ral, which must be previously afcertained by trials. He has likewife made confiderable improvements in the feveral manual operations; in the neceflary furnaces and machines; in the ftampers and mills for the comminution of the ore; in the furnaces for calcination; in the boiling furnaces, with the apparatus and machinery for the ftirring of the mixture in almagamation; in the apparatus for washing the amalgam, and in the ftampers connected with it; in the furnaces for eliquating the amalgam, and for diftilling the mercury, &c.; of all which he gives defcriptions and figures. In fhort, the reader willhere meet with ample inftructions for the most successful and economical management, in large, of every part of the business, fo as to obtain the whole quantity of gold and filver contained in the ore, and to recover the quickfilver without lofs; neither of which points have hitherto been attained, even at the Spanish mines in America, where the filver, as well as gold, is, for the moft part, confeffedly, and often vifibly, metallic; and where this mode of extracting them has been established during above two hundred years.

Previously to the author's detail of his own proceffes, he gives an account of the methods practifed by the Spaniards, as defcribed by different philofophical travellers, in treatifes written expressly on the fubject by perfons on the spot, and in fome official records. From thefe accounts, it is plain, that, though the enormous quantity of the nobler metals, annually brought into Europe from America, is almost entirely obtained by amalgamation, yet the methods practifed or propofed for that purpofe are very faulty, and the defcriptions of them imperfect and inconfiftent; that the full produce of gold and filver cannot be extracted by any one of them; and that a great quantity of filver muft annually remain in the leavings; that fome additions recommended are abfolutely ufelefs; that the means faid to prevent the lofs of quickfilver are very unfafe; and that the pretended fymptoms of the good or bad fuccefs of the amalgamation are very fallacious.

The new method of procedure was first brought into practice, and the firft quick-mill erected, near Shemnitz in Hungary; and the advantages of it were fo fully afcertained, from the very beginning, that the late Emperor, by a formal de cree, ordered fimilar mills to be erected upon all the Imperial and Royal mines in Hungary and Bohemia, under the dis rection of Baron Born; and that his Majefty nobly and libe rally granted to him, as inventor and improver of the process of amalgamation, one third of the clear profits thence arifing during a space of ten years, and during another fubfequent period of twenty years an annuity of four per cent, of one-third

of

of the faid profits; under this fingle reservation, that the Baron, out of this grant and annuities, fhould defray one-third of the coft.' Notwithstanding the well-judged patronage of the Emperor himself, the Baron appears to have had great difficulties to overcome from another quarter, before the final establishment of his plan:

When I first propofed the amalgamation of gold and filver ores, fome (he fays, p. 71,) of our clofet chemifts and empyrical melters fccuted the idea, and denied the poffibility fo pofitively, that, rather than own it, I was fufpected and charged by implication of having, fomehow or other, and by flight of hand, introduced filver into the boilers er the other apparatus which I made ufe of. But when the experiments were repeated at Vienna, and ocular demonftration was given of the denied poffibility, reams of paper were wafted in calculations, doubts, confiderations, and objections against the ufe of the procefs at large. Fortunately, the matter came to the cognizance of a monarch who knew, from experience, what obftacles egotifm, prejudice, and ignorance, will throw into the way of improvements and ufeful innovations. The confequence was, his Majesty's command, that amalgamation fhould be introduced. Now, and ever fince, the operations at large have perfectly answered, and undeniably proved the advantages which I forefaw; all thefe calculators, pyrrhonifts, confiderers, and objectors, are reduced to their laft miferable shift, which is a fhrug of their fhoulders, with an invidious ejaculation; There is nothing new in it! It is but the old Spanish process of amalgamation!'

After the Emperor's grant had been obtained, fome new financial regulations were devifed, with a view to obftruct the undertaking, by increasing its expence. For common falt (of which the quantity confumed was very confiderable, more fo at firft than was afterward found to be neceflary,) the Baron was made to pay (as we learn from the tranflator's preface,) at the rate of 9s. 4d. fterling per hundred weight in Hungary, and 16s. 8d. in Bohemia; though the prime coft at the royal magazines in the refpective places was only about 2s. 6d. and 35. For quick filver, he was charged 121. 8s. per quintal, while the court of Spain was fupplied for 10l. and the original price was but 25s. 9d. Thefe regulations, however, and others of a like kind, inftead of diftreffing or difcrediting the work, ferved only the more to evince its advantages: the new procefs was adopted not only at the mines in the Imperial and Auftrian dominions, but at thofe of Freyberg in Saxony fome fuccefsful trials have been made for introducing it in the Hartz foreft, in place of the very expenfive process of feparating filver from copper by eliquation with lead; and the court of Spain has been fo fully convinced of the advantages that muft arife from it, particularly with regard to the rich leavings of their former procefs, which have been accumulating

for ages, that Mr. d'Elhuyar, infpector general of the mines in South America, after having been inftructed at Shemniz in the principles of this procefs, has been fent, in 1788, to Mexico, with one Swedish and fix German metallurgifts of the fame school, in order to introduce it in Mexico and Peru."

While all the mining countries on the continent are looking up with admiration to this fingular revolution in metallurgy, and preparing to make the most of it for themfelves, Mr. Rafpe has very laudably exerted himself in diffufing the knowlege of it in this ifland, and in collecting for us all the additional information on the fubject that can be procured.

In a prefatory addrefs to his fubfcribers, he gives an account of feveral improvements which have been made fince the Baron's publication, and by which the procefs is wonderfully fimplified; particularly the wet ftamping of the ore instead of dry grinding; a more expeditious way of fifting; a method of effecting the amalgamation by churning, without heat, in which the Baron himself had not been able to fucceed, though he had not given up the idea of its being practicable; a very ingenious and fimple contrivance for recovering the mercury from the amalgam without lofs; with fome useful remarks, by the tranflator himself, on the ores, &c. which may be refined by quickfilver; on the extraction of filver from copper by this means; on the reducing of copper to a high degree of purity; and a view of the quickfilver trade.

