Chapter II: Peculiar Antiseptic Processes (8)

By means of the two movable valves suspended before the tuyères _n_, _n_, (_fig._ 1010.) the workman can direct the blast as he will over the surface of the metal. The wind should be made to cause a slight curl on the liquid, so as to produce circular undulations, and gradually propel a portion of the litharge generated, towards the edges of the cupel, and allow this to retain its shape till the end of the operation. The stream of air should drive the greater part of the litharge towards the small opening _x_, where the workman deepens the outlet for it, in proportion as the level of the metal bath descends, and the bottom of the floor rises by the apposition of the litharge formed. Litharge is thus obtained during about 12 hours; after which period the cake of silver begins to take shape in the centre of the cupel.

Towards the end of the operation, when no more than four additional quintals of litharge can be looked for, and when it forms solely in the neighbourhood of the silver cake in the middle of the floor, great care must be taken to set apart the latter portions, because they contain silver. About this period, the fire is increased, and the workman places before the little opening _x_ a brick, to serve as a mound to the efflux of litharge. The use of this brick is,--1, to hinder the escape of the silver in case of any accident; for example, should an explosion take place in the furnace; 2, to reserve a magazine of litharge, should that still circulating round the silver cake be suddenly absorbed by the cupel, for in this dilemma the litharge must be raked back on the silver; 3, to prevent the escape of the water that must be thrown on the silver at the end of the process.

When the argentiferous litharge, collected in the above small magazine, is to be removed, it is let out in the form of a jet, by the dexterous use of the iron hook.

Lastly, after 20 hours, the silver cake is seen to be well formed, and nearly circular. The moment for stopping the fire and the bellows is indicated by the sudden disappearance of the coloured particles of oxide of lead, which, in the latter moments of oxidation, undulate with extreme rapidity over the slightly convex surface of the silver bath, moving from the centre to the circumference. The phenomenon of their total disappearance is called the _lightning_, or fulguration. Whenever this occurs, the plate of silver being perfectly clean, there is introduced into the furnace, by the door _q_, a wooden spout, along which water, previously heated, is carefully poured on the silver.

The cupellation of 84 quintals of argentiferous lead takes in general 18 or 20 hours’ working. The promptitude of the operation depends on the degree of purity of the leads employed, and on the address of the operator, with whom also lies the economy of fuel. A good workman completes the cupellation of 84 quintals with 300 billets, each equivalent to a cubic foot and eight-tenths of wood (Hartz measure); others consume 400 billets, or more. In general, the cupellation of 100 quintals of lead, executed at the rate of 84 quintal charges, occasions a consumption of 790 cubic feet of resinous wood billets.

The products of the charge are as follow:--

1. Silver, holding in 100 marcs, 7 marcs and 3
loths of alloy 24 to 30 marcs.
2. Pure litharge, containing from 88 to 90 per
cent. of lead 50 - 60 quintals.
3. Impure litharge, holding a little silver 2 - 6 --
4. Skimmings of the cupellation 4 - 8 --
5. Floor of the furnace impregnated with litharge 22 - 30 --

NOTE.--_The marc is 7 oz. 2 dwts. 4 gr. English troy; and the loth is half an ounce. 16 loths make a marc. 100 pounds Cologne are equal to 103 pounds avoirdupois; and the above quintal contains 116 Cologne pounds._

The loss of lead inevitable by this operation, is estimated at 4 parts in 100. It has been diminished as much as possible in the Frankenscharn works of the Hartz, by leading the smoke into long flues, where the lead fumes are condensed into a metallic soot. The silver cake receives a final purification at the Mint, in a cupel on a smaller scale.

From numerous experiments in the great way, it has been found that not more than 100 quintals of lead can be profitably cupelled at one operation, however large the furnace, and however powerful and multiplied the bellows and tuyères may be; for the loss on either the lead or the silver, or on both, would be increased. In one attempt, no less than 500 quintals were acted on, in a furnace with two fireplaces, and four escapes for the litharge; but the silver remained disseminated through the lead, and the _lightning_ could not be brought on. The chief object in view was economy of fuel.

_Reduction of the Litharge._--This is executed in a slag-hearth, with the aid of wood charcoal.

Such is the train of operations by which the cupriferous galena _schlich_, or ground ore is reduced, in the district of Clausthal, into lead, copper, and silver. The works of Frankenscharn have a front fully 400 feet long.

_Fig._ 1012. exhibits the plan and elevation of these smelting-works, near Clausthal, in the Hartz, for lead ores containing copper and silver, where about 84,000 cwts. of _schlich_ (each of 123 Cologne pounds) are treated every year. This quantity is the produce of 30 distinct mines, as also of nearly as many stamp and preparation works. All these different _schlichs_, which belong to so many different joint-stock companies, are confounded and worked up together in the same series of metallurgic operations; the resulting mixture being considered as one and the same ore belonging to a single undertaking; but in virtue of the order which prevails in this royal establishment, the rights of each of the companies, and consequently of each shareholder, are equitably regulated. A vigorous control is exercised between the mines and the stamps, as also between the stamps and the smelting-houses; while the cost of the metallurgic operations is placed under the officers of the crown, and distributed, upon just principles, among the several mines, according to the quantities of metal furnished by each.

From these arrangements, the following important advantages flow:--

1. The poor ores may be smelted with profit, without putting the companies to any risk or expense in the erection of new works; 2, by the mixture of many different ores, the smelting and metallic product become more easy and abundant; 3, the train of the operations is conducted with all the lights and resources of science; and 4, the amount of metal brought into the market is not subject to such fluctuations as might prove injurious to their sale.

The following is the series of operations:--

1, The fusion of the schlich (sludge); 2, the roasting of the mattes under a shed, and their treatment by four successive re-meltings; 3, the treatment of the resulting black copper; 4, the liquation; 5, the reliquation (_ressuage_); 6, the refining of the copper; 7, the cupellation of the silver; 8, the reduction of the litharge into lead. The 5th and 6th processes are carried on at the smelting works of Altenau.

