*III. Two bound MS. copies of Yarworth's "Processus," both incomplete. A MS. book on Alchemy, containing The apocalyps or revelation of the secret spirit, by an unknown author. Quotations from divers writers on alchemy. An unknown author upon the philosopher's stone. Ex epistolâ Johannis pauperis. De Alkymiæ veritate δε Λαπίδίβυς ε. The breefe of Sir Edward Vere's book. Aug. 18, 1610. IV. NOTES OF EXPERIMENTS, ALL IN NEWTON'S HAND. 1. Dec. 10. 1678 to Jan. 15. Subliming antimony with salammoniac. Alloying antimony with lead and other metals. (No definite result of value.) 2. Jan. 1679-80. antimoniate &c. Jan. 22. Subliming antimonial sublimate with lead Action of nitric acid and salammoniac on antimony sulphide &c. and further sublimations. (Most of these experiments are roughly quantitative.) 3. Feb. 1679-80. Fusing antimony with vitriol and other things. Sublimation of various metals by help of antimony and salammoniac &c. Action of oil of vitriol on galena, of nitric acid on sublimate of antimony, and others of a like kind. 4. Aug. 1682. Similar experiments; some on lead ore, others on an alloy of tin and bismuth which he seems to call Diana. 5. July 10 (no year), "vidi *philosophicum." Sublimations of calx albus with salammoniac. 6. April 26, 1686. On a volatile salt of zinc (apparently the chloride), and on an alloy derived from ores of iron, antimony, tin, lead, and bismuth. May 16. "On ven. vol." 7. Mar. 5, 1690-1 and Mar. 16. On some bismuth compounds and the action of aqua fortis on alloys of tin and bismuth and zinc. 8. Experiments and observations, Dec. 1692 and Jan. 1692-3. Working of barm. He says "in distilling new wine before fermentation, the flegm rises first, and then the spirit, but after fermentation, the spirit rises before the flegm." Other experiments. Comparison of the fusibility of alloys of lead, tin, and bismuth, in which is given as the most fusible an alloy of 5 of lead +7 of tin + 12 of bismuth. April 1693 and June 1693, further experiments. Feb. 1695—6, 9. April 1695. Experiments with antimony and ores of iron, copper, and tin, and sublimations with salammoniac. sublimations of antimony with iron ore. 10. Notes of Chemical Experiments, without date: Sublimation of alloy of antimony and lead with salammoniac, &c. Do. on copper &c. Other experiments. 11. De metallo ad conficiendum speculum componendo et fundendo. Printed by Brewster, ii. 535. V. MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 1. Notes on Magnetism. It does not appear whence they are taken. The observations (some of which are erroneous) do not seem to be Newton's, though here and there remarks upon them seem to be his. 2. De Natura Acidorum, with a copy. This is printed in Horsley's Newton, iv. pp. 397-400. 4 1 3. Eleven points for enquiry in Physics. 4. De Gemmis in genere, notes, mostly from Berquen, Boethius, Tavernier, and Boyle. Index of refraction in diamonds is given 100 on the authority of Halley. On p. 3 is mentioned a very fragile and soft western Topaz which he found to have a specific gravity 4.27, though the sines of refraction were as 14 to 23 (could this be Baryte ?). On p. 7 he deduces from the cleavage that gems are crystallized like salts from juices which turn to stone. At the end are the gold and silver standards of different countries. 5. De Gemmis. Other notes mostly included in the preceding, but on p. 1 are given reasons for thinking the diamond coagulated from a fluid and fat substance, which he does not seem to have incorporated in the preceding. 6. Of Gemms. Part of the foregoing in English. On the fly-leaf-Notes of the value, hardness and other qualities of gems. pp. 1 to 22, of colours. Articles 1-5 from Boyle's experiments and considerations touching colour, 1664. Arts. 6 to 21, experiments with prisms; 22 and 26 on internal reflection at or near the critical angle; 27 to 43 on effects of thin plates of air between glasses. 44-47, further experiments with prisms; 48, colours from admixture; 49, reflection at two contiguous surfaces of glass; 50, colours of thin plates of glass, soap-bubbles, &c.; 51-53, on colours by internal reflection in spheres of water; 54, effect of oblique rays on the size of the spot at contact of 2 glasses; 55, diminished reflection of glass in water; 56 and 57, light reflected from powders, &c.; 58-62, effects of distorting the eye-ball; 63, coloured impressions of objects remaining when the eye is no longer directed to them; 64, on the action of the retina and optic nerve (quoted by Brewster i. 432 from Harris, omitting the last paragraph), and on p. 22, notes of the thickness of vibrations of light. p. 22, notes from Boyle on increased sensitiveness of sight and hearing produced by sickness. Of vegetable substances precipitating vitriol black. p. 23, a receipt for ink. pp. 25—41, extracts from Boyle "on the mechanical origin of Heat and Cold," Oxford, 1675. The observations on p. 25 as to the expansion of glass, and those on the elasticity