Agricola, Georgius, De re metallica, 1912/1950

Table of figures

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            <pb pagenum="485"/>
            <figure number="256"/>
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              <s>A—STRAIGHT KNIFE HAVING WOODEN HANDLES. B—CURVED KNIFE LIKEWISE HAVING
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              WOODEN HANDLES. C—CURVED KNIFE WITHOUT WOODEN HANDLES. D—SIEVE.
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              E—BALLS. F—IRON DOOR WHICH THE MASTER LETS DOWN WHEN HE REFINES SILVER, LEST
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              THE HEAT OF THE FIRE SHOULD INJURE HIS EYES. G—IRON IMPLEMENT ON WHICH THE
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              WOOD IS PLACED WHEN THE LIQUID SILVER IS TO BE REFINED. H—ITS OTHER PART
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              PASSING THROUGH THE RING OF ANOTHER IRON IMPLEMENT ENCLOSED IN THE WALL OF THE
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              FURNACE. I—TESTS IN WHICH BURNING CHARCOAL HAS BEEN THROWN.
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              hold much less than fifteen
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              librae
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              of silver, others twenty, some thirty, others
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              forty, and others fifty. </s>
              <s>All these tests thus prepared are dried in the sun, or
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              set in a warm and covered place; the more dry and old they are the better.
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              </s>
              <s>All of them, when used for refining silver, are heated by means of burning
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              charcoal placed in them. </s>
              <s>Others use instead of these tests an iron ring; but
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              the test is more useful, for if the powder deteriorates the silver remains in
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              it, while there being no bottom to the ring, it falls out; besides, it is easier to
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              place in the hearth the test than the iron ring, and furthermore it requires
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              much less powder. </s>
              <s>In order that the test should not break and damage the
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              silver, some bind it round with an iron band.</s>
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              <s>In order that they may be more easily broken, the silver cakes are placed
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              upon an iron grate by the refiner, and are heated by burning charcoal
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              placed under them. </s>
              <s>He has a brass block two palms and two digits long and
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              wide, with a channel in the middle, which he places upon a block of hard
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              wood. </s>
              <s>Then with a double-headed hammer, he beats the hot cakes of silver </s>
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