The buildings are shown at A, B, C, and the impelling stream of water at D; the upper figure being the elevation; the lower, the plan of the works.

_a_, is the melting furnace, with a cylinder bellows behind it; _b_, _c_, _d_, furnaces similar to the preceding, with wooden bellows, such as _fig._ 1013; _e_, is a furnace for the same purpose, with three tuyères, and a cylinder bellows; _f_, the large furnace of fusion, also with three tuyères; _g_, a furnace with seven tuyères, now seldom used; _h_, low furnaces, like the English slag-hearths (_krummofen_), employed for working the last _mattes_; _k_, slag-hearths for reducing the litharge; _m_, the area of the liquation; _n_, _p_, cupellation furnaces.

_x_, _y_, a floor which separates the principal smelting-house into two stories; the materials destined for charging the furnaces being deposited in beds upon the upper floor, to which they are carried by means of two inclined planes, terraced in front of the range of buildings.

Here 89,600 quintals of schlich are annually smelted, which furnish--

Marketable lead 20,907 quintals.
Marketable litharge, containing 90 per cent. of lead 7,555
Silver, about 67
Copper (finally purified in the works of Altenau) 35
------
Total product 28,564

This weight amounts to one twenty-fifth of the weight of ore raised for the service of the establishment. Eight parts of ore furnish, on an average, about one of schlich. The bellows are constructed wholly of wood, without any leather; an improvement made by a bishop of Bamberg, about the year 1620. After receiving different modifications, they were adopted, towards 1730, in almost all the smelting-works of the continent, except in a few places, as Carniola, where local circumstances permitted a water blowing-machine to be erected. These pyramidal shaped bellows, composed of movable wooden boxes, have, however, many imperfections: their size must often be inconveniently large, in order to furnish an adequate stream of air; they do not drive into the furnace all the air which they contain; they require frequent repairs; and, working with great friction, they waste much mechanical power.

_Fig._ 1014. represents such wooden bellows, consisting of two chests or boxes, fitted into each other; the upper or moving one being called the _fly_, the lower or fixed one, the _seat_ (_gite_). In the bottom of the _gite_, there is an orifice furnished with a clack-valve _d_, opening inwards when the _fly_ is raised, and shutting when it falls. In order that the air included in the capacity of the two chests may have no other outlet than the nose-pipe _m_, the upper portion of the _gite_ is provided at its four sides with small square slips of wood _c_, _c_, _c_, which are pressed against the sides of the _fly_ by strong springs of iron wire _b_, _b_, _b_, while they are retained upon the _gite_ by means of small square pieces of wood _a_, _a_, _a_, _a_. The latter _a_, _a_, are perforated in the centre, and adjusted upon rectangular stems, called _buchettes_; they are attached, at their lower ends, to the upright sides of the _gite_ G. P is the driving-shaft of a water-wheel, which, by means of cams or tappets, depresses the fly, while the counterweight Q, _fig._ 1013., raises it again.

_Figs._ 1015, 1016, 1017, 1018. represent the moderately high (_demihauts_, or _half-blast_,) furnaces employed in the works of the lower Hartz, near Goslar, for smelting the silvery lead ores extracted from the mine of Rammelsberg. See its section, in _fig._ 737.

_Fig._ 1015. is the front elevation of the twin furnaces, built in one body of masonry; _fig._ 1016. is a plan taken at the level of the tuyères, in the line _v_, _l_, 6. of _fig._ 1017.; _figs._ 1017. and 1018. exhibit two vertical sections; the former in the line A, B, the latter in the line C, D, of _fig._ 1016. In these four figures the following objects may be distinguished.

_a_, _b_, _c_, _d_, a balcony or platform, which leads to the place of charging _n_; _e_, _f_, wooden stairs, by which the charging workmen mount from the ground _p_, _q_, of the works, to the platform; _g_, _h_, brickwork of the furnaces; _i_, _k_, wall of the smelting-works, against which they are supported; _l_, upper basin of reception, hollowed out of the _brasque_ (or ground charcoal bed) 6; _m_, arch of the tuyère _v_, by which each furnace receives the blast of two bellows; _n_, place of charging, which takes place through the upper orifice _n_, _o_, of the basin _n_, _o_, _v_, _t_, of the furnace; _t_, a slab of clay, placed in such a way that, during the treatment of the lead, a little metallic zinc may run together in a sloping gutter, seen in _fig._ 1001., formed of slates cemented together with clay.

In _figs._ 1015 and 1017., _l_, _z_, is the brickwork of the foundations; _m_, conduits (called evaporatory), for the exhalation of the moisture; 4, a layer of slags, rammed above; 5, a bed of clay, rammed above the slags; 6, a brasque, composed of one part of clay, and two parts of ground charcoal, which forms the sole of the furnace.

The excellent refinery furnace, or _treibheerd_, of Frederickshütte, near Tarnowitz, in Upper Silesia, is represented in _figs._ 1019. and 1020. _a_, is the bottom, made of slag or cinders; _b_, the foundation, of fire-bricks; _c_, the body of the hearth proper, composed of a mixture of 7 parts of dolomite, and 1 of fire-clay, in bulk; _d_, the grate of the air furnace; _e_, the fire-bridge; _f_, the dome or cap, made of iron plate strengthened with bars, and lined with clay-lute, to protect the metal from burning; _g_, the door of the fireplace; _h_, the ash-pit; _i_, the tap-hole; _k_, _k_, the flue, which is divided by partitions into several channels; _l_, the chimney; _m_, a damper-plate for regulating the draught; _n_, a back valve, for admitting air to cool the furnace, and brushes to sweep the flues; _o_, _tuyère_ of copper, which by means of an iron wedge may be sloped more or less towards the hearth; _p_, the _schnepper_, a round piece of sheet iron, hung before the _eye_ of the _tuyère_, to break and spread the blast; _q_, the outlet for the glassy litharge.

