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Oil of brick



Oil of brick, called by apothecaries Oleum de Lateribus and by alchemists Oil of Philosophers, was an empyreumatic oil obtained by subjecting a brick soaked in oil, such as olive oil, to distillation at a high temperature [1]. The process initially started with pieces of brick, which were heated red hot in live coals, and extinguished in an earth half-saturated with olive oil. Being then separated and pounded grossly, the brick absorbs the oil. It was then put in a retort, and placed in a reverberatory furnace, where the oil was drawn out by fire. [2]

Oil of brick was used in pre-modern medicine as a treatment for tumors, in the spleen, in palsies, and epilepsies [2]. It was used by lapidaries as a vehicle for the emery by which stones and gems were sawn or cut. [1]

References

  1. ^ a b Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
  2. ^ a b This article incorporates content from the 1728 Cyclopaedia, a publication in the public domain.
 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Oil_of_brick". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.
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