Making and Knowing
A minimal edition of BnF Ms Fr 640

[TOC] | [diplomatic]

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Varied and transmuted wine

Grate Brazilwood very fine, let it soak for one or two hours in clear water. Then take this tinted water and add some clear water and you will make wine as clear as you like. If you please, put a drop of juice of lemon or of orange in it and it will immediately become white. You can drink it without danger.

Pearls

It is said that pulverised talc blown into a lamp renders them thus.

Arquebusier

To shoot your arquebus precisely the end of the breech must come precisely on the edge of the light, because like this the powder catches fire and burns all at once without blowing and has more strength and does not recoil. On the contrary, if the breech is made hollow, as they commonly are, the powder catches more quickly in this place, makes it recoil, and blows. This is clearly shown by a arquebus with a chamber which recoils more than another. And since the cannon is bigger at the breech than at the muzzle the sights are also uneven, because that at the breech is higher than that at the muzzle. Additionally, the thickness of the cannon is greater than the caliber by about one line, and the sight by another. It would therefore be necessary to either make the cannon all of one size or to raise the barrel from the end and towards the muzzle, and push it in and lower towards the breech. The weight of the powder must be one third of the weight of the bullet.

Hail shot for the arquebus

If you want that it stays together put a piece of felt or leather or paper on it, depending on the distance, and let the piece be made with a form precisely cut depending on the caliber of the arquebus.