An Account of the Extraordinary Medicinal Fluid, called Aether.

An Account of the Extraordinary
Medicinal Fluid, called Aether.

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Medicinal
Fluid, called Aether, by Matthew Turner This eBook is for the use of
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Title: An Account of the Extraordinary Medicinal Fluid, called Aether.
Author: Matthew Turner
Release Date: June 5, 2004 [EBook #12522]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AETHER
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Transcribed by David Ross from an
undated edition, c. 1761.

Project Gutenberg E-Text of An Account of the Extraordinary
Medicinal Fluid, called Aether. By Matthew Turner (d. 1788?)

AN ACCOUNT OF THE EXTRAORDINARY MEDICINAL FLUID,
CALLED AETHER.
By M. TURNER, SURGEON, IN _LIVERPOOL._
LONDON: Printed by J. WILKIE, at the Bible in St. Paul's
Church-yard.

The Publisher of the following short Account of the AETHER having
prepared, and successfully made Use of it in his private Practice, for
several Years, has at length determin'd to endeavour to extend it's
Utility, by thus making it public; as he knows of no one who has ever
published it's _medicinal virtues_; or offered it to Sale in it's
_Perfection_; or given the Criteria by which they who are unacquainted
with it might distinguish the Genuine from the _Spurious_: And he
doubts not but every candid Person who examines it, will agree with
him, That it carries with it the strongest Marks of a valuable Addition
to the _Materia Medica_, and therefore ought to lie no longer in
Obscurity.

AN ACCOUNT OF THE AETHER, _&c._
This truly extraordinary Chemical Preparation is not a new Discovery,
having been known and esteemed, as a valuable Curiosity, by many of
the greatest Chemists and Philosophers, both Ancient and Modern;
particularly by Sir Isaac Newton [Footnote: Quere 31st, at the End of
his Optics.], and the Honourable Mr. Boyle [Footnote: Treatise on the
Producibleness of Chemical Principles.], who both mention it in their
Works, tho' not by this Name: And therefore before any Thing is said
of it's Virtues as a Medicine, it may not be improper to explain the
Nature of it, and enumerate a few of it's remarkable Properties,
considered as a Curiosity in Chemistry, in which Light chiefly it has
hitherto been view'd by those who have been acquainted with it.
It is a kind of ETHEREAL OIL, produced by the Decomposition of the
Vinous Spirit by Means of the Vitriolic Acid, and differs essentially
both from Vinous Spirits and Essential Oils in several Respects, tho' it
agrees with them in some, as will appear hereafter: But as the Vinous
Spirit may be decomposed by means of all the three Mineral Acids,
_viz._ the _Vitriolic_, the Nitrous and the _Marine_, and as these all
act differently on the Spirit, they will, of Course, produce three

different Kinds of AETHER, which, from the Name, of the Acid
employ'd in making them, are term'd _Marine, Nitrous_, or _Vitriolic_:
the last only is the Kind here understood, it's Properties being more
singular and extraordinary, and, as an AETHER, more perfect than
either of the others; the Reason of which seems to be, that the Vitriolic
Acid is a much stronger Agent on the Spirit, and more perfectly
decomposes it, than either the Nitrous or Marine.
It is the most light, most volatile, and most inflammable, of all known
Liquids: It swims upon the highest rectified Spirit of Wine as Oil does
upon Water, and flies away so quickly as hardly to wet a Hand it is
dropped upon; from which Properties it probably has obtained it's
Name. It is so readily inflammable, as to take Fire at the approach of a
Candle, before the Flame touches it. Any Electrified Body will also
produce the same Effect.
It is one of the most powerful Solvents known in Chemistry: It is
neither acid nor _alcaline_, and therefore is perfectly free from that
saline Acrimony with which all the common Volatile Spirits abound: It
has a greater Affinity with Gold than Aqua Regia has, altho' it will not
dissolve it in the Mass, or whilst in it's Metallic Form; but if you add
AETHER to a solution of Gold in Aqua Regia, it presently takes all the
Gold from it's former Solvent, keeping it perfectly dissolved and
suspended, without the least Precipitation; and becomes of a yellow
Colour: The AETHER, thus saturated with the Gold, does not mix with
the Aqua Regia, but may readily be separated from it by simple
Decantation, and thus a true and safe Aurum potabile is readily
prepared for those who want such a Medicine. The Union