910 ; TTrransactions.— Miscellaneous. 
At the other battery the quartz was crushed with quicksilver, passed over 
quicksilver plates, then over shaking tables, then through Wheeler pans, 
and the amalgamation finished in barrels. The results from the battery 
and silver plates, from the shaking tables, and from the pans, were kept 
separate, making three distinct parcels. Each of these gave the astounding 
result of over one-half ounce to the ton, the entire crushing of the 50 tons 
amounting to nearly 80 ounces. But this was not the entire result, as the 
resultant tailings were allowed to settle in pits, and being treated in 
Wheeler pans at a subsequent date, yielded ten ounces more. Had not 
such a fact come under my direct notice I would barely have believed the 
statements of books. A great deal of the mischief is caused by the miners’ 
themselves, who having seen crushing done in other countries perhaps a 
few years ago, will not submit to any new form of manipulation, however 
good, unless it be as cheap as the old system, or as cheap as that of any 
other battery on the same field. In the instance above where the battery 
that had shaking tables and Wheeler’s pans, had saved over three times 
the amount of gold, the cost of crushing would have amounted to twice 
that of the other, but as that would not be given in general, the shaking 
tables and pans had to be discarded so as to be able to compete with the 
neighbouring mills in price. It is the price of crushing that has been looked 
to, not the yield. 
The great fault of crushing at the Thames is, I believe, using large 
quantities of quicksilver in the battery boxes; but to convince a Thames 
miner of that fact, would, I believe, be an impossibility. They are generally 
very prejudiced in their opinions of gold saving. I remember once a miner 
wished to bet with a battery manager that the quicksilver used in his battery 
was light weight, and that a bottle full of it would only weigh half that of 
a bottle fresh from the shop, and therefore not so good for gold saving as 
new silver. His reason for the assertion was, that, at the battery referred 
to, they did not replace their quicksilver often, and that it got lighter by 
constant use. As the absurd bet was not taken up, the miner took his 
crushing to another mill, imagining that, as the bet was not taken up, he 
was right. This may be an extreme case, and I mention it merely to show 
what the quartz crusher has to contend with occasionally. In general, the 
crushing batteries at the Thames are well built, and are effective. They 
will put through as much material and last as long as any others in the 
world. The groundwork, therefore, is good; but, in my opinion, the 
manipulation is defective. I have already mentioned that the system 
generally adopted now is crushing with a large amount of quicksilver in the 
boxes, and using very fine punched gratings. I consider the use of quick- 
silver in the boxes and the use of fine punched gratings are both erroneous. 
