Dictionarium Polygraphicum. Containing. Polygraphick Dictionary. A.

Dictionarium Polygraphicum:
Or, The Whole Body of Arts Regularly Digested.
Vol I.
London: Printed for C. Hitch and C. Davis in Pater-noster Row, and S. Austen in St. Paul's Church Yard. MDCCXXXV.
1735ALABASTER, a kind of stone, softer than marble, yet harder than plaister of Paris. It is found of all colours; some extremely white and shin ing, which is the most common; some red like coral; and other call’d onyx, from its colour; which resembles that of the onyx, though very different from it in nature. see ONYX.
Alabaster cuts very smooth and easy, and is much us’d by sculptors for little vases, columns, &c. It is also sometimes employ'd like plaister of Paris: in or der to which they burn and calcine it; after which, mixing it up with water to a thin consistence, it is cast in a mould, where it readily coagulates into a firm body.

GUM ANIMÆ, GUM ANIMI,  a kindoor rosin, of which there are two sorts, the oriental and occidental. The oriental Gum Animæ, is distinguished into three sorts; the first is white, the second blackish; in some respects like myrrh; the third pale, refinous and dry.
The occidental flows from an incision in a tree growing in New-spain, call'd there Courbati; it is transparent, and of a colour like to that of frankincense. Its smell is very agreeable, and it easily consumes in the fire: all the several kinds are us'd in perfumes by reason of their charming smell; but bdellium is frequently sold instead of it.

Gum ARABICK, is the name of a gum which distils from a species of Acacia, growing in Arabia and Egypt.
It is very common among us, but little is to be met with that is genuine; it is suspected to be adulterated with our common plumb-tree gums.
That is accounted the best, which is in smallest pieces, and almost of a white colour.

ARMENUS Bolus, i. e. Bole ARMONIAC or ammoniac, a kind of earth brought from Armenia. It is of a pale red co lour, and partakes much of the nature of stone; but is soft, fat, friable, easily pulveriz'd, and sticks to the tongue.
This Bole is easily falsified, and the merchants frequently sell Lemnian earth instead of it.
Matthiolus, says it is found in gold, silver and copper mines.

Of the colour of the best ASHES. The colour of the best Ashes is a fine blue or sky colour. The manner of examining the colour is as follows, viz. by throwing a piece of very fine white cloth or crape over the Ashes; and if the ashes appear of a beautiful blue through the thin cloth, and the whiteness of the cloth plainly appears as spread over the Ashes; it is a satisfactory proof that the Ashes are the best and finest.
This sort of Ashes is us’d in the linen manufacture in Brabant, and by the thread bleachers; this is generally the scarcest sort, and bears the highest price, and is not only fit to give a lustre to linen; but is proper for all other manufactures, could it be had in great plenty.

Of the bleachers ASHES in Holland. The distinction be tween these and the former is more customary than useful: the Dutch bleachers buying one instead of the other; and preferring the latter to the former; but though the latter are some times in thinner barrels, and more glutinous than the former, yet in weight and strength, they are not to be compar'd with them.

AZURE, a mineral colour, prepar'd from the lapis Armenus Azure, is very near of kin to ultramarine; being procur'd from the Armenian stone, much after the same manner as the other is from lapis lazuli. see p. 132.

To dye an AZURE Colour. Take roche allum and filings of brass of each two ounces, fish-glue half an ounce, vinegar or fair water a pint, boil it to the consumption of the half.