Show PRECIOUS METALS IN SCRIPTURE IL I 1 I 1 itan ban D de quillo indulges in a historical dissertation on ancient mining I 1 of gold geld and silver I 1 I 1 I 1 correspondence tribunal the ar art t of extracting metals memis from their ores dates antes from a very early period irk in tile the history of the human race mining and metallurgy were practiced so BO tar far back in pro times thries that we have no written account ot of the beginning account 1 of 0 these indus industries ties gold cold was probably the metal that first attracted the attention ot of man it being found native in bright trains in the sands hands 0 of rivers and in glittering bugge nuggets is in tho the dry beds of 0 mountain torrents tor renta next copper and silver which metals often occur in tho the metallic state were probably discovered and utilized d As tile the first mining WAS done by building airee upon and against tho the Nel veinstone listone containing native metals the art of smelt ing the ores of 0 copper silver lead and un wag tins doubtless discovered soon after work began on mineral veins next would come tile the refining of the rudely smelter smelted metals by re melting though the principles principle of 0 the art of 0 metallurgy have only been explained by modern thought and science they were rudely applied and blindly practiced long lone before the tha sciences of chemistry physics and mechanics were brought to bear upon the progress of tho the race and the of the world chemical operations and 1 reactions arc were impenetrable mysteries to the lie early metallurgists and when stumbled upon and found to be surprisingly singly effective gave rite rise to all manner t of superstitious s notion not tono modern metallurgical science has ha long ions since leaped the barriers of abote indent nt ignorance I 1 and era craft ti but the ilia foundation upon which it stands the advance it has made the benefits it has brought have their origin in the rude and simple arts and operations practiced in the cai eail lest liest times something not n a little of the processes of the men of ancient times in both ml mi mangand ning and the extraction ot 0 metals from their ores la Is to be seen in use today in but a slightly modified fled form or by the substitution of machinery in operations formerly performed perl ormed by hand the ancient workers in mines and metals stumble upon many of the truths of science ec lence and these truths are tho the somi some today as in the days of 0 old A chemical process remains the some same through all the ages much inch of what was lilt upon by the men of the early ages and proved successful in winning the metals from their ores Is till still toi to be traced in a modified and improved form in the of our miners and metal workers but science has now nov made plain the process once supposed to be performed through the a assistance sis Lance of gnomes sno mes and demons As the history of mining and metallurgy in general is 1 neither plain nor definite so Is tile the history ot of earh each individual of the primitive metals uncertain and ob obscure especially when the ages treated of are arc tar far distant from our own for much of the data from which it Is deduced has been lost in tho the past from the lack of culture and from the inability or unwillingness of the men of ancient times to commit to writing their methods and processes indeed it Is probable that knowledge of the art they practiced was kept within athin certain fa families milles and guilds and aad carefully e fully guarded as a profitable secre secret far doubtless d doubt they also made use of various invocations and ceremonies in order to give an air of mystery to a very a simple m operation GOLD COLD IN BIBLE TIMES while now and again a verse Is found in the bible or a passage Is gleaned from the writings of poly lifus pliny and a few others of the ancients an clenta lit in regard to tre great mineral wealth of some country or the existence of a particular alloy yet no mass ot of information or connected history dt df mining and metallurgy Ls li obtainable and we are obliged to be content with mere hints in most cases gold was mas valued for or ornament from the very earliest times and was probably the first metal mentioned in the bible where gen if L 11 it is 19 said raid to be found in the land of 0 havilah gold was extremely I 1 abundant in ancient times david says chr exil 14 1 I have prepared tor for the house of the lord a hundred thousand talents of cold and 2 ahr he I 1 16 15 the king made silver oliver and colu at jerusalem as plentiful as ston stones esl the queen I 1 of f sheba made solomon a present of talents of gold mention la is frequently y made of the abundance abunda of 0 gold enormous quantities of the he metal were consumed by tho the wealthy in furniture and by all classes tor for ornament gold was at alist chiefly used in maling making ornaments the number variety and alid weight ot of the ornaments ordinarily worn upon the pelson pel son form one of the characteristic features of oriental costume the monuments of ancient egypt exhibit the ladles ladies loaded with finger rings earrings of 0 great size arth lets arm armless armlets I 1 lets ets bracelets richly ct ornamental na necklaces find and chains of various kinds tile women or of