"There was very little use or consumption of quicksilver before the beginning of this new Silver age in the world, then they only wasted it in Mercury sublimate, Cinabrio, or Vermillion, and the powders made thereof called Precipitate, which are also called in Spain the powders of Juanes de Vigo, which have been used to such mischievous purposes that the world was said to have too much of them, although in bulk and quantity then they had but little; but since it hath been used to collect the Silver together out of Oar, which is ground small (an invention which the Ancients had scarcely arrived to, and practised it but very little), it is incredible how great a quantity is consumed by the Founders of Metals of this Kingdom: for if the abundance of Silver that hath gone out of this Kingdom hath filled the world with riches and admiration, by it may be estimated the consumption and loss of Quicksilver, which after a most extravagant expense thereof at first, being now by good experience regulated within terms of moderation, is found to be equal in weight to the Silver extracted; and very seldom that the waste is so little."