3 72 Miscellaneous O b s e r v at i o n s oh 



firft, it follows not hence, that becaufe it lay on, 

 it therefore proceeded from it : again, though we 

 mould allow this, yet it mud needs be afcribed to 

 the arfenic, this pyrites being hemifpherical, and 

 thus arfenical, like what we call cobald, at the 

 Halfebrucke. 



V. Nay, this fample would feem to fhew, that 

 the native filver comes to be weathered or deftroyed 

 again. 'Tis true, this I cannot conclude from the 

 footy appearance, which, though in itfelf of fome 

 confequence, yet is not to be depended on, as this 

 or the like fample would require an obfervation of 

 many years •, as, whether in that time the filver 

 may be deftroyed again, and in what manner ; at 

 leafr, 'tis a thing not readily credited by every one ; 

 and the crumbling and falling to pieces of the fam- 

 ple, is well to be diftinguifhed from its weathering. 



VI. Should native filver happen to be weathered 

 again, it muft needs be arfenical ; in the manner 

 it is affirmed, that native gold is often mercurial, 

 and thus pale. 



VII. It is true, pyrites is the mother of vitriol, 

 but neither the mother, nor a recrement of metals, 

 as was formerly thought *, but an ore per fe. 



VIII. As to what is faid of the exiftence of gold 

 in an Hungarian vitriol, communicating itfelf to 

 the depart-water prepared therewith, it proves a 

 fclf- deception, arifing either from the experiment, 

 or the judgement formed upon it : for, though the 

 mint-mafter in Becher had found gold in it, it 

 would neither be a fixation, nor an extraction, but a 

 production, rather of a thing exifting in neither of 

 the matters employed, but produced from both f. 



IX. Cane- 



* Canepar. Dele. I. c. z. luclov. <3e Comit. de Met. 

 t Tollii Epiil, Itiner. V. p. J 75. Becher. Phyf. L. 1. Sett- 3. 

 c. 3, p. 142 



