Congruities or the Differences betwixt the Colours of the ascending Fumes,
and those of the _Flowers_, they compose by their Convention. For it is
evident, that these _Flowers_, do many of them in point of Colour, much
differ, not only from one another, but oft times from the Concretes that
afforded them. Thus, (not here to repeat what I formerly noted of the Black
Soots of very differingly Colour'd Bodies) though Camphire and Brimstone
afford _Flowers_ much of their own Colour, save that those of Brimstone are
wont to be a little Paler, than the Lumps that yielded them; yet ev'n of
Red _Benzoin_, that sublim'd Substance, which _Chymists_ call its
_Flowers_, is wont to be White or Whitish. And to omit other Instances,
ev'n one and the same Black Mineral, Antimony, may be made to afford
_Flowers_, some of them Red, and some Grey, and, which is more strange,
some of them purely White. And 'tis the Prescription of some Glass-men by
exquisitely mingling a convenient proportion of Brimstone, Sal-Armoniack,
and Quicksilver, and Subliming them, together, to make a Sublimate of an
excellent Blew; and though having caus'd the Experiment to be made, we
found the produc'd Sublimate to be far from being of a lovely Colour, (as
was promis'd) that there and there, it seem'd Blewish, and at least was of
a Colour differing enough from either of the Ingredients, which is
sufficient for our present purpose. But a much finer Colour is promis'd by
some of the Empiricks, that pretend to Secrets, who tell us, that Orpiment,
being Sublim'd, will afford among the Parts of it that fly Upward, some
little Masses, which, though the Mineral it self be of a good Yellow, will
be Red enough to emulate Rubies, both in Colour and Translucency. And this
Experiment may, for ought I know, sometimes succeed; for I remember, that
having in a small Bolt-head purposely sublim'd some powder'd Orpiment, we
could in the Lower part of the Sublimate discern here and there some
Reddish Lines, though much of the Upper part of the Sublimate consisted of
a matter, which was not alone purely Yellow, but transparent almost like a
Powder. And we have also this way obtain'd a Sublimate, the Lower part