Lime-marl has been found to answer well for making the body of the hearth-sole, as it absorbs the vitrified litharge freely, without combining with it. A basin-shaped hollow is formed in the centre, for receiving the silver at the end of the process; and a gutter is made across the hearth for running off the _glätte_ or fluid litharge.

_Figs._ 1021, 1022. represent the eliquation hearth of Neustadt. _Fig._ 1021. is a cross section; _fig._ 1022. is a front view; and _fig._ 1023. a longitudinal section. It is formed by two walls _a_, _a_, 3-1/2 feet high, placed from 1/2 to 1 foot apart, sloped off at top with iron plates, 3 inches thick, and 18 inches broad, called _saigerscharten_, or refining plates, _b_, _b_, inclined 3 inches towards each other in the middle, so as to leave at the lowest point a slit 2-1/2 inches wide between them, through which the lead, as it sweats out by the heat, is allowed to fall into the space between the two walls _c_, called the _saigergasse_ (sweating-gutter). The sole of this channel slopes down towards the front, so that the liquefied metal may run off into a crucible or pot. Upon one of the long sides, and each of the shorter ones, of the hearth, the walls _d_, _d_, are raised two feet high, and upon these the liquation lumps rest; upon the other long side, where there is no wall, there is an opening for admitting these lumps into the hearth. The openings are then shut with a sheet or cast iron plate _e_, which, by means of a chain, pulley, and counterweight, may be easily raised and lowered. _f_, is a passage for increasing the draught of air.

_Figs._ 1024. and 1025. represent the refining furnaces of Frederickshütte by Tarnowitz; _a_, is the fire-door; _b_, the grate; _c_, the door for introducing the silver; _d_, the movable test, resting upon a couple of iron rods _e_, _e_, which are let at their ends into the brickwork. They lie lower than would seem to be necessary; but this is done in order to be able to place the surface of the test at any desired level, by placing tiles _f_, _f_, under it; _g_, the flue, leading to a chimney 18 feet high. For the refining of 100 marks of _blicksilber_, of the fineness of 15-1/2 loths (half ounces) per cwt., 3 cubic feet of pitcoal are required. The test or cupel must be heated before the impure silver and soft lead are put into it.

At these smelting-houses from 150 to 160 cwt. of very pure _workable lead_ (lead containing merely a little silver) are put into the furnace at once, and from 10 to 14 cwt. run off in vitrified oxide; the remainder is then refined with some pure lead, when an alloy containing from 14-1/2 to 15-1/2 loths of blicksilber per cwt. is obtained.

_English refining furnaces._--The refining of lead is well performed in some works in the neighbourhood of Alston-moor, in reverberatory furnaces, _figs._ 1026. and 1027., whose fireplace is 22 inches square, and is separated from the sole by a fire-bridge, 14 inches in breadth. The flame, after having passed over the surface of the lead in the cupel, enters two flues _e_, _e_, on the opposite side of the furnace, which terminate in a chimney _i_, _i_, _i_, _i_, 40 feet high. At the bottom of the chimney are openings _f_, _f_, for taking out the metallic dust deposited within. These openings are shut during the process.

The cupel or test, which constitutes, in fact, the sole of the hearth in which the operation takes place, is movable. It consists of a vertical elliptical ring of iron, A, B, C, D, _figs._ 1028. and 1029., 3-3/4 inches high, the greatest diameter of the ellipse being 4 feet, and the smallest 2-1/2. Four iron bars (A D, _m_, _m´_, B C, _n_, _n´_,) are fixed across its bottom, which are also 3-3/4 inches broad, and an inch thick. The first of these bars is placed 9 inches from the end of the elliptic ring nearest the fireplace, and the three others are equally distributed between this bar and the back end.

In forming the cupel, several layers of a mixture of moistened bone ashes, and fern ashes, in very fine powder, are put into the _test-frame_. The bone ash constitutes from 1/8 to 1/16 of the bulk of the mixture, according to the purity of the fern ashes employed, estimated by the proportion of potash they contain, which has the property of semi-vitrifying the powder of burnt bones, of thus removing its friability, and rendering it more durable. The layers of ashes are strongly beat down, till the frame is entirely filled. The mass thus formed is then hollowed out by means of a little spade, made on purpose, till it is only three quarters of an inch thick above the iron bars near the centre of the bottom. A flange, 2 inches broad, is made at the upper part, and 2-1/2 inches at the lower part, except on the front or _breast_, which is 5 inches thick. In this anterior part, there is hollowed out an opening of an inch and a quarter broad, and 6 inches long, with which the outlet or _gateway_ of the litharge communicates.

The cupel thus prepared is placed in the refining furnace. It rests in an iron ring built into the brickwork. The arched roof of the furnace is 12 inches above the cupel near the fire-bridge, and 9 inches near the flue at the other end.

The tuyère is placed in the back of the furnace, opposite to the side at which the litharge is allowed to overflow.

Openings _g_, _g_, are left at the sides of each cupel, either for running off or for introducing melted lead.

_Refining of lead to extract its silver._--This operation, which the lead of Derbyshire cannot be submitted to with advantage, is performed in a certain number of the smelting-houses at Alston-moor, and always upon leads reduced in the Scotch furnace.

