Selected quad for the lemma: virtue_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
virtue_n	draw_v	iron_n	loadstone_n	1,525	5	13.0457	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

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

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

above the superficies of the Earth and those within the bowels of it run after the same manner other such like signs they give us whereby to know those Brooks or Rivers that have Gold in them but with less reason because the Gold is not engendred there but in the veins of the mountains from whence time and the downfalls of water have worn it away but without disparaging the judgement of those that have thought as abovesaid and have written to that purpose I say that for the most part in the Mines of Europe and of these parts experience hath shewed the contrary which I foresee they will answer by saying that oftentimes an effect is produced contrary to expectation and that these have their exceptions as well as other rules nevertheless if it be lawful for us in this other world and opposite Climate to make new rules from the experiences in the rich Mines of Potosi I should assign the first place of riches and abundance to those veins that run North and South upon the northernside of the mountain which point of the Compass with a very little declination Westward the four principal Mines of this mountain observe namely the Mine of Centeno which was the Descubridora the Rich mine the Tin mine and the mine of Mendieta the second place I should give to them that run North and South on the South side of the hills A point of the Compass parallel whereunto run the best veins of the second famous Mine of this Kingdom which hath its name from the famous City of St. Philip of Austria called Oruro which in the richness of its veins abundance of Mettals depth of its Mines and great concourse of inhabitants deservedly stands in competition with the grandeur of Potosi In divers places very rich veins of Mettal run East and West and also to several other points of the Compass so that the best rule to go by in this matter is to follow the Mettal as it discovers it self and as long as one gains thereby or at least saves himself it is worth the following on because being sure to lose nothing one hath the vein will lead him to great riches and if the vein be large and have any signs of Gold or Silver in it although for the present it doth not quit the cost men go on couragiously in the working of it having such certain hopes of gaining great profit this hath been confirmed by experience in all the Mines of these Provinces a fresh instance whereof we have in the rich Mine of Chocaia where for the instruction and encouragement of Miners after having followed its veins forty years with very little profit at length they have met with the extravagant riches which all of us in this Kingdom have heard and seen If the veins of Mettal be very small they must be extream rich to be worth the following if the Mettal be found clinging about Stones and likewise in the hollows of those Stones it be found in grains like corns of Gunpowder being that which the Spaniards call Plomo and is Silver unrefin'd although these grains be but few and the rest of the Mettal have no Silver in it nevertheless it is a sign of the riches of the vein when it meets with more moisture As it fell out in that great Mine of St. Christopher of the Lipes which they call the Poor man's Treasure if as they dig forwards they meet with more abundance of those grains de Plomo it is a sign that the rich Oar is very near To find Chrisocola Herrumbre Oropimente or Sandaraca in the Mines or iron-colour'd earth next to the Stones that inclose the Oar or Fullers-earth between those Stones are very good tokens of the richness of the Mine it is no ill sign also to meet with dry Earth if it be yellow red black or any other extraordinary colour and 't is the better when there is some shew of Lead mixt with it Chalky-ground is very promising and Agricola doth judge it a good sign to meet with Sand in the Mines if it be exeeding fine and very ill to meet with Earth full of little Flints if it hold long without changing into another soil CHAP. 26. Of Mettals in particular and first of Gold THe most perfect of all Inanimate bodies and the most esteemed of all Mettals is Gold universally known and coveted by all people It is made of the same matter and in the same manner as other Mettals are as hath been already shewn but of parts so pure and perfect and so well compacted togther by decoction that its substance is as it were incorruptible being out of the power of any of the Elements to be corrupted or destroyed The fire that consumes all other Mettals only makes Gold more pure The air and water diminish not its lustre nor can Earth make it rust or waste By the nobleness of its substance it hath most deservedly obtained that estimation which the world gives it and the natural vertue which flows from the admirable equality of its composition is the best medicine against melancholy and the greatest cordial to the hearts of men which perpetually run after this avaritious Mettal as the Needle doth after the Loadstone The qualities that it hath in common with other Mettals have been briefly touched in Chapter 21. The vertue ascribed to Aurum potabile to preserve a body perpetually in youthfulness without infirmity together with the receipt of making thereof depends upon the credit of those Authors who have written concerning the same Many writers upon this subject relate the names of divers Countries Mountains and Rivers famous for the production of Gold but my design is not to be over-large and therefore I not only forbear to translate what other men have written but also to treat of the greatest part of the Mines in this new world even those of divers of the Provinces of Peru and only apply my self to give your Lordship a short account of those which are found in the Royal audiencia de los Charcas the government whereof is worthily committed unto the care of your Lordship Every body knows the name of Carabaya for being a Country stored with plenty of the finest Gold as fine as the finest Gold of Arabia it is of the ley of 23 Corrats and three grains and although an incredible quantity thereof hath been and daily is gotten thence yet now they begin to work again a-fresh and follow the veins of it under ground whereas hitherunto they have only gathered up the fragments of it which were washed off by the rains The Province of Larecaja borders upon Carabaya and abounds with Gold which in divers Brooks of that Country is found in form and colour like unto small shot which being melted and its outward coat and mixture consum'd away becomes of a red colour he that found this first did not know it to be Gold until a friend of his unto whom I discovered it told him so Next