p055v - - - - - [continued]
for fifteen days. Next you will break it sc. the bottle from a good distance & with a long stick without looking at it & your eyes covered, you will put it where you want, or rub a little in a running river or on a tree or on grass that is on the bank.
Another for waters
Toad in a pot, with quicklime, who will consume all this powder, next and.
Damascus steel
Distil some worms on one side & some horseradish leaf on the other & mix these two waters, as much one as the other, and do the tempering in that.
To know one’s course in open sea
Soak a piece of cloth in oil, then attach it to the poop of the boat so that it is dipped in the water, and it will make a trail that will be visible for ten leagues since the water parts wherever the oil has passed.
For casting
Chalk most recently taken from the quarry is good for lead. One ought not grind wet, but rather grind finely while pestling or scraping through a sieve. Thus for pumice, which one ought not grind with water, nor corrupt its natural state. Lead should be slightly mixed with tin, in order only to give it strength, and two parts oftinfor of lead for of one of tin or more.