The Da Vinci Notebooks at sacred-texts.com
Take away that yellow surface which covers oranges and distill them in an alembic, until the distillation may be said to be perfect.
Close a room tightly and have a brasier of brass or iron with fire in it and sprinkle on it two pints of aqua vitae, a little at a time, so that it may be converted into smoke. Then make some one come in with a light and suddenly you will see the room in a blaze like a flash of lightning, and it will do no harm to any one.