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Book VIII metals, precious such as gold, platinum, silver

Book VIII metals, precious such as gold, platinum, silver Page of 251 Book VIII metals, precious such as gold, platinum, silver Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
174
DE NATURA FOSSILIUM
and copper they used gold and silver in their arms. Livy tells of a shield of Barchinus of Asdrubal that weighed one hundred and thirty-eight pounds. The shields of some of the troops of Alexander the Great were made of silver and for that reason the troops were called argyraspides. This was in imitation of Emperor Alexander whose troops were also called argyraspides and chrysaspides. Maximinus Jr. used a silver cuirass and swords. The Turdetani of Spain have large silver casks and cribs, Claudius Caesar used a war chariot of this metal while Nero had many silver sandals and Heliogabalus, book cases, tables, and beds. The army of Antiochus, one of the kings of Syria, had vessels for use in the kitchens. It has been found that the Tectosages12 used silver millstones. Sometimes the branches used in theaters are made of this metal. Henry the First, of Thuringia, and at the same time Prince of Misena, had a tree of fair size made of silver from the Freiberg mines that have yielded him such an abundance of the metal. The foliage was in part of this metal and these leaves were given to the winners of equestrian contests. The foil is used by physicians to cover pills. Silversmiths, engravers, statuaries, gold­beaters, spinners, embroiderers, and weavers use the metal in their work. But enough concerning silver.
Quicksilver is called apyvpos χυτό? by Aristotle because it is not solid but liquid and fluid. It is called vSpapyvpos by Dioscorides, a name derived from the words water and silver since it resembles silver in color although it contains none of this metal and it flows like water. Pliny calls the pure natural mineral argentum vivum and the artificial material hydrargyrum because it is made from cinnabar. In using different names he believed that he was discussing different things. It is evident to anyone who reads Dioscorides that the Greeks gave each of these the same name. Thus Alexander Aphrodisiensis is correct in calling apyvpos χυτοί, v5papyvpos. Just as the silver that is smelted from veins is not called another name nor differs, except in purity, from the native metal found in mines, the quicksilver obtained from cinnabar is in no way different from the native metal found in mines. The old writers were aware that it was found pure. Pliny writes, "There is a stone in these veins cursed with everlasting fluidity that is called argentum vivum." It is found pure in cavities where the waters that drip from the veins have moistened the cinnabar for it is in this manner that it is collected and turned into quicksilver. It can be observed in the troughs used for washing cinnabar. However, when the quicksilver is dried it goes back to the form of cinnabar. Dry veins do not yield native quicksilver. For this reason it is very rare at Schonbach where the water flows with ease from the wide veins because the mine is on a hill.
Quicksilver is white and liquid by nature. When poured on a flat table it flows in all directions. Unlike other liquids it does not wet the table
A people living near Narbonne, France.
Book VIII metals, precious such as gold, platinum, silver Page of 251 Book VIII metals, precious such as gold, platinum, silver
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