TEEATMENT OF THE COMSTOCK OEES. 251 



teries, the weiglit and speed of the stamps, the size of the screen, &c., affect- 

 ing the proportion of shme produced. These shmes carry with them a cer- 

 tain percentage of the value of the ore, and the relative amouait of slimes 

 and coarser sand, produced in the crushing of any given parcel of ore, be- 

 comes an important element in the consideration of the results obtained, 

 whether the former pass out of the mill without treatment or whether they 

 are mixed with the sand and worked in pans ; especially if, as many believe, 

 the finely divided condition of the particles composing the slimes is unfavor- 

 able to amalgamation. 



Without considering the various details of manipulation in the pans, it 

 will be seen from the foregoing that the mechanical elements of the problem 

 are quite as important, if not much more so, than the much discussed and 

 little understood action of the chemical reagents employed in the methods of 

 reduction of Comstock ores. The possible and probable action of these will 

 be further noticed in the following chapter. 



