Excerpt from The Metallurgy of the Common Metals: Gold, Silver, Iron, Copper, Lead, and Zinc This outline of the metallurgy of the common metals, namely, gold, silver, iron, copper, lead, and zinc, is devoted to the description of processes for winning these metals from their ores and then refining them. The metallurgy of iron is treated only to the point where pig-iron is obtained. Following the description of ores, as well as of the fuels used in smelting them, and the materials of which the furnaces are con structed, we come to sampling, for the determination of the exact value of the ore before treatment. A chapter has been devoted to the subject of thermo-chemistry as applied to igneous methods of extraction. The winning or reduction of the various metals is then taken up in order, and is followed by a description of the methods of refining them. Attention is then given to commercial considerations, since the processes must be conducted in a profitable way. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.