154 THE HISTORY OF CHEMISTRY, 



who give any dcfcription of Spirit of wine, the 

 principal arc TImddicm, Villunovanu*, and Lul- 

 lius, who calls the ftrongeft, sllcabol; and (hews 

 how it may be freed entirely from water, by 

 means of fixed alkali; which B. Vale minus af- 

 firms is done more cilcdually by lime. The 

 fait known under the name of Oj/li Helmontii, 

 and which was long fince defcribed by Lullius, is 

 nothing elfe tlum the aerated volatile alkali. 

 Fr. Sylvius prepared the fame under the name 

 of sllkaH Qleofwn. 



All the metals pofleiTing maleability, except 

 Platina, were known before this period; but 

 the brittle were yet undifcovercd. G. Agricola 

 is the firil who mentions IJiiinuth. As to white 

 Arfcnic, it is tlillicult to fuy when it was fnfl 

 reduced to a regulus. Schroeder defcribes the 

 procefs of reduction, in his Pharmacopoeia of 

 1649. In the former edition of this buok it is 

 not to be found. Albertus Magnus fpcaks of 

 7,i nc, by the name of Marcajita aurea. G. Fa- 

 bricius reckons Stibium, or Antimony, in the 

 number of metals ; but B. Valentinus had long 

 before related the method of -extracting the re- 

 gulus from the crude ore, and compared it af- 

 terwards with lead. Whether more of the femi- 

 metals than thefe four were difcovered during 

 this period, is a queflion yet to be determined. 



Thofe metals that are calcinable by fire, 

 even Mercury, were very early mentioned by 



Goberus. 



