When Asbjörn and Haera come back after an hour or so, they can see something is serious and we hold a meeting with them and their daughters, along with my company.

We explain the same thing about metals, allergies and how the body reacts to them, and a sufficient amount of metal in the body, will make one sick. Even gold, silver and copper, and never using lead in anything to do with food or drink, while storing water in copper vessels overnight makes it healthier and reduces the risk of disease. Just the fact that the mansions water is stored in copper vessels helps to make all the people in the house a little healthier. Dishwashers doesn't exist, but I still point out that if they are going to start storing water in copper vessels, the vessels must be cleaned by hand, not with something that is too aggressive or abrasive, because in the long run it can give too much copper, which is bad. There is no cure for that too. Everything is a balance.

Jane and I have to specifically answer questions about certain things, and I give more examples, which become a little more important when white gold is mentioned for certain special jewellery because it quickly becomes clear that it can probably only be made here with nickel as whitening. I don't know all the alloys, but Jane knows that real white gold is more expensive than gold, because it probably use platinum as whitening, and here where they don't have that, she will avoid white gold as some one carrying a plague. White gold isn't much of an issue here in the north as they consider true gold to be more valuable and clearer proof of wealth. When they talk about silver metal flowing like water - which is mercury - I warn them that it is worse than lead and that they should never touch it. If they have small wounds, it enters the body. It takes time before they get sick, but it is very toxic and it reacts with so many other things in nature that it is difficult to say how toxic just mercury is, but a lump as large as a dice can kill if eaten. However, there is another metal that is really dangerous. Arsenic. It's everywhere, but is harder to identify than mercury and I do not know how to do this.

Asbjörn, Haera and the princesses just silently look at each other, but we can see that they, just like the others, understands the consequences. They are very careful and ask if it is sejd, and I say no and Jane agree, but it is such a terribly powerful and complicated knowledge that in most cases it will be perceived as sejd, but it is possible to prove how it works far in the future. In the near future, I can only do simpler tests of certain things, such as how copper keeps water cleaner. I've made a small copper vessel and taken a earthenware flask. Hrappr has filled a bucket with lake water. Soon we will pour the same water in both and look closer at that water before they leave. But those who really know? I point to me and Jane. And I know more than Jane, even though she's demonstrably better at jewellery. I continue saying that it would not surprise me if some sejdwomen know how certain things are dangerous, but don't know why, just as they probably know about plants. Some might know that some people are more sensitive than others. Some men as well as women may have deliberately helped poison people or made them sick, but there are many better poisons than metals.

A careless comment from Ulfarna makes it clear that they take my comment about better poisons as if I probably know a hell of a lot about poisons, which probably no one here knows. It might not be a bad idea that they think I could be a master poisoner if I wanted too, because it is an invisible threat that is difficult to protect against. So I just smile but keep talking.

Knowledge is power, and poisoning can be done so very discreetly for a long time. I discuss how important it is with exactly what metals jewellery consists of, how 1/20 nickel in, for example, jewellery is really dangerous and a high chance of rashes or worse, but some react in a day, others just take time for, but it can be years. There are no cures either. The body can heal itself to some extent, but not all wounds and there are limits to what the body can do.

We discuss how knowledge of certain metal allergies can be spread in a good way. Asbjörn asks if it is possible to test how pure some silver or gold is, especially without destroying the object, and yes, it is somewhat possible, but if it is to be exact, it is difficult, and some substances are too similar. Destructive testing will sometimes be the only practical solution, and there will also be losses in the material. Gold is actually among the easier to measure purity in due to golds high density, which means weight in relation to size. It is not that difficult but requires a little knowledge and equipment. Asbjörn asks if we can do a test on something, even if it is not really accurate. So I answer yes, but a bigger object is better and preferably something that is only gold. Without gemstones. Asbjörn takes off his gold crown and holds it up in a challenge. It makes me smile, because I know the story of Archimedes and think it was a golden crown then too. I ask if the test should have witnesses, and Asbjörn replies that everyone except the servants should see it.

