What electrum is.

silver, or bronze, or one of the types of lead; rarely, however, does one mix a metal with white lead tin or iron, and to black lead lead or ash-colored lead, one adds nothing but silver; and these types of mixtures are said to be nameless, except for two, one of which is called electrum amber/a natural alloy of gold and silver, when a fifth part of gold is mixed with four parts of silver; the other is called stannum tin, when a third part of black lead is added to two parts of silver.

There are some who attempt to add other simple species of metals to those enumerated. They report that in mines a certain material is found first, which differs from the described species of metals, and is called Gachimia crude ore by men skilled in metallurgy; we would call it a raw juice. This material, however, is not a species of metal, but an immature vein of metal, or a semi-perfect metal, not yet perfected by nature.

Stony metal.

Facellus also mentions in his History of Sicily a certain metal, which sculptors use like stone to form various statues of men; it is found in the territory of the city of Agrigento, situated on the southern coast of Sicily at the mouth of the Agragas River.

Phyllis herb.

Among the Scholiasts of Nicander, a certain herb is read of by the name of Phyllis, otherwise meliphyllum balm/honey-leaf, which, according to his mind, is called georanium earth-herb in Samothrace, perhaps so named from the place where the metal called georanium is found. We, however, do not think this is a metal species differing from the aforementioned ones; we believe it is rather an epithet of a metal, for since orion small lantern in Greek signifies a small lamp, that genus of metal perhaps gleams in the caverns of the earth like a lantern. There are those who attribute glass to the family of metals, since it is melted in their manner and turned into various forms of vessels. But although glass has an affinity with the metallic family by reason of its fusion, because it is subsequently fragile, it deserves to be separated from other metals. Whoever desires to know more about these differences should approach Aristotle, Pliny, Albertus, Porta, Brasavola, Agricola, Maiolus, Mylius, Renodeus, and the Jesuit Caesius, who in his Mineralogy has surpassed other authors.

NATURE AND PROPERTIES.

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IT IS WORTHY of note that metals do not differ among themselves in purity or impurity, or by greater or lesser decoction cooking/refining, as some have freely stated; rather, they are distinguished by temperature, powers, and properties. And although such things do not originate in the bowels of the earth as they appear to the senses, nevertheless that raw material, when placed in furnaces, is dissolved into metal, which in act does not have any diversity of parts, as many maintain, because metals attain this property, if not in bulk, at least in virtue. In this, metals dissent from stones that liquefy, since metals, when fused and cooled, return to their original form, but stones, when liquefied, lose their proper form.

If we contemplate the qualities of metals, we shall first encounter odors and tastes. For by reason of odor, one metal emits a more unpleasant odor than another; the odor of gold is less unpleasant, but silver is more odorous than gold; The nature of the odor of metals. since the odors of metals are vehemently dry, they contribute to the fluxions of the eyes and are of the greatest detriment to the heart. Workers who melt metals indicate this to us; they plug their mouths and nostrils with double or triple felt cloth, lest they be infected by the odors of the metals and be afflicted by some disease. As for tastes, gold abounds in a sweet taste, but silver is less sweet; the remaining metals, such as lead and tin, are marked by a dull odor and taste, although experience later demonstrates the acrid taste of these; for if water is kept for a long time in tin vessels, or has had a long journey through lead pipes, it usually affects the intestines and generates dysentery.

The nature of the tastes of metals.

But among all metals, bronze and iron vehemently infect the tastes of waters, which is why water emerging from bronze mines is so bitter and abominable that it can scarcely be tasted. Wine poured into a bronze vessel usually does the same thing immediately, which does not happen so quickly with water on account of its natural coldness; but when it has remained for a long time in a bronze mine or in a bronze vessel, the same will undoubtedly happen to the water. Finally, metals attain this as their own property, that they shine when rubbed with a whetstone, just as bronze becomes bright with constant use. Regarding this matter, someone once sang: