Batman vppon Bartholome his booke De proprietatibus rerum, newly corrected, enlarged and amended: with such additions as are requisite, vnto euery seuerall booke: taken foorth of the most approued authors, the like heretofore not translated in English. Profitable for all estates, as well for the benefite of the mind as the bodie. 1582.

Of Ere. chap. 37

BRasse is called Es, & hath that name of shining of aire, as Isidore sayth. For in old time ere the vse of yron was knowen, men eared land with brasse, & fought therewith in warre and battaile. That time golde and siluer were forsa∣ken, and golde is now in the most wor∣ship, so age that passeth and vadeth, changeth times of things. Isidore sayth these wordes libro. 16. Brasse and Cop∣per is called Fa, for either is made of the same stone by working of fire, for a stone resolued with heat turneth into Brasse.

Iob. 28. Brasse & Copper be made in this maner, as other mettalls be of brimstone & quick siluer, & that hapneth when ther is more of brimstone then of quicke sil∣uer, & the brimstone is earthly & not pure, with red coulour & burning, and quicke siluer is meane and not subtill. Of such meddeling Brasse is gendered, as Arist. saith, and as Isidore saith, ca. de Ere. If Brasse be meddeled with other mettal, it chaungeth both coulour and vertue, as it fareth in Latton & in Brasse, that is cal∣led Conchium, that is ioyned to diuerse mettalls, and some is white as siluer, & draweth some deale to browne colour, & séemeth golde, the third in which is tem∣peratnesse of all. And another manner of Brasse ther is, y^t which is called Corona∣rium, that is beaten abroade into shinne plates of brasse, wrought with hammer, & is died with Buls bloud, and is like to gold in crowns among posturing & pain∣ting Therfore it is called Coronarium, And Brasse y^t is wrought with hammer is called Regular. And Brasse, y^e onely is melted, is called Fusile, but Brasse that is fusile & molt, is brittle vnder the ham∣mer: And when Brasse is well purged & cleansed of all vices, then it is made able to be wrought with hammer & Regular. And all Brasse is best molt in great cold: Brasse rusteth soone but it be nointed w^t oile. Also among al mettal Brasse is most mighty. Huc vsque Isi. li.16. And Brasse accordeth most to the vse of trumps and Belles, for sounding and during thereof. The stone of the which Brasse is blow∣en, is most sad and hard. And it breaketh not easily, but it be burnt first with strōg fire in the rocke, it is burnt: eight or nine times ere it be perfectly drawen out of the stone and pured, as they that cleanse Brasse in places where it is made, tell certainly. Brasen vessells be some redde and rustie, but they bée oft stoured with sand: and haue an evill se••uond and smell, but they be tinned. Also Brasse if it bée without Tin, burneth soone, as Isidore saith, cap. de Stanno, and Platea, sayeth, that Brasse burnt to pouder hath vertue of dissoluing, of washing, of cleansing, & of purging of euill humours. And that powder healeth woundes, and cleanseth dimnesse of cien, and fretteth superfluity of flesh; and suffereth it to growe no more, as Platea sayth, and Dioscorides also.

(* 1.1Of the rust of Brasse commeth a bliew substance called Verdigrese, which as it is a colour for Painters, so it is a fretting poison, vsed in ointments, on fe∣stured sores.)

Notes

• * 1.1

  Additiō.