The Supplement confifts of Reports and opinions on the advantages of amalgamation, drawn up by fome eminent miners and metallurgifts, at their meeting at Glafshutte near Shemniz in 1786, published by J. J. Ferber, at Leipzig and Vienna, in 1787. The great fuperiority of the new procefs is here fully confirmed, by unexceptionable judges affembled from different parts of Europe; fo that no doubt can remain of its being advantageous to all who are concerned either in the extraction of the nobler metals from ores, or in the recovery of them when mixed, in fmall particles, with recrementitious matters, in the neceflary operations of various arts and manufactories.

With regard to the tranflation of this work, most of our readers, we prefume, are already fufficiently apprized, that there is no danger of Mr. Rafpe having any where mifunderfood the fenfe of his originals, or of having expreffed himfelf inadequately in our language-but justice requires us to add, that he appears to have had this business much at heart; and he intimates, in confequence of a mineralogical furvey which at that time (1790) employed him in the northern parts of the ifland, that Great Britain has a chance to have quickfilver mines of her own, nor any longer in that refpect to be dependant

10

dependant on foreign regulations of finance, fpeculation, and monopoly.'

Ch....m.

ART.XVI. An Hiftory of Fungusses, growing about Halifax,[Yorkshire.] With Forty-fix Copper-plates, &c. With a particular Description of each Species, in all its Stages, &c. The Whole being a plain Recital of Facts, the Result of more than Twenty Years' Obferyation. By James Bolton, Member of the Natural History Society at Edinburgh. 4to. 4 Vols. Each at 21. 28. coloured, or 18s. plain. Boards. White and Son. 1788-1791.

WE E may perhaps appear to Mr. Bolton, as well as to many of his friends, to have overlooked this work: but fo refpectable a production could not have been treated by us with fuch indifference. The truth is, that foon after the third volume came to our hands, we heard a report that materials were in ftore, fufficient to make out a large additional one,-The subject itself induced us to give credit to the report. Fungi, the very quinteffence of anomaly in vegetation, are not very readily to be ascertained as to locality, if even as to existence: for they appear after very long intervals, and they are wonderfully numerous in one year, and perhaps will not grow in that spot again for ten or twenty years. The neceffity, therefore, of an appendix, large as it is t, did not furprize us. We fhall rather wonder, if Mr. Bolton, provided he continue to be actuated by the fame fpirit of inquiry, will not think himself compelled to favour us with another, or rather others, from time to time. Hearing, therefore, and readily believing, that a fourth part of equal importance would appear, we thought it best to wait, till we could give an account of the whole together :-to which we now proceed.

The firft volume opens with a handfome dedication to the Earl of Gainsborough. To this fucceeds an introduction, in which the author defines his Genera, and refers to a figure by way of illuftration. The Agarics, being very numerous, are particularly confidered; and the parts of which they confift are defined and illuftrated by figures. This introduction is carried on in the fecond volume, where alfo the outline of the author's plan is fet forth. The whole of the first volume, and feventy-three pages of the fecond, contain the Agarics.-Mr. Bolton has not forgotten to give us a table of the specific defcriptions of all his fpecies drawn up in one view:-a plan which we cannot too ftrongly recommend to all writers in Na

The first two vols. were briefly noticed by us in Rev. vol. ixxix.

P. 460.

The Appendix makes the 4th volume of this work.

tural

tural History, particularly when they treat of numerous fubjects.

The remainder of the fecond volume contains the GENERA, Boletus, Hydnum, and Phallus.

The third volume has the introduction continued, of which we shall have occafion to fay a few words hereafter, and comprehends the GENERA, Clathrus, Helvella, Peziza, Clavaria, Lycoperdon, Sphæria, and Mucor. A very fhort appendix, containing a few later difcoveries, clofes the volume.

We thank Mr. Bolton for the continuance of the introduction in the fourth volume ;-not merely for his own later obfervation, but alfo for his account of Monfieur Bulliard's work on the Fungi of France, which he gives with neatness, and all-becoming modefty. The Agarics, added in this vo lume, make the whole number defcribed, and figured, 107. The Boleti are twenty-feven.-The numbers of the other families are in proportion. At the end of this volume, is an Index Generalis, containing an enumeration of all the fpecies treated in the whole work, with references to fuch figures in other works, as Mr. Bolton could determine with certainty.

The plan, as purfued throughout the whole performance, is, to give a fhort fpecific defcription in Latin of each species, with' reference to fynonyms and figures in other authors, (this idea is more fully put in practice in the Index Generalis,) and then to add a long and very particular defcription of all the parts and qualities of each in English. Every fpecies is figured. There are 182 plates.

The author will, by this time, be fenfible, that we have taken fome pains to defcribe his publication; and our readers will alfo have a tolerable idea of the immenfe labour which Mr. Bolton has bestowed in preparing his work: we fhali,' therefore, turn our thoughts and inquiries, very readily, to confider the mode in which he has executed it.

It must be allowed that there is great perfpicuity in the general method purfued. The GENERA are first established; the orders under each are then regularly defcribed; the fpecific defcription is accurately detailed, at confiderable length;" and the figure, being placed fronting each defcription, is thus' ready at hand for comparison. As the Genus Agaricus is the principal one of the Fungi, we are confequently led to examine the author's treatment of that fubject. It is not often that we can bring ourselves to take part with modern fciolifts, in their affected improvements of the Linnéan arrangements:but we must fay that Mr. Bolton is very right in contending for the diftinction between the volva and the velum.-The former is that which inwraps the whole plant in its infant state ;'

the