Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1848 edition. Excerpt: ...and which yields a fifth of its weight of iron. It was to the southward of Sinaya Gora that copper ores were discovered, in the green-stone bounding the ferruginous rocks on the west, and which led to the opening of the rich mines at Tagilsk. M. Terletsku makes the height of the Blagodat 224, that of the Kachkanar 740, French feet more than our measurement. Not having his data before me, I am unable to make any attempt to reconcile this discrepancy. Our entertainer at Kushva was M. Volkov, to whom the world is indebted for the first specimens of platinum procured on the ancient continent. The rich magnetic iron ores found at Kushva, have the property of losing much of their original compact texture when exposed to the air; so that they are not only much more easily broken up for smelting, but it is even maintained by many of the miners that this effect might be so far promoted by artificial means that roasting might be dispensed with. The oxydised ores already noticed are considered as an indispensable addition to the magnetic ores for the cannon foundry, where the requisite admixture of alloy must be strictly attended to, even in the casting of balls and shells. Experiments were making at the time of our visit, as to the best composition of metals for the axles of wheel-work: the result of many experiments was in favour of an alloy of eight parts of copper with two of iron and one of tin. September 9 Gold and platinum in this district lie in beds of pebbles, partly at the bottom of the valleys that cross the course of the Tura, and partly diffused more widely through the plains, on either side of this river; the metals lying among the detritus of the hornblend and feldspath, collected between the transition-limestone rocks which bound...