APPENDIX B. 



613 



already skilled than to instruct the novice. The books appear to have grown by accretions 

 from many sources, for a large number of methods are given over and over again in the same 

 book with slight variations. We reproduce the title page of our earliest copy. 



The following is a list of these booklets so far as we have been able to discover actual 



copies :- 



Date. 



Un- 

 known 



1524 

 1531 



1533 



1534 



1546 

 1549 

 1564 



1573 

 1574 



1578 



1580 

 1595 



1607 



1669 



1678 



1689 



1695 



1744 

 1755 



1782 



Place. 

 Unknown 



(Undated ; 

 Magdeburg 

 Augsburg 



Frankfurt a. 



Meyn 

 Augsburg 



Augsburg 

 Augsburg 

 Augsburg 



Augsburg 

 Franckfurt a. 



Meyn 

 Ditto 



Ditto 

 Ditto 



Dresden 



Amsterdam 



Leipzig 



Leipzig 



Niirnberg 



Liibeck 

 Frankfurt and 



Leipzig 

 Rotenburg an 



der Fulde 



Publisher. Title {Short). 



Unknown Probierbiichlein 



Author. 



Anon. 



but catalogue of 

 Unknown 



Heinrich Stey- 



ner, 8vo. 

 Ditto, ditto 

 Ditto, ditto 

 Math. Francke, 



4to 

 8vo. 



British Museum suggests Augsburg, 1510.) 

 Probirbuchleyn tzu Gotteslob Anon. 

 Probierbuch aller Sachsischer Anon. 



Ertze 

 Bergwerck und Probierbuch- Anon. 



lein 

 Probirbiichlein 



4to 



i2mo. 



8vo. 

 8vo. 



8vo. 



Probirbiichlein 

 Probirbiichlein 

 Probirbiichlein 



Probirbuch 

 Probierbiichlein 



Probierbiichlein Fremde und 



subtile Kunst 

 Probierbiichlein 

 Probierbiichlein darinn grtind- 



licher Bericht 

 Metallische Probier Kunst 

 Bericht vont Ursprung und 



Erkenntniss der Metallis- 



chen erze 

 Probierbiichlein darinn griind- 



licher Bericht 

 Probierbiichlein darinn griind- 



licher Bericht 

 Probierbiichlein darinn grUnd- 



licher Bericht 

 Deutliche Vorstellung der Pro- 

 bier Kunst 

 Neu-eroffnete Probier Buch 

 Scheid-Kiinstler . . . alle Ertz 



und Metalle . . . probiren 

 Probierbuch aus Erfahrung 



aufgesetzt 



Anon. 



Anon. 

 Anon. 

 Zach. Lochner 



Sam. Zimmermann 

 Anon. 



Cyriacus 



Schreittmann 

 Anon. 

 Modestin Fachs 



C. C. Schindler 



Modestin Fachs 



Modestin Fachs 



Modestin Fachs 



Anon. 



Anon. 

 Anon. 



K. A. Scheldt 



As mentioned under the Niitzlich Bergbiichlein, our copy of that work, printed in 1533, 

 contains only a portion of the Probierbiichlein. Ferguson** mentions an edition of 1608, and the 

 Freiberg School of Mines Catalogue gives also Frankfort, 1608, and Niirnberg, 1706. The 

 British Museum copy of earliest date, like the title page reproduced, contains no date. The 

 title page woodcut, however, in the Museum copy is referred from that above, possibly indi- 

 cating an earlier date of the Museum copy. 



The booklets enumerated above vary a great deal in contents, the successive prints 

 representing a sort of growth by accretion. The first portion of our earliest edition is devoted 

 to weights, in which the system of " lesser weights " (the principle of the " assay ton ") is 

 explained. Following this are exhaustive lists of touch-needles of various composition. 

 Directions are given with regard to assay furnaces, cupels, muffles, scorifiers, and crucibles, 

 granulated and leaf metals, for washing, roasting, and the preparation of assay charges. 

 Various reagents, including glass-gall, litharge, salt, iron filings, lead, "alkali", talc, argol, 

 saltpetre, sal-ammoniac, alum, vitriol, lime, sulphur, antimony, aqua fortis, or scheid- 

 wasser, etc., are made use of. Various assays are described and directions given for crucible, 

 scorification, and cupellation tests. The latter part of the book is devoted to the refining 

 and parting of precious metals. Instructions are given for the separation of silver from iron, 

 from lead, and from antimony ; of gold from silver with antimony (sulphide) and sulphur, or 

 with sulphur alone, with " scheidwasser," and by cementation with salt ; of gold from copper 

 with sulphur and with lead. The amalgamation of gold and silver is mentioned. 



^^Bibliotheca Chemica, 