The cupel furnace above described, must be slowly heated, in order to dry the cupel without causing it to crack, which would infallibly be produced by sudden evaporation of the moisture in it. When it has been thus slowly brought to the verge of a red heat, it is almost completely filled with lead previously melted in an iron pot. The cupel may be charged with about 5 cwt. At the temperature at which the lead is introduced, it is immediately covered with a gray pellicle of oxide; but when the heat of the furnace has been progressively raised to the proper pitch, it becomes whitish-red, and has its surface covered over with litharge. Now is the time to set in action the blowing-machine, the blast of which, impelled in the direction of the great axis of the cupel, drives the litharge towards the _breast_ of the cupel, and makes it flow out by the _gateway_ prepared for it, through which it falls upon a cast-iron plate, on a level with the floor of the apartment, and is dispersed into tears. It is carried in this state to the furnace of reduction, and revived. As by the effect of the continual oxidization which it undergoes, the surface of the metal necessarily falls below the level of the gateway of the litharge, melted lead must be added anew by ladling it into the furnace from the iron boiler, as occasion may require. The operation is carried on in this manner till 84 cwt. or 4 Newcastle _fodders_ of lead have been introduced, which takes from 16 to 18 hours, if the tuyère has been properly set. The whole quantity of silver which this mass of lead contains, is left in combination with about 1 cwt. of lead, which, under the name of rich lead, is taken out of the cupel.

When a sufficient number of these pieces of rich lead have been procured, so that by their respective quality, as determined by assaying, they contain in whole from 1000 to 2000 ounces of silver, they are re-melted to extract their silver, in the same furnace, but in a cupel which differs from the former in having at its bottom a depression capable of receiving at the end of the process the cake of silver. In this case a portion of the bottom remains uncovered, on which the scoriæ may be pushed aside with a little rake, from the edges of the silver.

The experiments of MM. Lucas and Gay Lussac have proved that fine silver, exposed to the air in a state of fusion, absorbs oxygen gas, and gives it out again in the act of consolidation. The quantity of oxygen thus absorbed may amount to twenty-two times the volume of the silver. The following phenomena are observed when the mass of metal is considerable; for example, from 40 to 50 pounds.

The solidification commences at the edges, and advances towards the centre. The liquid silver, at the moment of its passage to the solid state, experiences a slight agitation, and then becomes motionless. The surface, after remaining thus tranquil for a little, gets all at once irregularly perturbed, fissures appear in one or several lines, from which flow, in different directions, streams of very fluid silver, which increase the original agitation. The first stage does not yet clearly manifest the presence of gas, and seems to arise from some intestine motion of the particles in their tendency to group, on entering upon the process of crystallization, and thus causing the rupture of the envelop or external crust, and the ejection of some liquid portions.

After remaining some time tranquil, the metal presents a fresh appearance, precisely analogous to volcanic phenomena. As the crystallization continues, the oxygen gas is given out with violence at one or more points, carrying with it melted silver from the interior of the surface, producing a series of cones, generally surmounted by a small crater, vomiting out streams of the metal, which may be seen boiling violently within them.

These cones gradually increase in height by the accumulation of metal thrown up, and that which becomes consolidated on their sloping sides. The thin crust of metal on which they rest, consequently experiences violent impulses, being alternately raised and depressed by such violent agitation, that were it not for the tenacity and elasticity of the metal, there would evidently arise dislocation, fissures, and other analogous accidents. At length several of the craters permanently close, while others continue to allow the gas a passage. The more difficult this is, the more the craters become elevated, and the more their funnels contract by the adhesion or coagulation of a portion of the metal. The projection of globules of silver now becomes more violent; the latter being carried to great distances, even beyond the furnace, and accompanied by a series of explosions, repeated at short intervals. It is generally the last of these little volcanoes that attains the greatest altitude, and exhibits the foregoing phenomena with the greatest energy. It is, moreover, observable, that these cones do not all arise at the same time, some having spent their force, when others commence forming at other points. Some reach the height of an inch, forming bases of two or three inches in diameter. The time occupied by this exhibition is at least from half to three quarters of an hour.

During the formation of these cones, by the evolution of gas, portions of silver are shot forth, which assume, on induration, a form somewhat cylindrical, and often very fantastic, notwithstanding the incompatibility which appears to exist between the fluidity of the silver and these elongated figures. Their appearance is momentary, and without any symptoms of gas, although it is impossible to decide whether they may not arise from its influence; they seem, in fact, to resemble the phenomena of the first volcanic period.

Till very recently the only operations employed for separating silver from lead in the English smelting-works, were the following:--

1. Cupellation, in which the lead was converted into a vitreous oxide, which was floated off from the surface of the silver.

2. Reduction of that oxide, commonly called litharge.

3. Smelting the bottoms of the cupels, to extract the lead which had soaked into them, in a glassy state.

Cupellation and its two complementary operations were, in many respects, objectionable processes; from the injurious effects of the lead vapours upon the health of the workmen; from the very considerable loss of metallic lead, amounting to 7 per cent. at least; and, lastly, from the immense consumption of fuel, as well as from the vast amount of manual labour incurred in such complicated operations. Hence, unless the lead were tolerably rich in silver, it would not bear the expense of cupellation.

The patent process lately introduced by Mr. Pattinson, of Newcastle, is not at all prejudicial to the health of workmen; it does not occasion more than 2 per cent. of loss of lead, and in other respects it is so economical, that it is now profitably applied in Northumberland to alloys too poor in silver to be treated by cupellation. This process is founded upon the following phenomena.

After melting completely an alloy of lead and silver, if we allow it to cool very slowly, continually stirring it meanwhile with a rake, we shall observe at a certain period a continually increasing number of imperfect little crystals, which may be taken out with a drainer, exactly as we may remove the crystals of sea salt deposited during the concentration of brine, or those of sulphate of soda, as its agitated solution cools. On submitting to analysis the metallic crystals thus separated, and also the liquid metal deprived of them, we find the former to be lead almost alone, but the latter to be rich in silver, when compared with the original alloy. The more of the crystalline particles are drained from the metallic bath, the richer does the _mother_ liquid become in silver. In practice, the poor lead is raised by this means to the standard of the ordinary lead of the litharge works; and the better lead is made ten times richer. This very valuable alloy is then submitted to cupellation; but as it contains only a tenth part of the quantity of lead subjected to crystallization, the loss in the cupel will be obviously reduced to one-tenth of what it was by the former process; that is, 7/10 of a per cent., instead of 7.

