The alchemy of modernity. Alonso Barba’s copper cauldrons and the independence of Bolivian metallurgy (1790-1890)

Journal of Latin American Studies

Volumn 32, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 1-54

  Platt, Tristan ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

INDUSTRIAL HISTORY; METALLURGY; NINETEENTH CENTURY; SILVER;

BOLIVIA;

EID: 0034002266     PISSN: 0022216X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0022216X99005453     Document Type: Article

References (160)

1. For the title of his novel Die Wahlverwandtschaften, Goethe adopted a technical term coined by the Swedish chemist Torbern Olaf Bergmann in his book De attractionibus electivis (1775), which had been translated into German in 1785. See Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Elective Affinities, trans. R. J. Hollingdale, (London, 1971 [1809]), pp. 32-35. The concept of 'elective affinity', which did much the same job as the alchemical notion of 'sympathies' (see below), became part of the stock of metallurgical ideas in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
2. Über das Anquicken der Gold-und Silberhaltigen Erze, Rohsteine, Schwarzkupfer und Hüttenspeise (Vienna, 1786). I have used the English translation by R. E. Raspe, Baron Iñigo Born's New Process of Amalgamation of Gold and Silver Ores, and other Metallic Mixtures, as by his late Imperial Magesty's Command introduced in Hungary and Bohemia (London, 1791).
3. Über das Anquicken der Gold-und Silberhaltigen Erze, Rohsteine, Schwarzkupfer und Hüttenspeise (Vienna, 1786). I have used the English translation by R. E. Raspe, Baron Iñigo Born's New Process of Amalgamation of Gold and Silver Ores, and other Metallic Mixtures, as by his late Imperial Magesty's Command introduced in Hungary and Bohemia (London, 1791).
4. Today Banská Stiavnica in Slovakia.
5. For the relation between corvée and wage labour in early colonial Potosi, see Carlos Sempat Assadourian, 'La producción de la mercancía dinero en la formación del mercado interno colonial', in Enrique Florescano, Ensayos sobre el desarrollo económico de México y América Latins (1500-1975) (Mexico, 1979). Peter Bakewell, Miners of the Red Mountain. Indian Labor in Potosi, 1545-1650 (Albuquerque, 1984). During the first years, Potosi ores were trampled in boxes (cajones) heated over ovens (buitrones) ; this was soon replaced by what would become the standard cold method of trampling in paved yards (patios) with Indian feet (Peru) or horses' hooves (Mexico). In Potosi, buitrón soon lost its original meaning of 'oven', coming to be used as a local substitute for patio; while 'boxes' ceased to refer to physical structures and became a measure of quantity (generally, 50 quintales). See Modesto Bargalló, La amalgamación de los minerales de plata en Hispanoamérica colonial (México, 1969).
6. For the relation between corvée and wage labour in early colonial Potosi, see Carlos Sempat Assadourian, 'La producción de la mercancía dinero en la formación del mercado interno colonial', in Enrique Florescano, Ensayos sobre el desarrollo económico de México y América Latins (1500-1975) (Mexico, 1979). Peter Bakewell, Miners of the Red Mountain. Indian Labor in Potosi, 1545-1650 (Albuquerque, 1984). During the first years, Potosi ores were trampled in boxes (cajones) heated over ovens (buitrones) ; this was soon replaced by what would become the standard cold method of trampling in paved yards (patios) with Indian feet (Peru) or horses' hooves (Mexico). In Potosi, buitrón soon lost its original meaning of 'oven', coming to be used as a local substitute for patio; while 'boxes' ceased to refer to physical structures and became a measure of quantity (generally, 50 quintales). See Modesto Bargalló, La amalgamación de los minerales de plata en Hispanoamérica colonial (México, 1969).
7. For the relation between corvée and wage labour in early colonial Potosi, see Carlos Sempat Assadourian, 'La producción de la mercancía dinero en la formación del mercado interno colonial', in Enrique Florescano, Ensayos sobre el desarrollo económico de México y América Latins (1500-1975) (Mexico, 1979). Peter Bakewell, Miners of the Red Mountain. Indian Labor in Potosi, 1545-1650 (Albuquerque, 1984). During the first years, Potosi ores were trampled in boxes (cajones) heated over ovens (buitrones) ; this was soon replaced by what would become the standard cold method of trampling in paved yards (patios) with Indian feet (Peru) or horses' hooves (Mexico). In Potosi, buitrón soon lost its original meaning of 'oven', coming to be used as a local substitute for patio; while 'boxes' ceased to refer to physical structures and became a measure of quantity (generally, 50 quintales). See Modesto Bargalló, La amalgamación de los minerales de plata en Hispanoamérica colonial (México, 1969).
8. Carlos Sempat Assadourian, 'Acerca del cambio en la naturaleza del dominio sobre las Indias: la mita minera del virrey Toledo, documentos de 1568-1571', Anuario de Estudios Americanos XLVI (Seville, 1987).
9. AGI IG 1795. Gálvez had supported smelting since 1777; rumours of Born's discovery reached him in 1785. See Arthur P. Whitaker, 'The Elhuyar Mining Mission and the Enlightenment', Hispanic American Historical Review Vol. XXXI, no. 4. (1951), pp. 575, 579.
10. Alvaro Alonso Barba, El arte de los metales (Potosí, 1967 [Madrid, 1640]). A facsimile of the 1640 first edition was published in 1993 by the Servicio de Reproducción de Libros, Librerías París-Valencia, Pelayo 7, 46007 Valencia. For a biobibliography of Alonso Barba, see Josep Barnadas, Alvaro Alonso Barba (1569-1662). Investigaciones sobre su vida y obra (La Paz, 1986).
11. Alvaro Alonso Barba, El arte de los metales (Potosí, 1967 [Madrid, 1640]). A facsimile of the 1640 first edition was published in 1993 by the Servicio de Reproducción de Libros, Librerías París-Valencia, Pelayo 7, 46007 Valencia. For a biobibliography of Alonso Barba, see Josep Barnadas, Alvaro Alonso Barba (1569-1662). Investigaciones sobre su vida y obra (La Paz, 1986).
12. German science's debt to Alonso Barba was pointed out, somewhat ironically, by the Archbishop-Viceroy of New Granada; in 1787: 'Since it was only recently decided to prefer the new method of amalgamation, discovered in this century by Baron Born, and described in all its details a century and a half ago by our incomparable Barba in his Art of Metals, we have been in a state of total inaction, solely employed in the incessant accumulation of mineral… '. AGI IG 1795. Archbishop-Viceroy Caballero to the Marqués of Sonora. Santa Fé, 28 Feb. 1787.
