C. Keferstein on White Copper. 1 29 



alloy, which will soon cease to be obtained, would be of great 

 value in the arts, if we were enabled to produce it in Germany 

 upon the same large scale as in China. 



With regard to experiments for this purpose, there are 

 two ways : viz. the chemical and the mining. Perhaps che- 

 mistry may succeed in producing the nickel-copper on a large 

 scale ; and it certainly is desirable that more accurate experi- 

 ments should be instituted with this view by philosophical che- 

 mists as well as by practical metallurgists. 



But as it is probable that the pakfbng is smelted in China 

 from its peculiar ores, as the same was probably the case with 

 the white copper of the ancients, and as there is the greatest 

 probability that the nickel-copper was formed accidentally, 

 but in considerable quantities, which is not the case at other 

 copper-works, from the ores which were smelted in the old 

 copper-works at Suhl ; — we may conclude that the deserted 

 mines contained peculiar ores, from which the nickel-copper 

 became formed with readiness. It would thence be important 

 to institute further inquiries concerning those old mining 

 works, in order, if possible, to discover the ores again. 



How great would be the profit, if a metal could be worked 

 upon a large scale, which so strongly resembles silver, and 

 which is so peculiarly distinguished by its clear sound ! 



It is not yet known from what cause those old copper-mines 

 were given up ; deficiency of ore may have occasioned it ; but 

 it is equally possible that other circumstances, such as war, and 

 the like, had that effect. Perhaps even riches of copper may 

 still be found here ; but the most important object would be, 

 that the masses which were formerly thrown away as useless, 

 should now be, as far as possible, the chief objects of mining 

 and smelting. 



It is to be wished, then, that the Ducal Government of Saxe 

 Hildburghausen, as well as the Prussian Government, together 

 with its mining officers, who, in a technical as well as in a 

 scientific point of view, are so extremely active, would take 

 into consideration the patriotic subject here treated of, and 

 make arrangements for more exact inquiries respecting those 

 mines, as well as the obtaining and working of the white cop- 

 per at Suhl. Some of the Explorers of Nature here collected 

 might interest themselves for this object : then, perhaps, we 

 should have the pleasure of seeing preserved a material tor 

 the arts, now almost entirely exhausted, and new trades arise, 

 in a country which has suffered much from the circumstances 

 of the times. 



Vol.68. No.310. Feb. 1824. R XXIII. Ex- 



