Section 38

To extratt Quiclcfilver out *f Lead, Let your Lead be filed into very fmall duft, and to every two pounds of Lead thus beaten into powder , you maft put one ounce of Salt-Peter , and one ounce of ordi- nary common Salt, and one ounce of Antimony. Let all thefe be well beaten and powncd together, and put into a fieve 5 and when they are well fifted, put them in-
Aa 2 t to
\6\ Natural Magick. 'Bookj}.
to i veflel made of glafs , and you muft fence and plaiftcr the glafs round about on the outward fide with thick loam tempered with chopt tf raw, and it muft be laid cn veryfaft; and that it may ftick upon the veflel the better, your glafs muft not be fmooth , but full of rigoles, as if it were wreftcd or writheo. When your veflel is thus prepared , you muft fettle and apply it toareflexed fire, that is, to a fire made infuch a place, as will reflect and beat back the heat of it with great vehemency to the beft advantage : and underneath your veffels neck , you muft place a large pan, or fome other fuch veflel of great capacity and receipt, which muft be half full of cold' wtter : then clofe up all very faft and fure, and let your fire burn but a little, and give but a fmall heat for the fpace of two hours ; afterward make it greater , fo that the vcflel may be throughly heated by it , even to be red hot ; then fet a blower on work, and let him not leave off to blow for the fpace of four whole hours together, and you (hall fee the quick-filver dropdown into the veflel that is half full of water, being flighted , as it were, out of the M:ttal by the vehement force of the fire. Commonly the quick-filver will ftick to the fides of the veffels neck , and therefore you muft give the neck of the veflel a little jolt or blow with your hand, that fo the quick-filver may fall downward into the water-vcffel. By this practice I have ex- tra&ed oftentimes out of every pound of Mettal almoft an whole ource of quick- filver ; yea,fometimes more then an ounce, when I have been very diligent and laborious in performing the work. Another experiment I have fecn, which drew me into great admiration,
Lead converted into quick-filver : A counterfeiting practice, which is the chief caufe rhatill rhe quick-filver alrnoft which is u ually to be had, is but baflard fluff, and meerly counterfeit ; yet it is bought and fold for currant , by reafon of the neer Ukenefs that it hath with the beft. Let there be one pound of Lead melted in an earthen vcflel , and then put unto ic alfo one pound of that Tinny mettal which is ufually called by the name of Marcha- fite : and when they are both melted together, you muft ftirre them up and down, and temper them to a perfect medley with a wooden ladle : In the mean fpace you muft have four pounds of quick-filver warmed in another veflel ftandir.g by, to caft: in upon that com pounded Mettal; for unlefs your quick-filver be warm , ii will cot clofe nor agree well with your Mettals: then temper your quukfilver and your Mettal together for awhile, andprefently after caft it into cold water; fo fhall ic not congeal into any hard lump , but flote en the top of the water, and be very quick and lively. The ohely bkmifh it hath , and that which onely may be except- ed againft it , is thi«, that it is fomewhat pale and wan , and nor all things fo nim- ble and lively as the true quick filver is, but is more flow andflimy, drawing as it were a tail after it , as other vifcous and flimy things are wont to do. But put it in- to a veff-1 of glafs, and lay it up for a while j for the longer you keep ir, the quicker and nimbler it will be.
Cm a p. III.
Of Brafs ; and hew to transform it into a worthier Mettal,
\X7E will now alledge certain experiments concerning Brafs ; which though they are but flight and trivial, yet we will not omit to fpeak of them, becaufewe would fain fatisfie the humour of thofe , who have a great defire to read of and be acquainted with fuch matters. And here we are to fpeak of fuch things as are good to ftain the bodies of Mettals with fome other colour then naturally they are endued withal. Yet I muft needs confefs that thefe are but fained and counterfeit colour- ings, fuch a; will not laft and ftick by their bodies for ever ; neither yet are they able to abide any trial , but as foon as ever they come to the touchftone , they may eafily be difcerned to be but counterfeits. Howbeit, as they are not greatly to be defired, becaufe they are but deceivable , yet notwithftanding they are not utterly to be re- jected as things of no value. And beciufe there are very few Books extant which
Treac
