CHEMISTEY OF THE WASHOE PEOCESS. 



275 



No arsenic or antimony was detected in either case, not even after sub- 

 jecting considerable quantities to Marsh's test. It is, therefore, inferred that 

 stephanite and polybasite were both absent. It was found impossible to sep- 

 arate the native silver, if any was present, from that existing as argentite ; of 

 the former none was observed, but the latter could be recognized under a 

 glass : it is, therefore, all calculated as sulphide of silver. The sulphur ob- 

 tained has been combined with the zinc as blende, with lead as galena, with 

 silver as argentite, with copper as subsulphide, and the remainder with iron as 

 bisulphide. The iron still remaining has been estimated as protoxide. It was 

 found impossible to separate the metallic iron, coming from the stamps of the 

 batteries, from the sesquioxide of iron, occurring in the rock and clay material 

 of the vein. The substances found in both analyses are the same, with the ex- 

 ception of there being no manganese in the sample from the Kentuck mine, 

 the diiFerences being only the variable proportions of the same minerals. If 

 in the two analyses we reject the gangue and such matter as can have no other 

 influence upon the extraction of the precious metals than a physical one, by 

 affecting the mechanical conditions in the grinding of the ore, or the consist- 

 ency of the pulp, and consider only those ingredients that may influence the 

 chemical conditions during the operation in the pan, we have the following : 



No. I. 



No. 2. 



Protoxide of iron . . 

 Bisulphide of iron 

 Subsulphide of copper 

 Sulphide of zinc . 

 Sulphide of lead . - 

 Sulphide of silver . . 

 Gold 



1.95 



.83 



1.80 



.92 



•30 



.41 



1-75 



■ 13 



.36 



.02 



1.08 



.12 



.02 



.0017 



7.26 



2.4317 



Chemical Action of Meecury and other Reagents. — The ore of the 

 Comstock vein may be regarded as composed of the following: 

 Gangue, quartz. 