These nine-tenths of the lead separated by the drainer, are immediately sent into the market, without other loss than the trifling one, of about 1/2 per cent., involved in reviving a little dross skimmed off the surface of the melted metal at the beginning of the operation. Hence the total waste of lead in this method does not exceed 2 per cent. And as only a small quantity of lead requires to be cupelled, this may be done with the utmost slowness and circumspection; whereby loss of the precious metal, and injury to the health of the workpeople, are equally avoided.

The crystallization refinery of Mr. Pattinson is an extremely simple smelting-house. It contains 3 hemispherical cast-iron pans, 41 inches in diameter, and 1/4 of an inch thick. The three pans are built in one straight line, the broad flange at their edge being supported upon brickwork. Each pan has a discharge pipe, proceeding laterally from one side of its bottom, by which the melted metal may be run out when a plug is withdrawn, and each is heated by a small separate fire.

Three tons of the argentiferous lead constitute one charge of each pan; and as soon as it is melted, the fire is withdrawn; the flue, grate-door, and ash-pit, are immediately closed, and made air-tight with bricks and clay-lute. The agitation is now commenced, with a round bar of iron terminated with a chisel point, the workman being instructed merely to keep moving that simple rake constantly in the pan, but more especially towards the edges, where the solidification is apt to begin. He must be careful to take out the crystals, progressively as they appear, with an iron drainer, heated a little higher than the temperature of the metal bath. The liquid metal lifted in the drainer, flows readily back through its perforations, and may be at any rate effectually detached by giving the ladle two or three jogs. The solid portion remains in the form of a spongy, semi-crystalline, semi-pasty mass.

The proportion of crystals separated at each melting, depends upon the original quality of the alloy. If it be poor, it is usually divided in the proportion of two-thirds of poor crystals, and one-third of rich liquid metal; but this proportion is reversed if the alloy contain a good deal of silver.

Let us exemplify, by the common case of a lead containing 10 ounces of silver per ton. Operating upon three tons of this alloy, or 60 cwt., containing 30 oz. of silver, there will be obtained in the first operation--

(_a_) 40 cwt. at 4-1/4 ounces of silver per ton; in whole 9 oz.}30 oz.
(_b_) 20 cwt. at 21 -- -- 21 }

Each of these alloys (_a_) and (_b_) will be joined to alloys of like quality obtained in the treatment of one or several other portions of three tons of the primitive alloy. Again, three tons of each of these rich alloys are subjected to the crystallization process, and thus in succession. Thus poorer and poorer lead is got on the one hand, and richer and richer alloys on the other. Sometimes the _mother_ metal is parted from a great body of poor crystals, by opening the discharge-pipe, and running off the liquid, while the workman keeps stirring, to facilitate the separation of the two.

25 fodders, 15 cwts., 49 lbs. = 540 cwts., 49 lbs. of alloy, holding 5 oz. of silver per fodder, in the whole 130 oz., afforded, after three successive crystallizations--

oz.
440 cwts. of poor lead, holding 1/2 oz. of silver per fodder;
in all 10-1/2
15 cwt. 49 -- holding the original quantity, nearly 3-1/2
84 cwts. of lead for the cupel, holding 29 oz. 116
-------
Total 130

1 cwt. of loss, principally in the reduction of dross.

The expenses of the new method altogether, including 3_s._ per fodder of patent dues are about one-third of the old; being 17_l._ 13_s._ and 54_l._ 16_s._ respectively, upon 84 cwts. of lead, at 29 oz. per fodder.

In the conditions above stated, the treatment of argentiferous lead occasions the following expenses:--

FOR ONE FODDER. _£_ _s._ _d._
By the new process 0 13 7
old process 2 2 2

Admitting that the treatment of silver holding lead is economically possible only when the profit is equal to one-tenth of the gross expenses of the process, we may easily calculate, with the preceding data, that it is sufficient for the lead to have the following contents in silver:--

With the new process, 3 ounces per fodder; or, 0·000078
With the old process, 8-4/10 ounces per fodder; or, 0·000218

To conclude, the refining by crystallization reduces the cost of the parting of lead and silver, in the proportion of 3 to 1; and allows of extracting silver from a lead which contains only about 3 oz. per ton. In England, the new method produces at present very advantageous results, especially in reference to the great masses to which it may be applied. In 1828, the quantity of lead annually extracted from the mines in the United Kingdom had been progressively raised to 47,000 tons. Reduced almost to one-half of this amount in 1832, by the competition of the mines of la Sierra de Gador, the English production began again to increase in 1833. In 1835, 35,000 tons of lead were obtained, one-half of which only having a mean content of 8-1/2 oz. of silver per ton, was subjected to cupellation, and produced 14,000 oz. of that precious metal. The details of this production are--

Silver extracted from 17,500 tons of lead, } 140,000 oz.
holding upon the average 8-1/2 oz. per ton. }
Silver extracted from silver ores,
properly so called, in Cornwall 36,000
-------
176,000

In 1837, the production of lead amounted probably to 40,000 tons; upon which the introduction of the new method would have the effect not only of reducing considerably the cost of parting the 20,000 tons of lead containing 8 oz. of silver per ton, but of permitting the extraction of 4 or 5 oz. of silver, which may be supposed to exist upon an average in the greater portion of the remaining 20,000 tons. Otherwise, this mass of the precious metal would have had no value, or have been unproductive.

