Arizona citizen., 1875-10-23

O'i'- VOL i4lt Nr!-lI ri fic ChafEci O'
 ground salt is mixed in and stirred
 with it as well as possible; half ar
 hour ai;cr oT tN' hours aCcr placing
 the ore on lhi, hearth, ii is passe, q,
 the first and the iire repl,ni-hcd. thar
 the temperature may again rise.
 M lhis period oi the royerberatioH
 lhe copper and iron are to great ex
 tent converted into -uIpha,es; but the
 same does nos occur witl. lhc silver.
 tor testing small quantity of ore with
 boiling water, Altering, concentrating
 ana testing Inc iiquid with & solution
 of chloride of sodium, it hardly gives
 traces of silver. oniy forming very
 light cloud of chloride of silver: but II the residuum is tried wijh nitric acid. l filtered, washed and lried with ;he said chloride of sodium, then 8 precipitate of chloride of silver is obtained. the
 more abundant, the larger the quantity contained iH yhc oIe.
 From the foregoing it follows that il
 is during the last period of reycrbera- ! ton when the silver changes into sul-
 phale and this into chloride. Indeed. ai ;he temperature which the ore reach es, the sulphates Of copper and iron be. | come decomposed and convert lhem- selves into oXyd4s; the sea salt at the : same temperature, does not only melt,
 but suffers also a commencement of de composition which i, indicated by the odor of the chlorine that escapes: this : Commencement of decomposition ani tine affinity of the iron and copper with thc chlorine make the decomposition of the ulphates and ;hc conversion of the metallic oXyd-, into chloridcs more complete, principally at the present ! temperature, anu a> the chlorine is just ! forming The sodium of chloride is transformed into soda, which combines
 itself wi!L a part of the sulphuric acid from tine suipha,es Another portion of ,hi, acid, .he su!phiic of silver i'm 'perf-c,ly reduced, being present, oNy- dizcs the silver, partly dccompasing itself and combining the uo. decom- posed part with tine oxydc of silver; bat ;he-a reactions must take place ialmps simultaneously with those that result from ;Ae decomposition If the salt. it result, ;hat the suliLideof sil- . ger ia presence of the former and of tar srlrIsf-s o. copper aud ion, pass es .a the -ta, OF chloride almost as r., a, iha,e ,ulpna'cs a-c Gccamposed.
 In fact. through tic Terer'cra.ion ;hr .-uighides of iron. copper and silver are converted in, chlaridc-, So part of ,ho -ll; into .ulpha.- and lh. rest re- main- ja is u.-ursl state.
 Waffle these reactions ale place, ,hc ore puff, up, augmcn;- considerably in size. tends to a-rlomcra'e. and alI .has which is ou,sid. o;' tlc b-idsc, forms half melted clot>; in order to avoid this, which causns loss, the operator has tomove constantly the mass of ore, changing srongIs with thc shovel that from the bridge 10 the opposite side and vice versa l. is an operation which it k necessary to watch a great; deal. because the aegiomeration of tine ore makes the work of the operator quite fatiguing. and thcre.are few who do il with a good will Shortly after the commencement of this last period the flame begins To take a green color. if the ore contains much copper and a penetrating odor k eXhaled containing more or less Sulpuric acid; at the close of it the flame is of violet blue, and the odor of the acid is replaced by characteristics of chlorine and the col or of the ore darkens, varying between tiger-gray and iron-black, according to. the kind of metal, whose color. in cv- cry metal. forms the surcst characleris- tic with practical men as ,o the end of the operation, which concludes two. hours after placing the ore upon the first hearth
 The operation being over the hearth is discharged. the metal of the second passed to' the first hearth, that of the second receives the metal of the third and this latter Is fed anew.
 So then, the reverberation lasts six hours, and ten operations may be made in twenty-four hours, supposing that. the work is kept up.
 Six men are employed, three during the day and three during the night, each are serving on each of the com partments of the hearth. On an aver age according to the condition of the wood, sixteen cargas (burro loads) of dry or twenty of green wood are used, the former weighing five arrobas tone arroba twenty-five pounds) and the lat. ter from five and half tO five and four ffths arrobas. When the ores do not contain a sufficient quantity of sulphur, pvrites or sulphates of copper or iron are added.
 After the ore is reverberated it passes into vats or boxes in order to undergoi the other operations, but before l speak of them I shall make few observa- tions of several things that came under my notice.
 a~onUrrct inc ]