77. Another (Procedure).
Take
some cumin, crush it (and) let it infuse three days in water, on the
fourth take out; coat the objects of copper with it, or whatever you
wish. It is necessary to keep the vessel closed during the three days.
78. Writing in Letters of Gold.
Grind some gold leaves with gum, dry and use like black ink.
79. Writing in Letters of Silver.
To
write in letters of silver. Litharge, 4 staters; dilute with the dung
of a pigeon and some vinegar; write with a stylus passed through the
fire.
80. Coloring of Asem.
Cinnabar, Cimolian earth (and) liquid alum, equal parts; mix with sea water, heat and dampen several times.
81. Coloration in Silver.
Such
that it can only be removed by fire. Chrysocolla, ceruse, earth of
Chios and merÂcury ground together; add some honey and having first
treated the vessel with natron, coat (the vessel) with it.
Ceruse or cerussa was the ancient term for white lead, which was well-known and widely employed as a cosmetic by the Greeks and Romans.
82. Hardening of Tin.
Melt
it, add to it a homogeneous mixture of lamellose alum and copperas;
pulverize and sprinkle (over the metal) and it will be hard.
83. Manufacture of Asem.
Good
tin, 1 mina; dry pitch, 13 staters; bitumen, 8 staters; melt in a
vessel of baked earth luted around (the top); after having cooled, mix
10 staters of copper in round grains and 3 staters of asem first and
(then) 12 staters of broken stone of Magnesia. Melt, and make what you
wish.
84. Manufacture of Egyptian Asem.
Recipe
of Phimenas (or Pammenes). Take some soft copper of Cyprus, purify it
with some vinegar, some salt and some alum; after having purified it,
melt 10 staters of the copper throwing on it 3 staters of well-purified
ceruse, 2 staters of golden-colored litharge, after which it will
become white. Then add to it 2 staters of very soft asem without
blemish and the product will be obtained. Take care in melting that it
does not liquate. This is not the work of an ignorant person, but of an
experienced man, and the union of the two metals will be good.
85. Another (Procedure).
An
exact preparation of asem, preferable to that of asem properly
so-called. Take: orichalcum, 1 drachma for example; place in a crucible
until it melts; throw upon it 4 drachmas of salt of Ammon or
Cappadocian salt; remelt, add to it lamellose alum, (in an amount equal
to) the weight of an Egyptian bean; remelt, add to it 1 drachma of
decomposed sandarach, not the golden sandarach but that which whitens;
then transfer to another crucible previously coated with earth of
Chios; after fusion add a fourth part of asem and put into use.
Orichalcum
or aurichalcum as it was sometimes spelled was an alloy consisting
mainly of copper and zinc, in other words what we term today as brass.
The term
