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

- - - - - folio image: 137r - - - - -

Huile tingente to make metal runny

Take some mercury, some real sublimate of venice, and not sublimate of arsenic, aes ustum a poix, sal ammoniac, a poix. Ground everything separately, then blend them together in a glass bottle, and put it on warm ashes. You will see that everything melts like wax, and will have bright colors. Leave to set, add a small quantity of this mixture on every metal, it will run marvelously.

at left middle margin of folio 137r

Foundry workers who make large casts to mold statues, clean the dirt from these molds with calamine, and a lot of sal ammoniac in order to make moulds clear and neat. When they want to cast they add a lot of tin. Dampness and cold could spoil their works, that is the reason why even a small source of water in the hole can damage the whole thing.