De la Pirotechnia

L. P. OF THE P. original: "L. P. DELLA P."; abbreviation for Libro Primo della Pirotechnia (Book One of Pyrotechnics).

—[Ti]cino. Now, these sands are taken during the winter time once the floods have passed; they are carried almost out of the riverbed so that when the water returns in high volume, it does not easily take them back, and they make mounds of them. Afterward, in the summer time, with a certain patient and ingenious practice, the seekers wash them to purge them of earthliness. They adapt certain boards of poplar, elm, or white walnut, or of another fibrous wood that have their surfaces made by the skill of the saw or other iron tool, all fibrous original: "stupposi"; referring to the rough, nappy texture of wood fibers left by a saw, which acts like a trap for fine gold particles.. And over these, held straight lengthwise with a bit of a slope, they throw such sands upon them with a concave shovel and an abundance of water.

Because of this, the gold that is within, being a heavier material, enters into the depths of those fibrous saw-marks and attaches itself, and thus remains caught and separated from the company of the sands. From which, where they see that some has remained, they collect it with diligence. Having collected it at the end of the work, they put it into a wooden vessel similar to a little boat navicella (little boat) used for washing sweepings, or a large platter carved in May A traditional craftsman's belief that wood carved in May was less prone to splitting or had better qualities for water-work., and once again as much as they can, to purify it further, they re-wash it.

At the last, they amalgamate it with mercury, and then they pass it through a bag or a bulb Usually a leather chamois bag used to squeeze out excess mercury.. Thus the gold remains behind and the mercury passes through like a fine sand to the bottom. This material which remains, accompanied by a little borax, or saltpeter, or black soap, is melted and reduced into its own body, giving it then the form of a rod or other shape, as seems best to them.

And this is exactly the method that is used to extract gold from river sands. From this work, the seekers often draw a very great profit in certain seasons—all the more so because this way of purging it does not require, like the other ways, such great expense for the help of so many men, so many walls, so many fires, and so many other devices. Instead, for this method, one man is sufficient, along with a board, a shovel, a little mercury, and a sufficient abundance of water. This thing is sought in the summer for pleasure, and then that which is extracted from it—be it little or much—is gold, the value of which you well know.

But let us leave off speaking of such things for now, because perhaps in this place you or others might seek to know the certain cause of where such gold in such sands derives, and whether it is led there by the water, or if it is actually produced within them. Upon this, I have many times thought, not without great wonder, and especially regarding those of the Ticino, the Adda, and the Po Major rivers of Northern Italy.. I still have no clarity, even though I told you before that the great floods of water carry it; but from where it could be taken, I do not know, as there is no gold mine near any of those places, nor perhaps any other metal known. And I remain confused, for I have seen some writers who claim that it is generated in that very place where it is found. If this were so, it would not be true that the waters carried it; and even if it were generated there, it seems to me a difficult thing to understand, not knowing if it is produced by the power of the water itself, or of the earth, or even of the heavens...