13. For the political, military and international context of the activities of the two de Elhuyar brothers in the years leading up to Schemnitz, see Whitaker, 'The Elhuyar Mining Mission'.
14. AGI IG 1795. Fausto de Elhuyar to Valdés, Mexico 27 Jan. 1789. According to de Elhuyar, the plan for a machine with rotating barrels, sent to Madrid from Vienna by Josef Ricarte on June 5 1788 (AGI Mapas y Planos 46), was a copy of Ruprecht's machine, which was the model for the machines constructed in Potosí and Lima by Barón von Nordenflicht and his team. De Elhuyar had taken a plan of Ruprecht's machine to Mexico, but preferred Mititz' original, whose plan he also possessed, and which he sent to Madrid with his letter of Jan. 1789 (AGI Mapas y Planos 47).
15. This article is limited to the metallurgical debate. In the extractive sector, the European contributions were better received, in spite of some costly errors. Nevertheless, the arrogance of Nordenflicht was felt to be intolerable. See the final evaluation of his commission in AGI Lima 1360, 'Dictamen de la junta formada para examinar el expediente de la expedición mineralógica al Peru del Barón de Nordenflicht', 8 Dec. 1807.
16. See, however, Miguel Manuel Molina, 'La formación técnica del minero peruano y los proyectos de un Colegio de Minería', Boletín del Instituto Riva Agüero 11 (Lima, 1977-81), pp. 125-146. Molina recognises that the position of the Lima metallurgists against Nordenflicht 'was not the fruit of a traditional and archaic mentality, but the effect of a modern position protagonized by the creoles'.
17. See, for example, AGI Lima 1360, 'Dictamen de la Junta…'.
18. Beckmann (Beiträge zur Geschichte der Ersindungen, p. 55, quoted in Born, New Process, p. 21) suggested that Barba was still in Europe in 1609, and that he carried out his amalgamation experiments before being familiarised with American processes and ovens.
19. Beckmann (Beiträge zur Geschichte der Ersindungen, p. 55, quoted in Born, New Process, p. 21) suggested that Barba was still in Europe in 1609, and that he carried out his amalgamation experiments before being familiarised with American processes and ovens.
20. For the technological exchanges between America and Europe, see Julio Sánchez Gómez, 'La técnica en la producción de metales monedables en España y América, 1500-1650', in Julio Sánchez Gómez et al., La Savia del Imperio. Tres estudios de economía colonial (Salamanca, 1997); and Carlos Serrano, 'Transferencia de tecnología y relaciones de intercambio. Caso de estudio: la amalgamación y las escuelas de minería en la colonia', in S. Figuerôa and M. Lopes (eds), Geological Sciences in Latin America: Scientific Relations and Exchanges (Campinas, 1994).
21. For the technological exchanges between America and Europe, see Julio Sánchez Gómez, 'La técnica en la producción de metales monedables en España y América, 1500-1650', in Julio Sánchez Gómez et al., La Savia del Imperio. Tres estudios de economía colonial (Salamanca, 1997); and Carlos Serrano, 'Transferencia de tecnología y relaciones de intercambio. Caso de estudio: la amalgamación y las escuelas de minería en la colonia', in S. Figuerôa and M. Lopes (eds), Geological Sciences in Latin America: Scientific Relations and Exchanges (Campinas, 1994).
22. See Arte de los Metales, Book III.
23. For an analysis of Alonso Barba's alchemical ideas, see Carmen Salazar-Soler, 'Alvaro Alonso Barba: teorías de la antigüedad, alquimia y creencias prehispánicas en las ciencias de la tierra en el Nuevo Mundo', in Berta Arés and Serge Gruzinksi (comps.), Entre dos mundos: fronteras culturales y agentes mediadores (Seville, 1997); and 'Magia y modernidad en las minas andinas: mitos sobre el origen de los metales y el trabajo minero', in Henrique Urbano (comp.), Tradición y Modernidad en los Andes (Cusco, 1992).
24. For an analysis of Alonso Barba's alchemical ideas, see Carmen Salazar-Soler, 'Alvaro Alonso Barba: teorías de la antigüedad, alquimia y creencias prehispánicas en las ciencias de la tierra en el Nuevo Mundo', in Berta Arés and Serge Gruzinksi (comps.), Entre dos mundos: fronteras culturales y agentes mediadores (Seville, 1997); and 'Magia y modernidad en las minas andinas: mitos sobre el origen de los metales y el trabajo minero', in Henrique Urbano (comp.), Tradición y Modernidad en los Andes (Cusco, 1992).
25. Bargalló, La amalgamación. Medina was the first to develop amalgamation of silver on an industrial scale, although in Europe the method was known for gold refining by the Romans and early alchemists. Its use in silver-refining was described in 1540 by the Venetian Biringucchio, who states that it was already being used in the mines of Vicenza. For a review of the sources, and for the transfer of the technique from Pachuca to Guadalcanal (Andalusia) before its installation in Potosí in the early 1570s, see Julio Sánchez Gómez, 'La técnica en la producción'. However, the method had already reached Huamanga (Peru) by 1565: see Carlos Sempat Assadourian, 'Base técnica y relaciones de producción en la minería de Potosi', in José Luis Peset (ed.), Ciencia, vida y espacio en Iberoámerica vol. II (Madrid, 1989).
26. Bargalló, La amalgamación. Medina was the first to develop amalgamation of silver on an industrial scale, although in Europe the method was known for gold refining by the Romans and early alchemists. Its use in silver-refining was described in 1540 by the Venetian Biringucchio, who states that it was already being used in the mines of Vicenza. For a review of the sources, and for the transfer of the technique from Pachuca to Guadalcanal (Andalusia) before its installation in Potosí in the early 1570s, see Julio Sánchez Gómez, 'La técnica en la producción'. However, the method had already reached Huamanga (Peru) by 1565: see Carlos Sempat Assadourian, 'Base técnica y relaciones de producción en la minería de Potosi', in José Luis Peset (ed.), Ciencia, vida y espacio en Iberoámerica vol. II (Madrid, 1989).
27. Bargalló, La amalgamación. Medina was the first to develop amalgamation of silver on an industrial scale, although in Europe the method was known for gold refining by the Romans and early alchemists. Its use in silver-refining was described in 1540 by the Venetian Biringucchio, who states that it was already being used in the mines of Vicenza. For a review of the sources, and for the transfer of the technique from Pachuca to Guadalcanal (Andalusia) before its installation in Potosí in the early 1570s, see Julio Sánchez Gómez, 'La técnica en la producción'. However, the method had already reached Huamanga (Peru) by 1565: see Carlos Sempat Assadourian, 'Base técnica y relaciones de producción en la minería de Potosi', in José Luis Peset (ed.), Ciencia, vida y espacio en Iberoámerica vol. II (Madrid, 1989).
