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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	call_v	effect_n	nature_n	1,689	5	5.4122	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A30864	The art of metals in which is declared the manner of their generation and the concomitants of them : in two books / written in Spanish by Albaro Alonso Barba ... curate of St. Bernards parish in the imperial city of Potosi, in the kingdom of Peru in the West-Indies, in the year 1640 ; translated in the year 1669 by the R. H. Edward, Earl of Sandwich.; Arte de los metales. English	Barba, Alvaro Alonso, b. 1569.; Sandwich, Edward Montagu, Earl of, 1625-1672.	1674 (1674)	Wing B682; Wing B678; ESTC R17204	82,457	255

contains the aforesaid proportion of Quicksilver and Pellet strow some Quicksilver loose upon it and therewith gently repass it two or three times in such manner as it may go into the Copper better bathed in the proportion of three parts Pellet and two of Quicksilver or at least two of Pellet and one of Quicksilver then gather up some of the Lis that remains and put it to the dry Plate and to the whole Mass of Pellet whereby they will be more weighty and sink better to the bottom of the Caldron and will rise and wast less in the boyling throw Quicksilver also loose into the Caldron which they call a Bath when it begins to be liquid incorporate therewith that which the Caxon contained and it will help to unite it the better and the more Quicksilver there was the fewer inequalities like Oyster shells will be produced CHAP. XXI That the washing of the Caxones causeth the loss and waste of Quick-silver ALL the inconveniences that are and have been found in the waste of Quicksilver which they term either loss or consumption of it are caused by the washing the Caxons until then nothing hath been lost however one may be deceived in Judging by the view even in occasions that have sometimes happened and may happen again that they find neither Quicksilver nor Pellet of incorporated Mettal in the Caxon for accidents alone as hath been said cannot alter the Quicksilver so as to corrupt and destroy its substance in the Caxon it is howsoever more or less disposed to get out inperceptibly with the water or with the Lamas The immediate cause of this mischief is when the Quicksilver is made over thin without body or weight as it were so that it hath nothing to sink it to the bottom of the Caldron and with the stirring the Caxon when they wash it it mixeth it self with the dreggs and durt and goes along with them and there wants more or less of the Quicksilver they put in at first according to their better or worse stirring the Caxon and quantity of Lis. It hath been a great error in those that because for so many years the best Refiners in these Kingdomes have wasted at the least so much Quicksilver as they have gotten Plate therefore the Quicksilver is really and truly consumed in the operation not animadverting the evidence to the contrary which continually passeth through their hands namly in the Lamas and relicks of the Caxon where the Quicksilver hath oftentimes stayed behind accompanied with a considerable quantity of Plate which the owners of Oar have experimented to their great damage and the buyers and Refiners of the relicks of the Caxon to their great profit and advantage Others speaking Philosophically say the cause of the consumption of the Quicksilver proceeds from the contention and combat which it hath with contrary qualities before it can lay hold on the Plate and that thereby it is debilitated and consumed these men say something to the purpose if they could demonstrate the contrary qualities that are between Quicksilver and other Mettals between whom there is rather a great sympathy agreement Quicksilver being the principal whereof all other Mettals are made and also of the Minerals that ordinarily do accompany them but if these men cannot prove the cause neither will the effect which they suppose namely the destruction of Quicksilver follow and there is certain experience to the contrary and hereafter shall be shewed a way how to recover all the Quicksilver even out of the Caxon that is most spoiled in operation and so most difficult to do it in CHAP. XXII The true causes of the loss of Quick-silver and their remedies THe repassings are the remote cause of wasting of the Quicksilver which is thereby strained and divided into very small parts which they call Lis and although into whatsoever Oar Earth or Sand you throw Quicksilver and repass it you shall find the effect aforesaid yet it is most of all experimented in those Oars which are called Soroches which by their weight and glassie quality do more easily cut asunder and divide the Quicksilver into minute parts Copperas is of its own nature a violent cause of extenuating the Quicksilver as hath