REFINERS CHAP. XXVI. 



As the reports of the quantity of the gold which 

 the refiners and sweep-washers furnished to the 

 several branches of the manufacturers of gold arti- 

 cles were very discordant, and varied according 

 to the persons who supplied them, in the pro- 

 portion of one to four, or even one to five, and as 

 all farther calculations must in some measure de- 

 pend on the degree of correctness which could be 

 obtained on that first step, it appeared necessary 

 to attend to it most scrupulously. 



The business of a refiner requires a large capital. 

 From the high value of the smallest particles of 

 their commodity, a minute attention to every 

 detail is indispensable. It is impossible to con- 

 duct the delicate operations on which they are 

 engaged without some considerable knowledge of 

 the chemistry of metallic substances, which is, in 

 many instances, extended far beyond the bounds 

 of their own trade. Traders of this description 

 are open and accurate in their communications 

 with those from whom they fear no rivalry, and 

 suspect no improper or underhand intention ; 

 and, except in one instance, every individual 

 applied to frankly "stated his own product of 

 refined gold, and gave his opinion of the product 

 of other houses with whose transactions he had 

 any means of being acquainted. Out of twenty- 

 three or twenty-four houses in the country and 

 in London in these branches of trade, eleven 



