164 N A T U R ttS ffc t H I S T O R Y
their tin into the,purity:and toughnefe of :the;Tprefeirt;)age.^Sfl?hefe
nodules I look.upon ilfo. as fragments o f melted tin fcattereji from
the Jewilh metóog-houfes.: *|
sect, vi, f ,, Tin is^affo found,among the Jhme and finds óf rite s andiof the
h&id and ,(as iafomê creeks oLFélmouth' harbour feveral lords Lof
the foil havé lately.experiencèd>ta-their advantage) walhed down
probably from the hiüs,. jmd.-refting in fuch Iheltered fttuations
that the fea has not power to carry it off. This was pr'dbably the
firft pofition in which tin was difeovered ; for in thp Ohaldee
fignifies flime» mud, or dirt; and when .the PhenioiaJis came here,
and faw {this metal in its fiimy béd,, they called it the Mud, - by way
o f eminence, and thence has the name Tin! (in Cornubritifti Stean,
in Latin Stannum) proceeded, and is frill Continued.
Not only creeks and, rivers, fiutv^fometimes the opeu fea, I
have feea in Mount’s Bay) throws'in the fame.metal to;tig in a pulverized
ftate. In fuch open bays the tin Comes probably from fome
lodes, which, lying bare to the fea-, have their uppef-parts«fretted
off, and by ftorms thrown in among the lands.
sect.vh. That tin . grows, or is formed anew where there was none Iw-
^ ^ ^ f o r e , in any other fenfe than by approximation of lik e partieles
metals grow, mover! from cine place^ to another,:'.is, dn, m^humble;» opjn^®)^^ a
miftake. That by fortuitous concourfe (for what ageh'ey as it .that
condufls them) frilphur, quickfilver, -or ar^'-othéf' 'principles in different
proportions, conipreflèd by cold’, or evaporated aridrfoppled
by heat, can be fo exactly forted as to form'a metal,' ièems tojne
altogether as impoflible as that the types of a printer fhould beebme
words and fentences by being cafually thrown together. The parts o f
metals are indeed varioufly irivo&ëd, paft into difiercrit nidus s. or ce-
ments, from malleable and metallic become, lapideous, from lapideous
again metallic. The ore is tranflated from önè part of the mine to
another, and is renewed where it has been exhaufted; the metal isrfry
fire or ufe wafted, diffipated, and loft; yet, i f it could
ed, might again become metallic ; but tih is . no where formed
but by the peculiar metallic principles of tin concurring, nor iron
but by thofe of iron. The formation óf metals was not left to the
accidental occafional combinations of diftinét ingredients: their
principles and criterions were all created in their proper kind-; one
metal or mineral may mix with another, and remain dilguifed for
a time, but never changed. Sulphur and quickfilver, and other
minerals as well as metals, may have tin in their fubftances, and by
proper magnets and folvents, will doubt-left diftnifs that tin, and
remain as much fulphur and quickfilver as they were before; but
O F G O R N W A L L. 165
frfi adroit and exa£t a mixture of any principles in the bowels of
thfe éarib, as to conftitute one peculiar metal unalterably remaining
itfelf, "and not tranlmutable intoany other, feems to me inconceiyeable,
if not impoftible ; the conftancy, and immutability o f metals, muft
be irrefragable arguments of thçir being created bodies fu i gmeris,
diftina from each other, and from all other bodies of the univerfe,
and o f their growing only by juxta pofition. However, learned
men are of various opinions, and.-tfiofe more efpecially whofe pro-
feftion it is to .refolve bodies .inf§ |heir original principles,, a rid determine
the’ number, Ipits, and «quantity of the ingretifeajts which
compofe them”. It is true all bodies whichcome,under our obler-
vation are compounded, hut, not to range beyond the! fpbjeâ: .of
our. prefent? enquiry, every metal has -.its' peculiar çiara&.erilHcle
from which it will not depart, nor change into any other metal ;
each therefore .has.,fome diftinét principle which others have riot ;
for i f ^11 metals, are but mixtures of the fame principles in. different
portions and different degrees of refinement, why will they not by
,any lubtraâion .pf fire or ipfeents, or addition made to any one
principle, become a left refined and inferiour, an intermediate or
new, or a more refined and more valuable metal ? In other words,
why will not tin become lead or filver; and gold become copper,
and vice verja?
Having now confidered the feveral ftates and fituations in which sEcr.vnr.
tin-is found, it muft be obferved, that tin does hot .appear fo fre- Several way*
quently in either or all of them together, but that people are. per- ^^Sda?
petually fearching after more, and endeavouring to make frefti covering tin.
difcoveries.
-, T o fiy nothing of dreams and fires by night, motives equally
illufive, though prevalent ftilj. among the Vulgar, few of the Cor-
nifh have ever heard of the virgula divinatoria, and its virtue in
difeovering metallic lodes ", neither are they often (perhaps not fo
often as they ftiould be) directed by the tafte and colour of waters:
the run of a lode is fometimes difeovered by the barrennefi of the
furface and want or weaknefs of graft in a. particular furrow; thus
in the tenement of Trenethick, in St. Agnes parifh, though the
field is cultivated equally in every part, you can diftinguilh the
courfe of the lode, by the unequal growth of the graft ; this
muft be owing to one of thefe two caufes, either there is fo much
mineral filt below the foil, that the roots of plants are parched,
m See Agricola de re met. lib, v. Ni dine its upper twigs, (by admitting into it’s pores
, the mineral (team) in cale it pa lies over any
" The virgula divinatoria is a (mall forked metallic vein. Some perfons in Germany are
hazel wand', which, being carried (lowly over any ftill credulous enough to be fond of thefe magical
area of ground, Will bend, it is iuppofed, andin- inveftigatians.
U u or