been often said and hath been the cause of the wast of the greatest part of the Quicksilver that hath been destroyed There be other causes which accompany and assist the two former in working this ill effect one is the Salt which they use in Refining and wherewith they wash the Caxones which every body knows thickens water whereby not only the small Lis of Quicksilver but also heavier things swim and cannot sink to the bottom The Lamas which is mingled with the water and troubles it in the Caldron thicknes it and doth yet more resist the sinking of the Quicksilver which stays and is thrown away together with it Lastly the motion of the instrument wherewith they stir the Caxon when they wash it by condensing the force of the causes aforesaid hinders the Lis from sinking and crowdeth it up to the top The ordinary repassings in this way of Refining cannot be wholly excused in this matter but if the rules already taught be carefully observed the damage will be the less likewise already hath been shewed the way to clear Oar from the Copperas and to clear the Margagitas from their heavy and glassie qualities Salt may be gotten out of the Caxones two several wayes and preserved for use to the saving of many Ducats a year now commonly spent in that commodity put the Oar into Caxones made smooth and round on the inside without corners or Angles as is often used let them stand a little slooping only so much as is necessary that all the water may run to one part of it where there must be a hole for it to run out at in convenient season but ordinarily kept stopped When the Caxon is ready for washing fill it with abundance of water opening and stirring about the Oar with the hove that the water may penetrate through it the better and having done so a pretty while open the hole and let the water out into a Vessel provided on purpose to receive it where it will either congeal into Salt or remain in liquor as it is will be serviceable for the operation of other Caxones repeat this two or three times untill the water that comes out doth not taste brackish If the Caxon was to have been washed in three Caldrons wash it in six whereby the water will come out twice as clear and with very little Mud or Sediment The Pestel wherewith they stir the Caxon must not be used always in the same hand because the cricles going constantly paralel the small parts of the Quicksilver and the dry Plate go along together with them and never encounter one another to unite themselves into a bigger body that they may sink to the bottom wherefore after five or six turns with the right hand take as

it but Ammoniac which in Greek signifies Salt of the sand and underneath the sand of the Sea shore I suppose it is found congealed in little pieces by its internal heat and the continual burning of the Sun baked so much that it is made the bitterest to taste of all kind of Salt Goldsmiths use it more than the Physicians It is one of those they call the four spirits because the fire will convert them into smoak and so they fly away the other three are 1. Quicksilver 2. Sulphur 3. Saltpeter It hath a particular property to cleanse and colour Gold and is put into the composition of that Aqua-fortis that dissolves it At this day we have little knowledge of the true Nitre which was anciently made of the water of the river Nilus although Albertus Magnus saith that in Goselaria there was a mountain that contained a very rich Mine of Copper and the water that issued out at the bottom of it being dried became Nitre We know little also of Aphonitro which is but as it were the froth of Nitre Borax which is called by the Spaniards Chrysolica and Atincar is an artificial sort of Nitre made of Urines stirred togethet in the heat of the Sun in a Copper Pan with a Ladle of the same until it thicken and coagulate although others make it of Salt-Ammoniac and Allum Nitre is bitterer than Salt but less Salt Saltpeter is the mean between them two and consists of very dry and subtile parts it grows in the walls of old Houses and in Stables Cow houses Hog-sties and Dove-coats it will grow again in the same Earth it was taken out of if that Earth be throwen in heaps and spared and taken care of or if ordinary Earth be cast up into heaps and watered with brackish water after some years it will give a great encrease as profitable as crops of Grain The use of it in making of Gunpowder and Aqua-fortis is very well known It is used also in the melting of Mettals as shall be shewn hereafter CHAP. 9. Of Juices which the Spaniards call Betunes THe Betune is one of the things that does most damage of all unto Mettals especially in the melting of them because it burns them and makes them become dross if they be not cleared of the Betune before they be put into a fierce fire There be twelve sorts of Betune viz. Asphalto Pissasphalto Naptal la Piedra