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Alexander von Humboldt: „Humboldt’s account of the gold and platina district of Russia“, in: ders., Sämtliche Schriften digital, herausgegeben von Oliver Lubrich und Thomas Nehrlich, Universität Bern 2021. URL: <https://humboldt.unibe.ch/text/1829-Lettre_de_M-22-neu> [abgerufen am 25.04.2024].
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| Titel | Humboldt’s account of the gold and platina district of Russia | ||||||
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| Jahr | 1831 | ||||||
| Ort | Baltimore, Maryland | ||||||
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Nachweis in: Niles’ Weekly Register 4/40:16/1030 (18. Juni 1831), S. 270.
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| Sprache | Englisch | ||||||
| Typografischer Befund | Antiqua; Spaltensatz; Auszeichnung: Kursivierung. | ||||||
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|270|
|Spaltenumbruch|
The following account is part of a letter fromM. Humboldt to M.
Arago.—“We spent a month invisiting the gold mines of
Borisovsk, the malachitemines of Gumeselevski, and of Tagilsk, and the
wash-ings of gold and platinum. We were astonished at thepepitas (water-worn masses) of gold, from two to threepounds, and even from eighteen to twenty pounds,found a
few inches below the turf, where they had lainunknown for ages. The
position and probable origin ofthese alluvia, mixed generally with
fragments of greenstone, chlorite slate, and serpentine, was one of
theprincipal objects of this journey. The gold annuallyprocured from the washings amounts to 6,000 kil. Thediscoveries beyond
59 and 60 degrees latitude becomevery important. We possess the teeth of
fossil ele-phants enveloped in these alluvia of auriferons sand.Their formation, consequent on local irruptions and onlevelings, is, perhaps, even posterior to the destructionof the large
animals. The amber and the lignites,which we discovered on the eastern
side of the Ural,are decidedly more ancient. With the auriferous sandare found grains of cinnabar, native copper, ceylanites,garnets, little white zircons, as brilliant as diamonds,anatase,
alvite, &c. It is very remarkable, that in themiddle and northern
parts of the Ural, the platinum isfound only on the western European
side. The richgold washings of the Demidov family, at Nijnei-tagilsk,are on the Asiatic side, on the two acclivities of Barti-raya, where the alluvium of Vilkni alone has alreadyproduced more than
2,800 lbs. of gold.
The platinum is found about a league to the esst ofthe separation of waters (which must not be confoundedwith the axis of the high summits), on the Europeanside, near the course of the Oulka, at Sukoi Visnin, andat Martian. M. Schvetsov, who had the good fortuneto study under Berthier, and whose learning and activi-ty have been most useful during our travels in the Ural,discovered chromate of iron, containing grains of pla-tinum, which an able chemist at Catherineburgh, M.Helm, has analyzed. The washings of platinum atNijnei-tagilsk are so rich, that 100 puds (about 400 lbs.Russian) of sand afford 30 (sometimes 40) solotniks ofplatinum, whilst the rich alluvia of gold at Vilkni, andother gold washings on the Asiatie side, do not givemore than 1½ or 2 solotniks in 100 puds of sand. InSouth America, a very low chain of the Cordilleras,that of Cali, also separates the auriferous and non-plati-niferous sand on the eastern declivity, (Popayan), fromthe sands of the isthmus of the Raspadura of Choco,which are very rich in platinum as well as gold.”
Humboldt’s account of the gold and platina district ofRussia.