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Part 7

Some Experiments Concerning Mercury · Herman Boerhaave — chapter 7 of 7 · ~186 words · public domain

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3. Mercury may be made thicker (condensated) by Silver and Fire.

4. Mercury may be thickned by Distillation by Fire most of all. Is this then the best Way to depurate and perfect it?

5. Does Mercury deposite its heaviest Part in Gold? Is this deposited Matter the Seed of Gold?

6. Does Mercury deposite its heaviest Part in Lead? Is this deposited Matter the Seed of Gold?

7. Does Fire, boiling the Mercury 511 times, fixing and resuscitating it, increase that heaviest Part? Can Mercury, by a continued Work, at length be thickned into the Weight of Gold? Would it then be live Gold, or the Mercury of the Philosophers? This let proper Judges examine.

Let these few Remarks, and yet not made without Trouble and Caution, concerning the Purification of Quicksilver, suffice at this time. I have some by me much more operose concerning the extracting of Mercury out of Metals, of its Action upon Metals, of Metals themselves; perhaps, when I have Leisure, I may offer them to the Public, that Persons, after being warned, may spare a fruitless Labour and Expence. Farewell.

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