"Veluti plumbum nigrũ uocatur à Germanis blei simpliciter, od' schwartzblei: ita plumbũ candidũ ab his uocatur weissblei, od' ziñ. Impropriè autem plumbum hoc nostrum candidum ziñ, stannum dicitur. Et non sunt idem, ut hactenus voluerunt, stannum et plumbum candidum, unser ziñ. Aliud est stannum, de quo mox agemus: et aliud plumbum candidum nostrum, unser ziñ, quod nigro plumbo quasi est quiddã purius et perfectius...."
p. 62. De Stanno. Cap. XXXII.
"In præcedenti capite indicauimus aliud esse stannum, aliud esse plumbũ candidũ. Illa ergo definitio plumbi candidi, dess zinnes, etiã apud chimistas nõ de stanno, sed de plumbo candido (ut mihi uidetur) intelligenda est, cum dicunt: Stannum (es soll heyssen plumbum candidum) est metallicum album, non purum, lividum...."
p. 63. "Sic uides stannum, secundum Serapionem, metallicum esse quod reperitur in sua propria uena, ut forsitan apud nos bisemutũ: ecõtra nostrũ candidũ plumbũ, est Plinij candidũ plumbũ, das zin, quod cõflatur ut plumbum nigrum, ex pyrite, galena, et lapillis nigris. Deinde uides stannum Plinio esse quiddã de plumbo nigro, nempe primum fluorem plumbi nigri, als wann man vnser bley ertz schmeltzet, das erst das do fleüsset, zwäre Plinio stannum. Et hoc docet Plinius adulterari plũbo candido, mit vnserm zinn, vnd wann du ihm recht nachdenckest, daruon die kannen gemacht werden, das man halbwerck heist.... O ir losen vngelerten, vnckenbrenner. Stannum proculdubio Arabis metallum est preciosius nostro candido plumbo: sicuti apud nos bisemuthum quiddam plumbo preciosius."
[83] Page 27, line 21. Page 27, line 17. venas ... venis.—It is impossible to give in English this play on words between veins of ore and veins of the animal body.
[84] Page 28, line 23. Page 28, line 20. quem nos verticitatem dicimus.—See the notes on Gilbert's glossary, ante. The word verticity remained in the language. On p. 140 of Joseph Glanvill's Vanity of Dogmatizing (Lond., 1661) we read: "We believe the verticity of the Needle, without a Certificate from the dayes of old."
[85] Page 29, line 15. Page 29, line 16. Nos verò diligentiùs omnia experientes.—The method of carefully trying everything, instead of accepting statements on authority, is characteristic of Gilbert's work. The large asterisks affixed to Chapters IX. X. XI. XII. and XIII. of Book I. indicate that Gilbert considered them to announce important original magnetical discoveries. The electrical discoveries of Book II., Chapter II., are similarly distinguished. A rich crop of new magnetical experiments, marked with marginal asterisks, large and small, is to be found in Book II., from Chapter XV. to Chapter XXXIV.; while a third series of experimental magnetical discoveries extends throughout Book III.
[86] Page 31, line 30. Page 31, line 25. verticem.—The context and the heading of the Chapter appear to require verticitatem. All editions, however, read verticem.
[87] Page 32, line 12. Page 32, line 9. Gartias ab horto.—The passage from Gartias ab Horto runs as follows in the Italian edition of 1616, Dell' Historia dei Semplici Aromati.... di Don Garzia dall' Horto, Medico Portughese, ... Venezia mdcxvi., p. 208.
"Nè meno è questa pietra velenosa, si come molti hanno tenuto; imperoche le genti di queste bande dicono che la Calamita presa per bocca, però in poca