Gagete Azabache Ampelites Maltha Piedra Thracia Carbones de Mina Ambar de Cuentas Ambar Olorosa Alcanfor But few of these sorts are found mixed with Metals All Betunes are the oyliness or fat of the Earth and although some are of opinion that Alcanphor is the weeping or Gum of the Tree Capar in the Island of Zebat and the Amber of another Hearb called Polco in Spanish whereunto it is commonly found sticking And to the smelling Amber they ascribe for its original a great Fish in the Sea like a Whale because there is great resemblance between it and sperma Ceti Nevertheless that doth not hinder that such substances also may like sweat as it were issue forth of the Earth and make these Juices called Betunes Asphalto is found in the Lake of Sodom or the dead Sea in Judea whereinto runneth the river Jordan three leagues from the City of Jericho It is nothing else but an oyly froth that swims on the surface of the water of that Lake agitated and driven by the winds and waves a-shore and there condenses and hardens It is like unto Pitch but harder and of a better colour Before God overthrew those wicked Cities of Sodom Gomorrha Admah and Seboim that fertile valley had little of this Betune in it as may be collected from Gen. Chap. 14. These are found also in many other places and Provinces some whereof use them to make Candles with instead of Oyl and although in Peru they have not been curious in further search then how best to work their Oar of Gold and Silver yet by the plenty of them that the Indians bring it is known that there are of them in the Cordillera de la Chiriguanes in the frontiers of Lomnia although they have little access to them because they be in the power of the Indians that maintain war against the Spaniard The Pissasphalto is a natural composition of Asphalto and Paz and so the colour of it declares and for want of the true natural Pissasphalto they counterfeit it of those two materials La Napthe is a sulphurous liquor sometimes white and sometimes black also and is that which is called Oyl of Peter of admirable vertue to cure old pains proceeding from cold causes It will draw fire to it as the Loadstone does Iron with that force that it will take fire at a great distance from the flame as hath been confirmed by the miserable experience of the Conde de Hercules de Icontrarii of the Country of Ferara who having a Well in his ground the water whereof was mixed with Petreol and by some breaches or cracks in the Well much of this water ran to waste commanded it to be repaired the Laborer that was let down into the bottom of the Well desired a Candle the better to see his work which was furnished him in a Lanthorn and immediately through the holes of the Lanthorn the Napthe suckt the flame into it self and set fire on the whole Well which discharged it self instantly like a great piece of Cannon and blew the poor man into pieces and took off an arm of a Tree that hung over the Well The Conde himself told the story to Matiolo who reports it in his Dioscorides Asphalto and Pissasphalto melt in the fire as Pitch or Wax and by that they are distinguished from the Piedra Gagate or Ascabache and also from Pit-coal which burns and consumes it self away like Tea or any other sort of wood As yet I have not heard whether there be any Betunes in these Provinces although I perswade my self there be if they were sought for CHAP. 10. Of Sulphur and Antimony SUlphur is a Mineral the most universally known of any It is made of an Earthy unctuous substance and very hot to that degree that it is esteemed to be nearest of kin to the Element of fire of any compounded substance The Chymists call it the Masculine seed and Natures first agent in all generation and they say that the difference between one thing and another arises from the divers preparations and mixtures of Sulphur and Quicksilver It hath happened to an Apothecary that going about to make a salve compounded of those two materials he has found the result to be a Plate of fine silver After many considerations of this substance Thophrastus Paracelsus proceeds to contemplate the wonders produced by Sulphur and saith that God by an especial providence hath concealed those mysteries and that it is an evident confutation of those who oppose the transmutation of Mettals for this Mineral doth effect it and he teaches