Of (Joangtng Metals. \ 6 J
Treat of any Argument of like kind as this is , but they are full of fuch experiments and fleights as here effer themfelves to be handled by us (for ihcy arc very ctmmon things, and in every mms mouth) therefore we will in this place fpeak enciy of thole things which are eafiiy to be gotten , and yet carry wi h them a very goodiy fhew , i.ilomu h that the belt and fharpeft censure may be deluded and miftaken by the beauti.Ul glois that is caft upon them ; and it may gravel the quekeft and skilful- le't judgement, to define upon the luddain whether they are true ore ourrerfeit. Yet let them be efteemed no better then ttiey deferve. Bur. this yon muft know, that as flight and trivial as they are , yet they require the handlir g of a very skilful Arriflcer: and wholoever thou art that goeh about to praSke thefe experiments, if thou be not a skilful and well experienced workman thy fel , be fure to t;-k" the advice and ecuntel of thofe that are very good A it ins in tht kind } tor otheiwife thou wilt certainly mifcarry in them, and be defeated of thy purpofe. Thee nief and efpecial things which are of force to endue Brafs wiih a whuer colour, are thefe: ArfenLk or Ok'r ; that kind of quick fi-vcr which i; ftnlimated, as theAlctnmifts call it ; the fcum or troth of filver, which is called by the Greeks Lithargvron ; the Marchafitc or fire-ftone ; the Lees of wine; that kind of Salt which is tound in A- frick under thefand, when the Moon is at the full', which is ammonly called Salt Ammoniack i the com i on and ordinary Salt which the Arabians call by the name of Al-hali; Salt-peter, and laftly Alome. If you extract the liquor out of any of thefe, or out of all thefe, and when it is difiblved, put your Brai?, being red her, into it to be quenched, vour Brafs will become white: Orelfe, if vou melt your Brafs, and aflbon as it ismolren, put it into fuch liquor, your Brafs will become white: Or elfe, if you draw forth into very fmall and thin p'ates , and pewn thole bodies we now fpeak of,into (mall powder,and th.n caft both the brafs that is to be coloured, and the bodies that mml colour it, into a melting or calling vc (Tel, and there tamper them together tc a °ood mediey, and keep them a great while in the fire, that it may be thoroughly me ted, the brafs will become white. Or elfe, if yon rue if your braf; , and then caft upon it fome of that coourii" in (mall lumps, (fcl if ^ou call it in powder and dull, it is a doubt that the force and ra^e of the ore will utterly conl'ume it, fo that it (hall not be ab>c to ineftor i-ai-whcm ttal)bui if ycu cart good (lore of luch colouring uponthemol- t fs, it will endue yoW brais with a Hranse and wonderful whiunels, iojo- m-'.c.i that it will feem ro be ver > fil vtr indeed. But that y h w to work Inch experiments, 3rd bifide , that yon may by occafion of thofe things wbi h ?re here fet down, !e >m how to compound and w~rk other matters, we will now fct forth u to you certain example?, how we may make
Brafs to cr-twterfeit Silver ; for wb*n oa e yu -re trained op a little in the practice of thefr matter', then they will fink more eafily into y our underllancing, then by all your reading they canao : tnerefore as we have fpoken of fuch things ar will do this fear, fo alfo we will teach you how to work artificially. Take an earthen pot, and let ir upon the fire with very hot coals heaped round about it ; put lead into it, and when ycu fee that your lead i? m >lten by theforceof the fire, take the third pare of much filver as there was lead, and pown it into 'mall powder, and pu it to the lead into rhe pot $ but vou muft 'prinkle it in onely bv little and little, that it may be fcorched, and even burned as it were by the heat of the fire, and may float like a it were oyle on the top and luiface of the lead \ and fome of it may befo wafted by the^ehemencv of the heat, that ir vantfh away into the fmoak. Then let them reft a while, fo long as there be any reminders of the coals left. After you have fo done, break the vef- fel into pieces, and take away the fcum and drofs of the mettal ; and whereas there will ftand 00 the top of the mettal a certain oyle as it were, or a kind of gel- ly> you muft take that, a-d bray it in a morter, and caft it into a vefTel by little and little where there is brafs melted; and though the brafs be three times fo nu h in weight as that gelly i lour Nay,if ihere be more then three times fo much melted brafs put inro that nvtal, k will make it all like unto filver. But if you would have your brafs endued with a
per-
\66 Natural Magick. ISookj).
