Spirit of Wine rectify'd without heat.
Take good Brandy 10 ounces; Salt of Tartar calcined high 4 ounces; shake 'em well together in a Glass-bottle; so will the salt imbibe the phlegm of the Spirit, and sink to the bottom, and the limpid yellowish Spirit swim a-top, which decant, and add to it more salt, and do as before; and repeat this Operation again and again, till the salt finding no more phlegm to take hold of, remain dry at the bottom; so shall the Spirit swimming over it be as purely rectify'd, as if 'twere done by distillation.
The Communicator saith, it's a much better Spirit than that rectify'd by distillation, because its acuated with saline Particles, which reserate the Pores of Simples; and therefore is to be preferr'd, for the extraction of Tinctures from Cinnamon, Saffron, Castor, Myrrh, Aloes, etc.
Thomas Fuller
Pharmacopeia Extemporanea 1710