The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1913-02-01
SAVING PLATINUM
a Little Drama Enacted In Uncle
Sans Assay Offices.
SCIENCE IN THE STAR ROLE
HighbroW Professors Filled Up the
Cast, and. With Acids and Precious
Metals as Stage Properties. They
Scored Brilliant Success.

Metals as Stage Properties. They
Scored Brilliant Success.
Even the United States government
has become possessed Of the present
day fever to eliminate any waste and
stop leaks in the methods OF doing
things. The results. particularly in
the mints and assay Offices. have been
remarkable.
For instance, the old method Of ex-
tracting gold from baser metals when
1t came from the mint consisted merely
or trenting the smelter bars Of gold
with nitric acid. which dissolved out
the baScr metals, leaving the gold with
u snail percentage of impurities that
could be removed by fusing with inter.
Germany went the United States one
better In this. The professors over
there. men whose genius for scientific
detail Is unsurpassed by those Of any
other nation. perfected process for
refining by electricity. Simply stated.
IT IL nothing more nor less than electric
plating. The smelter bars are placed
In the plating bath. and the gold is de-
posted In an absolutely pure state.
leaving the base metals behind In soiu
ton.
1t was this residue that interested
the high brow professors. The fact
that platinum is frequently found with
gold has been recognized ever since
the science Of metallurgy was In swad,
ding clothes; also the fact that gold
and platinum have one quality in COM
mon-i. e., that no single acid known
will dissolve them. 1t takes comb.
nation Of nitric and muriatic acids 10
get either of these two metals In solu.
tion. Silver, on the other hand. is
readily soluble in nitric acid. No one
ever thought Of testing nitric acid
solution OF silver for the presence of
platinum because of the theory. sound
as religion. that platinum could not be
dissolved by nitric acid Therefore. il
was argued. ii there wasn't enough
silver in the solution to make it worth
there could not be any platinum. so
into the sewer it went
The professors began to experiment.
AT the first step they uncovered the
dusky gentleman I'm the wood pile
They discovered q curious fact-name.
ly. that. while platinum alone was not
soluble I'm nitric acid. some of it's al.
loys with silver were soluble For
instance. composition Of per cent
platinum In silver Is readily soluble
Right there was the clew leading to the
discovery that for years out OF mem
ory untold quantities of the precious
metal. essential above all others In
electrical manufactures. had been run
ming into the sewer. All solutions were
carefully tested. Salts of iron were
added. preciptates supposedly of silver
were analyzed. and since then pati-
mum at the rate of $1,000 month has
been offered for sale by Uncle Sam.
1t Is interesting to trace the sources
OF this gold in that the facts suggest
that sooner or later deposits of plati.
mum In large quantities are going to
be found Little of the gold coming
from the western United states and
Alaska contains platinI /. 1t Is found
almost entirely In the gold mined i'm
Mexico and South America. Gold from
these districts Is coming In larger
quantities year after year. 1t Is found.
FOR instance. In what Is popularity
known as Guinea gold. Guinea gold
has peculiar luster all it's own. 1t is
highly priced in the jewelry trade for
this same peculiar color
There are vast reaches Of wilderness
In South America that filed with
miaSmic swamps and lurid savageS
armed with poisoned arrows. have so
far resisted the advance Of the white
man. 1t seems not too much to expect
that sooner or later. when these dis
tricts are exploited. platinum in large
quantities will be discovered Some
Bret Harte is probably a.borning now
to sing the rorance Of Platinum gulch
The romance Of gold is founded on the
material consideration Of $20G7T an
ounce, which the governments of the
earth nave decreed must be It's price
now and for evermorp They will
have to build second story eXtpu
sion on the romance of the metal that
is WORTH twice as much as gold
Now that Uncle sam is finding this
mine of platinum I'm the supposedly IN.
allOyed bars that the big refining com.
panipS are sending in from their Smclt
ers, the interesting question is arising.
Who owns the platinum. Uncle Sam or
the rehnerie>? Uncle Sam bought their
gold, refined il for them ut cost and
paid them dollar for dollar out of his
pocket. Actually no was ont on The
transaction. NOW that ne has stopped
the leak in his drainpipe. he is little
ahead
Naturally, II one can play ut a game
two can play III the same game. Some
or the bigger Smclter COmpaniCS. whose