28. Rina Ortiz, 'El beneficio de minerales en el siglo XIX: el caso de la Compañía Real del Monte y Pachuca', Historia 30. Revista de la Dirección de Estudios Históricos del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (Mexico, 1993).
29. Enrique Tandeter, 'Los ingleses en Potosí a fines de 1826', Historia y Cultura 3 (La Paz, 1978).
30. Antonio Mitre, Los patriarcas de la plata (Lima, 1982).
31. El Tiempo (Potosi), 22 March 1890. 'Minería. La metalurgia en Bolivia. 'Noticia acerca de los procedimientos de amalgamación empleados', por don Andrés Gmehling, Jefe de Beneficio en Huanchaca'.
32. Tristan Platt, 'Producción, tecnología y trabajo en la Rivera de Potosí durante la Repúblics temprana', Cuadernos de Historia 3 AHILA (Münster-Hamburg, 1996); and 'Historias unidas, memorias escindidas: las empresas mineras de los hermanos Ortiz y la formación de las élites nacionales. Potosí y Salta, 1800-1880', in Margarita Menegus (ed.), Dos décadas de investigación en Historia Económica en América Latina. Homenaje a Carlos Sempat Assadourian (Mexico, 1999).
33. Tristan Platt, 'Producción, tecnología y trabajo en la Rivera de Potosí durante la Repúblics temprana', Cuadernos de Historia 3 AHILA (Münster-Hamburg, 1996); and 'Historias unidas, memorias escindidas: las empresas mineras de los hermanos Ortiz y la formación de las élites nacionales. Potosí y Salta, 1800-1880', in Margarita Menegus (ed.), Dos décadas de investigación en Historia Económica en América Latina. Homenaje a Carlos Sempat Assadourian (Mexico, 1999).
34. Curso completo de la Minerolojía, o barios modos de estraer la plata de los metales, escrito por Joaquín Villegas de Navarrete, Minero de profeción, con conosimientos teoricos y practicos, en Bolibia Año de 1840. BNB, Manuscritos D 1904/1840. An abbreviated version of this manuscript was published by 'J.V.N.' as Manual para Beneficiadores de metales de plata y oro par el beneficio ordinario, por hervición, sin azogue i por fundición, contiene una pequeña teórica relativa al ramo (Oruro, 1854).
35. For the Andean prehispanic tradition, see Heather Lechtman, 'Andean Value Systems and the Development of Prehispanic Metallurgy', Technology and Culture (s.l.), vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 1-34.
36. Enrique Tandeter, Coacción y mercado. La minería de la plata en el Potosi colonial, 1692-1826 (Buenos Aires, 1992); Antonio Mitre, Los patriarcas.
37. Enrique Tandeter, Coacción y mercado. La minería de la plata en el Potosi colonial, 1692-1826 (Buenos Aires, 1992); Antonio Mitre, Los patriarcas.
38. ANB Minas 2184a and 2186a. Its disappearance would not become effective throughout the Rivera till 1819; and some 300 mita labourers from Porco Province even returned voluntarily to work in Potosí between 1830 and 1832.
39. Tandeter, Coacción y mercado, pp. 66 and 289; Charts 2 and 7.
40. Mitre, Los patriarcas; also Heraclio Bonilla, Un siglo a la deriva. Ensayos sobre el Peru, Bolivia y la Guerra (Lima, 1980).
41. Mitre, Los patriarcas; also Heraclio Bonilla, Un siglo a la deriva. Ensayos sobre el Peru, Bolivia y la Guerra (Lima, 1980).
42. See Platt, 'Producción, tecnología y trabajo', Table 1.
43. Gustavo Rodriguez, El Socavón y el sindicato (La Paz, 1992).
44. Platt, 'Historias unidas, memorias escindidas'.
45. See Table 1.
46. Mercury from California also began to arrive in the 18505, contributing to the reduction of the price for a while in Potosí.
47. See, for example, the Reports submitted to the Prefect of Potosí in 1852 by the General Mining Tribunal, after the failure of the new 'Voluntary Mita', where an attempt is made to justify a return to the mita and the forced distribution of commodities in order to resolve the Rivera's problems. In ANB MH PPR t.29 no 9, Manifiesto que ha formado el Tribunal Jeneral de Minería… (30 Aug. 1832), Estado jeneral que presenta el Superior Tribunal de Minería …(16 Oct. 1832), etc.
48. See, for example, the Reports submitted to the Prefect of Potosí in 1852 by the General Mining Tribunal, after the failure of the new 'Voluntary Mita', where an attempt is made to justify a return to the mita and the forced distribution of commodities in order to resolve the Rivera's problems. In ANB MH PPR t.29 no 9, Manifiesto que ha formado el Tribunal Jeneral de Minería… (30 Aug. 1832), Estado jeneral que presenta el Superior Tribunal de Minería …(16 Oct. 1832), etc.
49. During the colonial period, the lack of mita in the Provinces could precipitate mechanisms such as forced recruitment (enganche), as in the case of the workforce of Ubina and Piquiza (Province of Porco) in the 1790s. See Enrique Tandeter, Coacción y mercado, pp. 108-110, and 'Trabajo y religión en un contexto de crisis', Anuario de la Biblioteca y Archive Nacionales de Bolivia (Sucre, 1995).
50. During the colonial period, the lack of mita in the Provinces could precipitate mechanisms such as forced recruitment (enganche), as in the case of the workforce of Ubina and Piquiza (Province of Porco) in the 1790s. See Enrique Tandeter, Coacción y mercado, pp. 108-110, and 'Trabajo y religión en un contexto de crisis', Anuario de la Biblioteca y Archive Nacionales de Bolivia (Sucre, 1995).
51. In 1787, Cañete y Dominguez recommended that the tributary Indians of Chichas, instead of being recruited for the Rich Mountain of Potosí, be recruited to work in the mines of their own Province. See Pedro Cañete y Dominguez, Guía de la Provincia de Potosí (Potosí, 1952 [1787]), ch. X. For the 'crypto-mita' in Chichas during the 1830s, see e.g. ANB MH TGM t. 35 no 8 (1833), Potosí, 18 Oct. 1833, 'Actas celebradas por la Junta Jeneral de Mineros de la República'.
