The red notebook of Charles Darwin / edited, with an introduction and notes by Sandra Herbert.

  • Charles Darwin
Date:
1980
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Credit: The red notebook of Charles Darwin / edited, with an introduction and notes by Sandra Herbert. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    NOTES 131 Humboldt, Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, vol. 3, p. 156. Quoted exactly except for the abbreviation of ' and ' to ' & ' and the deletion of a comma after 'silver'. Humboldt, Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, vol. 3, p. 157: Native Silver, which is much less abundant in America, than is generally supposed, has been found in considerable masses, sometimes weighing more than 200 killo- grammes [441 lbs], in the seams of Batopilas in New Biscay. These mines, which are not very briskly wrought at present, are among the most northern of New Spain. Nature exhibits the same minerals there, that are found in the vein of Kongsberg in Norway. Those of Batopilas contain filiform dendritic and silver, which intersects with that of carbonated lime. Humboldt, Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, vol. 3, pp. 157-158: Native silver is constantly accompanied by glaserz [sulfuretted silver] in the seams of Mexico, as well as in those of the mountains of Europe. . .From time to time small branches, or cylindrical filaments of native silver, are also discovered in the celebrated vein of Guanaxuato ; but these masses have never been so considerable as those which were formerly drawn from the mine del Encino near Pachuca and Tasco, where native silver is sometimes contained in folia of selenite. Humboldt, Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, vol. 3, p. 158: A great part of the silver annually produced in Europe, is derived from the argentiferous sulfuretted lead {silberhaltiger bleiglanz) which is sometimes found in the veins which intersect primitive and transition mountains, and sometimes on particular beds (erzflöze) in rocks of secondary formation. In the kingdom of New Spain, the greatest part of the veins contain very little argentiferous galena; but there are very few mines in which lead ore is a particular object of their operations. Humboldt, Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, vol. 3, p. 159: A very considerable quantity of silver is produced from the smelting of the martial pyrites {gemeine Schwefelkiese) of which New Spain sometimes exhibits varieties richer than the glaserz itself. . .It is a very common prejudice in Europe, that great masses of native silver are extremely common in Mexico and Peru. . .Also pp. 160-161 : It appears that at the formation of veins in every climate, the distribution of silver has been very unequal ; sometimes concentrated in one point, and at other times dissemi¬ nated in the gangue, and allied with other metals. And p. 162: Although the New Continent, however, has not hitherto exhibited native silver in such considerable blocks as the Old, this metal is found more abundantly in a state of perfect purity in Peru and Mexico, than in any other quarter of the globe. Humboldt, Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, vol. 3, p. 176: What is the nature of the metalliferous depository, which has furnished these immense riches, and which may be considered as the Potosi of the northern hemisphere ? What is the