In ^Pyrites. ioi 



one to cerufs, the other to verdigreafe, tho' nei- 

 ther fo quickly, nor in fuch quantities. Nay, 

 fuch an earth, efpecially that from iron- ore, mall, 

 according to Becher's peculiar experience, fo very 

 Much degenerate, and turn to a mud and loam, 

 as to lofe all metalleity *. (2.) Iron alfo, by fire, 

 turns fooner to a ruft and earth, than copper, 

 lead, tin, and quickfilver, which iubfiir. longer : 

 and this rufty iron-earth, particularly that pro- 

 cured by means of the air or water, and which, in 

 various views, is now called /inter, now ccbre, 

 nowpfc, fo nearly refembles, in tendernefs and 

 fattinefs, an univerfal, yellow- brown, marl-earth, as 

 to be undiftinguifhable from it. (3.) Amongft ores, 

 iron in the pyrites, next to cinnabar and antimony, 

 holds the moft fulphur, but parts with it much eafier 

 than they, even fpontaneouily ; and though in the 

 mer cur if cation and regulation of cinnabar and anti- 

 mony, it mud: feparate the fulphur, yet it takes a 

 little to itfelf. Copper retains fulphur more ob- 

 ftinately, fluxing and caking together, rather than 

 parting afunder. The lead in lead-glitter, or gale- 

 na, will neither fo eafily feparate from its fulphur, 

 but rather vitrify into a cake; though here, as for 

 antimony, iron 13 ufed with advantage, (or parting 

 the iilver : regulus and qutckfiivcr go forth with 

 the fulphur, rather than part with one another. 

 In a word, iron has too coarfe, and fulphur too 

 fubtile an earth, to be able, though ftrongjy ope- 

 rating on each other, to mix and combine toge- 

 ther laftngly. [4.) Iron, by cementation, takes 

 a much Ids quantity of fulphur than copper does ; 

 for, equal parts of fulphur being conveyed on 

 glowing irm, and glowing copper, the former 

 comes to have about an eighth, the latter a full 

 third part combined to ir. (5.^ Iron, as well as 

 iome other metals, refufes to amalgamate with 



H 3 quick- - 



' Ph)T. Sobterr. p 595. 



