Birds and all Nature Vol VII, No. 3, March 1900

A method of extracting copper from its ores, equally useful with regard to any of the ores, is known as the English process. The details of this are too elaborate and technical for consideration here. In brief, the process consists of six distinct parts – roasting the mixed ores, fusion of the roasted ores to produce coarse metal, roasting the coarse metal, fusion of the wasted coarse metal to produce what is known as white metal, roasting of the white metal to produce blister copper, i. e., copper filled with cavities, and finally the refining and toughening of the blister copper until marketable copper is yielded. The English method of copper smelting is classed among the so-called "dry" processes, in contradistinction from "wet" processes, or methods involving the use of solutions.

It may be of interest to know the importance of copper in that curious problem of ancient alchemy, the transmutation of metals. Metallic iron placed in certain solutions of unknown composition possessed the power to precipitate metallic copper. With all the wondrous faith in the problems of alchemy the phenomenon was interpreted as one of transmutation and the statement made that iron had been transformed into copper.

Within the last few years a remarkable increase in the output of the copper mines of the world has been recorded. This is due mainly to the demand for copper on account of the great strides in electrical achievements during recent years. Yet there is no doubt that the world's supply is wholly adequate to meet demands on it for a long period to come. The high conductivity of copper renders it especially useful for conveying electric currents and its most important use at present is in electricity. However, it is also a common convenience in many arts. Its alloys are numerous, bronze and brass being the most common. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin and brass of copper and zinc. The manufacturer of bronze bells finds opportunity for an interesting study of the alloy used in his product. The varying tones of bells are due to the different percentages of copper and tin used in the bell metal.

In locality and mode of occurrence lead is somewhat closely allied with copper, and the ores of lead and zinc are almost invariably associated. Hence a description of lead naturally follows that of copper and may also be understood as typical, so far as occurrence and mining methods are concerned, for that of zinc.

Lead occurs in nature chiefly in the forms of the sulphide, galenite or galena, the sulphate, anglesite and the carbonate, cerussite. Galena is lead-gray, quite soft, and frequently occurs in a coarsely crystalline condition, the crystals often being cubical. The luster is metallic, hence a superficial examination of a specimen might result in mistaking the mineral for the copper ore, chalcopyrite, already described. The streak will serve to identify any specimen, however, it being a lead-gray of much lighter shade than that of chalcocite. Anglesite and cerussite are far less abundant than galena. The former varies from white through gray to yellow and has a resinous luster. Cerussite is white or gray, resembling anglesite, and has a brilliant, vitreous luster. Both minerals, like galena, are soft and easily scratched with a knife.

The ores of lead are widely distributed throughout the United States and it is difficult to assign boundaries to special districts. Galena occurs in small quantities – too small for profitable working – throughout the Appalachian region, and is found in paying quantities in what is known as the Missouri lead district. In the Colorado and other western mines the ore is found in silver-bearing veins. Were it not for the presence of silver in those veins the production of lead from them would probably practically cease, as the anglesite, the principal lead ore of the veins, does not occur in amount to pay for working the mines for that product alone.

White lead, used in paints, is the most important use of the metal. Painters prefer the product to zinc-white chiefly because it is much more opaque and possesses a much greater covering power. Much lead is made into pipes for conveying water. Pure lead is not used for the making of shot, but instead an alloy of lead and arsenic. Unlike pure lead, the alloy assumes a spherical form when dropped through the air. "Shot towers" are constructed to make use of this property in the manufacture of shot. The demands for lead have not been increased by recent extraordinary development of any of the arts employing the metal, hence the world's output of lead during the past decade has had a normal increase. For the year 1897 the total production of lead was 725,200 metric tons.

THE YOUNG NATURALIST

BEES. – Honey is made from many substances. Not only do the flowers give up their nectar to the honey bees, but various other sources of sweets are visited by bees with profit. Clover honey is one of the most common kind, although it is all white clover honey, for the honey bee has too short a tongue to reach into the long tubes of the red clover which the bumble-bees are so fond of. Sweet-clover yields nectar which makes good honey. A dark variety of honey comes from the flowers of buckwheat, and the basswood tree which the German poets sing about, calling it by the name of linden, bears such a wealth of flowers which the honey bees like that it is swarmed day after day by so many bees that the tree seems to hum with pleasure. You can often hear the bees in a basswood tree before the tree itself is in view in the forest. Orange trees are also favorites with the honey-makers.

Broken fruits are often sucked by bees to get material for honey, and cider left in a dish where they can get at it will be visited by them. A mixture of almost any sweet liquid will attract honey bees, and they are so careless of its exact nature that they have been known to store up and make into honey substances that are not good for human beings to eat. One of the favorite forms of adulteration among those who keep bees for profit is to place glucose and water where they can get at it. They will readily fill their combs with this cheap material and seem to do very much more work in the course of a season by having placed within easy reach a mass of material that they do not have to work for.

