2 1 6 Of the Gold 



deal of trouble, I can aiTure him, that after having 

 examined all the forts of hut-fumes, from the fe- 

 veral operations of crude-working, working for 

 lead and copper, and thofe from the fining-hearths, 

 with a view to this volatile gold * ? I found, indeed, 

 a fmall (hare of ignoble metals, in particular, lead 

 and copper? alfo a little filver in the lead, but ne- 

 ver the lead fign either of a volatile or fixed gold; 

 as thofe employed at the roafting-hearths and 

 ijrneking- furnaces, for collecting the diffipated fil- 

 ver, and who having affayed the filver procured 

 from the fume, for gold, will readily own. Tho* 

 had this furmife any foundation, the gold could not 

 fail fnewipg itfelf in fuch hut-fumes, where pyrites 

 of all kinds, and in all quantities^ are worked, in 

 a degree of fire, where all metals muff, become 

 fugitive. That in Hungary and Tranfilvania fome 

 gold mould be procured from the fume-works, we 

 are^ not to wonder, as their ores contain a fixed 

 gold, which, like the filver with us, may be carried 

 off in the arfenical fume in very minute particles; 

 but, by the method of depart, or by the affay-fur- 

 mce, no violence of fire can be charged with vo- 

 Jatilifing the gold-, and yet in neither of thefe ways 

 do we difcover any in the pyrites. 



Should it be further alledged, that it is only an 

 immature, or embrionated gold, this is no more 

 than a mere fubterfuge • 'tis as eafily faid, that 

 cobald, tin, and the like, are an immature filver, 

 as is, indeed, often faid, but never proved ; tho* 

 it muft be allowed, tin, and the like, greatly re- 

 femble filver. Pyrites alfo boafts of its beautiful 

 gold-yellow, which has ferved to deceive many, 

 without their being able %o procure any one fort of 

 gijld from it, 



I would 



