GEOLOGY. 329 



average was about 50 per cent. ; that is to say, the cinnabar is from 10 to 

 11 times richer than that of Europe. 



I have analyzed the refuse which came from the furnaces at New Alma- 

 den, and found 8 and 10 per cent, of mercury. Thus have they thrown 

 aside a mineral as rich as that of Idria and Almaclen, The loss of 8 to 10 

 per cent., combined with an equal loss by evaporation on account of de- 

 fective apparatus, is a most deplorable waste of the riches of the earth. 

 There are at New Almaden ten furnaces for roasting, more or less imper- 

 fect in construction, and which, nevertheless, furnish, if in constant 

 operation, from thirty to thirty-five thousand pounds of mercury weekly. 

 To obtain that amount of metal one hundred thousand pounds of cinna- 

 bar are consumed, and from eighteen to twenty thousand pounds of mer- 

 cury lost from bad management. The following calculation will serve to 

 show at what weekly expense these mines could be worked under a 

 proper system of management : 



Fuel, $160 



Laborers' wages, 1,500 



"Wear and tear of maahiiiery, . . . . 200 



Expense of package, &c., 500 



Interest on capital, 1,500 



Total, $3,800 



The above outlay would produce fifty thousand pounds of mercury. 

 This would be working with a very limited capital, and it would be easy 

 to double the product by increasing the capital from eighty to one hundred 

 thousand dollars. I need not say that these calculations are not founded 

 upon any results obtained at New Almaden ; I neither know the receipts 

 nor expenses of working those mines. I only wish to render apparent to 

 all the importance to which that branch of metallurgic industry can be 

 raised. But to return to New Almaden : the only important work which 

 exists there is a "rift," or inclined plane, which conveys the mineral to 

 the works. Do they find collections of pure mercury in those mines ? 

 'SVe do not know, but think it ought to exist in considerable qiiantities, 

 and that it would be discovered by well-directed researches. The deposits 

 of cinnabar appear very extensive in the neighborhood of the mines now 

 worked, and we may safely predict that hereafter new and extensive works 

 of a similar character will be established there. 







ON THE LEAD MINES OF WISCONSIN. 



At the "Washington meeting of the American Association, Prof. Daniels, 

 who was intrusted with the geological survey of Wisconsin, gave the fol- 

 lowing account of the geology of the lead mines of that State : 



The lead, he said, is found in a gray limestone, often 300 feet thick, 

 which is the surface rock. The veins are vertical, so long as they con- 



