They lurk in the fire of the furnace, in the bottom of the crucible, and the alembic, and are ever on the alert to take advantage of those moments when our minds are wandering from intense meditation on the great truth that we are seeking.
"Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists"
Washington Irving
During the time, being then lieutenants, Harry belonging to the Naiad frigate, and Headland to the alembic, they had the good fortune to capture two Spanish frigates, the Thetis and Santa Brigida, laden with specie to the value of upwards of 300,000 pounds sterling.
"Won from the Waves"
W.H.G. Kingston
Let him be hard and literal in his interpretation only when he wants to hurl texts at the heads of unbelievers and adversaries, but when the letter of the Scriptures presses too closely on the genteel Christianity of the nineteenth century, let him use his spiritualising alembic and disperse it into impalpable ether.
"George Eliot"
Mathilde Blind