FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   264   265   266   267   268   269   270   271   272   273   274   275   276   277   278   279   280   281   282   283   284   285   286   287   288  
289   290   291   292   293   294   295   296   297   298   299   300   301   >>  
upon each _torta_. Let us now run over the many chemical processes that have been resorted to in order to separate the silver from the ore. The roll-brimstone, that has been procured in Durango, or in the volcano of Popocatapetl, is bought up at the mint in the city of Mexico, where it is burned in a room lined with lead, and into which water is jetted until the smoke of the burning brimstone is condensed. This water of sulphur is then carefully collected, and distilled in a boiler of platinum, on which sulphur can not act. The sulphuric acid obtained by this distillation is used to separate the gold that is found in the silver bars from silver. This sometimes amounts to ten per cent. The acid dissolves the silver, but does not act upon the gold, which is thus separated from the silver. The sulphate of silver is drawn off and poured upon plates of copper, by which means the silver is precipitated, and sulphate of copper, or blue vitriol, is produced, which, not being of use in the mint, is sold to the Real del Monte Company, where it is employed in obtaining silver. The process by which the company obtain their salt has been already stated, while the lime they use is burned upon the mountains. After all these hard and laborious processes, only from five to ten per cent. of silver is obtained, except in cases of _bonanzas_, which shows that silver mines can be profitably worked only in those countries where labor commands the lowest standard of wages. THE HEIRS OF REGLA. The heirs of the Count Peter inherited his accumulated treasures, his purchased estates, his title, and his prospects of future success in mining, which were as brilliant as they had been in his lifetime. They never dreamed of financial embarrassments in the midst of accumulations of wealth which surpassed the wildest of Oriental romances. They forgot that their wealth rested upon the perfect security which they inherited from the wise and virtuous government of Carlos III., of blessed memory; that he it was who had put out the fires of the Inquisition, and so curtailed the power of the priests that they could no longer plunder with impunity, or rob the Terreros of the fruits of their father's enterprise by threatening them with the censure of the Church, which, in the reign of a feeble king, had a significant meaning. The new code of mining laws, the cheapness of quicksilver, and the opening of commerce, had all combined to make their fortune, w
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   264   265   266   267   268   269   270   271   272   273   274   275   276   277   278   279   280   281   282   283   284   285   286   287   288  
289   290   291   292   293   294   295   296   297   298   299   300   301   >>  



Top keywords:

silver

 

inherited

 

sulphur

 

wealth

 

mining

 

copper

 
sulphate
 

obtained

 
brimstone
 
processes

separate

 
burned
 
brilliant
 

lifetime

 
cheapness
 

future

 
opening
 

success

 
quicksilver
 

Terreros


accumulations

 
surpassed
 

meaning

 

embarrassments

 

dreamed

 

financial

 

prospects

 

commands

 

lowest

 

standard


treasures

 

commerce

 

purchased

 
estates
 
accumulated
 

combined

 

fortune

 

wildest

 

Oriental

 

Inquisition


censure

 

curtailed

 
longer
 

plunder

 
father
 
threatening
 

enterprise

 
priests
 
Church
 

security