The Falls

Title: Description of the Chemistry of Ore
Type: Book
Date: 1892
Source: Minnesota Historical Society

Description: This page from the Miner's Guide describes how metal appears when it is discovered in rock formations.

Transcription:

METALS,
THEIR CHEMISTRY AND GEOLOGY

General Properties—A metal is a body which conducts electricity and heat, which is opaque, and has a high and peculiar brilliancy known as the metallic lustre.

Extraction—Metals are seldom found naturally in their metallic form. When they so occur, they are said to be in a native state. Their characters are generally masked Hidden. The metals are disguised under other materials before they are found and refined into their metallic form. under some form of combination with oxygen or sulphur, and are then said to be in the state of ore. They are met with, generally, in veins penetrating the strata, Layers of rock. intermixed Combined or mixed together, in this case underground with other minerals or materials. with various earthy substances. To separate the metal, after it is dug from the mine, the mass is broken up, and subjected to the operations of sorting, stamping, washing, roasting, smelting, and refining. These are parts of the process of separating the metal from the ore. Under each metal will be included the method of reducing its ores.