BOOK IX. 



431 



ore is heated, and exudes the quicksilver ; whereupon, impatient with the 

 heat, and Uking the cold, it escapes to the leaves of the trees, which 

 have a cooling power. When the operation is completed the smelter 

 extinguishes the fire, and when all gets cool he opens the door and the 

 windows, and collects the quicksilver, most of which, being heavy, falls of 

 its own accord from the trees, and flows into the concave part of the floor ; 

 if all should not have fallen from the trees, they are shaken to make it fall. 



The following is the fourth method of reducing ores of quicksilver. A 

 larger pot standing on a tripod is filled with crushed ore, and over the ore is 

 put sand or ashes to a thickness of two digits, and tamped ; then in 

 the mouth of this pot is inserted the mouth of another smaller pot and 

 cemented with lute, lest the vapours are emitted. The ore heated by the fire 

 exhales the quicksilver, which, penetrating through the sand or the ashes, 

 takes refuge in the upper pot, where condensing into drops it falls back into 

 the sand or the ashes, from which the quicksilver is washed and collected. 



A — Larger pot. B — Smaller. C — Tripod. D — Tub in which the sand is washed. 



The fifth method is not very unlike the fourth. In the place of these 



pots are set other pots, likewise of earthenware, having a narrow bottom 



and a wide mouth. These are nearly filled with crushed ore, which is likewise 



covered with ashes to a depth of two digits and tamped in. The pots are 



