Sun Without Clothing or Thirty Experiments to Extract the Purple from Gold

...bach (whose name I intentionally omit) tried to reduce it again and intended to melt it with a common flux; but where he expected to find a metallic button of gold metallic button of gold original: "Regulum Solis." A "regulus" refers to the metallic mass that settles at the bottom of a crucible after smelting. "Sol" (Sun) is the alchemical symbol for gold., it was, contrary to expectations, a pretty black yet thick and somewhat transparent red glass. Here, let one consider and reflect just a little on how highly the ancients esteemed the vitrification of gold vitrification of gold original: "Vitrificationem Solis." The process of turning gold into a glass-like substance., which is actually quite easy and by now all too well known. I myself know that some sixteen years ago, I received various rewards here and there for my accidental yet curious invention for vitrifying gold, despite the fact that whenever I communicated the process, I reported that nothing profitable would come of it; however, that did not help The author implies that despite his warnings that the process was not commercially viable for extracting gold, people were so fascinated by the "curious" result that they rewarded him anyway.. However, I will not neglect to set down this invention invention original: "Inventum." here as

The 8th Experiment

When I previously devoted myself diligently to ores and to smelting them profitably, I also considered it worthwhile to treat the goldsmiths' so-called scrapings scrapings original: "Greß." Small fragments, filings, or waste-gold produced during jewelry making. so as to make use of them with less loss. During this time, some gold-grindings gold-grindings original: "Goldschliff." The fine dust or sludge produced when gold is polished. came into my hands (this occurs when gold is ground with pumice stone pumice stone original: "Bimsenstein." An abrasive volcanic rock used for polishing. by goldsmiths until it becomes smooth; the pumice stone absorbs much gold during this process). This grinding, which...