from APyrites, 317 



There ftill remains to be confidered a mel- 

 laginous liquor, deferving the more notice, as it 

 has been difregarded, or. at lead, not exprefsly 

 mentioned by any authors, except Geoffroy * 

 and Stahl f . This liquor is fuch, that ( 1 .) though, 

 by means of the gentlefl evaporation, fome fhoots 

 may be feparated from it, yet they are not fuffi- 

 ciently cryftalline, and what remains will not 

 moot further, but only become a dried mafs. And 

 (2.) which is the more immediate object of our 

 prefent attention, that after drying, if again ex- 

 pofed to the air, it becomes fmeary, moifl, and 

 fluid. Again (3.) when dried fpontaneoufly in a 

 warm air, it ferments like lees, and thus its parts 

 undergo a mutual action among themfelves. And 

 here may be confidered, what, and how many are 

 thoie juices, or thick liquors, which contain faks, 

 without refigning them, either to cry flail ifation, 

 or the other methods of feparation ; but, for the 

 preient, I lhall confine myfelf to the mineral king- 

 dom. 



We find arfenic, and what is allied to it, orpi- 

 ment, &c. which, along with the acid of falt-petre- 

 falt, turns to a very furprifing vifcous matter : me- 

 tals might generally be reduced to this form, could 

 the proper medium for each be found out, as the 

 abovementioned friend informs me from his own 

 experience, of gold by means of urine. This bu- 

 finefs, however, fucceeds with iron and copper ea- 

 fier than in any other metals, and in a peculiar 

 manner \ efpecially as they are the two, that, along 

 with the fulphur-acid, affume the furprifing beau- 

 tiful form of vitriol. 



Copper 



• Mem. TAcad. l'An. 171 3. p 225. 

 f Bcdencken vom Sulphure, p, 285. 



