The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1913-02-24

SCIENCE IN THE STAR ROLE.

nt9hbroW Profeooora Filled 0p the
Cast, and. With Acids and Prscissls
Metals as Stage prepsrtiss, Tfny
Scored Brilliant Success.
Even the United States governmsnt
has become possessed Of the present
day fever to eliminate any waste ind
stop leaks In the methods OF doIng
things. The results. particularly lii
the mints and assay Offices, have been
remarkable.
For instance. the old method of ex-
tracing gold from baser metals when
it came from the mint consisted merely
Of treating the smelter bars Of gold
with nitric acid. which dissolved out
the baser metals. leaving the gold with
a small 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 a process for
refining by electricity. Simply stated.
it is 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 solu-
| 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 conlbi-
nation of nitric and muriatic acids to
get either of these two metals In solu-
ton. Silver. on the other hand. is
readily soluble in nitric acid. No one
ever thought of testing a nitric scid
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. it
was argued. il there wasn't enough
silver in the solution to make it worth
while TO extract it. then, of course,
there could not be any platinum. 50
into the sewer it went.
The professors began to experiment.
; At the first step they uncovered the
dusky gentleman in the wood pile.
They discovered a curious fact-name-
! ly. that. while platinum alone was not
soluble in nitric acid. some Of its al
Toys with silver were soluble For
instance. composition of 5 per cent
, platinum in silver is readily soluble.
e Right there was the clew leading to the
:. discovery that for years out of MEM
s DRY 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, precipitates supposedly of silver
I were analyzed. and since then platf-
mum at the rate of 5000 month has
b been offered for sale by Uncle Sam.
Y 1t is interesting to trace the sources
v 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 platinum. 1t is found
d. almost entirely in the gold mined in
. Mexico and South America. Gold from
Y 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 its own. 1t is
. highly priced in the jeweiry trade for
this same peculiar color.
h. There are vast reaches of wilderness
a In South America that. filed with
miasmic swamps and lurid savages
armed with poisoned arrows, have SC
far resisted the advance of the white
man. 1t seems not too much to expect
o that sooner or later. when these dis
n tricts are exploited. platinum in large
II quantities will be discovered. Some
70 Bret Harte is probably a-borning now
d to sing the romance of Platinum guleh
a The romance of gold is founded on tbs
Y material consideration of $20.67 al
i ounce, which the governments OF tn,
earth have decreed must be its pric,
now and for evermore. They vii
have to build second story exten
e sion on the romance of the metal tina
l. is worth twice as much as gold.
u Now that Uncle Sam is finding thi
r mine Of platinum In the supposedly III
e alleged bars that the big refining CON
% panies are sending in from their smell
y ers, the interesting question is arisinE
y Who owns the platinum, Uncle Sam o
the refneries? Uncle Sam bought thei
geld. refined it for them at cost an
paid them dollar for dollar out of hl
"a pocket. Actually he was out on th
r. transaction. Now that he has stoppe
ir the leak IN his drainpipe, be is lit
Il ahead.
d Naturally. If one can play at a gan
e. two can play at the same game Son
Of the bigger smelter companies, who.
output is sufficient. have undertake
the task Of recovering this platinu
-. @. d =.