palestine were vere equally fond of finery hints of this I 1 his are found all through the bible in the old testament isaiah it isn as 23 gives fives a detailed description of the articles with which the luxurious we women ell of his time were vere decorated Fi balczer lirzer decorated rebekah ht with a golden nose ring of half a shekel sheftel in weight w arlit and two bracelets for it her er hands 0 of er ten shekels weight of gold the many similar notices which occur in the early books of the bible imply the tha weight end and abundance of ornaments worn at that period the chief countries mentioned in the bible as producing gold lire are arabia sheba a and rl d ophir other gold brodu cing countries mentioned are upham U ahas and Par valm culled money was not used by the jews until after the return from the babylonian captivity bu but t silver was used by weight as early as the time of abraham and its earliest mention Is in the generic tense sense ot of theorice the price paid tor for a 31 slave are gen evit ill 13 THE USE OF OB THE PRECIOUS METALS AS MONEY the 1000 2000 pieces of silver paid by abl melech to abraham genesis 16 and the 20 pieces ot of silver tor for which joseph was sold were probably rings disks with fi a hole in fit the center such as ag tire are depleted depicted on the egyptian monuments in tho the act of being weighed in the first recorded transaction of commerce the cave of 2 la Is purchased by abraham tor for shekels 0 of silver and it was this just weight that was recognized as current with the merchant choney Cm money oney Is not in the original the shekel weight of silver was the unit of value through the whole age aee of hebrew history in only one place Is there mention of so many shekels of gold as a surn bum ot of money 1 I chronicles axi 26 arid and even hore here in the older parallel passage all vor vcr Is mentioned in the transaction between anaman and r ellard the six thousand of 0 gold 11 II 11 kings icings v 5 where glecen Is in not in the original oriX inal probably bly denotes eli ekols like the six mix hundred of kold gold in 1 L kings x 16 no native jewish coinage existed till Antl Ant VIL VII sideres granted fronted simon the license to coin money B C lot HO THE BOOK OF JOB ON MINING MININ tile author of the look book of job gives a highly poetical description of 0 tile the operations of mining ax as lilloen in ill his day th thi only record ot or the kind which we inherit from the an ancient lent hebrews ile he says bay job lac I 1 1 I 1 11 surely there is a source tor for t the e silver ver and a place tor for the lold gold which ahiel li t they hey ic une fine lion JH Is tak bakun en out of tho the soil 1 an and ei stone man melts tor for copper lie he hath put an end to darkness dalkner dar kneas s a and rid to till all perfection 0 1 e most thoroughly i I 1 lie he ecar sear cheth the stone of thick darkness and of the shadow of 6 death ile he hath funk it a shaft shad tar far from thew the w ander cr they hey that are forgotten of the toot foot are arc suspended away from man they waver r t to r and tro fro As AB tor for tile earth from her cometh forth bread yet her nethermost parts are arc upturned as by lire fire tile the place ot of sapphire are arc her stones and lust dust or of gold bold Is his A arar track k which tile the bird ot of prey hath not known nor the oe ee of 0 the falcon glared upon which the alie sons of 0 pride wild beasts have not trodden nor the roaring lion gone over in the flint man mail hath thrust hla his hand he hath overturned ovea turned mountain from the root in tho the rocks lie he hath clett cleft channels an and d every iare thing hath his eye see acen n the streams stream 5 hath ho he bound that they weep not riot and that which Is hid lie he bri ngeth forth to light it may be fairly inferred from this description that a distinction Is made between gold obtained in the manner indicated and that which Is found in the natural state in the alluvial soil poll this appears to be implied in tho the expression pres slon the gold they reline refine which presupposes a process by which the puro pure gold eold li is extracted from the ore and separated from the silver or copper with which it may have been mixed ANCIENT GOLD MINING PROCESS tile the gold mines in egypt situated in n the Bi tisharee sharee desert the principal station of which was were worked by ganies gangs ot of convicts and captives in fetters who A he were kept day and night to their task by soldiers set get to guard them in an account aunt of 0 these mines Dlo dorus gives u us about the best description we have of ancient mining and metallurgical processes and methods we learn from his account of operations that the harder rock was split by the application of fire but the softer was broken up with picks and chisels the miners were quite their bodies being painted according to the color of tho the rock they were working and in order to see in III the dark passages pas of the mine they carried lamps on their heads head a the oro ore was carried off on by boys its as I 1 it t was s dug out it was then pounded in stone ew to n e mortars with iron pestles by th those 0 se who were over 30 years ot of age till 1 it t was reduced to the of a lentil the women arid and old men afterwards ground it in