There are two oxides of silver; called argentic oxide, and suroxide, by Berzelius. 1. The first is obtained by adding solution of caustic potassa, or lime-water, to a solution of nitrate of silver. The precipitate has a brownish-gray colour, which darkens when dried, and contains no combined water. Its specific gravity is 7·143. On exposure to the sun, it gives out a certain quantity of oxygen, and becomes a black powder. This oxide is an energetic base; being slightly soluble in pure water, reacting like the alkalis upon reddened litmus paper, and displacing, from their combinations with the alkalis, a portion of the acids, with which it forms insoluble compounds. It is insoluble in the caustic lyes of potassa or soda. By combination with caustic ammonia, it forms _fulminating silver_. This formidable substance may be prepared by precipitating the nitrate of silver with lime-water, washing the oxide upon a filter, and spreading it upon gray paper, to make it nearly dry. Upon the oxide, still moist, water of ammonia is to be poured, and allowed to remain for several hours. The powder which becomes black, is to be freed from the supernatant liquor by decantation, divided into small portions while moist, and set aside to dry upon bits of porous paper. Fulminating silver may be made more expeditiously by dissolving the nitrate in water of pure ammonia, and precipitating by the addition of caustic potassa lye in slight excess. If fulminating silver be pressed with a hard body in its moist state, it detonates with unparalleled violence; nay, when touched even with a feather, in its dry state, it frequently explodes. As many persons have been seriously wounded, and some have been killed, by these explosions, the utmost precautions should be taken, especially by young chemists, in its preparation. This violent phenomenon is caused by the sudden production of water and nitrogen, at the instant when the metallic oxide is reduced. The quiescent and divellent affinities seem to be so nicely balanced in this curious compound, that the slightest disturbance is sufficient to incite the hydrogen of the ammonia to snatch the oxygen from the silver. The oxide of silver dissolves in glassy fluxes, and renders them yellow. It consists, according to Berzelius, of 93·11 parts of silver, and 6·89 of oxygen. 2. The suroxide of silver is obtained by passing a voltaic current through a weak solution of the nitrate; it being deposited, of course, at the positive or oxygenating pole. It is said to crystallize in needles of a metallic lustre, interlacing one another, which are one-third of an inch long. When thrown into muriatic acid, it causes the disengagement of chlorine, and the formation of chloride of silver; into water of ammonia, it occasions such a rapid production of nitrogen gas, with a hissing sound, as to convert the whole liquid into froth. If a little of it, mixed with phosphorus, be struck with a hammer, a loud detonation ensues. With heat it decrepitates, and becomes metallic silver.

Sulphuret of silver, which exists native, may be readily prepared by fusing the constituents together; and it forms spontaneously upon the surface of silver exposed to the air of inhabited places, or plunged into eggs, especially rotten ones. The tarnish may be easily removed, by rubbing the metal with a solution of _cameleon mineral_, prepared by calcining peroxide of manganese with nitre. Sulphuret of silver is a powerful sulpho-base; since though it be heated to redness in close vessels, it retains the volatile sulphides, whose combinations with the alkalis are decomposed at that temperature. It consists of 87·04 of silver, and 12·96 of oxygen.

A small quantity of tin, alloyed with silver, destroys its ductility. The best method of separating these two metals, is to laminate the alloy into thin plates, and distil them along with corrosive sublimate. The bichloride of tin comes over in vapours, and condenses in the receiver. Silver and lead, when combined, are separated by heat alone in the process of cupellation, as described in the article ASSAY, and in the reduction of silver ores. See _suprà_.

An alloy, containing from one-twelfth to one-tenth of copper, constitutes the silver coin of most nations; being a harder and more durable metal under friction than pure silver. When this alloy is boiled with a solution of cream of tartar and sea-salt, or scrubbed with water of ammonia, the superficial particles of copper are removed, and a surface of fine silver is left.

Chloride of silver is obtained by adding muriatic acid, or any soluble muriate, to a solution of nitrate of silver. A curdy precipitate falls, quite insoluble in water, which being dried and heated to dull redness, fuses into a semi-transparent gray mass, called, from its appearance, _horn-silver_. Chloride of silver dissolves readily in water of ammonia, and crystallizes in proportion as the ammonia evaporates. It is not decomposed by a red heat, even when mixed with calcined charcoal; but when hydrogen or steam is passed over the fused chloride, muriatic acid exhales, and silver remains. When fused along with potassa (or its carbonate), the silver is also revived; while oxygen (or also carbonic acid) gas is liberated, and chloride of potassium is formed. Alkaline solutions do not decompose chloride of silver. When this compound is exposed to light, it suffers a partial decomposition, muriatic acid being disengaged. See ASSAY by the _humid method_.

The best way of reducing the chloride of silver, says Mohr, is to mix it with one-third of its weight of colophony (black rosin), and to heat the mixture moderately in a crucible till the flame ceases to have a greenish-blue colour; then suddenly to increase the fire, so as to melt the metal into an ingot.

The subchloride may be directly formed, by pouring a solution of deuto-chloride of copper or iron upon silver leaf. The metal is speedily changed into black spangles, which, being immediately washed and dried, constitute subchloride of silver. If the contact of the solutions be prolonged, chloride would be formed.

The bromide, cyanide, fluoride, and iodide of silver, have not been applied to any use in the arts. Sulphate of silver may be prepared by boiling sulphuric acid upon the metal. See REFINING OF GOLD AND SILVER. It dissolves in 88 parts of boiling water, but the greater part of the salt crystallizes in small needles, as the solution cools. It consists of 118 parts of oxide, combined with 40 parts of dry acid. Solutions of the hyposulphite of potassa, soda, and lime, which are bitter salts, dissolve chloride of silver, a tasteless substance, into liquids possessed of the most palling sweetness, but not at all of any metallic taste.

The iodide of silver is remarkable, like some other metallic compounds, for changing its colour alternately with heat and cold. If a sheet of white paper be washed over with a solution of nitrate of silver, and afterwards with a somewhat dilute solution of hydriodate of potash, it will immediately assume the pale yellow tint of the cold silver iodide. On placing the paper before the fire, it will change colour from a pale primrose to a gaudy brilliant yellow, like the sun-flower; and on being cooled, it will again resume the primrose hue. These alternations may be repeated indefinitely, like those with the salts of cobalt, provided too great a heat be not applied. The pressure of a finger upon the hot yellow paper makes a white spot, by cooling it quickly.

