VOL.1.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 11 



of each ladder there are boards across, where we may breathe a little. The 

 ladders, as we said, are perpendicular, but, being imagined produced, do not 

 make one ladder, but several parallel ones. Being at the bottom, we saw no 

 more than what we saw before, only the place whence the mineral came. All 

 the way down, and the bottom, where there arc several lanes cut out in the 

 mountain, is lined and propt with great pieces of fir-trees, as thick as they can 

 be set. They dig the mineral with pickaxes, following the veins. It is for the 

 most part hard as a stone, but more weighty; of a liver-colour, or that of 

 crocus metallorum. I hope shortly to show you some of it. There is also some 

 soft earth, in which you plainly see the mercury in little particles. Besides 

 this, there are oftentimes found in the mines round stones like flints, of several 

 sizes, very like those globes of hair, which I have often seen in England, 

 taken out of the bellies of oxen. There are also several marcasites and stones 

 which seem to have specks of gold in them ; but upon trial, they say, they find 

 none in them. These round stones are some of them very ponderous, and well 

 impregnated with mercury ; others light, having little or none in them. The 

 manner of getting the mercury is this : They take of the earth, brought up in 

 buckets, and put into a sieve, whose bottom is made of wires at so great a 

 distance that you may put your finger betwixt them : it is carried to a stream 

 of running water, and washed as long as any thing will pass through the sieve. 

 That earth which passeth not, is laid aside upon another heap : that which 

 passeth, reser\^ed in the hole, and taken up again by the second man, and so 

 on, to about ten or twelve sieves gradually less. It often happens in the 

 first hole, where the second man takes up his earth, that there is mercury at 

 the bottom ; but towards the farther end, where the inten^als of the wires are 

 less, it is found in very great proportion. The earth laid aside is pomided, and 

 the same operation repeated. The fine small earth, that remains after this^ 

 and out of which they can wash no more mercur}', is put into iron retorts and 

 stopped, because it should not fall into the receivers, to which they are luted. 

 The fire forces the mercury into the receivers : the officer unluted several of 

 them to show us ; I observed in all of them, that he first poured out perfect 

 mercur}', and after that came a black dust, which being wetted with water, disr 

 covered itself to be mercury, as the other was. They take the caput mortuum 

 and pound it, and renew the operation as long as they can get any mercury out 

 of it. 



We saw there a man, who had not been in the mines for above half a year be- 

 fore, so full of mercury, that putting a piece of brass in his mouth, or rubbing 

 it in his fingers, it immediately became white like silver; I mean he produced the 

 same effect as if he had rubbed mercury upon it ; and was so paralytic, that he 



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