The Effect.
There were in the Receiver 2 Drachms and 2 Grains of the purest Quicksilver, insipid and shining. There stuck to the Sides of the Glass, which being join’d to the Retort, is luted to a Receiver full of Water, a little Quicksilver here and there, which I could not entirely gather together. In the Bottom of the Retort was a fix’d Spot, small, very thin and fine, and but just visible.
Corollaries.
1. Mercury, that has been 61 times distilled and shaken, and turned into the afore described Powder, returns by Fire alone into its first Form.
2. Of sharp and penetrating, it becomes very mild.
3. Of very black, it comes to resemble pure Looking-Glass, with a Silver Brightness.
4. Of a consistent Powder, it becomes very fluid.
5. In these three Operations it remains the same in itself; in the mean time it alters its Appearance under various Disguises.
6. The Taste and sharp Power are wonderfully changed in the Mercury, by Motion alone, by Fire alone.