7. Of the Powder so fix’d from Mercury, only the 72ᵈ Part remains fix’d in this Fire, the rest returns to Mercury.
8. Twenty-two Grains were lost. Were they dispers’d? or was this Quantity of Weight first accreted to the Mercury by Fire, thence again separated by a stronger Fire?
9. The Nature of Mercury is constant, simple, and cannot be separated into dissimilar Parts by Distillation; not into fix’d and volatile; not into pure and impure; not into feces and defecated; not into different Elements.
Experiment IX.
I put thirteen Grains of this last fix’d Powder ([VIII.]) into a Crucible, and set it over an open Fire before the Bellows: I increas’d the Heat of the Fire, by blowing till the whole Crucible was red hot: I kept it so for a Quarter of an Hour. The Powder remain’d fix’d in the Bottom, but swell’d up like a Spunge, and of a dark Colour. From hence I learn’d that this Powder had acquired a considerable Degree of Fixedness by Fire alone.
Experiment X.
Then I added to this fix’d Powder ([IX.]) some Borax in a Crucible, and increased the Fire by blowing. It became one Mass, brittle, growing like Glass, and fix’d in this great Fire.