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Example of Alfaying Gold.

fcale the standard weight, and in the other the affay piece, and if deficient, put in as many ounces, pennyweights, &c. as are fufficient to balance; thus there is in the scale with the Silver 1 oz. dwts. and a half; then is your Silver reported worfe by 1 oz. 3 dwts. and a half; on the other hand, if the affay is heavier than the standard, you put in weight enough to make them balance, and report the Silver better by that additional weight which you put in. If they balance even of themselves, the report is standard; and if you have only 2 oz. left of your affay, then report it two ounces of fine Silver in the pound.

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Gold is generally done this way the furnace; by mixing it with a proper quantity of Silver, and adding Lead to refine it on the copple, may be done eafily by this fhort procefs. Likewise Gold partings and common partings fhould be performed by thefe operations and then finifh the procefs as before, fubtracting the Silver from the Gold. Alfo Metal aflays, containing only 10 dwts. of fine Silver in a pound of Copper, are done in fixteen minutes; Silver aflays nearly ftandard in eight minutes; Silver, 2 oz. worfe than standard, in ten or twelve minutes; and Gold in twenty minutes.

Sometimes, for amufement, I have taken a piece of uncertain Silver, just 12 grs. and by a pair of fcales that will only turn to the 10th part of a grain, have been enabled to afcertain the value by this fhort proccfs in a few minutes, to the nicety of 2 dwts. in the pound. Sir John Pettus, in the firft book of his Fleta Minor on Silver Ores, fays, "If you are in a place where no aflay ovens are, and yet would make a few aflay trials in hafte, you should place a few tiles together in a fquare, leaving in the fides wind-holes, and in the forepart a mouth-hole; and with a pipkin cut in two, make a muffle in it. In fuch furnaces, affays and trials may be well performed." How much eafier is my method with a copple, a fmall crucible, and a handful of charcoal.

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

The copples, made of bone afhes in mould, for thefe proceffes, fhould b about an inch over, and made fometim before they are wanted. A coppl ferves but once.

For fhort proceffes, half affays are beft being leaft trouble, and equally accurat if done right.

In order to judge the goodnefs of Sil ver, break it, that the grain may be feen Gold, if fine, or nearly ftandard, wil cut foft.

To recover your Silver diffolved in the Aqua-fortis, pour fix or eight times the quantity of pure water to it, and throw in a piece of Copper, and you will foon fee the Silver fall to the bottom. But there are other ways of precipitating the Silver, as by fixed alcali's and abforbent earths; but by Copper it is commonly performed.

Much of the counterfeit Yorkshire Gold was worth from 31. 12s. to 31. 15s. per oz. by the affay.

There are feveral other observations in the art of aflaying, which can only be learnt by a little practice, and which will be no obftacle to a perfon who is inclined to learn this pleafing and useful

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By an attention to thefe inftructions, the refiners, who are liable to be daily impofed upon, may make their own affays, and try any ingot; of Gold or Silver in a few minutes. Artificers in Gold and Silver will not be obliged to wait thote tedious delays, fo deftructive to business; nor need the country fhopkeeper, who perhaps. lives one hundred miles from an affay office, be any longer obliged to wait for feveral days before he knows the value of any metal that may be offered him, or purchased by him; and a person who trades in foreign countries may by this means easily know the true value of his bullion, before he brings it home, only by the help of a fmall apparatus.

Thus have I given to the public the fimple procefs of trying Gold and Silver in a few minutes.

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LIVES OF EMINENT MAGICIANS, &c.

A MYSTERIOUS PHILOSOPHER.

