i 64 a system of 
by the addition of the phlogiflon they had lofl: lit™ 
their decompofidon 
SECT. CLXIV. 
The First Order* 
Metals, Metdla, 
I. Goldi^ Aiirmn^ Sol Cloy ml cor urn.- 
This is by mankind efteemcd as the prin^- 
cipal and iiril among the metals ^ and that 
partly for its fcarcity, but chiefly for its fol- 
lowing qualities. 
1. It is of a yellow fnining colour. 
2. It is the heaviefc of all k no wrr bodies, its 
fpecific gravity to water being as 19,640 
to 1000. 
3. It is the moff tough and duflile of all 
metals ^ becaufe onq grain of it may be 
ftretched out fo as to cover a filver wire of 
* Thofe metals which in a calcining heat lofe their phlo- 
giflon, and confequently with that the foriner* coherency of 
iheir particles, are called as tin, lead, copper, and 
iron, and all the femi-metais (ot which more hereafter) : not- 
withilandihg which they may Be malleable. ‘But thofe which 
cannot be delfroyed in the lire alone are called perfeSi, as gold, 
filver, alid platina del pinto. Neverthelefs, the metals have 
commonly been confidered more with regard co their mallea- 
bility than to their fixity in the lire, and are therefore di- 
yided into, 
A. Tvlalleable, w'hich are called metah ; and 
B. Brittle, which are called fe?ni metah. 
The zinc is, however, as a medium between thefe two 
divifions, juft as the .quicklilver is between the perfedi; 
and imperfect metals, bccaufe the quicklilver may indeed 
be To far deftroyed in the lire, that its particles are fepa- 
rated during their volatililation ; but every one of them,, 
even the minuteft, retains' however the phlogifton united 
with it. 
the 
