The Hartz. 117 



The mines of lead, silver and copper, that are found in the princi- 

 pality of Anhalt, are similar to those of the Hanoverian Hartz. The 

 treatment differs but little, the mattes (coarse metal or sub sulphurets) 

 are melted in the same furnace with the schlich (washed ore). The 

 copper mattes instead of being heated for copper, are roasted and 

 washed for the sulphate. There is a vein of hematite situated near 

 Harzgerode, celebrated for the quantites of seleniuret of lead that 

 have been found there. Of late it has become very rare, so much so 

 that no traces of this mineral are now to be seen, and specimens of 

 that which has already been extracted are procured with difficulty, 

 on account of some of the ore having contained a few atoms of na- 

 tive gold, which (lest the world should forget the existence of this, 

 the smallest of principalities, counting in all one hundred and twenty 

 thousand souls, and actually governed by three princes) has been care- 

 fully collected, and struck off into medals, bearing the inscription 

 "Ex Auro Anhaltino." The selenium has heretofore been ex- 

 tracted from the ore by the method given by Mr. Mitcherlich ; we 

 had the pleasure of seeing twenty two lbs. of this rare substance, 

 shown us at Victor Frederick's silber Hutte where it is sold at the 

 rate of eighty francs the ounce. 



The argentiferous copper pyrites is found disseminated in the bi- 

 tuminous schist (or bituminous mergel-schiefer) of the zechstein for- 

 mation, in which it exists in very small proportions, not visible to the 

 eye. Its mean contents are from two to three per cent. ; still there 

 are but few ores that are treated with greater advantage. The 

 marne* as extracted from the mines, is of a black color, which is ow- 

 ing to the bitumen dividing easily into layers, between which are 

 very often found fine impressions of fish, generally in very distorted 

 positions ; this schist occasionally contains small portions of galena, 

 and is principally extracted in the environs of Eisleben and Mansfeld. 



Silver worJcs. 



Under this appellation are included all those vast establishments 

 where the silver, lead and copper ores are treated ; they are gen- 

 erally located in the vicinity of the mines, which exist principally 

 in the western part of the range. The traveller is struck with the 

 immensity of the scale upon which they are constructed ; his near ap- 

 proach to the works is announced by the deadly appearance of the 



* Marie, refening we suppose, to the bituminous otnaile slate. — Ed. 



