474 
* Suma at- 
gentt, 
® or rather, 
Ssereotis. 
* orrather, 
. Paeomene. 
* Reimpuntuz. 
« he - = ee ee 
The three and thirtieth Booke 
the bottome of the mortar, is held to be the dtoffe and dregs thereof, ftanding moft upon lead, 
and is throwne away as good for nothing : but the pot.or veffell whéreintothe troubled water 
_ aforefaid was powred, after it is well covered and {topped with a linnencloth, muft be fuffered to 
{tand all night to take a fettling ; and the next morrowthat which floteth aloft, is to be powred 
out by little and little, and the reft of the liquor to be foked forth with fpunges, and feparated 
from the antimonie. Now, that which refteth inthe botrome, is taken to bee the floure of anti- 
monie, and fo called ; which they lay forth inthe Suna drying, covered with a finelinnen cloth, 
that it fhould not be overmuch dried : which done, they beat this fine floure againein a mortar, 
and fo reduce it into trochifques. Bur in this operation of preparing antimonie, above all things 
G 
regard would be had in the burning thereof, thatit be not overmuch calcined and foturne into 
lead. Some,in the burning of antimonie,ufe not dung as is beforefaid, bur rather lap the fame 
about with fome greace or tallow: others, after it iswell beaten and punned, ftreine it with water 
through a threefold linnen cloth, & caft away the dregs remaining behind: but theliquor which 
paffed through, they poure out of one veifell into another, and the refidence alwaies they ga- 
ther and fave, which they mix in the compofition of plaftres and eyefalves or collyries, 
H 
Astouching the droffe or refufe in filver, the Greekscallit Helcyfma:the naturethereof is 
aftringent and refrigerative: itentreth into plaftres like as lead ore doth, (which is named Mo- 
lybdzena, and whereof I entend to write in my treatife of lead) efpecially thofe that are made for 
to heale,cicatrice,and skin, Alfo being injected by way of clyftre with oile of myrtles, it cureth 
tinefins and dyfenteries.Itis ufed much alfo in thofe lenitive and unctcous plaftres named Lipa- 
re;and ferveth likewife for the excref{cenfe of proud fleth in ulcers ; for thofe exulcerations which 
come of rubbing and fretting, or the running fores and {calls in the head, 
Within the mettall mines aforefaid, there isengendred another minerall , knowne by the 
name of Spuma argenti, [#. the fome of filver] commonly called litharge; and three forts there 
befound of it. The beft litharge, of gold,which they call Chryfitis: the fecond,of filver,named 
Argyritis: and a third, of lead, which is Molybditis: and many times all thefe kinds fo diftin& in 
colour, are found in one andthe fame lumpe or puffed loafe of litharge. The beft litharge is 
broughtout of the region Attica: the next in goodnefle commeth from Spaine, Litharge of 
gold named Chryfitis, is made of the verie mine and veine of filver; Argyritis, of filver it felfe ; 
and Molybditis, of the lead which is melted with the filver :as wee may {ee at Puteoli, where great 
ftore of itis made, and ofthat place tookethe name Puteolana. All the forts of them are made, 
after that the mettall or matter appropriat untothem, isthroughly melted and tried ; for itrun- 
neth downe from the upper pan into that underneath: out of which, it is taken up with yron 
broches; and tothe end that it might be of a {mall weight, fome wind it about the broch in the 
verie flame of the furnace : andas it may appeare by the verie *name, it isno other thing bur 
the fcum of the ore or mertall boiling and melting over the furnace: from droffe it differeth as 
much as {cum or froth above, may from dreggs or lees beneath :and as the one is anexcrement 
ca{tup from a matter whiles itis purging it felfe, fo the other isthe refufe or grounds thereof 
afjer it is purged and fetled. Howbeit, many there bee, who make buttwo kinds of this fome or 
litharge ; the one * Sterefitis, as it were folide and mailive;the other * Peumene, as one would 
fay puffed up and full of wind, As for thethird, named Molybdzna, they reckon as athing by - 
it {elfe to be treated of in the difcourfe or chapter of Lead. Now the Litharge abovelaid, ought 
forthe ufe that it isemploied abour,for to be prepared in thismanner ; Firft,the lumps aforefaid 
are broken into finall peeces as big as hazell nuts,and {et over the fire again : thus whemit is once 
red hot by the blaft of bellows, to the end that the coles and cinders might be feparated orie 
from another, there is wine or vinegre caft upon it, both to wafh,andalfo withallto quench the 
fame. Nowif itbe Argyritis,to the end that it may looke the whiter, they ufetobreake ittothe | 
bigneffe of beans, and give order to feeth it in water within an earthen pot, putting therto wheat 
and barly lapped within peeces of new linnencloth,and fuffer them to boile therwith untill they 
* burft: which done, for fix daies togither they pun it in mortars, wafhing it thrice .everie day in 
cold water, and in the end with hotsand fo at length putto everie pound of thefaid litharge,the j 
weight of one obolus of Sal-genum :the laft day of all,they putit up ima pot or veffell of lead, 
Some there be who feeth it with blaunched beans andhusked barley, and after thatsdrie it in the 
Sun : others thimke it betterto feeth it with beans and white wooll, untill fuchtimevasitcolour | 
the wooll nomore blacke’: then they put thereto Sal-gemam, chaunging eftfoonsthe water,and 
| dri¢ 
