"In the year 1629, Brun, an apothecary residing in the town of Bergerac, in France, melted two pounds six ounces of tin, and in six hours, the whole was converted into a calx, which weighed seven ounces more than the tin employed. Brun astonished at this circumstance, (for it was not then known that metals experienced an encrease of weight during their calcination,) communicated it to John Rey, a physician of Perigord, who, in 1630, published a tract upon the subject, in which he justly refers the encrease of weight to the absorption of air. "Thus," says Rey, in the fanciful language of the period, "have I succeeded in liberating this surprising truth from the dark dungeons of obscurity; which was vainly, but laboriously, sought after by Cardan, Scaliger, [Augustus Henricus] Faschius [or Augustin Heinrich Fasch], Cœsalpinus, and Libavius. Others may search for it, but in vain, unless they pursue the royal road which I have cleared. The labour has been mine—the profit is the reader's—the glory is from above!""