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So it will be an interesting test, but I have to think of a practical solution. Measuring the volume of something as big and with as much surface areas as the crown will be hard with the accuracy I need. Measuring displacement will be hard as surface tension and the crown will hold water, and the measured rise in any large container will be small. I have no pure alcohol that can be used instead of water. I will try to measure the crowns displacement and weigh the water, but I want to try something else. Thankfully, the crown has no precious stones, only gold, and don't seem to have any voids. I think for a bit, and I take one of my balance scales and modify it a bit with small filed V cuts on one bars top so that the hook or string loop can be moved to be adjustable instead of staying in its hole. We take a couple of large vessels where one has sufficient size for the crown to go down without touching the sides or bottom, and Asbjörn has made them fetch one of his treasure chests and picks up a few bars of gold. I doubt that the gold is as pure as they think, and they should probably be happy with 18 carats, ie 75%, but it is less of a problem if I compare density between two gold pieces, instead of determining absolute density. Purer gold will have a smaller volume.

There is a fairly large gathering of people with all the guards when we stand inside the meeting room. I explain the principle on a large slate board and have an extra slate board on the table. I have also written down the specific density for Water, Saltwater, Wood, Gold, Silver, Nickel, Copper, Tin, Lead and the most common brass type, and also made a scale they can compare via. Numbers is abstract. I point out that Copper and Nickel are too similar for it to be possible to distinguish in weight without major issues and very sensitive special instruments, and Nickel's proximity to Silver makes it more difficult. But it is possible to determine the relationship between brass and bronze that are alloys, because copper weighs more than zinc and tin.

Everyone knows that gold weighs more than silver, and both weigh more than water or wood. I explain that this is what is called the density. How much a specific volume of something weighs. If you take an unknown substance of known volume and weigh it, you can calculate its density. If it matches directly with the value, it is pure, or a combination of something that gives the same weight. If it is then, for example, a mixture of silver and gold, its density will be between the two, and that makes it possible to calculate the ratio if you know that it is only silver and gold. The problem is to measure the volume of something with a complex shape, such as a crown. It is possible to do, but it is difficult to make the measurement accurately enough, especially with the equipment I was able to quickly arrange, but in the future it will be easier.

I start by showing how to measure solid lumps of different metals volume with water, and since I don't have any purpose made vessel, we measure overflow with a slightly tilted vessel with a pouring spout. The level is carefully maxed out with another jar, and the overflow measuring glass container is both weighted. By very slowly lowering something completely down in the large vessel, any overflow is the displacement, and we measure the weight increase. From that we can calculate the volume of the object since we know waters density. I show the procedure for a piece of painted wood, and then weighing the piece. A bigger piece is more accurate, but they see what I mean, and that using this simple equipment and water does have a bit of error in it. I measure two copper pieces and calculate the volume, then measure their displacement one after another, and again there is a small error. It makes them used to this not being exact, but it works surprisingly well enough. We weigh Asbjörns crown, and then measure its displacement and calculate its volume, and it is surprisingly pure. Asbjörn is relieved.

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I also show another method which will hopefully work well and with far less math and complexity, and we use the scale with my filed cuts. This is a by making a comparison between the crown on one side of the scale and a lump of gold on the other side. When the scales are in balance, they weigh the same amount, which everyone understands because that is how payments are made here. But we can not use balance bowls as we just want to check density against density, so hang them with the same total length of spring to minimize the strings impact, I move the gold weight until the scale is in balance. I have everyone's full attention, because this is an advanced technical demonstration. I explain that when we immerse both sides in water and they are completely covered, it should still be in balance. If both have the same purity, then they have the same density and the scale will still be in balance. If it differs, the scale will tip upwards on the side that's lighter and 'floats better', ie have less density, and thus is purer gold.

Everyone's eyes are on the scale when it is slowly being lowered. It is almost completely in balance, and I hang on a small weight on the side of the crown to balance it out, which considering the total weight of the crown is a very small error, and they know there will be small error. Again I reassure Asbjörn that the error is so very small that if we use another large piece of gold, it will surely also differ in some way, and Asbjörn wants us to test that too.

One lump of gold after another is tied with same length of thin thread and balanced, and similar small error appears between lumps. Some are purified, some a little less pure or have small unlikely air bubbles inside and I explain that no one is probably completely pure as it difficult to produce, and these small errors is quite impressive. After five measurements, another large nugget of gold turns out to be far too light and the room becomes dead quiet. I hang on a large weight, and the scale is still not in the balance. It is with a very controlled face that Asbjörn states that that is not pure gold and I nod. There might be a large air bubble even though it is very unlikely, but only way to see if that is the case is melting it down and redo the measurement. No one believe there is an air bubble. After measuring its displacement and weighing the gold lump its obviously less and Asbjörn ask me to use silver as a mixture instead of pure gold. There is a bit more math the king and the others can not really follow, but as Iselin, Kari, Jane, Bodil etc can, and I let them use slate boards for that. They each confirm they have got the same result, some faster than others. I can only feel a certain satisfaction that they all gets the same result even though speed differ a lot, and someone needs to get a small error pointed out.