52. Rina Ortiz, 'El abasto de la sal para la minería: las salinas de Tepopoxtla (1849-1900)', Historia Mexicana XLI (Mexico, 1991). For the supply of salt by Lipez tributary Indians to the refining mills of Chichas and Porco during the nineteenth century, see Tristan Platt, 'Le calendrier économique des indiens de Lipez (Bolivie) au XIXe siècle', Annales ESC Année 42, no. 3 (Paris, 1987).
53. Rina Ortiz, 'El abasto de la sal para la minería: las salinas de Tepopoxtla (1849-1900)', Historia Mexicana XLI (Mexico, 1991). For the supply of salt by Lipez tributary Indians to the refining mills of Chichas and Porco during the nineteenth century, see Tristan Platt, 'Le calendrier économique des indiens de Lipez (Bolivie) au XIXe siècle', Annales ESC Année 42, no. 3 (Paris, 1987).
54. Not all refining mills were so favoured. See, for example, the dispute over queñoa wood from the copses of Oploca between Calixto Yañez, owner of Oploca, and José Sánchez de Resa, owner of neighbouring Guadalupe who claimed collection rights. ANB MH PPR t. 110 no 44 (1846). Cf. ANB Rück 410, Borrador de Cartas de Dámaso de Uriburu, letter to Manuel Yañez, Guadalupe, 10 July 1826.
55. To ease comparison, I have converted Mexican 'marks/quintal' to 'marks/box of 50 quintals', the standard measure in Potosí.
56. The phrase comes from the anonymous metallurgist from Oruro, Bolivia, who in 1843 signed a newspaper article on the Halsbrücke rotating barrels as J.D.M.H. He claimed to have experimented with the toneles in 1823. See El Restaurador (Sucre) V. 83, 8 Aug. 1843, Correspondencia. J.D.M.H. also recommended replacing the 'most tiresome pots' (engorrosísimos fondos) with the Halsbrücke toneles.
57. The end of Bolivia's silver epoch has never been studied in detail, perhaps because it is not entirely clear when (or even whether) it finally ended. For the yard system, the dates of closure or demolition of some refining mills on the Rivera are given in Carlos Serrano and Julio Pelaez, 'La Ribera de la Vera Crux de Potosí', Minería Histórica (1996): the Concepción (Calicanto) and Uribes (Quintomayo) mills closed in 1877; Gambartes in 1891. On the other hand, the use in Porco of portable windfurnaces of pre-Colombian type (wayra) was photographed in the 1890s by a United States engineer: see Robert Peele, 'A Primitive Smelting Furnace', The School of Mines Quarterly 15 (1893), pp. 8-10, cited with photographic reproduction by Heather Lechtman, 'A Metallurgical Site Survey in the Peruvian Andes', Journal of Field Archaeology, vol. 3, no. 1 (Boston, 1976).
58. The end of Bolivia's silver epoch has never been studied in detail, perhaps because it is not entirely clear when (or even whether) it finally ended. For the yard system, the dates of closure or demolition of some refining mills on the Rivera are given in Carlos Serrano and Julio Pelaez, 'La Ribera de la Vera Crux de Potosí', Minería Histórica (1996): the Concepción (Calicanto) and Uribes (Quintomayo) mills closed in 1877; Gambartes in 1891. On the other hand, the use in Porco of portable windfurnaces of pre-Colombian type (wayra) was photographed in the 1890s by a United States engineer: see Robert Peele, 'A Primitive Smelting Furnace', The School of Mines Quarterly 15 (1893), pp. 8-10, cited with photographic reproduction by Heather Lechtman, 'A Metallurgical Site Survey in the Peruvian Andes', Journal of Field Archaeology, vol. 3, no. 1 (Boston, 1976).
59. The end of Bolivia's silver epoch has never been studied in detail, perhaps because it is not entirely clear when (or even whether) it finally ended. For the yard system, the dates of closure or demolition of some refining mills on the Rivera are given in Carlos Serrano and Julio Pelaez, 'La Ribera de la Vera Crux de Potosí', Minería Histórica (1996): the Concepción (Calicanto) and Uribes (Quintomayo) mills closed in 1877; Gambartes in 1891. On the other hand, the use in Porco of portable windfurnaces of pre-Colombian type (wayra) was photographed in the 1890s by a United States engineer: see Robert Peele, 'A Primitive Smelting Furnace', The School of Mines Quarterly 15 (1893), pp. 8-10, cited with photographic reproduction by Heather Lechtman, 'A Metallurgical Site Survey in the Peruvian Andes', Journal of Field Archaeology, vol. 3, no. 1 (Boston, 1976).
60. According to Alexander von Humboldt, the boiling method uses a chemical reaction: the copper of the cauldrons decomposes the muriatic acid as the ingredients boil in the water. See Frédérique Langue and Carmen Salazar-Soler, Diccionario de términos mineros para la América española (siglos XVI-XIX) (Paris, 1993).
61. By means of a process which Alonso Barba describes in the Arte, Book Two, Ch. V.
62. BNB M 681 (pp. 154-155). In Potosí during the 1830s and 1840s, copper was distributed on credit among the refiners by the Mining Tribunal (1829-1836), the Silver Bank (Banco Nacional de Rescates) or the Credit Bank (Banco de Habilitaciones), which negotiated contracts with the producers of Corocoro to supply once-fired copper (de primer fuego). See AHP EN 237, 19 April 1833 ; EN 359, 12 July 1835 ; EN 361, 28 Aug. 1835; EN 506, 14 Oct. 1838 and EN 520, 15 Oct. 1838. One of the main contractors was Victoriano Gurruchaga, owner of the Simbani mine, and part of the network of merchants and miners from Salta which spread over the southern Andes during the early Republican period. See also Platt, 'Historias unidas, memorias escindidas'. Also Iván Jiménez, 'Comerciantes, habilitadores e inmigrantes en la formación del capital minero de Corocoro (1830-1870)', in Rossana Barragán et al. (eds.), El Siglo XIX. Bolivia y América Latina. Coordinadora de Historia/Institut Français d'Études Andines (La Paz, 1997).
63. BNB M 681 (pp. 154-155). In Potosí during the 1830s and 1840s, copper was distributed on credit among the refiners by the Mining Tribunal (1829-1836), the Silver Bank (Banco Nacional de Rescates) or the Credit Bank (Banco de Habilitaciones), which negotiated contracts with the producers of Corocoro to supply once-fired copper (de primer fuego). See AHP EN 237, 19 April 1833 ; EN 359, 12 July 1835 ; EN 361, 28 Aug. 1835; EN 506, 14 Oct. 1838 and EN 520, 15 Oct. 1838. One of the main contractors was Victoriano Gurruchaga, owner of the Simbani mine, and part of the network of merchants and miners from Salta which spread over the southern Andes during the early Republican period. See also Platt, 'Historias unidas, memorias escindidas'. Also Iván Jiménez, 'Comerciantes, habilitadores e inmigrantes en la formación del capital minero de Corocoro (1830-1870)', in Rossana Barragán et al. (eds.), El Siglo XIX. Bolivia y América Latina. Coordinadora de Historia/Institut Français d'Études Andines (La Paz, 1997).
