Oil of Vitriol Distilled from Green Vitriol, the Nordhausen Way, Ure 1839

Oil of vitriol got its name from green vitriol: distilled hot, the copperas gives off heavy white fumes that condense to a brown, oily, very strong acid. Andrew Ure (1839) describes the Nordhausen works: earthenware retorts fired hard for 36 hours, about 64 lb of acid from 600 lb of copperas. It burns flesh and spits violently in water: goggles, gloves and a respirator throughout. The picture: our diagram of retort, furnace and receiver.