Fulminate of silver is prepared in the same way as FULMINATE _of Mercury_, which see.

On the 10th of February, 1798, the Lords of the Privy Council appointed the Hon. Charles Cavendish, F. R. S., and Charles Hatchett, Esq., F. R. S., to make investigations upon the wear of gold coin by friction. Their admirable experiments were begun in the latter end of 1798, and completed in April 1801, having been instituted and conducted with every mechanical aid, as devised by these most eminent chemical philosophers, and provided, at no small expense, by the government. The following are the important conclusions of their official report:--[54]

[54] It is inserted in the Philosophical Transactions for 1803.

“Gold made standard by a mixture of equal parts of silver and copper, is not so soft as gold alloyed only with silver; neither is it so pale; for it appears to be less removed from the colour of fine gold, than either the former or the following metal.

“Gold, when alloyed with silver and copper, when annealed, does not become black, but brown; and this colour is more easily removed by the blanching liquor, or solution of alum, than when the whole of the alloy consists of copper. It may also be rolled and stamped with great facility; and, under many circumstances, it appears to suffer less by friction than gold alloyed by silver or copper alone.

“If copper alone forms the alloy, it must be dissolved and separated from the surface of each piece of coin, in the process of annealing and blanching.

“Upon a comparison of the different qualities of the three kinds of standard gold, it appears (strictly speaking) that gold made standard by silver and copper is rather to be preferred for coin.”

It will, undoubtedly, seem not a little strange to the uninitiated, that this report, and its important deductions, should have been of late years entirely set at nought, without any scientific reason or research, apparently for the purpose of giving a certain official in our Mint a good job, in sweating out all the silver from our sovereigns, and replacing it, in the new coinage, with copper, taking on an average 3_d._ worth of silver out of each ounce of our excellent gold coin, and charging the country 6-1/2_d._ for its extraction, besides the very considerable expense in providing fine copper to replace the silver. The pretence set up for this extraordinary degradation of the gold, was, that our coin might peradventure be exported, in order to be de-silvered abroad, a danger which could have been most readily averted, by leaving out as much gold in every sovereign as was equivalent to the silver introduced, and thus preserving its intrinsic value in precious metal. When the film of fine gold which covers each of our present pieces has been rubbed off from the prominent parts, these must appear of a very different and deeper colour than the flat part or ground of the coin. “The reason, therefore, is sufficiently apparent, says Mr. Hatchett, why gold which is alloyed with silver only, cannot be liable to this blemish;” and with one-half of silver alloy, it must be much less liable to it, than with copper alone. Why did the political economists in the recent Committee of the House of Commons on the Mint, blink this question, of public economy and expediency?

Gold, as imported from America, Asia, and Africa, contains on an average nearly the right proportion of silver for making the best coin; and were it alloyed to our national standard, of 22 parts of gold, 1 of silver, and 1 of copper, as defined by Messrs. Cavendish and Hatchett, then by simply adding the deficient quantities of one or two of these metals, by the rule of alligation, the very considerable expense would be saved to the nation, and sulphureous nuisance to the Tower Hamlets, now foolishly incurred in de-silvering and cuprifying sovereigns at the Royal Mint.

It was long imagined in Europe, that the average metallic contents of the silver ores of Mexico and Peru, were considerably greater than those of Saxony and Hungary. Much poorer ores, however, are worked among the Cordilleras than in any part of Europe. The mean product of the whole silver ores that are annually reduced in Mexico, amounts only to from 0·18 to 0·25 of a per cent.; that is, from 3 to 4 ounces in 100 lbs.; the true average being, perhaps, not more than 2-1/2. It is by their greater profusion of ores, not their superior richness, that the mines of South America surpass those of Europe.

GOLD and SILVER produced in Forty Years, from 1790 to 1830.

+------------+------------+--------------+
| | Gold. | Silver. |
| +------------+--------------+
|Mexico |_£_6,436,453|_£_139,818,032|
|Chile | 2,768,488| 1,822,924|
|Buenos Ayres| 4,024,895| 27,182,673|
|Russia | 3,703,743| 1,502,981|
+------------+------------+--------------+

RETURNS of the DOLLARS coined at the different Mints in MEXICO.

+-----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| | 1829. | 1830. | 1831. | 1834. |
| +----------+----------+----------+----------+
|Mexico | 1,280,000| 1,090,000| 1,386,000| 952,000|
|Guanajuato | 2,406,000| 2,560,000| 2,603,000| 2,703,000|
|Zacatecas | 4,505,000| 5,190,000| 4,965,000| 5,527,000|
|Guadalaxara| 596,000| 592,000| 590,000| 715,000|
|Durango | 659,000| 453,000| 358,000| 1,215,000|
|San Luis | 1,613,000| 1,320,000| 1,497,000| 928,000|
|Ilalpan | 728,000| 90,000| 323,000| |
| +----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Total |11,787,000|11,295,000|11,722,000|12,040,000|
+-----------+----------+----------+----------+----------+

The returns for 1832 and 1833 are wanting.

PERU.--RETURNS of GOLD and SILVER coined at the Mints of Lima and Casco.

+-----+-------+---------+------------------+
| | Gold. | Silver. |Total, in Dollars.|
| +-------+---------+------------------+
|1830 |180,000|2,015,000| 2,195,000 |
|1831 | 92,000|2,384,000| 2,476,000 |
|1832 | 94,000|3,210,000| 3,284,000 |
|1833 |150,000|2,990,000| 3,140,000 |
|1834 |110,000|3,150,000| 3,260,000 |
+-----+-------+---------+------------------+

RETURNS of SILVER in BARS produced at the different Smelting-works in PERU.

