ZIMENT-WATER, COPPER-WATER, in natural history, the name by which some have called water found in places where there are copper-mines, and lightly impregnated with particles of that metal.
The most famous spring of this kind is about a mile distant from Newfol in Hungary, in the great copper-mine called by the Germans bern grundt. The water in this mine is found at different depths, and is received into basons, for the purpose of separating the copper from it: in some of these it is much more sated with this metal than in others, and will make the supposed change of iron into that metal much sooner. The most common pieces of iron used in the experiments are horse-shoes, nails, and the like; and they are found very little altered in shape, after the operation, except that their surfaces are more raised. The water appears greenish in the basin, where it stands; but if a glass of it be taken up, it looks clear as crystal: it has no smell, but a strong vitriolic acridity of taste, inasmuch that the lips and tongue are blistered and scorched upon tasting it.