The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-10-07
DOUBT HIS RECOVERY OF GOLD
CHEMISTS THROW OFT DR.
NAGELS PAPER ON 1T.
lie Brought sea Water In Contact with
Stag Treated With Copperas. which
absorbed the Golt--SOO Per Cent.
Possible Immense Rumpus Over II.

/ Absorbed the Goid--SOO Per Cent.
| Possible Immense Rumpus over II.
DR.. Oskar Nagel. sober Austrian
chemist. stood up last night before the
New York section of the American Chemi
cal Society and gave some details Of a
! plan which he has followed in getting gold
out Of sea water. DR.. Nagel said before
hand that his scheme would return the
operator 500 per cent. II year. When he
had finished reading his lecture the chem
/ lists fired questions at him and at last
voted to throw out his paper.
1 The whole matter OF DR.. Nagels lee
ture got an airing in the newspapers
early In the week. and the chemists were
30 much interested in the possible devel-
opments at the session that Rumford
Hail. the meeting place Of the society
at 50 East Forty-first street. was we'll
filed when DR.. Nagel's name was called
| His paper. modestly styled The Re-
covery of Metals From Extremely Dilute
Solutions" took him about ten minutes
to read. He illustrated the methods used
in getting gold out of the ocean 10y means
Of simple apparatus on the lecture table.
IL consisted of n wash boiler partly filled
with n solution of gold in salt water.
which contained one part of gold in
! 100. 900 900 parts of water. This. DIR. Nagel
reminded the chemists. was about twice
the quantity Of gold present in the ocean
| DR.. Nagel poured the solution into a
funnel which held common blast furnace
slag. This. before the session. had been
treated with warm. dilute solution Of
copperas jus how warm it was and
just how dilute it was DR.. Nagel wouldn I
say. That is his own secret. he says
The Stag. according to his process. re-
covers the gold from the water. by absorp-
ton he supposes. The precise reaction
he did not attempt TO explain. He said
he didn't understand it himself.
| A. c. Langmur of Brook lyn. who il
chairman of the section. waited just long
enough for a wave Of undemonstrative q
handclapping to die away after DR.. Nagel
PAUSED at the end of his paper before he
got to his feet.
Il am told" he said. that DR.. Nagel
gave many details Of this process TO the
newspapers before he presented them to
the society. He is quoted in one Of them
as saying that with a plant costing no
more than sc4o 900 he could take from the
sea 81 800, 900 worth of gold year. This
would mean getting 81, 800 day AZ a cost
| of $500. making a net profit a day of
s.. 300
Then DR.. I.angmuir.turnedt to DR.. Nagel
is this statement an accurate quotation,
sir?-
DR. Nagei said it was.
When DIR. Langmuir asked for an ex-
PLANTATION DR.. Nagel proceeded in
solemn voice to give narrative Of his
| adventures with sea water.
Il worked for long time" he said.
"along the shore Of Long Island AT
Bay Shore. of Fire Island and elsewhere.
found that l had hard time getting
the Stag to stay in my tank when pumped
in the water. The material was carried
away"
DR.. Nagel drew diagram OF his appa-
ratus on the blackboard. cylindrical
slag about third Of the way from the
bottom. The water was introduced from
below. He changed it slightly and was
disappointed again.
Il don't know how it was" he said
1T was all washed away. Then / made
another. and this took weeks and weeks
At last l put some stones on the wire
nettiDg and the Stag on top Of that. and
this worked an right"
He then wrote out on the blackboard
| poSed of twenty units. each served 10y an
eighteen inch centrifugal pump capable
Of pumping 1000 gallons of ocean a
minute. In each Of his twenty tanks was
to be sixteen feet of Stag. treated. as he
| had described, with a solution of copperds
| My tests were carried out on a small
scale he said. and then. stretching out
his arms to DR.. Langmuir. he added.
Il don't think did anything wrong"
At this there was litter Of laughter.
Then DIR Langmuir got to his feet again
and said that he wanted il underst ood that
| h, Il IA n,t fpr Z ho
of any of DR.. Nagels statements. They
were made without the sanction of the
society and DR. Nagel had not had any
right in naming the society in his pre-
limlnary statements.
Then up stood DR.. Charles +, Mckenna,
eX chairman of the section.
This is not scientific paper" said
DR.. Mckenna. DIR. Nagel has not stated
what reaction takes place in any under
standable way There was no proper
experimental, demonstration aiterward.
He has withheld important parts of his
process. do not regard this At scien,l-
tifc contribution"
| There was complete silence in the room
while DR.. Mckenna spoke and when he
sat down the chemists applauded vigor-
ously. DIR. Mckenna rose again to move
that the paper be not received by the
society.
DIR. Gaines. another member of the So
ciety. got up then to protest. He said
he thought tney were urea tlnR DR.. Nagel
discourteously no matter what the virtue
of his discovery. But before there was
any more discussion DR.. Charles Basker-
vile who is a professor at the College Of
the City of New York and consulting
chemist for corporations. got up to insist
that the chemists talk about the paper
and not the way DR.. Nagel was being
treate
One Of the chemists asked how much
gold he got after his experiment on Long
Island. DR.. Nagel replied that it was
worth $40. Another asked if there was
any gold in the Stag.
Il don't know, replied the Austrian.
After ] treated it with the sulphate of
iron solution there was seven cents worth h.
But don't know whether that was in tn,
Stag or the copperas.
Dr., Morris Loeb then got up to say
that he objected to the way DR.. Nagel
had explained his process beforehand
to the newspapers. III that's the whole
process" ne went on. Just pouring