gentle fire, we drew off some Spirit of Wine much stronger than that which had been put on, and then the Phlegm following it, the fire was increas'd, which brought over a good deal of phlegmatic strengthless Liquor; by which one would have thought that the Quick-lime had been slaked; but when the remaining matter had been taken out of the Retort, and suffer'd to cool, it appear'd to have a fiery disposition that it had not before. For if any lump of it as big as a Nutmeg or an Almond was cast into the water, it would hiss as if a coal of fire had been plunged into the Liquor, which was soon thereby sensibly heated. Nay, having kept divers lumps of this prepared Calx well cover'd from the air for divers weeks, to try whether it would retain this property, I found, as I expected, that the Calx operated after the same manner, if not more powerfully. For sometimes, especially when 'twas reduced to small pieces, it would uponits
