rPtlNCIPAL DISTinOTS COMPARED. 



and is certainly far from being exhausted ; on tlie contrary, in tlie method 

 of exploitation followed, large pilhirs of ore are left as reserves. The con- 

 tents of these reserves would be sutHcient to yield the usn;d product for 

 vei-y many years to come, but no authoritative statement of the total amount 

 of metal contained in them hns been nuide. The total recoi'ded yield is 

 nearly four million flasks. 



The deposits of Idria were discovered, according to some authorities, 

 in ]4il(>; according to others, in 1497. Since 1580 they have been worked 

 by government officials for public account. Tlie nn'nes and reduction 

 works are extremely well managed, and the greatest additions which have 

 been made to the technology and geology of quicksilver have come from 

 this establishment. The mine is worked at a large profit, and in 1880 the 

 director, that eminent mining geologist, the late M. V. Lipoid, stated with 

 evident and justifiable pride that the average clear profit to the state for the 

 preceding sixty-five years had been 365,000 florins' per annum. The profit 

 in 1874 lacked but a few thousand of 2,000,000 florins, and in only three 

 of the sixty-five years was there a deficit. As at Almaden, the deposit 

 gTOws stronger in depth, and in 1880 the reserves were known to contain 

 no less than 30,142,000 kilograms, or 873.504 flasks of 75 Spanish pounds. 

 The total known product up to Januar}', 188G, is over a million and a half 

 of flasks; but no data were preserved for some forty years during the term 

 which had elap.sed since work began, 'fhe product of Idria has been about 

 three-eighths of that of Almaden. 



In nortiieni Ital}-, at no great distance from Idria, are several deposits, 

 of which the principal is the Vallalta. 'lliere is also a series of mines in 

 Tuscany stretching- along the western coast of Italy. Some of the de- 

 posits are of considerable connnercial importance. The product is given 

 by Mr. A. d'Achiardi as follows, in kilograms: 



Tuscan uiiues ... 

 YenetiaQ mines . 



' Austrian paper money. A florin, silver, is .$0.4878. The value ol' paper fluctuates. At IS cents 

 the above yearly profit would he $164,250. 



