1852.] Apparatus for distilling the Mercury from Amalgams. 403 



Description of a cheap and simple apparatus for distilling off the 

 Mercury from an Amalgam of Gold or Silver — By Henry Pid- 

 dington, Curator Museum of Economic Geology. 



When explaining to the Society's meeting of the 4th of February, 

 the beautiful Spanish, amalgamation process for the extraction of Silver 

 from poor ores, I placed on the table my own two-anna imitation of the 

 Spanish " Cappellina" or bell, for distilling per decensum, used in the 

 great mining works of Mexico and Peru, Major Baker remarked to me 

 that the knowledge of this apparatus would be a fortune to the poor 

 gold-washers of Lahore and the North West Provinces, who now lose 

 all the mercury which they use to amalgamate their gold with after 

 washing ; and this like all petty industrial losses may amount to a 

 much larger sum than is suspected, and being an expense added to 

 the subsistance of the gold-washer before he obtains his profit, must 

 often prevent poor washings from being worked. To diffuse know- 

 ledge of this kind is one of the objects of our Journal, and especially 

 so of the Museum, and hence the present paper.* 



I will first describe the Spanish Cappellina which is a large bell 

 of Copper, gun-metal, or Iron, beneath which the amalgam is placed, 

 and of which a section is shewn in Fig. I. Plate, as follows : — 



a. A circular wall, with openings, to support the fuel. 



b. The Cappellina or bell with a pulley to hoist and lower it ; about 

 3 feet high and 18 inches in diameter. 



c. The column of amalgam which is squeezed into wedge-shaped 

 blocks, placed so as to leave also a small channel down the centre ; they 

 are piled up upon — 



* See also Journal Vol. IV. page 279 (for 1835) Capt. Cautley on the Gold- 

 washings of Nahun, and Vol. XVI. p. 266 Capt. Abbott, on the Gold-wash- 

 ings of the Beyass. At the gold-washings of the Brazils, a singular method is 

 adopted by the poor washers to save at least a portion of their mercury. The 

 pellet of amalgam is placed in a metal dish and covered with a few green leaves, and 

 then being placed over a charcoal fire it is heated, and stirred by an iron rod ; when 

 the leaves are dry, they are replaced by fresh ones, and from the leaves used in the 

 process, a considerable quantity of the mercury is said to be recovered ! 



