1000000030

E M

llave

o~car,on

10 f.:e, )'Cl, lill of lale

yem,

chemifls

were quitc

if,no,~nt

of its nature, as they nill

ar~

of its

origiu; concerning IVhich we know nothing IVith certain·

ty, but that it comes rough from the Eal! Indies, and is

purified by the Dutch.

Of Opera/iol/!

011

E T A L S.

o¡

GO LD.

r o

flpnral~

Co/d, .by Ama/gaN,alion wilh /lfercury,

[rolll Ih, Earlh/ and Slonet wilh which

Í!

found

mix,d.

LVER

the enrths and flonescontaining gold. Pu.t

Ihe pOIVder into nlittle woodentray; dip this my iu wnler,

gently Ihaking it and its contents. The walU IViJl grolV

muddy, by taking uptheeanhy partS of the

or~.

Cominue

walhing it in this manner till the water ceafe

appear

turbid.

pon the ore thus IValhed pour Hrong

vin~gar,

l¡aviog r,rn diffolved therein, by the help of heat, about

a teoth pan of its wcight of

~Ium.

The powder mufl

be quite urenehed and covmd IVith this liquur, anu fo

left to nand fo r tIVice twenty.four hours.

De.aot the

vioe~.tr,

and walh your pOIVder with warm

water" till the 1:úI that comes oí!' hath 00 talle: then

dry it, and pUt it ioto ao iron momr, with (ou r times

it! IVeight of quick·filver : triturate the whule IVith a

heavy IVooden penle, til! all the powder be of a black·

i(h colour : theo pour in a liule water, and continue rubo

bing for fome time longer. More eanhy and heteroge.

neous panicle. will be feparated from the metalline pans

by means of this water, whieh wiJl' !ook dirty: it mun

lhen be decaoted, and more fair water added. Repeat

this fe.eral times; theo dry whal remaios in the mortar

with a fponge, and by lhe help of a gentle heal; you

wil! find it an almalgamof the mereury with lhe gold.

Put this almalgan! ioto a ehamoy bag: tie a knol 00

in neek, and fqueeze it hard between your fingcrs, over

fome wide·mouthed veffd; there wil! iffue through

the pores of the !eamer numberlefs liule

jet!

of mercury,

forming a fon of Ihower, that \Vil! eoUea inlo large

slobules in the veffe! placed underoeath. When you

c~n

force out no more mercury by this meaos, open the

bag, aod in il you wiU6nd.tbe aotalgam freed from the

fnperBuous mercury; the gold retaining on!y about as

much thereof as neady

~qnals

irfctf in weight.

Put lhis amalgam ioto a glaCs reton: fet this retort

io the fand·bath of a reverberating furnace ;

eov~r '

quite over with fand; apply a glaCs receiver half (ull of

of water,

that the nofe or the reton may be nnJer

the water. The receiver need nol be luted to thereton.

Give a grr.-\ual heat, and raife lhe fire lill drops of the

fublimed mucury appear in lhe nec." of the retort, and

faU ioto the water with a hilling noife. If you hm a·

ny noiCe in the reton, Oaeken your 6re a linle.

L~(IIy,

,yh~n

you ohCerve, that, lhough you raife the fire nill

higher thao before, nothing more will come over, take

OUt rour rctort, break it, aod there you will fiod the

gold, whieh mu!! be melted in a crueible with boru.

Jifo/v( Cold in

Aqua regis,

ami by Ihal

IIfmIJ

¡'paral( il [rol/l Si/vu.

AK I

gold that is perfeélly pure, or alloyed witb

OL . 11.

No. 35.

fi lver only. Reduce it to liule thin phtes, by hamo

o:oring ·it on an aovil. If il tbe not fuRiciendytough,

ncal

till it be red in a moderate, clcar fire, qnite free

rrom

fin~king

coals, and then let it cool gradually,

which will rellore its duélility.

When the plates are thin enough, make them rcd·hot

once more, and cut them ioto Cmall bits wi th a pair ot

(heers. PUl lhefe bits into a tall, narrow·mcl\uhed cu–

eurbit, anel ponr on themtwicetheir weight of good

nqutf

regil,

made of one pan fal·ammooiac, or fpirit of '''t,

aod four pans Cpirit of nitre. Set thecucurbil in a land·

hath moderately hcated, noppiog jts orifice fligh tly wit/¡

a paper collin, to prevent any dirt fr9m ralling in. TIte

aqun " gil

will prefently hegin to fmoke. !tound

th~

little hits of gold will be fo,med nn in(¡nite number of

finall bubbles, which will rife to the ¡'u·tace of the

liquor. 'fhe gold will lotally diffolve, ir it

pute"

aod the folution \ViII

of a beautiful yellow rolour: if

the gold he alloyed ",ith a fmall qnanmy or filvec, the

lamr will remain at the bounmof the veH.1 in the form

of a white pnwder.

the gold be 'alleyed with much

fill'er, when the gold is diffulved the filrer \Iill retnia

the rormof lhe litt le mm lline plates put ioto the I'elfcl.

Wheo lhe diffolmion is completed, geotly pour o(f the

Iiquor into aoolher low, wide'mouthtd,

gl.fs

CtlCUtbit;

taking care that oone of the

filv~r,

IVhich li<s at

tht~

bouotll inthe fonn of a powdcrefeape with tbe lic!uor. 6n

this powder of fi"'er pOll r as much freOI

aq/l.1

"g"

as'

will cover it entirély; anel repeat this till you are fure

thal nothing mOfe can be taken up by it. Lanly, h••

ving decanted the

aqutl

Ngir

from the filver, lValh ti

filver with a liale fpirit uf fdl t wcakeoed with water, aoel

add this

f~i ril

of fah tO lhe

Oq:/4

ngil

io which your

gold is diffolved. Theo to the body eontaioing thefe li·

quors

fil

a head and a receivcr, and dillill with a

g~ntle

heat, lill lhe mauer

eontain~d

in the cueutbi¡ beeOOl"

dry.

Mi" logether cqual partS of common brimfiooe, aod

a very nrong fixed alkali

for inllane<, oitre 6.xed by

ch.Hcoal. PUl themio acrucible, and melt the mixtll r(;,

nirriog il from tilDe to lime with a fm, II rocl. Tutte

is 00 occafioo tO make lhe fire vcry brilk, becaufe the

fulphllr f.citime. the fllfioo of the fixcd .Ikali. 5001e

fulphureous vapour! will rife from the crucible: thu

IWO {uhnanccs will mix iotimately tor.clher, and fonn

a reddillt compouod. TbcD throwioto the eruciblefome

liule pieces of gold beac ioto thin plates, fo lhal the

wholc do not exceed in weighl one third pan of the li·

ver of fulphur :

r~ife

the 6re a liule. As foon as the

tiver of folphur is perfealy mdted, it IVill besin to dif·

folve the golo with ebulluion ; and \ViII el'eo entlt fome

flaOles of 6re. In tbe fpaee of a feIV millutes the gold

will be eotirely diffulved, efpecially if it was cut

~od

flaned iOIO fmall thin leaves.

The procefs Itere delivercd is taken from M. 3t,hl.

The

~rfign

of his ioquines

wa~

dif.ol

'er now Mufes

eould burn lhe golden calf, IVhieh the IIr¿dites had fet

up and worlhippcd IVhile he

W.lS

on lhe

mou~l;

holV he

cou!d afttrwards reduce that calr to powutr, thruw il

iOIOthe wmr which the

peop!~

urcd, anJ m,lke .111 wllo

bad aponatized driok t"",eof, as rclmd in ,he "ook of

Lxodu.,