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Extraction of regulus

Take one lb of antimony, half a lbblack
soap, and half a lb of tartar from
Montpellier. Once the whole is pulverized, one needs to
boil in a varnished earthenware pot on a big fire while
stirring the whole often with a pick of wood or
iron, & the said soap will be consumed and burn
off and the rest will stay more or less red, and it will be necessary
that it is reduced by a third. Then one needs to throw it on a
tile and it will turn blackish. One will need to melt this four
or five times and pour it on the flat tile and then you will
have the regulus drawn from antimony.

Others pulverize the antimony & mix it with
saltpeter &pulverized tartar, as much of one as of
the other, &, having heated a pot or crucible
red hot, they put a little of it at a time, & se
turn their back for fear of the smoke, and continue thus until
everything is put in, and strengthen the fire until everything is
thoroughly melted & melt it again several times.


Lead, tin

They become brittle having been put back to melt often or for a long
time, and they thicken and burn, in such a way that even when one melts
a saulmon, the tin thickens at the bottom if, while
casting, one does not stir it often. It is best for casting to melt a
little lead& the or tin &
stir to renew at each melting. The antimony renders
them breakable. The looking glass tin whitens them.
OnePewterers put in on the fine
tin one lb of looking glass tin per one
quintal of fine tin & two lb & a half
or three lb of red & soft copper of cauldrons, which
is better than latten. There is fine & soft tin &
brittle tin. The brittle one is cast in grille
by the pewterers to sell it better. O
They come out better & more neatly in stone molds
than in a copper mold, because copper is fat
& sticks unless one heats the mold well or one casts large
works. Three quarters of lead per one lb of
doux tin, makes a very liquid line & proper for
casting, which has a shine like a mirror. Sandever lightens them.
All things that thoroughly lighten metals & remove their
thickness & dense nature & render them like liquid
like water, render them proper for casting, for it is the
thickness that prevents them from running. doux tin is
more even com than the brittle one, which is
whiter and seems to be burnished like a mirror.


To alloy well tin & lead, one needs to melt one by
itself, and then mix in the other, small pieces at a time, and throw it
often on the marble or the square tile.
And when you will see it become quite even like & shiny
as if it were burnished, it is good. For sometimes it becomes spotted
due to too much lead & sometimes due to too much tin.
There is some tin which takes more lead than another.
Common tin is the one that is mixed with lead.