of springs are not in Boyle on Heat and Cold. The book quoted in the MS. is called the " History of Cold," which is not the title of the 1675 edition, but forms part of the title in the collected works. p. 45, quotations from Boyle. Some incomplete trials of the height at which a thermometer stands in several substances—melting wax, tin, lead, &c. on Mar. 10, 1692-3. An experiment for determining the expansion of air by heat, also that of linseed oil (Brewster, ii. 366). p. 49, extracts from Boyle's new experiments touching the spring of the air. At the bottom of this page and on p. 50, account of experiments on flame-with conclusion that flame and vapour differ only as bodies red-hot and not red-hot. p. 51, guesses heat to be made by division of parts, for when two particles are parted it makes the æther rush in betwixt them and so vibrate. Receipt for making Phosphorus (Brandt's). pp. 53-60, blank; pp. 61-65, extracts from Boyle on formes. p. 65, extracts from Starkey's Pyrotechny asserted. p. 66, note of a petrifying spring in Peru, from a Spanish treatise translated by the Earl of Sandwich. pp. 57-70, blank; pp. 71-80, extracts from Boyle on formes. p. 80, experiments on the extraction of mercury from the nitrate and from corrosive sublimate by various other metals. pp. 81, 82, receipts for making regulus of antimony by different metals. p. 83, notes of alloys which fuse at low temperatures, and others which give a crystalline mass from fusion. Notes of the action of aquafortis, and of salammoniac, on salt, and oil of tartar or potassium carbonate; and of crude tartar on the same, and of tartarum vitriolatum (potassium bisulphate) on same with p. 84, the remark that some fools call the result of the last reaction magisterium tartari vitriolati. note, that salammoniac is less volatile than muriatic acid or ammonium carbonate, which seems to explain a quotation from D. von der Becke which follows. note of calcination of lead with salt of antimony and salammoniac and of volatilization of arsenical tin when heated with corrosive sublimate and salammoniac. pp. 85-92, extracts from Boyle. pp. 93-100, sundry receipts and extracts on various chemical reactions, chiefly from Boyle. p. 101, receipts for making sundry preparations of antimony. Note of the action of corrosive sublimate on various ores. p. 102, notes of experiments in the preparation of regulus of antimony. p. 103, do. and of action of corrosive sublimate on antimony, silver, and mercury; of the heat produced by mixing oil of vitriol with water or spirit of wine; of the preparation of ether and oil of wine-not differing much from the account quoted on p. 64. pp. 104, 105, note of warmth emitted on mixing water with spirit of antimony, and of sundry chemical reactions-the last on saturation of spirit of antimony by different substances has blanks left for the quantities. pp. 106, 107, other chemical experiments. Note of composition of fusible metal "which in summer will melt in the sun," with the (erroneous) remark that tinglas is more fusible than tin. pp. 108-112, chemical experiments chiefly on preparations of antimony and scoria of regulus. Some of these (e.g. p. 111) are marked with an N in the margin. p. 113, action of distilled liquor of antimony on salts of lead, iron and copper; action of heat on tartarised antimony. p. 114, action of spar on distilled liquor of antimony, vinegar, and aquafortis, and of salt from clay of lead mines on do. ; action of nitre on antimony. pp. 115, 116, action of oil of vitriol on lead ore, and of an antimonial sublimate on several substances. 66 pp. 117-120, experiments with a substance to which the name ven. vol." is given. p. 121, note, that on May 10, 1681, and on the 14th and 15th he comprehended sundry alchemical names. This note has been scratched out, apparently in consequence of its having nothing to do with the subject of the other notes, but it is not certain that the foregoing experiments have not something to do with it. p. 122, another note, that on May 18 he completed the solution of the alchemical symbol of the caduceus, followed by experiments on June 10 on sublimation of green and blue vitriol with salammoniac and the resulting sublimate with lead ore. Perhaps these experiments on sublimation were designed to test his interpretation of some alchemical symbols. pp. 123 sqq. to 126, account of experiments in May and June, 1682; on sublimation of some salts with salammoniac, and some metals and alloys with the same, and with antimony. pp. 127 to 130, June 26, 1682, and July 4, 1682, account of experiments on obtaining regulus from mixture of lead ores, antimony and bismuth; and others similar. p. 131, experiments on the action of various reguluses with spirit (? of salt). pp. 132-4, other experiments on sublimation—the date, Tuesday, July 19, is given on p. 133; this must have been in 1683. pp. 135 sqq., Feb. 29, 1683-4. An experiment in which he prepared the chlorides of mercury. |