• • A 



JOURNAL. 



OF 



NATURAL PHILOSOPHY, CHEMISTRY, 



AND 



. THE ARTS. 



SEPTEMBER, 18Q6. 



ARTICLE I. 



* 

 The Process for rejining Lead, as practised in England. 

 In a Letter froin Mr. John Sadler. 



My dear Sir, 



ITZ. DUHAMEL, in his Memoir on the Refining 

 of Lead in the large way, has given a sketch of the pro- lead works. 

 cess used in England ; if you think the following more 

 detailed description will be acceptable to the readers of 

 the Philosophical Journal, it is at your service. 



The object of refining lead is not merely on account of object of rejfin i 

 the silver it contains, but to procure it as free as possi- ing lead. 

 ble from the other metals with which it is usually alloyed, 

 and to procure litharge. The silver is only an object so 

 far as it helps to pay the expense of refining. 



The lead produced at the smelting hearths or furnaces Usual impurl- 

 in England is never perfectly pure ; it is always alloyed ties of English 

 with a portion of silver, and most commonly with one or ^^^^^^^^^^^^^' 

 ^most of the following metals; viz. zinc, antimony, cop- 

 per, and arsenic; which render it^ unfit for some of the 

 purposes to which lead is applied. 



Vol. XV.—SrpT. 1806. B The 



