Of (f hanging Metals. 1 61

take any such matters at these are , tt were but rastness and metr soolistmss. "But thethings which we purpose to discourse of and to deliver, are these which here.ster follow Jand / would request the Readers to take them in good part , and. to content themselves -a iththese i lest if they attempt to proceed to further experiments herein , they prove themfeh esas foolish and as mad as those which we have spoken os before. These thingswhich here you(hallfind , 1 my self have seen , and proved by experience, and therefore I am the bolder to(et them abroach to the view os the whole world.

Chap. I.

Of Tin, and how it may be converted into a more excellent Mettal.

m

Inne doth counterfeit and resemble Silver; and there is greatamity aud agreement betwixt these twoMettals in respect oftheir colour. The Nature and the colour of Tinne is such, thatit will whiten all other Mettals; but it makes them brickie andeasie to be knape in sunder: onely Lead is free from this powerof Tinne : but he thit can skilfully make a medley of this Met-is tal with others, may thereby attain to many pretty secrecies.

__jjf Wherefore, we will endeavor to counterfeit Silver as neer as

we can : A matter which may be easily effected, if we can tell how to abolish andUtterly destroy those imperfections which are found in Tinne, whereby it is to bediscerned from Siver. The imperfections are these: First, it is wont to make a crea-king noise, and crafheth more then Silver doth : Secondly, it doth not ring so plea-santly as Silver, bnt hath a duller found: Thirdly, it is of a more pale and wanne co-lour : And lastly, it is more soft and tender ; for if it be put into the fire , it is notfirst red hot before it be melted, as Silver will be; but it clings fast to the fire, andis soon overcome and molten by the heat thereof. These are the qualities that areobserved to be in Tinne; not the essential properties of the Nature thereof, but one-ly accidental qualities, and therefore they may be more easily expelled out of theirsubject. Let us fee therefore how we may rid away thelc extrinsecal accidents: andfirst,

How to remedy the softness of Tm, and the creaking noise that it maizes.

You must first beat it into fmillpowder, as you (hallhereafter be instructed in themanner how to doit; and when you have so done, you must reduce it iato onewhole body again. And it it do not lose its softness at the first time as you deal loby it, use the fame course the second time, and so likewise the third time ratherthen fail, and by this means you shall at length obtain your purpose: for, by so do-ing, the Tin will wax so hard, that it will endure the fire till it be red hot, before everic will melt. By the like practice we may also harden all other soft bodies , to makethem red hot before they shall be melted : but the experience hereof is more clearin Tinne then in any other Mettals whatsoever. We may also take away the crea-king noise of Tinne, if we melt it seven several times, and quench it every time inthe urine of children ; or else intheOyl of Wall-nuts: for this is the onelv meansto expel that quality and imperfection out of it. Thus then we have declared themanner how to extract these accidents from it: but all this while we have not shew-ed how it may be transformed into Silver : which now we arc to speak of, as soonas ever we have shewed the manner

How to bring Tin into Powder ,

which we promised to teach. Let your Tinne boil in the fire ; and when it is veryliquid, pour it forth into a great mortcr ; and when it beginneth to wax cold, andto be congealed together again, you must stir ic and turn it round about with awooden pestle , and let it not stand still in any case ; thus shall you cause it be con-gealed into very small crums as little as dust: and when you have so done, put it in-to a very fine ranging sieve. and sift out the smallest of it; and that which is left

a , behinde