132 KANSAS ACADEMY OP SCIENCE. 



ride. When transferred to the leaching vat, and solution of potassium 

 permanganate and sulphuric acid added, the whole mass hardened 

 as though it had been hydraulic lime, and we could not leach it. 

 When a solution of cyanide of potassium with salt and hydrochloric 

 acid is stirred up with the pulverized shale, the gold and silver will 

 dissolve as cyanides. This is the method used by the Gage people, 

 who claim to have obtained considerable quantities of gold from the 

 shale. I have tried the process pretty thoroughly, and in repeated in- 

 stances have I found a little gold, but nothing to compare with the 

 results of Mr. Gage. 



By long digestion of an assay ton of shale in aqua regia, then di- 

 luting and filtering, I obtained a solution which, saturated with hy- 

 drogen sulphide, gave a dark precipitate which was incinerated with 

 tlie filter paper, fluxed, and cupelled, yielding 0.19 mg. of gold, rep- 

 resenting a value of $3.80 per ton. The shale used in this experiment 

 was brought to me, and I had no definite knowledge of where, how or 

 by whom it was obtained, though it had the appearance of ordinarj' 

 shale. 



Several electrical processes have been applied to the extraction of 

 metals from the shale, and the values obtained by these processes are 

 higher than by any other. Besides this, they check each other better, 

 and are interesting as another instance of where this wonderful agent, 

 electricity, has become an handmaid to the arts. 



Of the electrical schemes proposed, I will mention two. The first 

 is the patented process devised by Mr. Motz, of South Carolina, and 

 used by him in the gold mines there. The crushed ore is made into 

 a sort of thin paste with water and potassium cyanide, and in this 

 condition allowed to flow between several pairs of electrodes, through 

 which electrical currents of the desired strength are made to pass. 

 The metals are deposited on the cathode plates of amalgamated 

 copper. Mr. B. F. Johnson went to South Carolina to investigate 

 this scheme, taking quantities of shale with him. He saw the mill 

 work under Mr. Motz's direction, and three runs gave, in one case, 

 more than seventeen dollars per ton. A brother of the inventor, who 

 lives at Hays, has formed a company to put this process into opera- 

 tion on the ground. 



The other electrical scheme of which I speak is devised by Dr. 

 Ernest Fahrig, of the Commercial Museum of Philadelphia. Doctor 

 Fahrig is well known as one of the leading metallurgists of the 

 country, having the advantage of high scientific attainments and long 

 experience. I count myself fortunate in being permitted at this time 

 to read his report, made to the gentlemen who employed him to visit 

 Kansas and examine the shale deposit. 