64. BNB M 681 (pp. 154-155). In Potosí during the 1830s and 1840s, copper was distributed on credit among the refiners by the Mining Tribunal (1829-1836), the Silver Bank (Banco Nacional de Rescates) or the Credit Bank (Banco de Habilitaciones), which negotiated contracts with the producers of Corocoro to supply once-fired copper (de primer fuego). See AHP EN 237, 19 April 1833 ; EN 359, 12 July 1835 ; EN 361, 28 Aug. 1835; EN 506, 14 Oct. 1838 and EN 520, 15 Oct. 1838. One of the main contractors was Victoriano Gurruchaga, owner of the Simbani mine, and part of the network of merchants and miners from Salta which spread over the southern Andes during the early Republican period. See also Platt, 'Historias unidas, memorias escindidas'. Also Iván Jiménez, 'Comerciantes, habilitadores e inmigrantes en la formación del capital minero de Corocoro (1830-1870)', in Rossana Barragán et al. (eds.), El Siglo XIX. Bolivia y América Latina. Coordinadora de Historia/Institut Français d'Études Andines (La Paz, 1997).
65. Copper from Atacama was also sought, but the quality of the Corocoro product was considered far superior. The demand for copper for minting coins of low denominations increased from 1830; for Bolivian monetary policies during the early Republic, see Antonio Mitre, El monedero de los Andes, (La Paz, 1986); Tristan Platt, 'Estado tributario y librecambio: mercado indígena y lucha de ideologías monetarias', in Antonio Annino et al., America Latina: Dallo Stato Coloniale allo Stato Nazione, vol. 1 (Turin, 1987); Gustavo Prado, 'Efectos económicos de la adulteración monetaria en Bolivia, 1830-1870', in Rossana Barragán et al. (eds.), El Siglo XIX.
66. Copper from Atacama was also sought, but the quality of the Corocoro product was considered far superior. The demand for copper for minting coins of low denominations increased from 1830; for Bolivian monetary policies during the early Republic, see Antonio Mitre, El monedero de los Andes, (La Paz, 1986); Tristan Platt, 'Estado tributario y librecambio: mercado indígena y lucha de ideologías monetarias', in Antonio Annino et al., America Latina: Dallo Stato Coloniale allo Stato Nazione, vol. 1 (Turin, 1987); Gustavo Prado, 'Efectos económicos de la adulteración monetaria en Bolivia, 1830-1870', in Rossana Barragán et al. (eds.), El Siglo XIX.
67. Copper from Atacama was also sought, but the quality of the Corocoro product was considered far superior. The demand for copper for minting coins of low denominations increased from 1830; for Bolivian monetary policies during the early Republic, see Antonio Mitre, El monedero de los Andes, (La Paz, 1986); Tristan Platt, 'Estado tributario y librecambio: mercado indígena y lucha de ideologías monetarias', in Antonio Annino et al., America Latina: Dallo Stato Coloniale allo Stato Nazione, vol. 1 (Turin, 1987); Gustavo Prado, 'Efectos económicos de la adulteración monetaria en Bolivia, 1830-1870', in Rossana Barragán et al. (eds.), El Siglo XIX.
68. Phillip L. Hadley. Minería y sociedad en el centro minero de Santa Eulalia, Chihuahua (1709-1750) (Mexico, 1979 [1975]).
69. David Brading, Miners and merchants in Bourbon Mexico, 1763-1810 (Cambridge, 1971), p. 139.
70. Fredrik Sonnenschmidt, Tratado de la Amalgamación de Nueva España (Mexico, 1983 [1805]), ch. 25.
71. Joaquín Velásquez, de León, 'Se propone el Autor informar a S. E. de algunas industrias serias propias adquiridas, con el estudio la meditación y la práctica para el adelantamiento y perfección de la Minería, de las quales muchas están ya verificadas por mayor y las demas son igualmente verificables'. 9 Feb. 1771. BNM, Colección Raras, MSS 58, 37 ff.
72. Bernd Hausberger registers the 'pan and cooking' method in Durango and Sombrerete during the 1760s, when fiscal accounts (Cajas Reales) distinguished silver production by refining method. Like most Mexicanists, Hausberger finds the pan method 'less efficient' than smelting or amalgamation in the yard. See La Nueva España y sus metales preciosos. La industria minera colonial a través de los libros de cargo y data de la Real Hacienda, 1761-1767 (Frankfurt/Madrid, 1997).
73. American miners distinguished between the expected consumption (consumo) of mercury, that is, the amount per mark usually lost during refining, and the loss (pérdida), which refers to any consumption above the expected amount.
74. Roberto Moreno, Joaquín Velázquez de León y sus trabajos científicos sobre el valle de Mexico, 1773-1775 (México, 1977).
75. Expedients presentado por Pedro de Ochoa y Molina y Fermin de Reygado, al Tribunal de Minería relativo a la hacienda de Nra Sra de Guadalupe que fue del señor dan Joaquín de Velasquez y trata de la venta de los enseres que quedaron en ella. Temascaltepec, 21 March 1794. PMM AAH 1794. I-68-d. 35 [34ff].
76. The document mentions fifteen used cauldrons (fondos) of 'pure, sweet, good copper', with a total weight of 1315 lbs, [f.22r] 2 copper alquibrices with a weight of 4 arrobas 24 lbs, [f.22v] 1 copper lock [chapa], one medium-sized rock [quijo] of copper, 1 copper pivot [texuelo], 2 balances [cruces de balanzas] with their copper pans [jícaras], 5 copper pieces of one arroba, 3 copper pieces of half an arroba, 2 copper pieces of a quarter arroba, 1 copper mark weighing 8 lbs, 1 copper mark weighing 1 2 lbs.
77. Born cites as holders of this theory (in Raspe's translation) Johannes Bergmann, De arsenico. Opusc. Phys. & Chem. (Uppsala); Schlütter, On the treatment of metals; Gellert, Elements of Metallurgy (Leipzig, 1776); Wallerius, Element. Metallurgiae chemicae (Holmiae, 1768); and Kramer, Elements of the Art of Assaying.
78. Born cites as holders of this theory (in Raspe's translation) Johannes Bergmann, De arsenico. Opusc. Phys. & Chem. (Uppsala); Schlütter, On the treatment of metals; Gellert, Elements of Metallurgy (Leipzig, 1776); Wallerius, Element. Metallurgiae chemicae (Holmiae, 1768); and Kramer, Elements of the Art of Assaying.