perfect white colour , and not difcernable from filver, you mnft melt feme filver and fome brafs together, and then throw them into the fire, and fo take them out again after fome ftiort time ; for the longer you fufEer them in the fire, the worfe will your experiment fucceed. Which is a matter molt worthy to be obfervcd in thefe cafes : for if your work continue any longer in the fire then need requires, it will fade in colour, and the violence of the fire will countermand the operation and ef- fect of your skil and labour in tempering the mettals together, and fo the brafs will recover his former colour in his firft eftate. Wherefore let your mettals be kept in the fire as little while as you can, that you may make your brais the whiter , and in colour moll like unto filver : howbeit, though you have made it never fo white, yet in time it will wax blackifh and dim again; for the Arfnick that is naturally incor- porated into the brafle, will alwayes ftriveto rellore it to the former dnskifhand dim colour which it is by nature endued withal. We will now alfo teach you an- other way how to make
Brafs to counterfeit Silver ;
and this is a more excellent and notable experiment then the former. Take fix ounces of the Lees of wine, eight ounces of Criftal Arfnick , half an ounce of quick-filvcr that hath been fublimatcd, two ounces of Salt-pecter, one ounce and an half of glafs ; beat all thefe together in a morter , and fee that they be broken into the fmalleft powder and duft that may be. After this, take three pounds of Copper, that which is commonly called Baada Mediolinenfis ; this you muft have to be drawn out into fmall thin and flender plates j and when you have thus pre- pared your mettals and ingredients, you muft take of that powder, and fprinkle it into an earthen pot by little and little, and withal put into the fame pot your flen- der plates of Copper ; and thefe things you muft do by courfe, firft patting in fome of your powder, and then fome of your Copper, and afterward fome pow- der again, and afterward fome of your little plates again, and fo by turns one af- ter another, till the pot be brim-full: then let a cover upon your por, and plaifter it all over fir gulirly well with good ftiffe morter that is tempered with chopped ftraw» thenbinde it round about with bands and clamps of iron; and trufs it up very hard and ftiffe together, and then cover it over again with fuch morter as before. Afterward let the pot be made hot with a great fire round about iti The manner of the heating of your pot muft be this; fet the pot in a Centre as it were, that the fire may lye as it were in the circumference round about it, to the diftance of one foot from the Centre; a little after this, move you fireneererto the por, that there may not be above the dillance of half a foot betwixt them; then with- in a while lay the fire a little necrer,and fo by little and lktle let the fire be brought clofetothe pot, yea and let the pot be covered all over with hot burning coals, within the (pace of one hour, and fo let it ftand hidden in the fire for the fpace of fix whole hours together. And after the fix hours, you muft not take away the coals, but let them go out and die of themfelves, and let the pot fo ftand under them until it be ftarkcold : and when it is thoroughly cold, break it into pieces, and there you fhall find your little thin plates fo brittle, that if you do but touch chem fomewhat hard with your fingers, they will foon be crumbled into duft. When you have taken them out of the pot, you muft afterward put them into fome ca- rting veffel that is very hard, and durable ; and there within half an hour it will be melted: then put inio it fome of your powder by little and little, till all of it be molten together ; then caft it all forth into fome hollow place, into fome form or mould , that it may run along into rods ; and the metal will be as brittle and as eafie to be broken into fmall crumbs, as any Ice can be. After all this, you muft melt two pounds of brafs ; but you muft firft purine it andcleanfe it a little, by cafting upon k fome broken glafs, and Lees of wine, and Silt-ammoniack, and Salt-peeter, every one of them by turns,and by little and little. When you have thus cleanfed it, you muft put unto it one pound of that metal which you made of the Copper and powder before fpoken of ; and you muft Mill fprinkle upon them fome of that powder ; and after all this, you muft take half fo much of the beft
filver
Of changing Metals. \6y
tiiver that may be gotren, and melt it amongft the metals before fpoken of, and caft them all together into fome hollow },lace iike a mould, and fo you fhall obtain your purpoi'e. But that the iurface and the utmoft out-fides of the metal may ap- pear whLe, you muft throw it into the fire, that it maybe burning hot, and then take it forth, and call it into that water wherein the Lees of wine and ordinary fait have been liquefied and dillolvcd ; and there let it boil for a certain time, and lb (hall you make it very white, and moreover fo pliant andfo eafieto be framed and wrought to any fafhion, that you may draw it thorough any little hole, yea even thrrough the eye of a needle. Furthermore, this is not to be omitted nor buried in fi'.ence, for it is a matter of great ufe, and fpecial force in the colouring of metals, that they be ir wardly clear/cd and purged of their drof?, that they may be tho- roughly w^ftied and rid or all fuch leum and cffals, as are incident onto them ; for being thu- handled, they wi!l be more lerviceablc and operathefor all experiment?. As for example ; let brafs be molten, and then quenched in vineger, and then redu- ced into powder with fait, fo that the more grols and infectious parts thereof he extracted from it j and let it be fo handled oftentimes, till there be nothirg,of its natural uncleannefs remaining within it, and fo fhall it receive a deeper dye, and be changed into a more lively colour. Let the veflel wherein you melt your me- tals to prepare and make them fit for your turn, be bored thorough in the bottom withfundry holes thar the metal being melted may ftrain thorough, but the drof?, and fcum. and cffals of it may be left behind, that there may be nothing but pure metal to be u'ed in your experiments : for the lefs drofle and offals that your me- tal have, they are fo much the more ferviceable for your ufe in working. Let this therefore be a general rule alwayes to be remembred and obferved, that your me- tals be throughly purged and rid from their drofs as much as may pofiibly be, before ever you entertain any of them into your fervice for thefe intendments. There is yet alfo another way whereby we may bring to pafs that