The JSIatiiraUsts’ Coinpaaioji, 87 
shaft of tlie ‘'Queen of Beauty” gold 
mine, in the Thames gold district, in 
New Zealand, platinum was found in 
a quartz vein, impregnated with auri¬ 
ferous pyrites. 
Ill California, as early as 1858, min¬ 
ers finding small quantities of platinum 
in their sluices were induced to collect 
and save it, under the impression that 
it was worth more than gold. Thus 
during several years of placer mining 
in that state, three or four hundred 
ounces of platinum sand, mixed with 
its associate minerals, were annually 
sold in San Francisco; butof late years, 
with the decrease of hydraulic mining- 
in California, the amount of platinum 
produced has been reduced to one hun¬ 
dred and fifty ounces per annum. In 
California platinum has been found 
near Trinity Centre, Trinity county; 
at Hopland,Mendocino county; at Gold 
Bluff', Humboldt county; in the Spring 
Valle}'^ Hydraulic Mines, Butte county; 
in Plumas, Sierra, Mariposa, Del Norte 
and Toulumue counties. On the north 
fork of the Trinity river, platinum oc¬ 
curs in large grains and nuggets, the 
largest specimen found weighing be¬ 
tween two and three ounces. 
Though platinum cannot be fused 
by the ordinary furnace or common 
blowpipe, it readily melts before the 
compound or oxyhydrogen blowpipe. 
An advantage is taken of this in refin¬ 
ing platinum by the following process: 
It consists of submitting the crude 
metal to the action of an intenseh" high 
temperature in a crucible of lime. The 
lower part of the furnace consists of a 
piece of lime hollowed out in the cen¬ 
tre, while a small notch is filed at one 
side of the basin, through which the 
metal is introduced and poured out. 
A lime cover also fits on top of this 
basin, it is also siightl}^ hollowed and 
has a conical perforation at the top, 
into which is inserted the nozzle of the 
oxyhydrogen blowpipe. The whole is 
firmly bound with iron wire. Then 
the stopcock supplying hydrogen is 
opened and the gas lighted at the 
notch in the crucible, the ox^g-en 
is then gradually supplied, and when 
the furnace is sufficiently hot the met¬ 
al is introduced in small pieces through 
the opening- By this means fifty 
pounds and more of platinum may be 
fused at once. In this operation all 
the impurities are separated from the 
platinum except the iridium and rho¬ 
dium. The gold and palladium are 
volatilized; sulphur,phosphorus,arsen- 
ic, and osmium are oxidized and vola¬ 
tilized; and the iron and copper oxi¬ 
dized and absorbed by the lime of the 
crucible. 
The production of platinum in the United 
States in 1883 was 220 ounces, and in 1884, 
175 ounces. The value of the metal is stead¬ 
ily increasing; in 1883 the importer’s price 
was |6.5oper troy ounce, and 3,104 pounds 
were imported into the U. S., and in 1884 
the importer’s price was from I7.50t0l8.50, 
and 2,846 pounds were imported. 
Platinum is quite extensively used in the 
arts and sciences. It is largely employed 
in the manufacture of chemical apparatus, 
such as crucibles, evaporating dishes, retorts, 
combustion beats, blowpipe nibs, funnels, 
spatulas, foil and wire. Platinum vessels 
are used in sulphuric acid manufactories, 
where care is taken to produce an acid con¬ 
taining no nitric acid. Platinum is also us¬ 
ed quite extensively in the manufacture of 
instruments of precision, such as standard 
weights and measures. 
Platinum was coined in Russia from 1826 
to 1844,during which period 4,146,504 rubles 
were coined, but al their coinage became 
unpopular it was discontinued and the rub¬ 
les redeemed by the government in 1845. 
Platinum is also used in the manufacture 
of surgical instruments, pins for artificial 
teeth, for filling teeth, for tips of lightning 
rods, for porcelain painting, and recently 
its use for incandescent eleCtric lights and 
also in gas jets have caused an inciease in 
the demand for the metal and consequently 
an increase in its value. 
