164 ^ Voyage to 



c ing there ; and that for the fame Reafon the Snow does 

 6 not lie long there. If that be true in fome Places, it is 

 not fo in Peru, nor at the Silver Mines of S.John in Chili y 

 which are coverM with Snow eight Months in the Year. 



I, who cannot admit of any Conjectures but fuch as are 

 grounded on Experience, fliould be more inclinable to 



Hew Metals afcribe the Formation of Metals to fubterraneous Fires ; 



are form 'd. anc j w ithout troubling myfelf about the Central Fire of cer- 

 tain Philofophers, I fliould not want Proofs to make it ap- 

 pear, that all that Part of America is full of them, as appears 

 by the burning Mountains, which from time to time are 

 there feen to break out and flame ; fuch are thofe of Are- 

 quip a, Quito, and Chili, which are in the Mine Country- 

 Nor is it impoffible that thofe of Mexico fliould have fome 

 fhare in it, tho' to Appearance fomewhat remote; for 

 there is no Reafon why the Earth may not be compared tx> 

 a Charcoal Kiln, where one Hole is fufficient to give Air 

 and preferve the Fire in the oppofite Side. 



This Heat being well eftablifli'd, it muft give Motion 

 to the Salts, the Sulphurs, and the other Principles the 

 Earth contains, and which may be Ingredients in the Com- 

 petition of Metals, and being exagitated and rarifyM like 

 a Vapour, infinuate themfelves into the Pores of the Stone, 

 and particularly thofe of the Piles of Rock, like a Plate or 

 ftrange Body, enclofed in Heterogeneous Maffes. There 

 that Exhalation fixes itfelf, and condenfes like Wax, by 

 the Difpofition of the Pores it is forced into. We have a 

 fenfible Experience hereof in Mercury, which becomes 

 Volatile in Smoak, as has been obferv'd before, and con- 

 denfes again when it returns to the Water. If that Metal 

 can be reduced to the Confiftence of the others, as Chy- 

 mifts pretend, the Conje&ure appears to be well grounded. 



pretences of € i. Paracetfus fays, that Gold is Mercury coagulated, 



Ckymijls* CQ or congeal'd. 



" 2. Chriftian L Ele&or of Saxony, converted Mer- 

 cc cury, Copper, and other Metals, into real Gold and 

 " Silver; and Prince Auguflus y about the Year 1590, with 



" fome 