commanded the Mine to be stopt up CHAP. 12. Of the Generation of Stones IT is most certain that there is some very active principle or vertue that operates in the generation of Stones as well as upon the rest of the matter of the Universe that is subject to generation and corruption but the difficulty lies in knowing what that principle is because it operates in no determinate place but sometimes Stones are made in the air in the clouds in the earth in the water and in the bodies of Animals Avicena and Albertus think the matter whereof Stones are made to be a mixture of Earth and Water and if the greater part be Water it hath the name of liquor but if the greater part of it be Earth then it is called dirt or clay That clay which is fit to make Stones of must be tough and slimy such as Bricks Pots and other Earthen vessels are made of for if it be not such as soon as the fire hath consumed the moisture of the dirt it will not hang together but crumble into earth and dust it is also necessary that the liquor which is to be converted into Stone be very slimy the experience whereof we find in our own bodies the Physicians being generally of an opinion that the Stone is begotten in the reins and bladder of slimy tough humors baked hard by the heat of the body this opinion touching petrifying liquors is confirmed past all question by the experiment of that famous water in this Kingdom of Peru near unto Guancavelica which they take and put into moulds of what form and bigness they please and expose it to the Sun for a few days whereby it is made perfect Stone and they build their houses with it all the cattel that drink it dye and from what has been said before it is not hard to conjecture the reason In a mountain called Pacocava a league from the Mines of Verenguela de Pajages there be Springs of this liquor the colour whereof is whitish inclining to yellow that as it runs along condenses into very hard and weighty Stone of different shapes Moreover any porous substance that can suck this kind of liquor into it is apt to be turned into Stone and of those I have seen Trees and Limbs and Bones of Beasts turned into hard Stone In the City de Plata I have seen sticks of wood taken out of that great River of the same name so much of which as had remained covered with the water being converted into very fine Stone I saw also the Teeth and Bones of Giants that were dug up in Tarija turned into heavy and hard Stone Stones have their substantial forms which makes them differ specifically yet because we cannot come to the knowledge of them in our definitions we are fain by way of Periphrasis to make use of accidents and properties Every several form of the Stones is accompanied with particular vertues as remarkable as those of Animals or Plants and proportioned to the length of time Nature takes in its generation but because Plants and Animals are to have so different dispositions and to produce such various and admirable effects they cannot be of so uniform and well mingled a temperament as the Stones are nor is their soft and gentle substance capable to endure so much force as neither is the hardness of the Stones fitted for the producing variety of several shapes and therefore in them are found no leaves flowers fruits hands nor feet as in Plants and Animals though they have a greater vertue of another kind CHAP. 13. Of the Differences of Stones one from another ALL sorts of Stones are reducible under some of these five following species 1. If they be small very scarce and very hard of substance and have lustre they be called precious Stones 2. If they be of great magnitude although they be rare and have lustre they are some kind of Marble 3. If in breaking they fall into splinters or scales they are a sort of Flints 4. If they be of a small grain they be Pebles 5. Those that have none of the above-said qualifications are Rocks or ordinary Stones But the Miners for the better distinction of the sorts of Stone wherein Mettals are engendred use peculiar names for them for example a kind of Stone like Peble which contains Gold Silver or any orher Mettal they call Guijos which breeds a richer vein of Mettal than any other Stone Cachi another sort of Stone white like Alablaster soft and easie to break in pieces is all this Country called Salt Much Lead is engendred in this kind of Stone in the veins of Metales pacos which is the name the Miners here give unto their Silver Oar. Chumpi which is so called because it is of a grey colour is a Stone of the kind of Esmeril mixed with Iron it shines a little and is very hard to work because it resists the fire much It is found in Potosi and Chocaya and other places with the black Mettals and Rosicleres Lamacrudria is that Stone which is close compacted and solid and shews not the least grain nor porousness when you break it and is of a yellow colour and sometimes high coloured as blood-red Almaclaneta is the name they give another kind of Stone which is very solid and weighty of a dark colour always found in the company of rich Mettals which are engendred in it when it comes to be corrupted and rotten as in like manner is done in the Gouijos It grows upon the Flints of the Gold Mines and those of Copper and Silver Amolaclera or Whetstone is that ordinary Stone which is commonly made use of for that purpose and so known to every body Divers