feet long, which has a wooden handle as many feet long, and he puts the end of
this bar into the test in order to stir it. He also stirs it with a hooked iron
bar, of which the hook is two digits wide and a palm deep, and the iron part
of its handle is three feet long and the wooden part the same. Then he
removes the test from the hearth with a shovel or a fork, and turns it over,
and by this means the silver falls to the ground in the shape of half a sphere;
then lifting the cake with a shovel he throws it into a tub of water, where
it gives out a great sound. Or else, having lifted the cake of silver with a
fork, he lays it upon the iron implement similar to tongs, which are placed
across a tub full of water ; afterward, when cooled, he takes it from the
tub again and lays it on the block made of hard wood and beats it with a
hammer, in order to break off any of the powder from the test which
adheres to it. The cake is then placed on the implement similar to
tongs, laid over the tub full of water, and cleaned with a bundle of brass wire
