THE FIRST PART

is truly certain and can be performed at small expense and labor by any common Chemist who has at least some knowledge of the art of smelting and separation, who is ingenious but not seeking overly lofty things, nor excessive riches on the first attempt. Therefore, be cautious in the extraction from the aforementioned stones; for if you were to extract a large quantity of those devoid of gold with the spirit of salt, without a doubt, you would find no gold in them either. Even if you extracted what they contain, if you did not know its separation by antimonium antimony, no profit would be expected for you from that.

For first of all, the knowledge of those stones is necessary for you, and afterwards, the knowledge of that separation by antimony. Therefore, impute the blame of error not to me, but to yourself for being ignorant if you do not know how to elicit gold, for I have written clearly enough, even if you were unaware of something omitted. Wherefore I would have you forewarned to be cautious in your labors, lest you labor in vain and to no purpose. For it is certain, without any falsehood, that in many places golden flints are found, as well as golden clay and sand, often abounding in gold. Even if they do not abound, they are not extracted without profit; however, flints abounding in gold are extracted with greater profit. Sometimes entire golden mountains and rocks are also found, as well as huge mountains filled with golden sand and clay, which do not return the costs of washing, or because of their excessive rarefaction or sponginess and lightness, due to which the gold is washed away along with the sand; all and each of which, however...