OF THE MINERAL WORK

But because the smelting of metals from mines has become so vile through long use that it is not considered an art, but a craft, practiced everywhere, and deserves no one's admiration, although in the beginning, before it became known to the public, it was believed to be the highest art, and should be so believed, even if it has now become cheap: it is not to be doubted that the other concealer still adhering to the metals can be removed with the same ease, and the innermost pure and fixed center, gold and silver, can be smelted and separated, if the method had been known. But because men do not expend further labor and industry in investigating, and the use of common metals is highly necessary, we are satisfied that from the crude mine, once smelted, they are made ductile and fit for human uses, nor is this wrongly done, since human life can less do without iron, tin, copper, and lead than gold and silver. Yet with these everywhere abundant and despised, it would not be amiss if wise men extracted their better part, namely the most hidden golden heart by the benefit of art and fire, and reduced it into narrowness, to which Parac. Paracelsus leads us by the hand, hitherto despised due to our ignorance, and falsely mocked like a fable. This must be imputed to time, changing, perfecting, or corrupting all things, and it is to be hoped that greater care will be spent hereafter on metallic anatomy the detailed structural analysis of metals than has been done so far.

Imperfect metals are corrupted by the force of fire, which they cannot sustain, and are reduced to nothing, but their good, gold and silver, cannot be destroyed or removed from the midst, but in the highest distress and