79. Born cites as holders of this theory (in Raspe's translation) Johannes Bergmann, De arsenico. Opusc. Phys. & Chem. (Uppsala); Schlütter, On the treatment of metals; Gellert, Elements of Metallurgy (Leipzig, 1776); Wallerius, Element. Metallurgiae chemicae (Holmiae, 1768); and Kramer, Elements of the Art of Assaying.
80. Born cites as holders of this theory (in Raspe's translation) Johannes Bergmann, De arsenico. Opusc. Phys. & Chem. (Uppsala); Schlütter, On the treatment of metals; Gellert, Elements of Metallurgy (Leipzig, 1776); Wallerius, Element. Metallurgiae chemicae (Holmiae, 1768); and Kramer, Elements of the Art of Assaying.
81. Born cites as holders of this theory (in Raspe's translation) Johannes Bergmann, De arsenico. Opusc. Phys. & Chem. (Uppsala); Schlütter, On the treatment of metals; Gellert, Elements of Metallurgy (Leipzig, 1776); Wallerius, Element. Metallurgiae chemicae (Holmiae, 1768); and Kramer, Elements of the Art of Assaying.
82. 'Phlogiston. 1733. From the Greek phlox = flame, fire. phlogidzein = set light to. Chem.: A hypothetic substance or principle, previously attributed to all combustible materials, which it was supposed was released from them during the process of combustion…: the matter of fire, conceived of as fixed in inflammable things.' Oxford Shorter English Dictionary. The concept was introduced by Stahl in 1718, defended by Watson in 1782, conserved by Born, and replaced with the idea of a 'caloric' by Lavoisier in 1789. See Maurice Crosland (comp.), The Science of Matter. A Historical Survey (London, 1971) Readings 54, 55 and 75. Born's book was published just before Lavoisier's new proposal; from a European perspective, therefore, his theory was obsolete almost from the moment of its publication.
83. For Newton's alchemy, see B. J. T. Dobbs, The Foundations of Newton's Alchemy, or The Hunting of the Green Lion (Cambridge, 1975).
84. AGI MP 28 [IG 1773]. Both this plan (from the five 'Plans of German amalgamation machines for refining metals sent to Sr Valdés by D. Miguel Rubin de Celis… '), and the plan of Ruprecht's machine sent from Vienna by Ricarte in 1788 (see note 10), are incorrectly dated to 1728 in Langue and Salazar-Soler, Diccionario, p. 696. The correct dates are necessarily post-Born, i.e. 1786-88.
85. Raspe, 'An address to the Subscribers', introduction to his translation of Born's New Process.
86. With regard to the rivalry between Cooper and Stevenson, it is worth noting that in 1840 the General Directorate of Mining in Potosí received a proposal from one John Cooper for demonstrating a 'new method of amalgamating silver ores'. AHP PD 350 No 17. Juan José de la Rua to the Prefect, Potosí, 13 Sept. 1840. Two years later, the barrel method (toneles) was being installed experimentally in José Calixto Yañez' refining mill at San Joaquin (Chichas) 'according to the instructions of Mr Stevenson'. ANB MH PPR t.94 No 35, Estado en que se halla la industria mineralójica… (1842) (f. 15v). Cf. Table 2.
87. El Restaurador (Sucre), 9 Aug. 1842.
88. Leland R. Pederson, The Mining Industry of the Norte Chico, Chile (Evanston, Illinois, 1966); see also Platt, 'Producción, tecnología y trabajo'.
89. Leland R. Pederson, The Mining Industry of the Norte Chico, Chile (Evanston, Illinois, 1966); see also Platt, 'Producción, tecnología y trabajo'.
90. Enrique Tandeter, for example, writes of a system of rotating barrels, introduced by Nordenflicht, where 'amalgamation was accelerated by the application of heat' (Coacción y Mercado, p. 222) - probably a confusion between machines 1 and 2.
91. In the enlightened company of the New Chemists, Born appeared as an experimental scientist: hence his disdainful reference to 'the philosophical and alchemical commentaries [of Barba], which smack of the period he lived in' (New Process, pp. 21-22). But his masonic ideas were derived from the same hermetic books that formed a fundamental part of the alchemical tradition ; and we have seen that his theory of matter differed little from Alonso Barba's. For Born's masonic ideas, see 'On the mysteries of the Egyptians' (1784), reproduced with English translation by Judith A. Eckelmeyer, The Cultural Context of Mozart's Magic Flute (New York, 1991). Mozart, himself a mason and admirer of Born, whose lodge in Vienna he often attended, probably modelled after him the character of Sarastro, the Egyptian high priest in the Magic Flute, as well as dedicating a masonic cantata to him.
92. In the enlightened company of the New Chemists, Born appeared as an experimental scientist: hence his disdainful reference to 'the philosophical and alchemical commentaries [of Barba], which smack of the period he lived in' (New Process, pp. 21-22). But his masonic ideas were derived from the same hermetic books that formed a fundamental part of the alchemical tradition ; and we have seen that his theory of matter differed little from Alonso Barba's. For Born's masonic ideas, see 'On the mysteries of the Egyptians' (1784), reproduced with English translation by Judith A. Eckelmeyer, The Cultural Context of Mozart's Magic Flute (New York, 1991). Mozart, himself a mason and admirer of Born, whose lodge in Vienna he often attended, probably modelled after him the character of Sarastro, the Egyptian high priest in the Magic Flute, as well as dedicating a masonic cantata to him.
93. AGI Charcas 650. Cajas Reales de Oruro, Año 1773, ramo de alcabalas. Clemente Montoya is registered introducing 'copper cauldrons' (fondos de cobre) to Oruro, sent to him by Silvestre Salvatierra. It appears that cauldrons paid alcahalas, although raw metal did not. See Concepción Gavira, 'La minería del cobre y el estaño en el Alto Perú', in Revista de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales, vol. 4, no. 2 (Santa Cruz, 1998).
94. AGI Charcas 437-b, No 57. Escobedo to Galvez, Potosí, 16 Jan. 1781.
95. AGI Charcas 437-b, No 78. Escobedo to Galvez, Potosí, 16 April 1781. A report was included from Silva de Castro on refining the earths 'by cooking' (por cocimiento), together with a colour plan. The report is no longer in the file, but was published by Guillermo Ovando-Sanz, La Academia de Minas de Potosí 1750-1970 (Potosí, 1975). The plan is preserved in AGI IM 134, 'Mapa de hornallas, molinete y demás fierros para el beneficio de la plata y extracción de oro'.