ROBERT Fludd, furnamed DE. FLUCTIBUS, was a celebrated phyfician and Roficrucian philofopher. He was the fecond fon of Sir Thomas Fludd treasurer of war to Queen Elizabeth, and was born at Milgate in Kent in 1574. He received his education at St. John's College Oxford: and after taking his degrees in arts, attached himfelf to phyfic, and spent about fix years in his travels through the principal countries in Europe. He proceeded Dr. of Phyfic in 1605, and about the fame time fettled at London, and was made a Fellow of the College of Phyficians. He was a very voluminous writer in way, and of his fect almoft the only one who ever became eminent in this kingdom. He was, however, a man of great capacity and penetration, and the moft learned mathematician of his age. His acuteness and extenfive genius, which, at once penetrated the profoundelt fecrets of nature, caufed him to be deemed a magician in the age he lived in; but the more judicious part of mankind who admired his ingenuity, gave him the appellation of the SEEKER, and which he well deserved for his application and industry to the moft abftrufe parts of the occult sciences, diving into the most myfterious obfcurities of the Roficrucian philofophy, and blending in a moit extraordinary manner the facred mysteries of divinity with the abstract nature of Alchymy and even Chymiftry, natural philofophy and metaphyfics; fo that Bacon rightly files him Philofophica Miracula, for he carried his mystical meanings even to the bedfides of his patients, many of whom, and perfons of quality, had wonderful confidence in his skill, and accordingly we find him in great reputation for his medical capacity. The vulgar always admire what they do not understand, and with them what

Rochefter fays is very true, viz. " a charms are nonsense, nonsense has a charm." It certainly raised their spirits by infpiring them with a greater confidence in his kill, and thereby greatly contributed to their cure. However, he was not fo well received at home as abroad. The celebrated Gaffendus, had a controversy with him, which fhews at least that he was not confidered in his day as an infignificant writer among the learned foreign world. He died in Coleman-ftreet, London, September 8, 1637. Wood has given an exact lift of his works, which are mostly written in Latin. In these are fome very fingular prints, which a late celebrated critic obferved were not to be understood but by a fecond fighted adept. His MOSAIC PHILOSOPHY, which we have in Englifh, is but a fmall part of his works, and it appears that from this part of his writings, the modern non defcript fci. ence of animal magnetifin was revived after flumbering upwards of a century, It is faid he poffeffed all the MSS. of the famous Simon Forman the aftrologer.

A SINGULAR ENGLISH METAPHY SICAL AND OCCULT GENIUS.

John Hutchinson, an eminent Englifh writer, and who may be confidered as the founder of a fect, as fome divines of the church of England have efpoufed his fentiments with great warmth. He was born at Spennythorn in Yorkshire, in the year 1674. His father intending to qualify him for being a steward to fome nobleman or gentleman, gave him what learning the place afforded; and while he was confidering whither to fend him, for his farther qualification, a gentleman came into that neighbourhood, and being defirous of boarding in fome reputable family, was recommended to Mr. Hutchinfon the father, who finding that he was both a fenfible and a learned man, communicated to him his H 2

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intentions concerning his fon; and the gentleman, who had taken a liking to the youth, agreed to instruct him in every branch of learning proper for the employment for which he was defigned, on condition that the father should entertain him in his houfe while he should think proper to stay in thofe parts. The father chearfully agreed to thefe terms, and his gueft inftructed his fon in every branch of the mathematics, and at the fame time furnished him with a competent knowledge of the celebrated writings of antiquity. But the But the gentleman fo induftriously concealed every circumstance relating to himfelf, that not fo much as his name was known. At nineteen years of age our author became fteward to Mr. Bathurst, of Skutterskelf in Yorkshire, from whofe fervice he afterwards removed into that of the duke of Somerfet. About the year 1700 he came to London to manage a lawfuit between the duke and another nobleman; and, while he was in town, contracted an acquaintance with Dr. Woodward, who was phyfician to the duke his mafter. Between the years 1702 and 1706, his bufinefs carried him into feveral parts of England and Wales, and as he travelled from place to place, he employed himfelf in collecting foffils; and we are told, that the noble collection of them which Dr. Woodward bequeathed to the univerfity of Cambridge, was made by him. Mr. Hutchinfon is faid to have put his collections into Dr. Woodward's hands, with obfervations on them, which the doctor was to digeft, and publish with farther obfervations of his own; but the doctor putting him off from time to time with excufes, gave him unfavourable notions of his integrity; and he complains in one of his books, that he was bereft, in a manner not to be mentioned, of thofe obfervations and thofe collections, may even of the credit of being the collector. He refolved therefore to wait no longer, but to trust to his own pen; and, in order to be more at leifure to profecute his ftudies, quitted the service of the duke of Somerfet, who

