Agricola, Georgius
,
De re metallica
,
1912/1950
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in a short strake, at the head of which stands the washer, who draws the water
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upward with a wooden hoe. </
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<
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the light particles into a trough placed underneath. </
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<
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>I shall deal more fully
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with this method of washing a little later.</
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>Ore is burned for two reasons; either that from being hard, it may become
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soft and more easily broken and more readily crushed with a hammer or
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stamps, and then can be smelted; or that the fatty things, that is to say,
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sulphur, bitumen, orpiment, or realgar
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3
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may be consumed. </
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>Sulphur is
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frequently found in metallic ores, and, generally speaking, is more harmful
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to the metals, except gold, than are the other things. </
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>It is most harmful of
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all to iron, and less to tin than to bismuth, lead, silver, or copper.
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>Since very rarely gold is found in which there is not some silver, even gold
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ores containing sulphur ought to be roasted before they are smelted, because,
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in a very vigorous furnace fire, sulphur resolves metal into ashes and makes
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slag of it. </
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>Bitumen acts in the same way, in fact sometimes it consumes
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silver, which we may see in bituminous
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cadmia
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4
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>I now come to the methods of roasting, and first of all to that one which
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is common to all ores. </
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>The earth is dug out to the required extent, and
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thus is made a quadrangular area of fair size, open at the front, and above
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this, firewood is laid close together, and on it other wood is laid transĀ
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versely, likewise close together, for which reason our countrymen call this
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pile of wood a crate; this is repeated until the pile attains a height of one
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or two cubits. </
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>Then there is placed upon it a quantity of ore that has been
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broken into small pieces with a hammer; first the largest of these pieces,
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next those of medium size, and lastly the smallest, and thus is built up a
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gently sloping cone. </
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>To prevent it from becoming scattered, fine sand of the
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