404 Apparatus f 07' distilling the Mercury from Amalgams. [No. 5. 



d. An iron dish to receive them. 



e. A copper dish with high borders and a funnel, upon which the 

 bell fits as close down as possible, the funnel dips into the reservoir of 

 water. 



/. Stone to support e, and in which are cut channels to allow the 

 water to circulate round the copper. 



g. Reservoir of masonry filled with water, into which the mercury 

 distils. 



h. Luting round the foot of the bell to prevent the escape of the 

 mercury. 



The operation of this is easily seen from the sketch : The fire is 

 kindled on the upper part first, and as it burns downwards the pile of 

 amalgam heats, and all the vaporized mercury is driven downwards 

 through the funnel into the water where it condenses. The blocks of 

 silver are then called Plata Pina, or Pine-apple silver, in commerce. 



My own contrivance for effecting this distillation with common bazar 

 materials, to be obtained every where, is shewn at Fig. II. and III. ; the 

 first being the separate pieces of the apparatus, and the second a sec- 

 tion of it when in action. 



No. 1 May be a flat tile, or a plate of thick tin, or thin sheet iron, 

 7 or 8 inches long, by 5 inches broad with the four corners turned 

 down and a hole in the centre to admit the stem and bowl of — 



No. 2 Which is the common black varnished Kol/cee, or tobacco- 

 holder, of the Native hookah or Goorgoory, and is about 3 inches broad 

 at the top. 



No. 3 Is a little triangle of stout iron wire which lies easily in 

 the bottom of the kolkee ; three or four small lumps of clay may be 

 put in the place of this to support — 



No. 4 Which is a small circular bit of sheet iron, beaten hollow 

 to form a dish. A small circular dish cut out of any broken globular- 

 shaped vessel, as a common goglet or garrah, will answer, but the 

 iron is better, because a little of the gold might sink into the earthen- 

 ware dish ; it will be noticed that when No. 4 is in its place there is 

 an interval between its edge and that of the bowl of the kolkee, say of 

 three or four-tenths of an inch. It is by this interval that the mer- 

 curial vapour escapes downwards, as shewn by the arrows in fig. III. 



