364 MINES OF CREMNITZ. 
CHAP, for their support: in consequence of this cir- 
'. ,v-». cumstance, at the time of our arrival, the public 
works languished, and the Directors had been in- 
duced to have recourse to many impolitic and fri- 
volous expedients. The average profit of these 
mines to individuals is reckoned as about equal to 
the gains derived from them by Government. 
We shall now detail the whole process for 
the reduction of the ore, from the first moment 
of its effossion, until the developement of the 
precious metals; as the same mode of treat- 
ment is used for all the Hungarian ores, and 
they are all brought to Cremnitz to be smelted. 
Of the precious metals contained in the Cremnitz 
ore, silver being predominant, the value of the 
0)6 is always estimated according to the silver: 
and as it was said of the Bakahanya ore, that 
one mark of the gold contained from three to 
four lotos of silver, so at Cremnitz they reckon 
the average value of the ore by saying that one 
mark of the silver contains from nine to twenty 
ieniers of gold. The last process, that of sepa- 
rating the gold and silver, is very curious ; and 
we shall therefore be minute in its explanation. 
Of all the works seen at Cremnitz, those of the 
grand Laboratory employed for this purpose are 
the most interesting; because they relate to 
