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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
BOOK VIII
175
because of the dryness that holds the moisture in check and does not allow it to adhere to the table. It flees from fire with such force that if it is not given an avenue of escape in the lower part of a vessel it will attack the upper part and even adhere to the cover of a closed vessel. Since it con­tains more air than water, as Aristotle correctly believed, it is not con­gealed except through the chemist's art. It is friendly to gold. While other metals and objects of great mass and weight float in it, a very small piece of gold sinks. A talent of iron will float in two talents of quicksilver while one seven-thousandth of that amount of gold will sink. Since it draws gold into itself it cleans gold the best, according to Pliny, and re­moves certain impurities after numerous shakings in earthenware vessels. The impurities are removed when the quicksilver is parted from the gold. It is parted from gold by first pouring it into special skins. It flows through the skin like sweat leaving the gold behind. The quicksilver that has adhered to the gold volatilizes when placed over a hot fire. Quicksilver also adheres readily to the plumbum metals, with difficulty to silver, with greater difficulty to copper and with the greatest difficulty to iron. Ar­tisans who gild silver and copper objects first smear them with quick­silver in a manner known only to them after which the objects will hold the gold foil with the greatest tenacity. Artificial cinnabar is made from quicksilver and I shall explain the method in its proper place. The Moors, after drying the quicksilver in the sun, place it in basins that are covered with hides and kept in a cool place. It cannot be stored in just any basin nor in common vases. The proper container must be made of metal, solid rock or glass. It escapes from earthenware and wooden vessels.
This metal offers many uses to the chemist. Physicians use it to cure a mange the Italians call "French mange" and the French call "Spanish mange." Dioscorides writes that it is fatal when drunk since it eats through the vital organs because of its weight. Galen, following Dioscorides, writes in one place that the heat of the body activates it to such a point that it kills by corrosion and in another place considers it among the substances essential to mankind. These are contradictory views since a very small quantity taken into the body attacks it violently. In still another place he writes that no one has actually tested its strength to ascertain if a potion would kill or if it could destroy the body when placed on the outside. Recently a depraved wife gave her husband quick­silver and swallowed some herself but this was ejected from the stomach without any harm. Nevertheless, having committed a crime, she was punished by law. When mixed with other substances so that it does not corrode, when taken internally or rubbed on the skin so that the body heat is able to exert its full force, it attacks the head and causes excessive discharges, part of which flows out through the mouth, part settles in the gums and cheeks and causes them to swell.
When placed in the proper kind of container by a chemist and placed over a fire quicksilver will be carried by the heat to the upper part of the
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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