posted 11-30-2009 11:40 AM            

Aqua fortis, or "strong water," in alchemy, is a corrosive solution of nitric acid (HNO3) in water.

tutenague
from Universal Geography, 1824:

quote:

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.....Silver mines are abundant in China, but are little worked; perhaps the ignorance of the Chinese is the cause of that circumstance. Gold is chiefly obtained from the sand of the rivers in the provinces of Se-tchuen and Yun-nan, near the frontiers of Thibet. No gold or silver money is coined. The tutenague is a white metallic substance, of which the Chinese make vessels and chandeliers. Its exact nature is still a problem. Some say that tutenague is the name given by the Chinese to zinc; others consider the tutenague of China as an artificial mixture of different metals, while the tutenague of India, according to them, is pure zinc without any alloy of lead.* M. de Guignes affirms that it is a native mixture of lead and iron peculiar to China. The province of Hou-quang contains a mine which furnishes it in great abundance.

The yellow copper of Yun-nan and other provinces is Copper. used for making the small coin which is current through the whole empire. But there is also a peculiar copper of a white colour, which the Chinese call petung, or according to some pa-kfong. The knowledge which we have of this metal does not enable us to decide on its precise nature. According to Rinumaun it is a composition of copper, nickel, and iron. To render it softer it is alloyed with tutenague, or what answers better, a fifth part of silver. .....

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