Some of the delightful stuff used in 1800s browning formulae:
Spirits of Nitre = It is obtained by the distillation of alcohol with nitric and sulphuric acids.
Aqua Fortis = Nitric acid. Nitric acid is a strong oxidizing agent. It reacts with metals, oxides, and hydroxides, forming nitrate salts. Aqua Regia is a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acids.
Corrosive Sublimate = BiChloride of Mercury. It is one of the most toxic forms of mercury because it is more soluble than most in water. It was used as a reagent in archaic photographic processes. It can kill you.
Blue Vitriol = Alum and copper sulfate
Tincture of Steel = Ferric or Iron Chloride in Grain Alcohol. The substance decomposes on heating above 200°C producing toxic and corrosive gases including hydrogen chloride.
Tincture of Iron = Ferric Chloride, obtained as dark-green, lustrous crystals by heating iron in Chlorine. Process produces chlorine gas, which is highly toxic when inhaled.
Copperas = Ferrous Sulfate
Black brimstone = Sulphur Vivum
Bile has a number of organic molecules including bile acids, cholesterol, phospholipids and bilirubin and possibly it was used in the color case hardening process??
