Giambattista della PORTA.

2063.1 Giambattista della PORTA.
De distillatione lib. IX. Quibus certa methodo, multiplicique artificio, penitioribus naturæ arcanis detectis, cuius libet mixti in propria elementa resolutio, perfectè docetur.
4° Romae: Ex Typographia Rue Cameræ Apostolicæ 1608
Ferguson Wisconsin

[Illustrations:-
1. p10 of preliminary material. Engraving. 176x135mm. Portrait of Porta at age 64 set in oval, surrounded by images of alchemical apparatus, miltary equipment, animals and plants, geometric diagrams, a triple fountain, a man with the zodiacal signs on his body and bearing a banner of the planets, a cornucopia, and banners bearing a magical alphabet or alchemical symbols. "I. Laurus f."
2. p8 Woodcut. 64x62mm. A cutaway diagram of a furnace with a flask set within it.
3. p9 Woodcut. 76x52mm. Circular furnace with flask being heated on a water bath.
4. p11 Woodcut. 129x91mm. Two domed furnaces, the first having 11 alembics simultaneously heated upon it, and the other having 18.
5. p13 Woodcut. 82x52mm. A retort is placed in a vessel supported in a frame with four legs over a furnace.
6. p14 Woodcut. 62x46mm. A flask is heated in a water bath set on a furnace.
7. p16 Woodcut. 94x67mm. Three still heads or alembics are simultaneously heated on a circular furnace. Their distillates are being collected in flasks.
8. p18 Woodcut. 48x43mm. An inverted long-necked flask is supported on a tripod and a distillate collected in a flask below. Distillation by descension.
9. p18 Woodcut. 46x40mm. Similar descension apparatus to item 8.
10. p19 Woodcut. 45x36mm. Similar descension apparatus to item 8.
11. p20 Woodcut. 59x29mm. Similar descension apparatus to item 8.
12. p21 Woodcut. 69x47mm. Similar descension apparatus to item 8.
13. p24 Woodcut. 70x72mm. A retort is heated in a furnace and the distillate collected in a round flask supported horizontally beside the furnace.
14. p25 Woodcut. 51x37mm. A retort is heated on a cylindrical furnace.
15. p26 Woodcut. 69x52mm. Two globe-like flasks are being heated on top of a cylindrical furnace with a round cover.
16. p29 Woodcut. 76x100mm. Two flasks are inverted in the necks of another two flasks through a hole in a table. The upper inverted flasks are heated by the rays of the Sun.
17. p30 Woodcut. 55x73mm. A flask, the ampulla, is suspended by its base and inverted over a receiving flask. The upper flask is being heated by the Sun's rays reflected in a focussing mirror.
18. p32 Woodcut. A retort is heated on a circular furnace and its neck led into a rectangular vessel supported on stools. This rectangular vessel has six alembics or still heads emerging from its top surface.
19. p37 Woodcut. 80x67mm. A long-necked flask is compared to an ostrich.
20. p38 Woodcut. 53x67mm. A retort with a horizontal neck is compared to a tortoise.
21. p38 Woodcut. 42x82mm. A wide bodied alembic is compared to a bear.
22. p39 Woodcut. 50x86mm. A flask with two re-entrant spouts is compared to a pelican.
23. p40 Woodcut. 58x78mm. Two flask linked together by their mutually interpenetrating spouts, a double-pelican, are compared to an embracing pair of lovers.
24. p41 Woodcut. 58x20mm. A flask has a serpent like sinuous neck.
25. p41 Woodcut. 71x84mm. A complex alembic for fractional distillation having a number of still-head and collecting retorts in a column, is compared to a many-headed dragon.
26. p42 Woodcut. 38x102mm. A retort with a long bent neck is compared to a stork.
27. p43 Woodcut. 45x36mm. A round-bellied flask.
28. p70 Woodcut. 40x78mm. An egg shaped cavity in a furnace has a tube with a tap emerging to the left, while a tube to the right leads to a base of a large flask.
29. p71 Woodcut. 48x35mm. A cylindrical furnace.
30. p71 Woodcut. 34x18mm. A small vase with a spout at its base.
31. p72 Woodcut. 19x29mm. A cylindrical vessel with a wick for filtration.
32. p72 Woodcut. 19x14mm. An irregularly shaped flask with a side spout.
33. p72 Woodcut. 20x40mm. A long-necked flask has a spout emerging from its side.
34. p118 Woodcut. 43x93mm. A triangular crucible is placed on a base under a dome-like cover. This is to collect the oil of sulphur.
35. p121 Woodcut. 47x115mm. On the right a retort is heated on a cylindrical furnace. Its neck passes into a horizontal tube, from the base of which a tube descends to a collecting flask. A further distillate is collected at the left end of the tube which connects to a large round-bellied flask supported on a tripod.
36. p128 Woodcut. 29x26mm. The head of an alembic emerges from a barrel placed on its side. A distillate is collected in a small flask.
37. p142 Woodcut. 31x30mm. The necks of three flasks pass into a single still-head.]