96. AGI Charcas 437-b, No 117. Escobedo to Galvez, Potosí, 16 Nov. 1781.
97. ANB Minas 2178, t.41, V (1810). Minería de Potosí, Año de 1810.
98. Pedro Cañete y Domínguez, Guía histórica, Ch. X.
99. AGI Lima 1353, Diario de Lima, 'Carta', 'Reflexiones' and 'Nuevas Reflexiones del Buen Serrano', various numbers from Aug. 1791. The Good Highlander's ironical attitude towards Born's discoveries can be seen in his Conclusion (s/f): 'What an extraordinary study by Gentleman Born, to write what even our Indian repasiris know!'.
100. The Charcas files in the AGI were analysed for Potosí by Rosemarie Büchler, The Mining Society of Potosí, 1776-1810 (Syracuse, 1981); John Fisher analysed the Lima files (which include some Potosí documents) in Minas y mineros en el Peru colonial, 1776-1824 (Lima, 1977). See, too, Enrique Tandeter, Coacción y mercado; and, for the competition between the Lima Mining Tribunal and Nordenflicht, Miguel Molina, 'La formación técnica'.
101. The Charcas files in the AGI were analysed for Potosí by Rosemarie Büchler, The Mining Society of Potosí, 1776-1810 (Syracuse, 1981); John Fisher analysed the Lima files (which include some Potosí documents) in Minas y mineros en el Peru colonial, 1776-1824 (Lima, 1977). See, too, Enrique Tandeter, Coacción y mercado; and, for the competition between the Lima Mining Tribunal and Nordenflicht, Miguel Molina, 'La formación técnica'.
102. The Charcas files in the AGI were analysed for Potosí by Rosemarie Büchler, The Mining Society of Potosí, 1776-1810 (Syracuse, 1981); John Fisher analysed the Lima files (which include some Potosí documents) in Minas y mineros en el Peru colonial, 1776-1824 (Lima, 1977). See, too, Enrique Tandeter, Coacción y mercado; and, for the competition between the Lima Mining Tribunal and Nordenflicht, Miguel Molina, 'La formación técnica'.
103. AGI Charcas 700, No 7: Testimonio de la Visita practicada de Minas e Yngenios de aquella Rivera… Sanz to Lopez de Lerena, Potosí, 24 July 1791.
104. In 1783 Juan de Pino Manrique, then governor of Potosí, praised the technical advances being made in Germany, and lamented that in Potosí the only texts available were 'the Lullist Barba and the obscure Agricola'. He was not to know that three years later, Born would demonstrate to all Europe the value of Barba's text. See the Informe Reservado del Gobernador Intendente de Potosí sobre la Nueva Ordenanza de Intendantes de Virreinato del Rio de la Plata. Published by Gabrial Reni-Moreno in 'El Alto Perú en 1783. Documento) Histórico Importante', Revista Chilena, vol. VIII (Santiago de Chile, 1877).
105. AGI Charcas 700, Sanz to Valdés, Potosí, 30 July 1790. The experiments criticized by the Good Highlander were those carried out in Cantumarca.
106. Rosemarie Büchler, 'El Arte de Ser Útil: Don Luis de Orueta y la decadencia del Potosí colonial', Bicentario del Virreinato del Río de La Plata II (Buenos Aires, 1977), pp. 113-4. Also Guillermo Mira Delli-Zotti, 'El Real Banco de San Carlos de Potosí y la Minería Altoperuana Colonial', in Julio Sánchez Gómez et al., La Savia del Imperio.
107. Rosemarie Büchler, 'El Arte de Ser Útil: Don Luis de Orueta y la decadencia del Potosí colonial', Bicentario del Virreinato del Río de La Plata II (Buenos Aires, 1977), pp. 113-4. Also Guillermo Mira Delli-Zotti, 'El Real Banco de San Carlos de Potosí y la Minería Altoperuana Colonial', in Julio Sánchez Gómez et al., La Savia del Imperio.
108. In 1842 the Republican Governor of Chichas, Jose Manuel Vizcarra, wrote that, since 'the death of professor don Martín Jaureguí', there was a lack of experts in Bolivia 'who understand chemistry, or how to take altitudes, measures, demarcate boundaries between mining properties, trace a vein and take it by its poles, direct a gallery, intercept veins, draw up underground plans, take on new discoveries'. See ANB MH PPR t. 94, no. 35 (1842), El estado en que se halla la industria mineralójica… For Jaureguí's mineralogical talents, see too Miguel de la Puente, Governor of Lipez, who wrote in 1834 that 'the outstanding [ecsimo] mineralogist Jaureguí had prospected in Lipez 'a few years ago'. ANB MI PPR t. 51, no 26 (1834).
109. This might explain the censure of Orueta in 1813 'for fraud committed on providing the Mint with Atacama copper'; see Büchler, 'El Arte de Ser Útil', p. 117.
110. The original will was made in 1810, although Orueta did not die until 1820. See AHP CGI 1066.
111. According to a transaction registered in Potosí on Dec. 27 1821. AHP CGI 1066 (ff. 28v-29v, 33v). Already, in 1815, Jaureguí had asked 'for Orueta to be obliged to appear before him in Portugalete to liquidate accounts'; see Büchler, 'El Arte de Ser Util', p. 118.
112. For the activities of this flamboyant character in Potosí at the beginning of the Republic, see William Lofstrom, Dámaso de Uriburu, a mining entrepreneur in early nineteenth-century Bolivia (Buffalo, 1973).
113. ANB Colección Rück 410, Borrador de Cartas de Dámaso de Uriburu, letter to MJ de Haedo, Potosí, 22 Jan. 1826; also ANB CSJ No 100 (1832-34), Juicio seguido por Manuel de Santander con el Director de la Sociedad de la Gallofa, Diego Felipe Ovando, sobre propiedad de la Mina Guairachina y la Cata (e.g. f. 541).
114. ANB Rück 410, Borrador de Cartas de Dámaso de Uriburu, letter to MJ de Haedo, 4 June 1826. Cf. letter to DT Fresco, Tupiza, 3 July 1826.
115. ANB Rück 410, Borrador de Cartas de Dámaso de Uriburu, letter to MJ de Haedo, 4 June 1826. Cf. letter to DT Fresco, Tupiza, 3 July 1826.
116. Knrique Tandeter, 'Crisis in Upper Peru, 1800-1805', Hispanic American Historical Review vol. 71, no. 1 (1991), PP-35-71. Also Guillermo Mira Delli-Zotti, 'El Real Banco de San Carlos'.