Margaret Warner Morley, in her charming little book, "The Bee People," which has just come from the press of A. C. McClurg & Co., Chicago, tells how bees frequently make honey from "honey dew." This is a sweet and sticky substance that is found upon the upper side of all sorts of leaves in some localities and has caused a great deal of wonder as to where it comes from. The writer tells of the mountain children she saw in the Carolinas plucking these leaves and licking the honey-dew from them, enjoying their treat much as city children enjoy what they get at the candy store. She says the honey-dew is made by the little insects called ants' cows or aphides. The sweet liquid is thrown out from their bodies, and ants are so fond of it that some of them have been said to keep "cows" and take great care of them in order to enjoy the sweet they get from their bodies.

The aphides eat the juice of the leaves they rest on and change it into honey-dew. Resting on the under side of a leaf and feasting royally, they become so full that the honey-dew spurts from their bodies and showers the upper sides of the leaves below. Sometimes the insects are so thick upon the leaves of a magnolia tree that a shower of sweets comes down upon its lower leaves and the grass below. Trees and bushes shine with the dew, and when dust settles upon the sticky surfaces it is decidedly disagreeable.

Pliny, the first great naturalist, said he thought honey-dew was "the perspiration of the sky, the saliva of the stars, or the moisture deposited by the atmosphere while purging itself, corrupted by its admixture with the mists of the earth." Bees gather it and make it up into honey. Squirrels are fond of it, and gather the leaves one at a time, hold them up in their paws, and lick them with apparent relish.

There are so many truly wonderful things about bees which this talented writer has collected and told in simple language that her book is one of the most valuable of recent contributions to the libraries of those who enjoy the wonders of nature. Although written evidently for children it is of absorbing interest to adults, and furnishes a fund of material for conversation and observation which will make it very much in demand among teachers and parents.

The growth of the bee, the drones, the workers, and the queens, with all the details of their structure as revealed by the microscope, the making of their curious homes, their odd customs and habits, their strange enemies, and a thousand other interesting features, make the subject one of great interest, and we cannot sufficiently honor the memory of the blind naturalist, Huber, who found out more things about bees after he lost his sight than all the world ever knew of them before his time.

BAD GERMS. – In our bodies is constantly going on a great fight between germs of various sorts, if we are to believe those who know most on the subject. Microbes are all about within us, some of them apparently striving to do us good and others trying to kill us. In a few cases men of science have been able to find one kind of germ that will destroy another that is hurtful to the human system. By cultivating many sorts of germs together and separately they have come to know a great deal about what microbes like and what they cannot bear. The so-called poisons of diphtheria and typhoid fever have been recognized as having certain forms and characteristics, and a way of killing them off at wholesale has been found, and so we are not so much afraid of these diseases as we were before these discoveries were made. The germs of cholera and yellow fever are now well enough known to be controlled by sanitary measures, and the doctors are hot on the track of the bacillus of consumption. What relief the world will have when these germs are killed before they have had time to do their deadly work!

A DESERT LIGHT. – In Arizona there is an important well which stands in the desert where its presence would not readily be known, but for the fact that a light now swings from a tall cotton-wood pole so as to light travelers who are within several miles of it in the night. Before the lantern used to be hung there many people died when they might have reached its waters if they had only known how near and in which direction the well really was. Some have died horrible deaths of thirst when only a short distance from its refreshing waters. In order to pass that point travelers have to carry large loads of water to quench their thirst until they reach this well. The number of gallons a company has means either life or death to all. Some time ago a German boy staggered up to the tanks shortly after dark. He had lain down expecting to die with thirst in despair of getting to water, when he saw the light of the cabin of the keeper of the well. So Joe Drew keeps his lantern up at night that others may see the signal from afar and come without delay to the waters.

MINER'S LUCK. – One of the most profitable mines in South America is the Penny mine in Bolivia. Penny was a run-away Scotchman from a man-o'-war who had nothing and hoped for nothing but to keep away from service on the sea. He did odd jobs about the country for awhile and was brought low with fever. He was faithfully nursed through the disease by a native woman who could not speak a word of English. Out of gratitude he married her and treated her well. She rewarded him by taking him into the mountains and showing him an old Spanish mine that had been hidden for years. He began working it and became a millionaire. With a fellow-workman by the name of Mackenzie he brought the mine into a good state of productiveness, and then left for the old country. Mackenzie was made superintendent of his mine, and Mackenzie's son went with Mr. and Mrs. Penny to Scotland. He arrayed his Indian wife in the most costly attire, and made his visit to Scotland memorable by his many acts of generosity. He adopted a nephew and insisted that both young men should take his name and become his heirs. He suddenly died and left his wealth all to his wife, with directions that the two sons should be amply provided for. Complications followed, and the Indian mother died under suspicious circumstances, while the boys contended for possession of the mines. With all the good fortune and excellent intentions of the father the two boys proved to be bad Pennies. They sold out their interests for $500,000 each and are now killing themselves with drink.

1

The wedding plumes, which are esteemed the most valuable of all, are worn by the birds only during brooding time. Hence the special reason for hunting egrets at that season.

2

The common short ton is 2,000 pounds; the long ton contains 2,240 pounds; the metric ton equals 2,204 pounds. It will be noted that statistics of the production of different metals frequently employ different tons as units.