. De re metallica. Metallurgy; Mineral industries. BOOK IX. 427 with moss, are placed upside down in the openings of the lower pots, where they are joined with lute, kst the quicksilver which takes refuge in them should be exhaled. There are some who, after the pots have been buried, do not fear to leave them uncemented, and who boast that they are able to produce no less weight of ciuicksilver than those who do cement them, but nevertheless cementing with lute is th'^ greatest protection against exhalation. In this manner seven hundred paii^s of pots are set together in the ground or on a hea
. De re metallica. Metallurgy; Mineral industries. BOOK IX. 427 with moss, are placed upside down in the openings of the lower pots, where they are joined with lute, kst the quicksilver which takes refuge in them should be exhaled. There are some who, after the pots have been buried, do not fear to leave them uncemented, and who boast that they are able to produce no less weight of ciuicksilver than those who do cement them, but nevertheless cementing with lute is th'^ greatest protection against exhalation. In this manner seven hundred paii^s of pots are set together in the ground or on a hearth. They must be surrounded on all sides with a mixture consisting of crushed earth and charcoal, in such a way that the upper pots protrude to a height of a palm above it. On both sides of the hearth rocks are first laid, and upon them poles, across which the workmen place other poles transversely ; these poles do not touch the pots, nevertheless the fire heats the quick- silver, which fleeing from the heat is forced to run down through the moss into the lower pots. If the ore is being reduced in the upper pots, it flees from them, wherever there is an exit, into the lower pots, but if the ore on the contrary is put in the lower pots the quicksilver rises into the upper pot or into the operculum, which, together with the gourd-shaped vessels, are cemented to the upper A—Hearth. B—Poles. C—Hearth without fire in which the pots are placed. D—Rocks. E—Rows of pots. F—Upper pots. G—Lower Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Agricola, Georg, 1494-1555; Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964. New York, Dover Publications
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