The light gold lump should be about 30% silver, and that's enough for me to guess there is partly copper in it to keep the golden hue and increase density, and with that it feels like deliberate dilution. Asbjörn is not happy. But he thanks for the physics lesson as I call it, and he understands how it is easier to check that at least gold is pure, and when he gets home he will get them to check all his gold.

I do not even want to mention that I believe it is possible to separate gold from other impurities after first trying to dissolve impurities with nitric acid which dissolves both copper and silver, which should give silver nitrate. Which a small memory say was used in photographic plates in some way. Anyway, when it is dissolved, I believe a copper rod can be used to make the solution precipitate silver, perhaps with salt to get more out - if I remember my chemistry correctly. And it should be possible to use electrolysis with a copper cathode and something like a carbon anode to extract copper out of the solution, or just drop in an iron bar. Aqua Regis, royal water, a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, can then dissolve the gold, which I probably will have had to melt down and make more unclean with copper just to make it react better, and eventually filter and separate out pure gold. If I remember correctly. I should probably write it down and actually test it and see that it work and get solid numbers and experience. There will be losses in the process as nothing is exact - especially not here.

I also have read, that sulfur has been used historically to purify gold, and there must be an industry here that purifies gold from silver, because usually the metal that is mined is a mixture of them, called electrum or something like that, and I know that separation has been done for thousands of years where they definitely did not use electrolysis, but there is some salt process as well. And probably mercury in some kind of amalgamation. Some mines used a lot of mercury, and I remember reading that in South America mines the Spanish used forced labour, and a lot died from mercury poisoning. Actually wasn't that silver mines?

I really have to develop a good procedure for this in the future, and see what I can come up with. I have to build lab equipment, and definitely something that takes care of acidic fumes etc. I can guess that nitric oxide or nitrogen oxide or dioxide will be created with the nitric acid, and I do not want to inhale shit like that. I don't know how bad it is, but it's probably bad. The only things in the lungs should be air.

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Some of the people and most of the guards are asked to leave, and we discuss the information about metals and allergies for all kinds of things. It is difficult, but we can initially limit the information to metals and jewellery in particular. I point out that the main problem is that we are all born with a certain resilience to things, and not just metals. Some people get problems from animals with fur and are sensitive to dogs or cats, and some can die from a bee sting. But it is just a matter of how much the body can tolerate of something. It has been decided by fate before the child is born, and most people will understandably see it as being punished by the gods from birth, as something an ancestor did or the like. The only way to avoid problems is to avoid contact with the substance. It is possible to test how sensitive someone is to different things even as a child, but it is not possible to cure it.

Asbjörn asks if the Academy in the future could test people, or objects that are said to be cursed by gods or poisoned, at least to ensure that it is a form of allergy and the object isn't pure enough, so it really isn't a cursed object. Of course, in their minds curses, witchcraft and other such things is still a real possibility. I answer yes, but that will not solve the problem. Real tests on certain objects will destroy the object. The object must be carefully dissolved or melted down to even have a chance to determine its composition etc. I would also need to have a few different pure metals to build the test kit with, but right now I am not ready to do that. I will need to build special equipment and it will take time and be expensive. But I have already planned to build some of it for other purposes. I skip mentioning that I need to produce much purer copper for tests with copper oxide diodes. One advantage is that I have a lot of exact densities especially for metals, so I don't have to try and purify to measure it.

I suggest that a simple solution to start with, may be to try to get the information out to some people, especially Völva and Fjölkunniga who will be called, so that they can have a dampening effect and hopefully reduce problems. Maybe those who are 'cursed by the gods' are special instead of cursed. Nickel allergy? No, the gods consider the person worthy of pure gold jewellery. Gift given is not pure enough? Bad craftsmanship due to ignorance or the craftsman has been cheated, as the craftsman might have bought the bad material without knowing it. Asbjörn and others nod in agreement that it can work, but how can the common people be persuaded?

I just shrug my shoulders and say that many will never be persuaded. They are too ingrained in their old ideas and they will not change. But I have, and hopefully will have more influence among sejd women, and I have already contributed some really important knowledge during the autumn gathering and I will already try to get a newer generation of sejd women to slowly accept a different view of much. But it will not happen overnight, and it is probably a good idea to take it slow. Just sowing the idea that there are different opinions, might help dampen and confuse.