being then master of the horse to king George I. made him his riding purveyor, which is a kind of finecure, with a falary of 200l. per annum. He now gave himself up to a studious and fedentary life, and in the year 1724 publifhed the firit part of his Mofes's Principia, in which he explains all fciences by the difcoveries he pretends to make from the Hebrew text of the books of Mofes, and not only ridicules Dr. Woodward's Natural History of the Earth, but Sir Ifaac Newton's Principia. From this time till his death, he continued publishing a volume every year, or every other year; which, with the manufcripts he left behind him, were published in 1748, in twelve volumes 8vo. On the Monday before his death, Dr. Mead urged him to be bled, faying pleasantly, "I will foon feud you to Mofes !" meaning to his ftudies; but Mr. Hutchinson taking it in the literal fenfe, answered in a muttering tone, "I believe, doctor, you will," and was fo difplcafed, that he difiniffed him for another phyfician. He died on the 28th of Auguft, 1737, aged fixty-three. His works abound with ill language, and discover a violent propensity to perfecution and cruelty.

THOMAS TOPHAM.

Thomas Topham, commonly called the Strong Man, was a famous boxer, remarkable alfo for his dexterity and ftrength. He was bred to no mechanical employment, but spent fome years of his life as a failor before the mast on board a man of war; and was not confcious of his own fuperiour strength till one day, getting drunk, and quarrelling with the cook, he pulled out the iron bars of the grate by laying hold of them in the middle, and bending them violently forward, fo as to force off the rivettings at each end. After this the fhip's company was continually foliciting him to fhew fome feat of his strength; and when they came to Portfmouth, the people that came with liquor in a bomb-boat, having heard of his fame,

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Life of an ingenicus Mechanic.

were very folicitous to fee fome of his performances, particularly an old Irifh woman, who had handed him up fome beer in a large filver tankard; when the tankard was empty, Topham held it over the fide of the veffel to be filled again, upon which the woman cried out, "Tommy! do, God love you, let's fee what you can do!" "Well, fays Topham, take your tankard then," and reaching it down, he preffed it between his finger and thumb with such force, that when the old woman received it, it was flat as a pancake. "Tush now, faid the old woman, and by Jefus, my dear, why could not you iqueeze it without marring the fhap!"

He frequently exhibited in public, and one day as he was performing fome flights of hand in a large room at a public houfe near the city, an athletic hero who chanced to be among the fpectators, with a kind of fullen difcontent, broke out in a strain of eloquence peculiar to his clafs: "What fignifies this fellow's playing his legerdemain tricks! its all artifice; there's many a better man than he is, that walks the streets every hour in the day. I'll fhew you prefently what he's made of!"-Upon which he goes down to Topham and gives him a formal challenge to box him before the company: Topham furveyed him with fome furprize and much contempt, but, yet without any malignity," Boxing, fays he, is not my trade, and I have no quarrel with you, nor you with me, why then should we fight?" the champion now became more vociferous than before; he mistook Topham's phlegm for cowardice, and infifting upon his accepting the challenge not without fome terms of reproach, Topham, at length, feemed to confent; "But, cocky, fays he, as we fight for honour, let us be friends; come, give me your paw!" the hero condefcended to ftretch out his hand, which Topham taking hold of, griped it harder and harder, till after making many wry faces and contortions, the fellow roared out like a bull; upon which Topham immedi

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ately letting him go, he went quietly back to his feat without fpeaking a word, to the no fmall diverfion of the company, from which he was foon expelled by hoots of derifion and contempt, and the clamorous applause that was bestowed on the man he had infulted.

He kept a public houfe at Iflington, which had for the fign the figure of himfelf. He there exhibited his uncommon feats of activity and prowess, of which Dr. Defaguliers has given an account in a paper which he communicated to the Royal Society, and which may be read in the Tranfactions of that learned body.

AN INGENIOUS MECHANIC.

