Rasadhyaya 242_286

242_286

Having melted one part of pure copper in a crucible, then four parts of realgar, likewise four parts of killed lead, and likewise four parts of blue vitriol: / having thus powdered these twelve parts, casting them little by little into the copper, one should melt it until only the copper remains. / This is declared as the lead amalgam. / He states the result of the blue vitriol and lead amalgams: with the words 'of the metals exalted by amalgam', etc. Having made powder of the metal of all four amalgams, each amalgam / should be digested sequentially in mercury to eight times [the quantity] by the method of mercury mentioned previously. Such is the rule for preparing amalgams. / Thus the fourth, the lead amalgam.