The exact nature of the shining or brilliant earth mentioned in this recipe and the following one is impossible to determine.
7. Another {Recipe).
In addition to these recipes (is) also the following. Galatian copper '/j part,
silver, and ordinary tin, which the western Iberians among whom it is
produced call bulla just as the Romans do. The copper is first melted,
then the silver, and after two heatings, the tin. Then when the whole
has become soft, remelt it many times and cool with brilliant earth,
held in readiness, which is previously dissolved in spring water. Take
out and quench the resulting lumps, heat them again, and indeed many
times, until very white silver comes from them. Remove then and
shingle, rub and polish with talc, and work up the silver thus doubled.
And tripling is done in the same way with the above-mentioned
distribution of weights.
8. (No Title.)
On
the other hand, an inexhaustible mass can be prepared from the
foregoing recipe for doubling. Take off 8 drachmas from the lump, mix
just as many drachmas of silver with the lump, and remelt it at the
same time. Do this three times, cool, and set away in talc.
9. Manufacture of Silver.
Buy
charcoal which the smiths use and soften it in vinegar one day. After
that, take 1 ounce of copper, soak it thoroughly in alum, and melt it.
After that, take 8 ounces of merÂcury but pour out the mercury thus
measured into a secretion of poppy juice. Take also 1 ounce of silver.
Put these materials together and melt; and when you have melted them,
put the lumps so formed in a copper vessel with the urine of a pregnant
animal and iron filing dust (for) 3 days. And the singular cloudiness
which you will get on taking out is a sign of the natural fluctuation
by which the mixture finds itself of equal composition by weight.
10. Whitening of Pearls.
To
make brownish pearls white when this is due to smoke. Take about 1
obulus of honey which is unadulterated and add to it 2 cups of cistern
water. Make honey water out of this and pour it in a small jar. Bruise
fig root small and put it in. If it pops while you are cooking it
remove away from the fire and calm it with the liquor. After you have
made it really soft, and have stirred and measured it with the nail,
smear the pearls with it and let it harden. Wipe it off with a pure
linen rag and the pearls will at once show their whiteness. If they do
not yet appear to you to have become entirely white, coat them anew,
for the more you coat them and wipe them off the whiter they become.
However, when it is cooked, do not cook it again, but use it all at
once (and) at the same time.
11. Another (Recipe).
Take
the pieces of mother of pearl or the pearls and put them into bitch's
milk. Put the cover upon the vessel and leave it there 2 days and 2
nights. Draw them out, as they lie there strung on asses' hair, and
observe whether they have become white. If not, put them in again until
they become excellent in this respect. If you afterwards besmear a man
with this he becomes leprous.
12. Another (Recipe).
By
the following procedure one likewise makes papyrus sheets, which are
written upon, clean again so that they appear as though they never had
been written upon. Take and disÂsolve natron in water. Then put in,
when the soda solution has formed, 1 part of raw earth, 1 part of
Cimolian earth, and cow's milk in addition so that all of it comes to a
glutinous mixture. Then mix in oil of mastic and daub it on with a
feather. Let it dry and then scale it off and you will find the pearls
white. If they are a deep yellow, daub it on again. If dealing with a
papyrus sheet only coat the characters.