+----+-------+-------+---------+-------+-------+-------+---------+
| |Lima. |Truxil-|Pasco. |Aya- |Puno. |Are- |Total, in|
| | |lo. | |cucho. | |quipa. |Dollars. |
| +-------+-------+---------+-------+-------+-------+---------+
|1830|270,000|190,000| 780,000|120,000|250,000|150,000|1,760,000|
|1831|270,000| 60,000|1,110,000| 70,000|310,000|110,000|1,930,000|
|1832|290,000|100,000|1,800,000| 70,000|345,000| 25,000|2,640,000|
|1833|222,000| 70,000|2,130,000| 50,000| 25,000| 65,000|2,562,000|
+----+-------+-------+---------+-------+-------+-------+---------+

+----+---------+-------+----------+
| |Coquimbo.|Huasco.| Copiano. |
| +---------+-------+----------+
|1831| 785,000|115,000| 670,000 |
|1832| 316,000| | 36,000 |
|1833| 490,000|100,000| 585,000 |
| +---------+-------+----------+
| |1,591,000|215,000|1,291,000 |
+----+---------+-------+----------+

SANTIAGO--Mint Coinage.

Gold. Silver. Total.
1832, 174,000; 1833, 392,500 1832, 42,000; 1833, 92,000 700,500

The production of SILVER in the kingdom of SAXONY, amounted to--

59,231 marcs and 8 loths, in the year 1825
55,023 1826
60,034 1827
61,361 1828
65,176 and 10 loths 1830
65,886 1832

The mine of Himmelsfürst alone produces annually 10,000 marcs.

The quantity of SILVER produced in the PRUSSIAN states was--

22,135 marcs in 1825
20,071 1826
18,631 1827
21,731 1828
20,612 1829
20,887 1830
19,031 1831
22,083 1832

The whole annual production of Europe, and Asiatic Russia, has been rated by Humboldt at 292,000 marcs; by other authorities, at 310,000; while at the beginning of the present century, that of the Spanish colonies in America was 3,349,160 marcs, or nearly twelve times as much. The sum total is 3,704,160 marcs, of 3609 grains troy each; which is nearly 1,900,000 lbs. avoirdupois; that is, little less than 9000 tons.

The English Mint silver contains 222 pennyweights of fine silver, and 18 of copper, in the troy pound of 240 pennyweights; or 92·5 in 100 parts. 1 pound troy = 5760 grains, contains 65·8 shillings, each weighing 87·55 grains. The French silver coin contains one-tenth of copper, and a franc weighs 5 grammes = 77·222 grains troy. The Prussian dollar, (_thaler_), is the standard coin; 10-1/2 _thaler_ weigh 1 marc; hence, 1 _thaler_ weighs 343·7 grains troy, and contains 257·9 grains of fine silver; being 75 per cent. of silver, and 25 of alloy. The Austrian coin contains 13/288 of alloy, according to Wasserberg; which is only 4-1/2 per cent.

SILVER LEAF, is made in precisely the same way as GOLD LEAF, to which article I must therefore refer the reader.

SILVERING, is the art of covering the surfaces of bodies with a thin film of silver. When silver leaf is to be applied, the methods prescribed for gold leaf are suitable. Among the metals, copper or brass are those on which the silverer most commonly operates. Iron is seldom silvered; but the processes for both metals are essentially the same.

The principal steps of this operation are the following:--

1. The _smoothing down_ the sharp edges, and polishing the surface of the copper; called _émorfiler_ by the French artists.

2. The _annealing_; or, making the piece to be silvered redhot, and then plunging it in very dilute nitric acid, till it be bright and clean.

3. _Pumicing_; or, clearing up the surface with pumice-stone and water.

4. The _warming_, to such a degree merely as, when it touches water, it may make a slight hissing sound; in which state it is dipped in the very weak aquafortis, whereby it acquires minute insensible asperities, sufficient to retain the silver leaves that are to be applied.

5. The _hatching_. When these small asperities are inadequate for giving due solidity to the silvering, the plane surfaces must be hatched all over with a graving tool; but the chased surfaces need not be touched.

6. The _bluing_, consists in heating the piece till its copper or brass colour changes to blue. In heating, they are placed in hot tools made of iron, called _mandrins_ in France.

7. The _charging_, the workman’s term for silvering. This operation consists in placing the silver leaves on the heated piece, and fixing them to its surface by burnishers of steel, of various forms. The workman begins by applying the leaves double. Should any part darken in the heating, it must be cleared up by the scratch-brush.

The silverer always works two pieces at once; so that he may heat the one, while burnishing the other. After applying two silver leaves, he must heat up the piece to the same degree as at first, and he then fixes on with the burnisher four additional leaves of silver; and he goes on _charging_ in the same way, 4 or 6 leaves at a time, till he has applied, one over another, 30, 40, 50, or 60 leaves, according to the desired solidity of the silvering. He then burnishes down with great pressure and address, till he has given the surface a uniform silvery aspect.

_Silvering by the precipitated chloride of silver._--The white curd obtained by adding a solution of common salt to one of nitrate of silver, is to be well washed and dried. One part of this powder is to be mixed with 3 parts of good pearlash, one of washed whiting, and one and a half of sea salt. After clearing the surface of the brass, it is to be rubbed with a bit of soft leather, or cork moistened with water, and dipped in the above powder. After the silvering, it should be thoroughly washed with water, dried, and immediately varnished. Some use a mixture of 1 part of the silver precipitate, with 10 of cream of tartar, and this mixture also answers very well.

Others give a coating of silver by applying with friction, in the moistened state, a mixture of 1 part of silver-powder precipitated by copper, 2 parts of cream of tartar, and as much common salt. The piece must be immediately washed in tepid water very faintly alkalized, then in slightly warm pure water, and finally wiped dry before the fire. See PLATED MANUFACTURE.

The inferior kinds of plated buttons get their silver coating in the following way:--