2i8 Of the Gold 



Metals, undoubtedly, are near allied to each 

 other ; though why fuppofed fo only in the afcend- 

 ing, and not the collateral line ? and philofophers 

 borrowing the term maturation from the vegetable 

 kingdom, it is only in the way of comparifon, 

 and ferves merely as a demonftration, but docs not 

 amount to an illustration : either it is out of a cer- 

 tain deference to the great work, they forbear the ufe 

 of the term tranfmutation; or, to avoid falling by the 

 ears with the Ariftotelians, who, from their doctrine 

 of genus and /pedes , difclaim all tranf mutation of 

 metals. 



Before I enter upon afligning the quantity of gold 

 procurable from the pyrites, I muft premile my 

 method of taking and working the proofs. For 

 the firft, with the grcateft care and attention pof- 

 fible, I pick out the pure fteely or clofe fort ; then, 

 as the gold in the pyrites^ if any, is only to be had 

 by procuring its filver, in the grain of which the 

 gold lodges, I have accordingly made the proofs 

 for filver •, and as, generally, the filver '-grain proves 

 to be very fmall (and neither the fmalleft nor the 

 largeft is to be affumed) namely, in the fulpbur- 

 iron-pyrites amounting to half a drachm, and in 

 copper -pyrites, or copper-ore, to two drachms j with 

 fo very fmall a grain there is no making a cer- 

 tain proof for gold by the depart •, I have therefore 

 worked between fix and eight centners at once, on 

 as many different afTay pots and copels, and, at 

 laft, run the filver together into one grain, which 

 afterwards committing to the depart-water, I, after 

 edulcoration and ignition, weigh the black calx. 

 I hold this to be the bed method, as it fuperfedes, 

 if nothing happen to be procured by it, the feveral 

 operations of cementation, maceration, ignition, and 

 extinction, if you will fuppofe there is any gold ; for, 



fome 



