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count likewise of some advantages expected to resultfrom it, many having persuaded themselves that its de-struction or resolution would afford the sure foundationfor its artificial production. Divers experiments havebeen alledged, in which gold is said to have beendestroyed, or changed into a matter which was no longergold, or resolved into dissimilar principles : but inthese experiments, as in those of its production, therewas probably some deception ; and many of them, asrelated by the authors themselves, are apparently incon-clusive.

Mr. Boyle gives an account of a process, by which heimagines part of the substance of gold to have beentransmuted into silver. Into rectified butter of antimony,that is a solution of the metallic part of antimony in themarine acid, he poured as much spirit of nitre as wassufficient to precipitate the metal, and having distilledoff all that would come over in a smart fire, he returnedthe liquor on the antimonial powder, and abstracted itagain : of this menstruum, which is a kind of aquaregia, he had a great opinion, and gave it the name ofmenjlruum peracutum . Some gold was melted with threeor four times its weight of copper, the copper extracted byaqua fortis, and the remaining gold powder being broughtto its due colour by heat, a large proportion of the men-struum was poured on it : the gold dissolved slowly andquietly, and there remained at the bottom of the glass aconsiderable quantity of white powder. The solution ofgold being abstracted, and the gold again reduced to abody and dissolved a second time, it yielded more of thewhite powder,, but not so much as at first. On meltingthese powders with borax, he obtained a white metal>which yielded to the hammer, and which, on being disosolved in aqua fortis, shewed itself, by the odious bitter-ness