Second, since conjectures have their place in hidden matters, I agree, in accordance with all this and my practice thus far, with the previously mentioned author of the True Chemical Foundations, without prejudicing the judgment of someone more experienced. As the universal spirit encounters pure or impure, warm or cold places, veins or shafts in the earth, and then, after thickening, a predisposed matter and womb, so one metal or another—gold, silver, copper or something else—results.

For the rest, Basilius Valentinus has written beautifully and plausibly about mines, their origin, nature and properties, and metallic generation, especially in his use of miners’ expressions. This may be very useful to an investigator of the art for the purpose explained above, and I refer him to it.