356 



HUNGARY. 



Essaying 

 laboratory, 



. rise to the surface, and are raked off in the form of sco- 

 1 ' rice, which they carry, as lech, to be fused again in the 

 first operation. The lead thus combined with gold 

 and silver, is collected into large crucibles, and carried 

 to the fourth fusion, or fifth operation, for the sepa- 

 ration of the lead. 



5lh, The furnace used for the separation of the lead 

 is called a purification furnace. The shape of it resem- 

 bles a hollow sphere, whereof the upper part is so con- 

 trived, that it may be taken off like a lid, being raised 

 by large chains. Here the richest ores that can be 

 procured are added to the compound of lead, silver, and 

 gold ; and the whole is fused, not with charcoal, but 

 by means of a flame drawn over the superficies, unin- 

 terruptedly for twenty-four hours at least. During 

 this process, the lead becomes calcined. A portion of 

 it is absorbed by the bottom of the furnace, consisting 

 of wood-ashes and silica ; another portion escapes in a 

 gaseous form ; but the greater part is raked off as it 

 rises to the surface, in the form of galena, by men em- 

 ployed with instruments for that purpose. During all 

 this operation, the gold and silver concentrate more 

 and more, until at the last they are found pure and 

 combined together in a cake of metal, at the bottom 

 of the purification furnace. Then follows the sixth 

 and the most beautiful of all the operations, that of 

 separating the gold from the silver. 



6th, Fhe cake, or combined regulus of gold and sil- 

 ver, obtained from the purification furnace, is separated 

 into thin pieces in this man.ier : It is melted, and, in 

 a state of fusion, cast into cold water. By this means 

 it is obtained with a very extended superficies, and ea- 

 sily divided into a number of thin scales. These are 

 put into immense glass retorts, of a spherical form, 

 nearly filled with nitric acid. Here the silver dissolves, 

 a gentle heat bring communicated to the retorts to ac- 

 celerate the solution. It has been usual to exclude 

 foreigners from the great laboratory, where this takes 

 place ; but as we had witnessed every operatian, we 

 were also permitted to view the interior of this cham- 

 ber. The sight was beautiful. It was a spacious and 

 lofty hall, filled with enormous globes of glass ranged 

 in even rows, whence the nitrous gas was escaping in 

 red fumes to the roof; the solution of silver being vi. 

 sible in all of them by the effervescence it caused ; the 

 gold falling at the same time, in the form of a black 

 powder, to the bottom of every retort. After the solu- 

 tion of the silver is completely effected, the acid con- 

 taining the silver, by augmenting the heat, is made to 

 pass into another retort, and the gold is left behind in 

 the former vessel. Afterwards increasing the heat 

 to a great degree on the side of the silver, the 

 whole of the acid is driven off, and the silver remains 

 beautifully crystallized within the retort. All the glass 

 globes containing the crystallized silver are then cast 

 into a common furnace, where the glass, by its levity 

 remaining on the surface of the metal, is removed in 

 the form of scoriae. This is the last operation. The 

 gold is smelted into ingots of 12,000 florins each." 



" I" tne essaying laboratory, instead of the long 

 process we have described for extracting the precious 

 metals from their ores, two simple and easy experi- 

 ments are -mfiicient. The first is a trial of the pulver- 

 ised ore by cupellation. About a tea-spoonful of the 

 pulverized ore, first weighed, is put into a small cupel 

 made of calcined bones : this being exposed to the heat 

 of a powerful furnace, the lead, semimetals, &c. are 

 either absorbed by the cupel, or they are sublimed. 

 Nothing remains afterwards in the cupel but a small 

 bead of combined gold and silver ; and by the propor- 



tion of its weight to the original weight of the ore, the Statistic*, 

 value of the latter is determined. The gold is then se- "" "V"*' 

 parated from the silver by the solution of the latter in 

 nitric acid ; and the difference of the weight of the gold 

 from the whole weight of the two metals combined, 

 determines the quantity of silver dissolved by the acid." 

 " A hundred pounds weight of their richest ores con. 

 tained from four to five marks of silver, and each mark 

 of the silver about 1 5 deniers of gold." 



The mines are wrought partly at the expence of 

 the crown, and partly at the expence of individuals, 

 who pay a duty called urbur, and are besides obliged 

 to deliver the metal at a fixed price to the royal trea- 

 sury. 



The number of miners employed by the crown at 

 these mines amounts to 9>500, of whom 8000 are at 

 Schemnitz , and the expence to government of working 

 is estimated at 50,000 florins a month, and the clear 

 profits during the same period 12,000 florins, about 

 1333, calculating the pound sterling equal to nine 

 florins. The workmen are paid, whun the ore is rich, 

 according to the quantity and quality of the ore raised, 

 but when it is poor, they receive wages. The Schem- Produce of 

 nitz ores, in the space of thirty -three years, (from 1740 the minus. 

 to 1773) produced seventy millions of florins in gold 

 and silver ; and those of Cremnitz thirty millions during 

 the same period. The greatest produce, however, was 

 derived from them in 1780, when they yielded 2,429 

 marks of gold, and 92/267 marks of silver, making 

 3,043,000 florins. In common years, according to the 

 calculations of Born and Ferber, these mines, including 

 the copper mine of Neitsohl, where one quintal of cop- 

 per produces twelve ounces of silver, yield from 

 58,000 to 59,000 marks of silver, and from 1,200 to 

 1,300 marks of gold. 



The silver mines in Upper Hungary at Nagy-Banya, 

 Felsoe-Banya, and Lapos-Banya, in the county of Szath- 

 mar ; at Metzenself in the county of Bihar, with the 

 copper mines of Retz-Banya and Schmoelnitz, accord" 

 ing to Mr Ferber, give an annual produce of from 

 12,000 to 15,000 marks of silver, and from 300 to 400 

 marks of gold. The copper and lead mines in the Ban- 

 nat at Oravitza, Saszka, Dognaszka, and Moldava, 

 yield annually about 11,041 marks of silver, and 2o| 

 marks of gold. 



The copper mines of Hungary produce annually from Copper 

 30,000 to 40,000 quintals. The richest are situated at mines. 

 Schmoelnitz in the county of Zips, and in the Ban- 

 nat. 



The lead mines in 1786' were wrought to the extent LeadmitiK. 

 of from 14,000 to 15,000 quintals, but this produce is 

 now considerably diminished. 



The iron mines in this country are almost inexhaust- i r0 n mine* 

 ible. The best is drawn from a mountain called Hra- 

 dek, near Esetnek ; but as this metal is not subject to 

 any duty or tithe, the annual produce of these mines 

 have not been ascertained. In the county of Goemor, 

 including the district of Kleinhont, there are eight great 

 furnaces, a floating furnace, eighty-seven small ones, 

 and forty-nine forges, which furnish annually 94,200 

 quintals of iron, worth 1,304,240 florins. But notwith- 

 standing the great quantity of inm which this country 

 produces and exports, they are obliged to be indebted 

 to Austria for most of their tools and vessels made of 

 this metal. 



Manganese is found near Felsoe-Banya, and in some Metals, 

 of the iron mines ; Titanium, in the county of Goemor 

 near Roeze j and tellurium, which was discovered by 

 Dr Kietaibel in a mineral of Deutsch-Pilsen in the 

 county of Hont. Many valuable and beautiful mi- 



3 



