64 



RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



Chemically Pure Gold. 



Mr. H. F, Carpenter, gold and silver 

 refiner, at 29 and 31 Page Street, in this 

 cit}', has succeeded in producing, by a pro- 

 cess known onl}' to himself, a chemically 

 pure gold for the use of photographers who 

 wish to make their own chloride. The term 

 " chemically pure" means a good deal. It 

 is almost impossible to obtain anything ab- 

 solutely- pure in the strict meaning of the 

 term. Fine gold, as sold by refiners and 

 used in the manufacturing of jewehy, is not 

 perfectly pure ; it contains a trace, and 

 sometimes a good deal more than a trace, of 

 silver, copper, and other base metals. Its 

 intrinsic value is $1.03 perdwt., and is sold 

 at that price and allowed for in sweep and 

 other waste at the same price, there being 

 no profit whatever in selling this metal. 

 The chemically pure gold, ^^^% fine, Mr. 

 Carpenter sells for $1.10 per dwt., and the 

 article is worth its diflTerence in price to 

 those who desire it perfectly pure. Mr. 

 Carpenter is a graduate of Brown Uni- 

 versit}', and was the first person in the 

 United States to refine photographic wastes. 

 While studying chemistr}' at the universit}' 

 (in 1860), at that time a youth of eighteen, 

 he conceived the idea of utiMzing the waste 

 from photographers, which was being thrown 

 away, as jewelers' sweepings were some years 

 previous. He has had a longer experience 

 than anj' other person in this line (twent}'- 

 five years), and is doing business for pho- 



tographers all over the countrj-, as well as 

 his regular business of gold and silver re- 

 fining in general. He manufactures besides 

 the chemically pure gold, a chemically pure 

 nitrate of silver, and chloride of gold for 

 photographic use. — The Jeweler, Provi- 

 dence, R. I. 



Literary Note. 



Messrs. J. B. Ltppincott & Co. have 

 in press a Manual of North American 

 Birds, by the eminent ornithologist, Prof. 

 Robert Ridgway, curator department of 

 birds, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, 

 D.C. 



The author has had unrivalled advantages 

 for the preparation of a treatise of this 

 character, arising from his own field expe- 

 rience, as well as his connection with the 

 National Museum, and the free access which 

 has been granted him to various other pub- 

 lic and private collections of birds, both in 

 this country and Europe. 



The work is to contain some four hundred 

 and twenty-five illustrations suitably exe- 

 cuted, and will conform to the geographical 

 limits, classification, numeration, and no- 

 menclature adopted by the American Or- 

 nithological Union. 



AVe doubt not it will be one of the most 

 important and original contributions to the 

 literature of the subject which has ever ap- 

 peared, and presume that naturalist and 

 sportsman alike will find in it an invalu- 

 able aid. 



^ jSpprimpns Plprpitipb sinrp JH^g JGiosf Issup. ^ 



Numbers on the Left are those of the New A. O. U. List. 



— SKIMS OF - 



55-670 Short-billed Gull $3 00 to $4 00 



05-681 Royal Tern 1 50 to 2 00 



71-687 Arctic Tern 75 to 1 00 



172a-594a Hutchins's Goose 3 50 to 5 00 



206-583 Sandhill Crane 3 50 to 5 00 



335-434 Harris's Hawk 3 00 



338-43S Harlan's Hawk 6 00 



351-452 Gray Sea Eagle 6 00 to 7 50 



252-451 Bald Eagle 6 00 to 8 00 



381-411 Elf Owl 2 00 to 3 00 



514-165 Evening Grosbeak 1 50 to 2 00 



597-246 Blue Grosbeak 75 to 100 



A few extra fine Resplendent Trog ons 6 UO 



