This section is from the book "The Volatile Oils Vol1", by E. Gildemeister. Also available from Amazon: The Volatile Oils.
Fulle einen glasernen Kolben voll mit Cinnamomum oder anderem Holz, Samen, Macis etc. und giesse darauf so viel Spiritus salis,2) dass es das lignum bedecke, setze solchen mit einem alembic in das Sandbad, gieb Feuer, dass der Spiritus salis koche, so steigt mit wenig phlegmate alles 0/ uber, denn der Spiritus salis durchdringet wegen seiner Scharfe das lignum, macht das 0/ ledig, dass es desto lieber ubersteiget Also wird auff solche Weise das ol nicht wegen grosser Menge des Wassers ver-schmieret und verlohren sondern in kleinen Glasern mit wenig Wasser auf-gefangen und separiret .... Auf solche Weise mit dem Spiritus salis kann man aus alien theuerbaren Vegetabilibus ihr liebliches ol mit Nutzen machen. Desgleichen konnen auch alle Gummi und Harze, wie Mastix, Olibanum etc. in kfare Olea durch Hulff des Spiritus salis destillirt werden.3)
For the decoloration of distilled oils, also for the improvement of oils that have darkened with age, such as the oils of cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, Glauber describes their rectification per retortam with Spiritus sa/is.4)
1) Johanni Rudolph Glauberi Furni novi philosophici oder Beschreibung der neu erfundenen Destillirkunst. Amsterdam 1648 - Leiden 1648 - Prague 1700.
2) An impure muriatic acid obtained by the distillation of common salt with sulphuric acid or alum.
3) Glauberi Furni novi philosophici. Editio Prague 1700. Part. 1, pp. 35 - 36.
4) Ibidem Part. 1, pp. 39-43.
For the distillation of plant materials with salt and dilute muriatic acid, Glauber gives the following directions:
Die olea aromatum seminum, florum, herbarum, radicum, lignorum etc. werden gemacht, indem die Samen gemahlen, die Blumen, Krauter und Wurzeln kleingehackt, die Holzer geraspelt und mit soviel Wasser angefullt werden, dass dieselben wohI darinnen schwimmen und maceriren konnen und noch feuchtigkeit genug bleibe, dam it dieselben bei der Destination nicht anbrennen und statt eines lieblichen ein brenzliches Ol erhalten werde. Trockene Samen, Blumen, Krauter, Wurzeln und Holzer mussen zuvor etliche Tage in dem Wasser stehen und sich erhitzen, ehe sie konnen destillirt werden, und muss auch das Wasser zu den trockenen Species gut gesalzen werden, dadurch dieselben erweichen und ihre olea desto lieber von sich geben. Zu denen noch grunen Gewachsen ist es nicht nothig; doch kann es auch nichts schaden, denn das Wasser kann durch Hulte des Salzes desto heisser werden, dadurch die Olea desto lieber steigen, und hilfft auch viel dazu dass man Weinstein und Alaun zuthut, welche der Destination nicht wenig Beforderniss thun. Wenn dann die Species ihre Zeit in dem gesalzenen Wasser gestanden und wohl durchbissen seyn, thut man dieselbe in das Destillirfass etc., so gehet mit dem Wasser, wenn es kochet, des Kraut's, Samen's oder Holzes ol heruber, und wiewohl auf diese Weise durch Hulff des Salzes vielmehr ubergehet, als mit siissem Wasser allein, so bleibt doch noch viel zuruck, welches vom Wasser nicht hat ledig gemacht und ubergetrieben werden konnen. Dieserhalben der beste Weg ist, solche olea mit Nutzen zu machen, durch den Spiritum sal is zu destillire, wie im ersten Buch gelehrt.1)
Glauber's authority was recognized until the middle of the 18. century, and the methods of distillation recommended by him in his several writings were employed by his contemporaries and their successors. Therefore, Boerhaave, Hoffmann, their contemporaries, and later investigators prepared the volatile oils by using common and other salts, or hydrochloric acid.
It is perhaps due to the observation that metal was present in an oil or a distilled water, especially if an acid had been used in its preparation, that in the course of the 18. century more attention was again bestowed upon the material of which the still was constructed. In consequence glass and glazed earthenware were substituted for metal. As a matter of fact it seems that as early as the 15. century the presence of metals in the distillates obtained from metallic stills did not escape the notice of some of the experimenters. Among others Jon. Krafft2)
1) Glauberi Furni novi philosophici. Editio Prague 1700. Part. 3, p. 30. 2) Crato von Kraftheim, Conciliorum et epistolarum libri VII. Francofurti 1589. Vol. 1, fol. 190.
(Crato von Kaftheim, born 1519, died 1585) cautions against the use of copper distilling vessels. The famous Parisian physician Ambroise Pare1) (born 1510, died 1590) warns against the use of lead helmets and condenser tubes "which ofttimes cause the distilled water to be milky". The Bologna physician and professor, Benedetto Vettori2) of Faenza (Victorius Faventius, born 1481, died 1561) declared about the year 1555, that water, when conducted through lead pipes, dissolves lead and thus becomes poisonous.
However, these observations, like so many others made in the art of distillation, appear either to have been known to but a few, or else were unheeded and again forgotten, for even during the 17. and 18. centuries when oils were distilled with acids, lead and tin heads and condensers were in general use in connection with copper stills or glass and earthenware retorts.
As already mentioned in the preceding chapter, the distillation of the volatile oils and the construction of the distilling apparatus received more attention and underwent a more rapid development with their general introduction into the laboratories of apothecaries. In these the volatile oils used in medicine and the arts were prepared up to the first decades of the 19. century. Only a few oils, such as the oils of lavender, rosemary and rose, which could be produced readily in some countries and which were largely used in the perfume and soap industries, have been obtained since the 16. century in larger quantities by means of primitive portable distilling apparatus.3) The distilling vessels used in the apothecary laboratories and the intinerant stills (Wanderdestillirgerate or alambics voyageants) used in France, Spain, Italy and Bulgaria, consisted of copper stills with a copper or tin head and tin condensing tubes of various shapes.
 
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