mills to a line fine powder the 11 I 1 1 a I 1 process of separating the gold cold from t the h e pulverized ore was In trusted to the on engineers who superintended super intended the work they spread the powder upon a broad slightly in elined table and rubbed it gently with the hand pouring water upon it from time to time so as to carry away all the earthy matter leaving the heavier particles upon tile the board this was repeated times at first with the hand and afterwards afterward wit with it fine sponges gently pressed dressed upon the earthy substance till nothing but the gold was left the ilie gold was then collected by other workmen and placed in earthen cruel cruci bles with a mixture of le leid td and salt in certain proportions together with a a little tin and some barley bean the cru bibles were then covered and crue caie carefully fl fully 11 ly e closed with clay and in this condition baked in a furnace tor for live five days and n nights without intermission these old egyptian sold gold mines were in the Bl Di sharee desert the principal station ot of which was about three days lourney journey beyond wady allay they have been rediscovered in modern times by M linart and mr air bonoll the method as described above by Dlo dorus was probably slightly varied by circumstances in ancient times before the invention of gunpowder the hard rock of all mines was worked by fire setting fires were built against the face of 0 drifts and tunnels and when these had burned burne d down the heated rock was split and shattered by dashing cold water against again st it in this way mines were worked to a great depth shafts tor for ventilation being beg carried carded doin down n pliny tells us that in the sliver silver mines of spain a depth of 0 it 1 mile and a halt below the light of day was attained but the alie statement must be taken with a large pinch of 0 salt in working gold placers the methods of 0 the anc ancients lents were much the same a as s those in n use I 1 in n ca california I 1 in the earl early days except that they did not hit upon the hydraulic they worked in n shallow ground with polls pans and rockers while deep ground was worked through ground bround sluices water for washing being carried in ditches in tho the ground b dulces were placed the skins of sheep goats boats and cattle weighted down with rocks and on oil these was caught the one cold this was like the blanket sluices of the present day modern mining experts who have examined the sites of the of the old world say that the ancients did astonishingly clean work they left nothing behind SILVER AMONG THE ANCIENTS like gold cold silver was used for airna ornaments and vessels or of vailous kinds in vety early times also tor for making images of the gods however its chief uso use was as a medium of exchange and throughout the old testament we find end the word silver used tor for money like the 1 argent we read that the ships of solomon brought from gold silver ivory apes and andrea pea cocks silver was also brought from brorn arabia it Is said eald 11 II 11 chronicles IX III 10 all the kings of A arabia and governors of the country brought gold and silver to SOlOn solomon lon just where tile mentioned was situated Is now some suppose a city and emporium of the in the south ot of spain called Tai Tait Census esus to have been the ancient spain produced immense quantities of silver but the apes ivory gold and peacocks seem to point toward india there are arc only two species of the peacock known and both inhabit tile the continent and mauds islands of india sir emerson tennent is of the opinion that the ships of solomon went to point do galle in ceylon and it Is 13 ver very y probable ceylon was well known to the ancients it was known to the greeks in the time of alexander end and also to the romans in the baek of jeremiah x 9 we tend reid silver spread into plates is brought from to this day the sacred books of the singhalese are written upon silver plates the singhalese are also ingenious workers in the art of extracting metals from their ores was as doubtless known to the people of andla india china and other oriental countries in tho the earlist earliest times probably while title the people of I 1 lu europe rope were still in tho the stone age the singhalese have historical records dating back twenty tour four centuries which show that they were even at that distant period a numerous wealthy and powerful people the lic hebrews brews appear to have been familiar with the operations of 0 smelting smelling sm elting and refining metals the cu process tor for refining silver seems to have been well known in psalms xii C mention Is mado made of silver tried in a furnace of earth pu purified rifled noven times in proverbs evit 3 it la is sold said the fining pot la is f tor or sliver silver and the furnace tor for gold in ezekiel axll 18 22 2 much Is said that seems to refer to 0 ahr met metallurgical alti lurg ical process of cu metals silver was waa monder wonderfully fu ily PI plentiful e pitiful in ancient times imes t when the mines were first worked it if wi we may inny believe pliny cyrus obtained from his in arile ala an mount of silver allver equal taul to seven billion seven bundled and twenty million pounds sterling according to vitan vius and pliny the |