rich Mettals grow upon it but most commonly los Cobriscos The veins of Silver are rare and inconsiderable that are found in Pit-coal although it be a more proper bed for Gold Other Stones that grow in Mines or cleave unto the Mettal they call Ciques and also Caxas which are rough and uneven but not very hard nor very spongy and commonly have nothing of Mettal in them although in some rich Mines they are infected with some little by the vicinity of the Oar. The Stones of Potosi called Vilaciques have been and are very famous for the abundance of Silver gotten out of them and are one of the ingredients that make this Province without comparison Vila signifies blood in Peru or any red thing and for the streaks of red this Stone hath in it they call it Vileciques CHAP. 14. Of Precious Stones PRecious Stones are either transparent as the Diamant is or obscure as the Onix or between both as the Sandonyx and the Jasper It is the water which is the principal cause of clearness and the Earth of the opacity of them So that the reason why they excel one the other in lustre and transparency is from the variety of humors congealed together to compose them which are some of them more

any other thing that touches them but herein also Gold must be excepted because of its incomparable purity another propriety of Mettals is to be ductile or malleable which proceeds from the moisture being inclosed in the dry parts which upon the stroke of the hammor gives way and changes place from whence proceeds the enlarging of the Mettal Of all Mettals Gold is the most ductile next Silver then fine Copper Iron Tin Lead c. Mettals burn and are consumed in the fire from unctuous Sulphur or Earthy parts as on the contrary those parts they have of moisture or Quicksilver does defend and preserve them from it the parts of Gold and Silver are so pure and strongly compacted together so that the Earthy part defends the moist from evaporating and the moisture protects the Earthy part from burning and so they indure the fire without any diminution or corruption Other Mettals waste in the fire for want of perfection and compactedness of the parts whereof they are composed CHAP. 22. Of the number of Mettals and the Places wherein they are Engendred THose who are vainly curious attributing unto the Stars and Planets particular influence and dominion over all sublunary things do appropriate the production of precious Stones to the superintendency of the fixed Stars who seem to imitate them not only in their brightness and lustre wherewith they twinkle but principally in the purity and permanency of their substance as on the contrary for the instability and alteration of form in Mettals being sometimes liquid other times coagulated they assign them to the particular government of the Planets who from the variety of their motions are called wandring Stars moreover they assign the number names and colours of the Planets unto Mettals calling Gold the Sun Silver the Moon Copper Venus Iron Mars Lead Saturn Quicksilver Mercury although because this last is not a Mettal some instead thereof call Electrum Mercury which is a natural mixture of Gold and Silver which was heretofore esteem'd the most precious of all Mettals but this subordination and application is uncertain as is also the conceit that Mettals are but seven in number whereas it is very probable that in the bowels of the Earth there be more sorts than we yet know A few years ago in the mountains of Sudnos in Bohemia was found a Mettal which they call Bissamuto which is a Mettal between Tin and Lead and yet distinct from them both there are but few that know of it and 't is very possible more Mettals also may have escaped the notice of the generality And if one should admit the subordination and resemblance between Mettals and the Planets modern experience by excellent Teliscopes has discover'd that they are more than seven Gallileo de Galiles has written a Treatise of the Satelites of Jupiter where one may find curious observations of the number and motion of those new Planets Reason and experience teacheth that the most proper place for the generation of Mettals is the veins of the Earth which do run through its great body as principal receptacles of its permanent humidity proportionable to its solidity and hardness as blood is in the bodies of Animals The Rocks between which Mettals commonly are engendred which they call Caxas or Chest serve for Conduits where subterraneal and Celestial heat meet and unite the one with the other stirring up vapours mingling and purifying the matter of which Mettals are made without giving it time to divert and dissipate into several places that which communicates between Chest and Chest is called a Vein and that which time has moulder'd off or the Rains carried away from the matter that fills it is found scatter'd up