Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1913-01-25
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 a Brilliant Success.

Cast, and, With Acids and Precious
Metals as Stage Properties. They
Scored a Brilliant Success.
Even the United States government
has become possessed of the pre-. cnt
day fever TO eliminate any waste and
stop leaks in the methods Of doing
things. The results, particularly In
the minis aud assay Offices. have been
remarkable.
For instance. the old method OF ex-
tracing gold from baser metals when
1t 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
small percentage OF impurities that
could be removed by fusing with inter.
Germany went the United States one
better III this. The professors over
there. men whose genius for scientific
detail Is unsurpassed by those OF any
other nation, perfected n process for
refining by electricity. Simply stated.
IL 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.
II 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. II takes u combi-
nation OF nitric and murlatic acids 10
get either of these two metals In solu-
ton Silver on the other hand, Ii
readily soluble IN nitric acid. 40 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. II
was argued. II there wasn't enough
silver in the solution to make II worth
while to extract It. then. Of course,
there could not be any platinum. so
into the sewer II went.
The professors began 10 experiment
At the first step they uncovered the
dusky gentleman IN the wood pile
They discovered n curious fact-name-
Ia hat tt.ltl1. s.ln4fttafsa NJ. 80
soluble In nitric acid. some Of It's al.
Toys with silver were soluble. For
instance. a composition OF per cent
platinum In silver Is readily soluble.
Right there was the clew leading to the
discovery that for years ont OF mem.
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
Were analysed. aud since then plati
mum at the rate of 5000 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-
nun In large quantities are going TO
be found. Little of the gold coming
from the western Emitted states and
Alaska contains platinum. II is found
almost entirely In the gold mined In
Mexico and South America Gold from
these districts Is coming In larger
quantities year after year. II Is found.
for instance. In what is popularity
known rs Guinea gold. Guinea gold
has peculiar ulster all It's own. II is
highly priced In the jcwclry trade for
this snme peculiar color.
There are vast reaches of wilderness
In South America that filled with
miasmlc swamps and lnrid savages
armed with poisoned arrows. have so
far resisted the advance Of the white
man. II seems not too much Ia expect
that sooner or later. when these dis
tricts are exploited. platinum IN large
quantities will he discovered Some
Bret ifarte Is probably a-borning now
TO sing the romance OF Platinum gulcA
The romance of gold IS founded on the
material consideration of S.uG7 an
ounce. which the governments OF the
earth have decreed must lac its price
now and for evermore They Will
have 10 build n second story cx,en.
sion on the romance of the metal that
is worth twice Ms much as gold.
Now that Uncle Sam Is finding this
mine OF platinum IN the supposedly un-
alleged bars that the big refining com
panies are sending In from their snclt-
ers. the interesting question Is arising,
Who owns the platinum. Uncle sam or
the refinerics? Uncle sam bought thei.
gold. refined il for them nj cost and
paid them dollar for dollar out Of his
pocket. Actually he was out on The
transaction. Now that he has STOPPED
the leak in his dralnpipc. he Is little
ahead.
Naturally. II one can play NJ Il game
two can play at the same game. Some