7. In the mean time there arises, from these Operations, out of the Quicksilver, a small Quantity of fix’d Mercury.
8. The black (Spot) was no Dreg, or any Thing foreign, and so separated from the Mercury.
Scholium.
I exposed to a Fire of 180 Degrees, for several Months, some Quicksilver in Glass Conic Vessels, with flat Bottoms, that were stopt with a chemical inverted Phial: The Quicksilver became black, and gave a black Powder, in all respects alike; from which I learnt, that a Fire in this Degree, produced the same Effect in the Quicksilver as the shaking.
Experiment IV.
Quicksilver is changed by simple Distillation.
The Operation.
18 Ounces of Quicksilver, Weight of Amsterdam, I forced by a Sand-Heat, out of a pure Glass Retort, into the Receiver that was filled with the purest Water, 4 Inches high from the Bottom: This I continued to do till there was no more running Mercury left in the Belly of the Vessel. I dried and cleaned the Mercury with clean dry blotting Paper, till it was perfectly dry, cleaned from any Dirt that might have fallen in, and from the Black which in distilling is raised every time with the Mercury as it distills: Then I poured this Mercury into another Retort, and forced it again as before. This I repeated in the same manner 52 times. In each Distillation there was produced in the Retort a red shining Powder.