the Lead Mines of Missouri, &fc. 69 



ticularly brilliant and white ;* the quartz is often prettily 

 ctystalized, and is so invariable a concbmitant of the ore, 

 that the miners, as we have before remarked, give it the 

 meaning appellation of mineral blossom. 



A curious fact is mentioned by Mr. Schoolcraft, respect- 

 ing the Elliott's mines. " During the remarkable eanh- 

 quakes of 1812, a fine spring of water at the moutJi of the 

 mines suddenly became warm, and foul, and in a few days 

 dried up entirely, and no water has run there since." " II- 

 lu'minations in the atmosphere are frequently observed in 

 this vicinity on the approach of night. "f 



It seems there is a considerable quantity of a greyish 

 white sublimate collected at the log hearth furnaces, and re- 

 jected by the workmen upon the supposition that it is sul- 

 phur and arsenic ; but Mr. Schoolcraft, by unquestionable 

 experiments, ascertained that it was lead, (as would appear) 

 in the form of a carbonated oxid. A considerable loss is 

 in this manner sustained, and in a more advanced state of 

 the metallurgic operations of these mines, the author's val- 

 uable suggestions will not be neglected. There is one mine 

 (M'Kain's,) where the ore is of the steel grained variety 

 — it is said to yield less lead, and is inferred to contain 

 more silver than the common ores : we are aware that this 

 is the common impression, but our ovv^n experiments on 

 different varieties of lead ore, would induce us to think 

 that it cannot be relied upon. We have examined fine steel 

 grained ore which contained very little silver ; in one speci- 

 men only one five thousandth part, and in another, and that 

 a fohated specimen, we found three and a half per cent, of 

 silver. 



The methods of digging for the ore are sufficiently sim- 

 ple. " A pick-axe and shovel are the only tools used for 

 removing the earth, and the drill, hammer and priming rod 

 are added when it is necessary to blast." The process is 

 carried on as in digging a common well. 



* Jt is nipntioned by the author (p. 70) as a chemical test or reagent : it 

 may, by d«comfiosing it by ignition with charcoal, or with an alkaline 

 carbonat, be made to afford its eartli for the preparation of barytic tests, 

 but we are not a.vare that it is ilself ever used as a test. 



t They are atlribnted by the author to phosphorus. Is it supposed to be 

 in the form of pho'^plinretted l!idrog:en ? may not the^e be electrical phe- 

 Moraenn "■ 



