Note b — BOOK III.
Reading edition
As to the Growth of Metals, there is great Reason to suspect that also, from what Mr. Boyl hath alledged in his Observations about the Growth of Metals: And in his Scept. Chym. Part 6. pag. 362. Compare also Hakewil’s Apol. pag. 164.
And particularly as to the Growth of Iron, to the Instances he gives from Pliny, Fallopius, Cæsalpinus, and others; we may add, what is well known in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire: That the best Iron, and most in Quantity, that is found there, is in the old Cinders, which they melt over again. This is the Author of the Additions to Gloucestershire in Cambd. Brit. of the last Edition, p. 245. attributes to the Remissness of the former Melters, in not exhausting the Ore: But in all Probability it is rather to be attributed to the new Impregnations of the old Ore, or Cinders, from the Air, or from some seminal Principle, or plastick Quality in the Ore it self.