Concerning The Ore Of Lead And Its Generation.

I SHALL proceed in this chapter to tell you about lead. Because this metal is overabundant in wateriness, and also because it has its other substances in poor elemental mixture, it is highly impure. It is called an imperfect, leprous, and little-fixed metal, which it clearly shows itself to be because of the ease of liquefying it and because it is easily converted largely into a dross that is almost earthy and also because of the stain that it leaves when it rubs against anything. Nevertheless, when we consider its effects, we judge it to be a metal that we are greatly indebted to. Even though Nature in creating us has put into our souls such a thirst and desire