and down the mountains broken and tumbled away by themselves which are the Stones of Mettal those that understand this art best believe that the Gold that is found in the Sands of Rivers has the like Original that it is not engendred in the Sand as divers will have it but in veins of the Earth carried from thence by rains unto the Brooks yet be this how it will although what has been said is the more natural and ordinary way of proceeding oftentimes it happens that in some parts or bits of land they find that which is called Creoderos where Mettals are engendred out of Veins by the disposition of matter and the powerfulness of the Mineral vertue which there meet together CHAP. 23. The manner how to find out the Veins of Mettals THe Veins of Mettals are discovered either by art or fortune Violent currents of water wash off the first coat of the Earth and so leave the veins of Mettal naked to the eye if there be any there great storms of wind many times tear Trees up by the roots and with them some Stones of the Mettal of that place the same effect also hath the falling of pieces of Cliffs and Rocks caus'd either by thunder-time or great rains and wash away the cement that should hold them together Oftentimes rich veins of Mettal have been discovered by the Plough whereof Justin makes mention of Gold that was found in Spain In my own ground a quarter of a league from Chuquiscaca ploughing upon the ridge of a hill I discover'd a vein of Soroches and 't is very probable that the like happens in divers other parts of these Provinces which are so fertile of Minerals that the ignorance of the Plough-men hath been the cause they have not profited by the riches which fortune has put into their hands Lucretio in elegant Verses hath set forth how that the mountains being set on fire either on purpose or by chance discovered the nature of Mettals unto the world melting them and making them to run out of the Rocks wherein they lay concealed into the form that now they are known By the same accident also have been and may be hereafter because of discovering the veins of Mettals which the Histories of Spain confirm unto us in the burning of the Perenean mountains and much lesser violences than those have been sufficient when fortune has had a mind to distribute Riches to her favourites A man riding a horse-back over the Country in Gosolaria by the soil broken with the small force of his horses feet discover'd a very rich Mine as Agricola reports An Indian servant of mine pulling up by the roots some bushes of Tola a sort of wood ordinary in this Country together with the roots pluck'd up a rich Stone of Mettal which was Silver white and in dust this was half a league from the Mines of St. Christopher de Achacalle he brought me home the Stone whereby I discovered the vein of Silver and shew'd the place unto the Officers of the Mines When the rich Mines of Tuno in the Province of Carangas began to be famous for the riches abundance of Soldiers flocked down thither some of them being very poor fortuning to have no share in the Veins that were already discovered and conferring together

to quicken it again and unite it and in its place I shall shew how this is to be done CHAP. XV. Touching the causes and differences of that which is called Lis. QUicksilver dissolved and divided into very subtile parts is commonly called by the Refiners Lis which shews its self like an eye-brow in the matter Purunnia when the Oar is Ensayed and from it the experienced Refiners take their indication of the quality of the Oar and condition of the Caxomes it is caused by the often passing of it through the Oar a thing inexcusable in the ordinary way of refining although it hath no ill quality at all but if it hath Coperas in it it will grind the Quicksilver in great extreamity as hath been said If Quicksilver be without any foraign impression upon it and be dissolved into Lis which is white 't is called Lis of Quicksilver Lis of other materials is called that which is made by Quicksilver of Tin or Lead and Lis of Silver is the fine and subtile parts of Silver made by the repassing of the Quicksilver through the Oar but not as yet joyned or incorporated with it which when it is they call by the name of Pella which signifies a Ball or Pellet Quicksilver is susceptible of divers colours which appears in the Lises according to the different matter which accompanies that Silver Oar into which it is thrown these colours are reduced into three Genuses as it were which comprehend under them several other Species Those three are Cleer Lead Coloured Spotted The Quicksilver looks cleer either when the Oar hath no Silver at all in it or when the Silver it contains is fine without any Alloy or mixture in that case the Quicksilver will attract and cloath it self with the dust of fine Silver without losing the liveliness