a highly-rectified acid, and corrofive liquor ; and even fpirit of nitre, or aqua fortis, well rectified, being digefted upon the flowers of brimftone, and then diftiHed in afhes, and the procefs repeated five or fix times after the laft operation, there will remain with the flowers nearly an equal weight of an acid fpirit, in all things refembling that made by the bell, the fpirit of nitre being fcarce at all changed from what it was before the operation : and it feems, from experiment, that if the procefs were fre- . quently reiterated, and the fpirit of nitre changed, the whole may be thus tranfmuted into an acid fpirit, abating only for fome fmall proportion of earthy, or metalline particles. Phil. Tranf. N° 104.

There is a preparation of common fulphur ; ftrongly recom- mended by Mortimer for preferving timber from being worm eaten, as it is very fubject to be when felled before the fap is wholly at reft. A quantity of common yellow brim- ftone is to be put into a common retort of glafs, and co- vered three fingers deep with aquafortis; this is to be di- frilled off to a drynefs, and the fame repeated three times. The fulphur then is to be taken out, and laid on a marble, or put into an open flat glafs veflel, where it will foon run into an oil by deliqumm. This oil is to be rubbed on any curious piece of wood that is in danger of worms : it will deftroy them if they have begun to breed in it, and wholly prevent them if not yet begun. It alfo gives the wood an agreeable tinge or colour, which no art can ever rob it of afterwards. It is alfo a great prefervative of wood that is to be fet in the earth, or under water ; and may be ufed with fuccefs to rub over the cables in {hipping, or any other ropes that are indangered by lying much in the water. Morti?mr y s Hufbandry, Vol. 2. p. 104. Sulphur, in medicine, is given in its crude ftate with great fuccefs in difeafes of the lungs : it ftrengthens and cleanfes them, by promoting expectoration. It has always been fa- mous for its virtues in cutaneous difeafes, and in hasmor- . rhoidal complaints. It generally proves a little loofening to the bowels, and increafes the difcharges by perfpiration : it even communicates its fraell to the perfpired matter for a confiderable time after taking it, and will often blacken gold or filver that is worn by people who take any confiderable quantity of it.

The preparations of fulphur are, I, feres fulphuris* flowers of fulphur. 2. Sulphur precipitatum, commonly called lac fulphuris* 3. Balfamum fulphuris. 4. Aqua fulpburata. 5. Spiritus fulphuris, the oil, or fpirit of fulphur. Sulphur of antimony. The method of Angel us Sala for pre- paring the fulphur of antimony feems, according to Dr. Plummer, preferable to the common way. The curious may find the defcription of Sala's in the Medic. Eft". Edinb. Vol. 1. Art. 6. The doctor thinks, that in the common preparation much of the true fulphur is confumed by the deflagration, and the precipitated powder confifts of many of the grofs earthy parts of the falts in antimony. How- ever, the fulphur of antimony, ufed by the doctor in the pre- paration of his eeihiopS) was made in the common way. See Plummer' j esthiops. Sulphur auratum, a name given by fome chemifts to a pre- paration of fulphur and arfenic, called by others rubinus ar- fenicalis. See Rubinus. Balfam of Sulphur. See Balsam, Cycl. Embryonatum Sulphur. See Embryonatum. Fixed Sulphur. Fixed fulphur is ufed by the enamellers, and is prepared in the following manner. Boil flower of brimftone in common oil for an hour ; take the matter off the fire, and pour on it a quantity of very ftrong vinegar, the flower of brimftone will on this fink to the bottom ; pour off the liquors, and repeat the operation to the third time, and the powder then feparated is the fixed fulphur, Ncrt's Art of Glafs, p. 188. Spirit of Sulphur. The ufual methods of preparing the acid fpirit of fulphur, or oil of fulphur, by the bell, are fo tedious and expenfive, that few are at the pains to make it. Both the methods, defcribed by Mr. Charras in the Phar- macop. Royale, p. 883, are liable to many uncertainties and inconveniencies, as well as that recommended by Mr. Hom- berg in the Memoirs de 1'Acad. des Sciences, anno 1703. In the Medical Eflays of Edinburgh, Vol. 5. Ait 14. we have an eflay on extracting the acid of fulphur in an eafy manner, by placing a crucible with about three ounces of flower of fulphur in it under a retort. The fulphur being

fired by throwing a lighted coal into it, the crucible is then gradually raifed till it be juft received within an orifice cut in the bottom of the bole of the retort, to which a large receiver with a fpout is adapted. When the fulphur is con- fumed, the fame quantity of new lighted fulphur is to be put into another crucible ; and thus the procefs may be conti- nued, till as much acid is obtained as is required. See the book loc. cit. or the Abridgment, Vol. 1. p. 160, feq. for the details of practice.

