Mohave County miner., 1899-04-22
How the Faktrs Make Gold.

For long time In India the apparent
transmutstion Of tin, zinc, copper and
mercury into precious metals has been
practiced, says Paris Cosmos We have
seen there with our own eyes me al
like gold issuing from the crucible OF .he
Indian alchemists--s metal that could
not be told from real gold by means Of
the touchstone. We may say, however,
that In old India, as we'll as 10 young
America, they have not yet succeeded IN
giving to the metal thus obtained the
chemical properties Of gold. Ol this
point they are not more advanced in one
country than in the other, and the
problem seems to Us not to he near so
luton. The metal obtained can, IN fact,
be decom posed into it's constituent ele.
ments. Nevertheless, 1t may be inter
esting to present to public notice the
Indian alchsmists and to describe their
methods. Around these personages many
legends have sprung up The people as.
sert that they never come into u city
except by divine inspiration in order to
cure illness and to enrich certain persons.
There is a belief among the Hindoos.
very widespread, but purely fabulous,
that they disappear at certain hours to
rejoin the cittsrs-divine naturalists at
the early ages Of India, who, according
to Hindoo tradition, meet with their di
viuity, Hiri Ishsri, on the summit OF the
Hinslayss, to learn the secrets Of nature
The following is the method employed
by these Indian slchemists to make their
gold. We give 1t literally. conforming to
the weights and measures in use in In.
dis, the list OF substances necessary for
this delicate operation. These are, ac-
cording to our docu nents:
Sulphur OF Neli-Kai (Phylanthus lem.
bl,ca), "a rupees weight, q ounces).
White seeds OIL Abrs precstorius, 8 ru.
pees weight (2T ounces).
One whole garlic.
CInDabsr, 9 rupees weight, q ounces)
English orpiment, o rupees weight.
S.l smmoniac, 6 rupees weight.
These are powdered separately, and
then paste lie made of the whole, with
three quarts Of paddy" made OF the
milky nice Of Aselepips gigantea. The
whole is ground up with this milk Then
little hard balls are made Of the mixture,
and finally two aattis are taken OF fine,
hard esrthenwsre, OF such size that the
material to be distilled occupies only one
third or one-fourth Of the vessel. On the
lower vessel another satti is soldered
with potter's earth, after the opening has
been made In the end Of this second
vase. OJer this hole is fitted a bottle
whose end Is pierced, and it Is carefully
sealed to the vase Into the lower vase
are put the little balls described above,
and the whole is then sealed up.
The powder, when vsporizsd, rises along
the sides OF the bottle and condenses
around the hole. II lie collected with a
feather. Then zinc is taken. For each
rupees weight Of zinc Is allowed guam.
tlty OF the powder as large az two or three
rice grams. The zinc and the powder
are wrapped up together in bit OF pa
per or linen or u leaf The whole is put
into a crucible, which ia then sealed
with paste composed Of one part Of COW
dunv ope mart of chaTrnaI and ona of
potter's earth. This lie placed on fire
Of wood charcoal and heated white hot,
after which it is allowed to cool. Open
the crucible-you are a rich man.