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Book III about halite and nitrium, alum and acrid juices and related minerals, sulphur, bitumen, realgar, and orpiment; the fourth, chrysocolla, aerugo, caeruleum, ferrugo
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of 251
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44
DE NATURA FOSSILIUM
dregs or tartar in wine casks. Pliny also tells us that utensils were made from the Egyptian mineral that became hard as stone when left in mounds. Macedonians add
chalastraeum
to flour instead of salt when baking bread. Egyptians sprinkle it on radishes just as we use salt. Physicians regard it with the highest esteem. It dries, cleanses, and dissipates.
"Nitrum
foam" is the more valuable while the the finest quality of
aphronitrum,
loose-textured, soft, pulverulent and purplish white is the most valuable. That usually selected by physicians is light, spongy, reddish or white such as is found in the mounds made by the Egyptians, especially the very whitest and lightest of
"nitrum
foam." This, as well as white
nitrum,
may be adulterated with lime but the deception can be detected by both the tongue and nose. According to Pliny the pure mineral dissolves quickly, the adulterated, slowly; the former has only a slight odor, the latter irritates the nose.
Chrysocolla
is used by artisans to solder silver and gold, whence its name.
9
Artificers who make needles from iron use sal ammoniac in a similar manner when they coat the heads with tin. Goldsmiths add a lump of
chrysocolla
when they wish to melt gold fillings since it increases the speed of melting.
Halinitrum
whitens the fields of Saxony not far south of Stassfurt on the road to Warmesdorf just as
halmirhaga
whitens the valleys near Medos in summer. In fact the earth is saturated with
halinitrum
at Cervecius and Berneburg, Saxony, Mochela, Thuringia, and other places in Germany. In arid regions storms do not penetrate far below the earth's surface, as a rule, and below the superficial crust definite veins (beds) of white
halinitrum
are common. In the above named sections of Saxony the country is low and fiat.
Halinitrum
is made from the material that effloresces on the fields. It is collected in heaps and covered with branches of shrubs. It is salty and slightly acrid. A material similar to this is seen to effloresce on the stone walls of wine cellars and other dark places that are protected from moisture. It has the appearance of flour on the walls. The mineral we call
halinitrum
is made from these two materials no matter whether they are
halmirhaga
or
nitrum.
The finest material in this class is that from which the largest amount of salt has been removed.
True
halinitrum
is produced not only from these two native materials but also from the soft and very tenuous material which exudes from rocks on mountains. Such material adheres to limestone and gypsum on the mountains near Sala. It is also produced from hard and dense icicles that commonly hang down from the backs of underground passages and caves such as the one at Neoschonburg, a stronghold of Bohemia. There they hang in a wine cellar cut out of rock. The material is neither very bitter nor very salty but it is sometimes acrid, sometimes only slightly so. The color is variable, white, yellowish, fight red, etc. The material that effloresces on the walls of caves is either gray or white while that which forms
9
χρυσοί,
gold;
κόλλα,
glue.
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of 251
Table Of Contents
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Agricola. Textbook of Mineralogy.
Front page, forword and index
To the illustrious duke of saxony and thuringia and misena prince of Maurice
Book I Minerals color, taste, odor , physical properties of gemstones and minerals such as emeralds, diamonds, rubies, sapphires
Book II About different applications of earths (painting, medical) and their occurrences
Book III about halite and nitrium, alum and acrid juices and related minerals, sulphur, bitumen, realgar, and orpiment; the fourth, chrysocolla, aerugo, caeruleum, ferrugo
Book IV Sulphur, amber, Pliny's gems, jet, bitumen, naphtha, camphor, maltha, Samothracian gem, thracius stone, obsidianus stone
Book V about lodestone, hematite, geodes, hematite, selenite, lapis secularum, asbestos, mica
Book VI gems: diamond, emeralds, sapphire, topaz, chrysoberyl, carbuncle, jaspis
Book VII marbles, gems in rings and other applications
Book VIII metals, precious such as gold, platinum, silver
Book IX artificially coloring of metals such as gold, silver, copper
Book X lapis sabinicus, lapis selentinus, lapis liparaeus and other mixtures of stone, metal and earth
Latin Mineral Index
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