PART ONE

extract, and thus leave it together for the space of 5, 6, or more hours, until the spirit, tinged with a supreme redness, can extract nothing more. Even if, by chance, the spirit is not tinged with such a redness the first time (which rarely happens), you must decant it, being imperfectly tinged, and pour it onto other flints prepared in the aforementioned manner in a separate cucurbit, and also place it together with the flints in a moderate heat for the sake of gold extraction. This done, decant it again and pour it onto fresh flints, and repeat this as long as it has attracted a sufficient quantity of gold. This you must afterward preserve until you have acquired a greater quantity for yourself, and then all the gold is to be separated from it at one time, as will be said afterward.

Which done, pour fresh spirit of salt onto the flints reserved in the first cucurbit, and leave it together with the flints in the heat for so long until it is colored, and it has extracted the residue of gold in the flints not extracted the first time. Having then decanted this, pour it onto the flints reserved in the second and third cucurbits to extract the residue of gold in them, namely, that which was not extracted the first time, and so consequently onto others reserved, until the spirit is sufficiently colored and can no longer attract anything. Then decant it and pour it onto the first quantity preserved. It is necessary, however, to pour fresh spirit onto the remainders of the extraction for the total extraction of the gold. Finally, it is also necessary to pour common water onto the spirit-tinged gold remaining in the flints for the sake of washing, so that no gold is lost.