Evening star., 1897-06-05

AotSs oue uy IcAeEenCe 10 standard works
and processes then in use, 1 found that this
theory was erroneous. and that gold dis
solved in nitric and hydrochloric acids, in-
stead OF being nitro murate, was in itself
by the nitric acid was simply to evolve the
chlorine obtained by the hydrochloride
acid and In its evolution the chlorine dis
solved the gold. Therefore. / arrived at the
conclusion that the principal substance
used in the basic material must be a sub
stance soluble in chlorine water or by hy-
drochloric acid.
With these conclusions arrived at and
defined, began my search for that sub
stance which I considered the basic sub
stance contained in gold which is soluble
IN Chlorine water or by hydrochloric acid
I found many Of those substances I'm the
catalogue of metals, tin, aluminium and en-
t1mony being among them. With all Of
these experimented, using lead. which is
soluble in nitric acid, sts q carrier or a
means to an end.
The First Result.
Il shall now revert to that period of my
| life when, after having gathered from the
great storehouses Of nature all the ma
terials with which 1 wished to experiment,
1 directed my attention to solving an ul-
most equally difficult problem. viz, to dis
cover how and to what extent nature en-
ployed ner volcanic hel,s in making col !
and silver. With this object In view /
crossed the ocean and spent some months
on the sloUes of Vesuvius. 1t was while
studying that remarkable volcano that
invented the present system Of furnaces
used by me in the daily production of the
precious metals. When I had completed
my studies of volcalic action, returned to
America land having established a lab
oTatory in Washington, SET myself serious
ly at work to reduce to practical results the
Intimate knowledge i had acquired Of
natures methods. through years of unceas-
ing toll and research.
1.-The first gold made by man was rrea ted
oy me in this laboratory. and was the oul-
mtnatton of G long series of experiments
with the minerals I mad collected
'On the night of the 2Gth of February,
1882 l was working in my laboratory. 1t
was 10 o'clock. There were presen. in the
laboratory my sister Maud, a friend of
mine and colored Joy. who attended to
my furnaces. The materials with which
was working lay extended on a long bench,
and as dropped them one by one into my
crlcfble, kept a recorl of them in a book
prepared for the purpose. little before
10 O'clock plungel Il testing rod into the
crucible In order 20 ascertain the state of
fusion of its contents. Just at this mo-
ment a question was addressed to me by
naturally withdrew the testing rod from
the crucfble. While in a vertical position,
the molten metal ran down the rod, severe
~ burning my hand. I thrust the testing
OF the furnace, had my hand dressed and
retired for the night. l must have over
turned the crucible but did not know this
at the time Of its occurrence
AT = O'Clock next morning the co1orcd
boy. whom 1 had previously instructed tn
save when rebuilding the fire in nv fur
mace, everything which he found on the
crate bars, came knocking at my door, He
showed me two beautiful specimens of
rose-colored quartz which he had found on
the gra.e bars of the furnace This quartz
was plentifully streaked with what looked
to me to be free gold; but I did not dare
to ,, accept the evidence of my senses. Hast
lily dressing myself, I passed into my lab
oratory, and taking the nitric acid bottle
from its accustomed place upon the shelf
1 detached from the surface of the quartz
few grains of the metal and tested them
with acid The acid had no effect upon
them whatever. Adding q few drops of
hydrochloriC acid 1 formed what is known
as aqua regia, and under this compound
acid the grains Of metal foamed immedi-
ately.
MY hopes rose high. For a moment or
two a dizziness seized me. Had I at last
discovered the secret which had defied the
ages? Selling the quartz l placed 1t in
mortar, and rapidly reducing 1t to powder,
placed it in the crucible and prepared it
for cupellation. AS the base metal con-
tanned in the button was gradually alb
sorbed in the bone ash l experienced all
the tortu-ing sensations of alternate hope
and despair. Finally the last vestige of
the base metal was swallowed by the bone
ashy and there resting in the center of the
cupel lay a bright sphere of the precious
metals. l parted this with nitric acid in
the usual way known to chemists and
found that had actually created consid-
cradle quantity of the purest gold and sill
yer.
Antimony Chosen.
MY book showing me what materials
had been placed in the overturned crucible,
and following out my theories, my first ex-
pertinent was to- oxidize in an open iron
oxide was found to be very refractory, in
asmuch as no heat that 1 could obtain
would reduce it. 1 had resource 10 the
use of fiuxes-notably alkaline fuXes-
which gave me no result. l then had re-
course to the use of carbon in the form
of crude petroleum. This, on being fiuxed
with lead gave small results. The results.
however, were too Insignificant to be of
any value.
'.At this point 1 recognized two things
Of importance-the lack Of heat and suffi-
cient yield, and 1 came to the conclusion
that l would be compelled to substitute
some ingredient more fusible than the
oxide of tin. l finally selected oxide of an
timony. The antimony and lead being first
fused together, then converted into yell
low oxide at low heat, compounded with
petroleum and fused, gave very much bet
ter results. The results In this case were
more gold than silver.
Following up these efforts, found that
profitable If the proper appliances were
provided.
AT this point the reduction to practice
of my discovery began. l saw that l re-
quired furnace, which would reproduce
the penetrating heat of volcanic action.
This heat, I have above stated, 1
studied on the slopes of Vesuvius. After
constructing seven furnaces In my Wash
ington plant, 1 finally succeeded in obtain
ing one which reproduced. as far man
can reproduce on his limited scale, the
great volcanoes of nature.
II have been compelled to construct
furnace in which l can get the proper de-
gree of heat and be enabled to control that
degree, preventing its variation, the
method of accomplishing which apparently
hopeless feat with all furnaces hitherto
constructed is marvelcusly illustrated in
the operation of the human lungs To ac-
complish my object did not require so
much attention to the fire chambers of the
furnace as 1t did to the flues, which re-
quirel minute study in order to prevent
the escape of too much heat generated; to
reach, as far as 1t was possible, the full
virtue of that heat, allowing it to pass SO
far and no further-all this required a long
period of time for it's development, and as
now applied in my furnace is marked
success.
Passing from the study of heat we are
nayt vxyit ha