Making and Knowing
A minimal edition of BnF Ms Fr 640 in English Translation

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Freezing mercury

It can be frozen, as I tested, letting it boil one or two hours in a rather large iron pan putting, for each â„¥ of ☿, ii â„¥ of vert—de—gris and vitriol of saltpetre, each in the same quantity, with enough of the blacksmith’s old water. Or melt 4 â„¥ of tin, and when it has cooled, purify it by removing the filth on the top, then make a hole and inside there add i â„¥ of ☿ and if you remelt it, it will be like tin but it will be fragile. If you want to know if it is tin or ☿, redden a shovel and put a small piece of your ingot on the top. If it is tin, the piece will melt but remain, but if it is ☿, it will melt immediately then, crackling quite hard, it will evaporate. It must be frozen in a ladle or in a hollow crucible, and make the hole medium sized. It can also be frozen, as I tried, that is to say with aqua fortis which before corroded a bit of silver. This, mixed, will make tin and lead fluid.