66 THE QUICKSILVER MINES 
I did not learn what quantity was produced at the 
time of my visit here, but have since seen it stated to 
be about one thousand flasks per month, or nearly a 
million pounds a year. According to Dumas, the an- 
in Betica, and says that this mine was kept sealed with the greatest 
care, and was only opened to take the quantity of cimnabar necessary 
for the consumption of Rome. (Nat. Hist. xxiii. 7.) The Romans con- 
sidered this mineral poisonous; but notwithstanding this, their matrons 
painted their faces with it, and their painters employed it as a pigment. 
The Romans certainly worked this mine, but no traces remain of their 
labors. The Moors, perhaps owing to some prejudice, did not work it. 
“The country about Almaden abounds in iron mines; and what is 
more surprising, in.the same mine we find iron, mercury, and sulphur, 
‘mixed so as to form onemass. The neighboring hills are found of the 
same stone, and on all of them the same species of plants grow; from 
which we may infer that the mercury does not possess any poisonous 
qualities, as is generally supposed, injurious to vegetation. 
“ The brothers Mark and Christopher Fugger, of Germany, undertook 
to work this mine, and contracted to give the government four thousand 
five hundred quintals (of 1001bs. each) of mercury, annually; but not 
being able to fulfil their promise, they abandoned it in 1635, together 
with the silver mine of Gualcanal, which they also had. While con- 
nected with these mines, however, their riches became proverbial in 
Spain, and their descendants live at present in Germany, with the rank 
of princes. A branch of this family afterwards took the mine, and worked 
it till 1645. In the following year, the government undertook the man- 
agement of it. Don Juan Bustamente established the furnaces, and also 
troughs for cooling the mineral. These furnaces are twelve, and are 
called by the names of the twelve apostles. Each is capable of contain- 
ing ten tons weight of stone. The furnace is kept burning for three days, 
and the same period is required for cooling.”—Introduction a la Geo- 
grafica Fisica y la Historia Natural de Espana. 
The other quicksilver mines worthy of notice, are one at Huancave- 
lica, in Peru; at Idria in Carniola; in Hungary, Transylvania, and the 
district of Deux Ponts in Germany. There is a mine of cinnabar near 
Alicante, and another not far from San Felipe in Spain. Mercury has 