of its color which when it changeth they call it Leaden for its likness unto the colour of that Mettal although it always is accompanied with signs that the Oar contains Silver unless it be that the Lead for so they call it proceed from false principles and those have a manifest cause although little taken notice of as well as the other proceedings in Refining which hitherunto have been governed by chance It is Copperas alone the mortal enemy of Quicksilver which gives it the false colour of Lead in like manner as it doth to other Mettals the colour of Copper the other Lead colour is a certain sign of Silver because ordinarily it is made in raw Oar that is mixed with divers other bad things the which attracting to it self the Quicksilver the Quicksilver lays hold of and carries away both the Mettal and also its bad companions who give it that strange colour this is the ground of what is treated of in the twelfth Chapter of this Book and the reason of that assertion that the black or obscure Lis or colour of Quicksilver proceeds from Oar that is mixed with Iron if the Quicksilver have a deep Lead colour then it hath Lead its self in its company if it be something more clear then it hath Tin and if it look as if it were guilt a little Copper Whether the Lis be of Quicksilver Silver or of other materials is easie to be discerned for the Lis of Quicksilver is very fine white but wanting quickness and when it falls together with the water into the Tray it doth not run up and down but remains as if it stuck to the bottom and if you rub it with your finger it will unite into lumps of Quicksilver The Lis of Silver shines and is like Pindust or finer according to the richness of the Oar when they let the water out from the Oar it runs about the bottom of the Tray and if you rub it with your finger it will gather together into Pellets the Lis of other materials is as it were a middle thing between the other two and being reduced into a body by rubbing it with ones finger it unites it self with the touched Quicksilver CHAP. XVI Whether it be fitting at first to put in all the Quick-silver and other materials at once or no. THe Oar being in good disposition and the Refiner by the foregoing rules being assured how much Silver the Caxon contains and what proportion of Quicksilver and other Materials is necessary to be put in that when it comes to be washed it may yield three parts of Silver Pellets and one of Quicksilver it may be doubted whether all the Quicksilver and materials aforesaid should be put into the incorporating vessel at once or no and the most part if not all the Artists of this Country did use to do it at once untill about twenty years ago when I came to live in the Province of the Lipes I perswaded them to the contrary according to rules which I had learnt in such like operations out of Raimundus Lullus which do evidently agree with the ordinary course of Nature that brings to perfection all thing by a slow and gentle growth and not suddenly nor violently A very little fire is sufficient to burn the whole world if the combustible matter were put into it by little and little proportionable to the force of the fire but if all that matter or an over-great proportion of it should be laid upon the fire at once it would choak it and put it out the natural heat of Animals is subject to the same inconvenience and the same happens proportionally unto the Chests of Mettals besides that by experience it is found that the extraordinary cold of much Quicksilver doth accidentally bind up the Oar and hinder the Refine as on the contrary any heat hastens it moreover if because they have judged ill of the remedy to be put into the Chest the Caxon despair and the Quicksilver dissolve the remedy will be the easier the less loose the Caxon And if there be need of using Tin or Lead which cannot be applyed without Quicksilver that will be added with less danger the Quicksilver being in already The same damage or greater follows when they exceed in the quantity of Materials they put into the Oar which hath need thereof because it dulls and deadens the Quicksilver so that it will lay hold on no Silver at all and can very hardly ever be reduced into that condition it ought to be After many days spent in repassing the Quicksilver and dressing of the Oar let the Caxon be incorporated and washed with a third part of Quicksilver at the most and at first put in half the Tin or Lead that is requisite to be spent for so the Quicksilver will the better lay hold of the Plate and draw it out presently before the Materials are consumed which they call Aplomar whereby will be avoided the danger of the dry Plate which like froth swims upon the water that comes out and is the occasion of much mischief If the Caxon stand in need thereof proceed to put in more Quicksilver and other Materials always