ABOUT QUICKSILVER. 227 



the powdered gold-bearing quartz, and although 

 no human eye can detect a trace of the precious 

 substances, so fine are the particles, yet the liquid 

 metal will hunt it out, and incorporate it into its 

 mass. By subsequent distillation it yields it into 

 the hands of the miners, in a state of virgin purity. 

 Several years ago, while lecturing before a class 

 of ladies upon chemistry, we had occasion to purify 

 some quicksilver, by forcing it through chamois 

 leather. The scrap remained upon the table after 

 the lecture, and an old ladv, thinking it would be 

 very nice to wrap her gold spectacles in, accord- 

 ingly appropriated it to this purpose. The next 

 morning she came to us in great alarm, stating 

 that the gold had mysteriously disappeared, and 

 nothing was left in the parcel but the glasses. 

 Sure enough, the metal remaining in the pores of 

 the leather had amalgamated with the gold, and 

 entirely destroyed the spectacles. It was a mys- 

 tery, however, which we could never explain to 

 her satisfaction. 