JOHN Harrison, a'celebrated English mechanician, was, from his earliest childhood, attached to any machinery moving by wheels, as appeared while he lay fick of the fmall-pox, about the 6th year of his age; when he had a watch placed open upon his pillow, to amufe himself by contemplating on the movement. In 1700, he removed with his father to Barrow in Lincolnshire, where, though his opportunities of acquiring knowledge were very few, he eagerly improved every incident from which he might collect information; frequently employing all, or great part of his nights, in writing, or drawing: and he always acknowledged his obligations to a clergyman who came every Sunday to officiate in the neighbourhood, who lent him a MS. copy of Profeffor Sanderfon's Lectures, which he carefully and neatly tranfcribed, with all the diagrams. His native genius exerted itself fuperior to thefe folitary difadvantages; for in the year 1726 he had conftructed two clocks, moftly of wood, in which he applied the cfcapement and compound pendulum of his own invention: thefe furpaffed every thing then made, fcarcely erring a fecond in a month. In 1728, he came up to London with the drawings of a machine

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Improvements by Mr. Harrifon.

for determining the longitude at fea, in expectation of being enabled to execute one by the board of longitude. Upon application to Dr. Halley, he referred him to Mr. George Graham, who, difcovering he had uncommon merit, advifed him to make his machine before he applied to the board of longitude. He returned home to perform this tafk, and, in 1735, came to London again with his firft machine; with which he was fent to Lisbon the next year for a trial of its properties. In this fhort voyage he corrected the dead reckoning about a degree and a half, a fuccefs that proved the means of his receiving both public and private encouragement. About the year 1739, he compleated his fecond machine, of a conftruction much more fimple than the former, and which anfwered much better: this, though not fent to fea, recommended Mr. Harrison yet ftronger to the patronage of his private friends and of the public. His third machine, which he produced in 1749, was ftill less complicated than the fecond, and fupe rior in accuracy, as erring only three or four feconds in a week. This he conceived to be the ne plus ultra of his attempts; but, in an endeavour to improve pocket-watches, he found the principles he applied to furpafs his expectations fo much, as to encourage him to make his fourth Time-keeper, which is in the form of a pocket-watch, about fix inches in diameter. With this Time-keeper his fon made two voy ages, the one to Jamaica, and the other to Barbadoes; in both which experiments it corrected the longitude within the nearest limits required by the act of the 12th of Queen Anne: and the inventor therefore, at different times, though not without infinite trouble, received the propofed reward of 20,000l. These four machines were given up to the Board of Longitude. The three former were not of any ufe, as all the advintages gained by making them, were comprehended in the laft: they were worthy, however, of being carefully preferved as mechanical curiofities, in

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which might be traced the gradations of ingenuity, executed with the moft delicate workmanship! whereas they now lie totally neglected, in the Royal Obfervatory at Greenwich. The fourth machine, emphatically diftinguished by the name of the Time-keeper, has been copied by the ingenious Mr. Kendal; and that duplicate, during a three years circumnavigation of the globe, in the fouthern hemisphere with Captain Cook, anfwered as well as the original. The latter part of Mr. Harriton's life was employed in making a fifth improved Time-keeper, on the fame principles with the preceding one; which at the end of a ten weeks trial, in 1772, at the King's private Obfervatory at Rich. mond, erred only four and half feconds. Within a few years of his deat conftitution vifibly declined, and he had frequent fits of the gout, a diforder that never attacked him before his 77th year: he died at his houfe in Red-lion fquare, London, the 24th of March, 1776, aged 83. The reclufe manner of his life in the unre.nitted pursuit of his favourite object was by no means calculated to qualify him as a man of the world, and the many difcouragements he encountered, in foliciting the legal reward of his labours, ftill lefs difpofed him to accommodate himself to the humours of mankind. In converfing on his profeffion, he was clear, distinct, and modest, yet, like many other mere mechanics, found a difficulty in delivering his meaning by writing; in which he adhered to a peculiar and uncouth phrafeology. This was but too evident in his defcription concerning such Mechanifin as will afford a nice or true Menfuration of Time, &c. 8vo, 1775; which his well known mechanical talents will induce the public to account for from his unacquaintance with letters, from his advanced age, and attendant mental infirmities; among which may be ranked his obftinate refufal to accept of any assistance whatever in this publication. This fmall work includes alfo an account of his new musical scale; or mechanical divifion

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