This method is indeed an improvement on the common one; but there are two other more elegant and eafy ways of ex- tracting the acid from fulphur. The firft is by Stahl, who directs woollen cloths to be moiftcned in a folution of fixed alkaline fait, and then dried. Thcfe are to be fufpended over the fume of burning fulphur, which will be imbibed and locked up in the fait, from whence it may be eafily feparated by the addition of oil of vitriol, and the affiftance of common glafs diftilling veflels.

The fecond is by Mr. Seehl, who pours oil of vitriol on a hepar fulphuris placed in a glafs retort, to which he adapts a receiver, and by a fmall heat draws off the acid liquor. See Improvement on making Volatile Spirit of Sulphur, by Ephr. Rinh. Seehl, Lond. 1744. and Medic. Eft". Abridg. Vol. 1. p. 164. Not.

A pound of flowers of fulphur may be burnt in about (even or eight hours, and will yield about feyen drachms, or an ounce of pure acid. But it is obfervable, that the quantity ot acid liquor varies greatly with the weather, being, as be- fore mentioned, considerably more when the air is moift, than when it is dry.

It is faid that fulphur may he made by contriving a fat, oily, or bituminous fubftance, with any mineral acid fait; but, in reality, the difficulty of making fulphur with every acid is very great, if not impoftible. With the vitriolic acid, indeed, the inflammable part of bodies eafily combines into a true fulphur ; but it does not appear that any way has yet been found, by which the marine or nitrous acid may di- rectly be combined into fuch a fubftance. Stahl is exprefsly of this opinion in his Opufcul. Phyf. Medic. 410. Sec Me- dic. Eff. Abrig. p. 163. Not.

Oil of Sulphur. Some think there .is an cffential difference between the acid of fulphur and its fuccedaneum, the oil of vitriol ; but a late author afferts, notwithftanding the expe- riments brought to fupport this opinion, that if the two acid liquors be reduced to the fame ftrength, and perfectly freed from all heterogeneous fubftances, they will be per- fectly fimilar, and not to be diftinguifhed. See Eflay for Reforming of the London Pharmacopceia, London, 1744. Pi 64-

Sulphur pradpiiatum, a name given in the London Pharma- copceia to the medicine called by other authors lac fulphu- ris, or milk of fulphur. It is by fome directed to be made with the addition of am alkaline fait, but according to the method now in ufe, is thus prepared. Boil flowers of ful* pbur in water, with three times their weight of quick lime, till they are thoroughly diftblved ; nitre the folution through paper, and pour on it weak fpirit of vitriol, till a precipi- tation is procured; feparate the precipitated matter, by pour- ing off the water, and wafh it with frcfli water, till it is be- come quite infipid. Pemberton's Lond. Difp. p. 210.

Purified Sulphur, is ufed in the making of gunpowder, and other occafions. The method of preparing it at the powder- mills is this : they diffolve the fulphur by a very gentle heat, and then fkum it, and pafs it through a ftrainer. If the brimftone mould happen to take fire in the melting, they have an iron cover that fits on clofe to the melting veflel, and damps the flame. The brimftone is judged to be fuffi- ciently refined, if it will melt without yielding any fetid odour between two hot iron plates, and be changed into a kind of red fubftance. Shaw's Lectures, p. 389.

Sulphur rapax, in cbemiftry, a name given to arfenic, from its carrying off a great quantity of many metals in the fire, which it carries up with it, and fublimes in form of flowers, called by fome cadmia foruacum.

Volatile^ acid of Sulphur. The volatile acid of fidphur, ac- cording to fome, contains not only the oil of fidphur, but, at the fame time, the pure native gas, or highly volatile fpirit of the fulphur. Mr. Seehl has given us an eafy me- thod of procuring this volatile acid of fulphur, which he thinks of fuperior virtue, both as a menftruum and as a me- dicine, to the oil of fitlpburty the belli For this purpofc he gives us two proceil'es; one with an alkaline fait per fi 9 mentioned above ; and the other, which he prefers, by means of the fame fait, with the addition of quick lime. See Phil. Tranf. N°4 7 2. The fpirit, obtained thus by quick lime, is ftronger, more acid, and more volatile, although fpecifically heavier than the former.

The caput mortuum, remaining after diftillation, makes an excellent tartar of vitriol, by folution, filtration, and cryftallization. Ibid. SuLPHufi.-zuflto-. See Aqua fulpburata. SUMA, a name given by fome of the chemical writers to tartar.

SUMAGE,