The Method Of Assaying A Quantity Of Silver That Contains Gold.

HAVING taught you to make aqua fortis and to cleanse and reduce it to perfection, before I teach you the work of parting on a large scale, I wish now to teach you how to make an assay of the amount of gold present in a quantity of silver, so that you may proceed to your work with open eyes in order to become aware of mistakes when you have erred yourself or have been deceived by someone else. Therefore it is necessary to know very exactly, before you take it out, how much gold should be in your cucurbits from the weight of the silver that you put in. Thus you may see the gain or loss, if you had to deliver it to someone else or if you had bought it. If you did not do this you would proceed blindly in your work.