117. Knrique Tandeter, 'Crisis in Upper Peru, 1800-1805', Hispanic American Historical Review vol. 71, no. 1 (1991), PP-35-71. Also Guillermo Mira Delli-Zotti, 'El Real Banco de San Carlos'.
118. AGI Charcas 699. Expedientes de Minería, 1804. Document C. Francisco de Paula Sanz to Viceroy Joaquin del Pino. Potosí, 18 Oct. 1801.
119. In 1842 the Society had 20 cauldrons installed in its refining mill at Ayoma, near Macha. Sec Table 2.
120. An alternative candidate would be Diego Felipe de Obando, related to another of Orueta's associates in Portugalete, Felipe de Obando. See Büchler, 'El Arte de ser Útil', (p. 118). Felipe died around 1815. Diego Felipe was Director of the Gallofa Society in the 1830s.
121. AHP EN 270, f. 328, 17 Dec. 1833. Mariano Ramírez founded the Huanchaca Society in 1833, together with José Ignacio del Rio and Santiago de Portuondo. The Chilean Portuondo also held power of attorney for Martín Jaureguí (AHP EN 202B, f. 66, 16 June 1823) and Luis de Orueta (AHP CGI 1066).
122. According to El Minero no 20 (Potosí, 16 June 1856), minerals from Huanchaca refined during the late colonial period 'only yielded 70 marks/box … by the yard method, because at that time amalgamation by cauldrons was not yet in use'.
123. 'Un Libro Inédito. Las adiciones y rectificaciones al Padre Barba', Boletín de la Sociedad Geográfica de Sucre, t. XIV, nos. 158, 159 and 160 (Sucre, 1913). Ernesto Rück, a German mining engineer and bibliophile, became Director of the National Archive of Bolivia. The transcription published in the Boletín is also included as an annex to the edition of Alonso Barba's Arte published by Armando Alba (Potosí, 1967).
124. 'Notas y Suplementos', (pp. 221-2). Final supplement to Book III, ch. 9.
125. Eugenio Maffei y Ramón Rua Figueroa, Apuntes para una Biblioteca Española de libros, folletos y artículos, impresos y manuscritos, relativos al conocimiento y explotación de las riquezas minerales y a las ciencias auxiliares (Madrid, 1871-72). Republished as volumes II and III of La Minería Hispana e Iberoamericana, (León, 1970). I am grateful to Josep Barnadas for this reference.
126. Telles probably refers to Lorenzo Phelipe de la Torre, Barrio y Lima, Arte o Cartilla del Nuevo Beneficio de la Plata, (Lima, 1738).
127. The four elements of earth, air, fire and water, taken over by Aristotle from earlier thinkers, were thought to be derived by combination from the two sets of opposites hot/cold and wet/dry. It was thought that one element could be 'transmuted' into another by inverting the terms of its constituent oppositions. See Maurice Crosland (ed.), The Science of Matter, especially readings 8 (Aristotle, De Generatione et Corruptione) and 10 (Paracelsus, De Rerum Natura). For the complex Geberian system of composites and balances, see E. J. Holmyard, Alchemy (London, 1957), pp. 72-76.
128. The four elements of earth, air, fire and water, taken over by Aristotle from earlier thinkers, were thought to be derived by combination from the two sets of opposites hot/cold and wet/dry. It was thought that one element could be 'transmuted' into another by inverting the terms of its constituent oppositions. See Maurice Crosland (ed.), The Science of Matter, especially readings 8 (Aristotle, De Generatione et Corruptione) and 10 (Paracelsus, De Rerum Natura). For the complex Geberian system of composites and balances, see E. J. Holmyard, Alchemy (London, 1957), pp. 72-76.
129. In Chile, the inventor of a mechanised version of the yard method wrote in 1785 that his aim was to 'free miners and refiners from their careful attempts to calculate the symptoms of cold and heat which, without any basis, they attribute to the piles of mineral flour…' Marcos Alonso Gamero, Director General of Tobacco Taxes in the Kingdom of Chile. Manifiesto del Nuevo Método práctico de amalgamar con Azogue las particulas de oro y plata que conlienen las piedras minerales … Santiago de Chile, 1 July 1789. AGI Lima 1352 [f. 2v). Gamero had already sent a copy of his text to José de Galvez in February 1785. Ignaz von Born also scoffed at the hot-cold opposition as used in other contemporary Spanish texts, see New Process (p. 56), although his enlightened theoretical pretensions should be taken with a pinch of salt (cf. note 66).
130. For Jean-Antoine Chaptal, cf. note 94 and text. Richard Kirwan (1735-1812), an Irish chemist, wrote Elements of Mineralogy (London, 1784) which was translated into Spanish (Madrid, 1789); he also wrote an Essay on Phlogiston and the constitution of acids (London, 1787). Pierre-Joseph Macquer (1718-1784) was a French chemist whose Éléments de chimie théorique et practique (Paris, 1749-55) was translated into Spanish (Madrid, 1784). See Maffei and Rua Figueroa, Apuntes para una Biblioteca Española. 'Brison' is probably the French naturalist MJ Brisson (1723-1806), author of a Dictionnaire raisonné de physique (Paris, 1781). Telles' 'new authorities' were all fairly old in 1831 - not the most up-to-date bibliography in European terms.
131. For Jean-Antoine Chaptal, cf. note 94 and text. Richard Kirwan (1735-1812), an Irish chemist, wrote Elements of Mineralogy (London, 1784) which was translated into Spanish (Madrid, 1789); he also wrote an Essay on Phlogiston and the constitution of acids (London, 1787). Pierre-Joseph Macquer (1718-1784) was a French chemist whose Éléments de chimie théorique et practique (Paris, 1749-55) was translated into Spanish (Madrid, 1784). See Maffei and Rua Figueroa, Apuntes para una Biblioteca Española. 'Brison' is probably the French naturalist MJ Brisson (1723-1806), author of a Dictionnaire raisonné de physique (Paris, 1781). Telles' 'new authorities' were all fairly old in 1831 - not the most up-to-date bibliography in European terms.
132. For Jean-Antoine Chaptal, cf. note 94 and text. Richard Kirwan (1735-1812), an Irish chemist, wrote Elements of Mineralogy (London, 1784) which was translated into Spanish (Madrid, 1789); he also wrote an Essay on Phlogiston and the constitution of acids (London, 1787). Pierre-Joseph Macquer (1718-1784) was a French chemist whose Éléments de chimie théorique et practique (Paris, 1749-55) was translated into Spanish (Madrid, 1784). See Maffei and Rua Figueroa, Apuntes para una Biblioteca Española. 'Brison' is probably the French naturalist MJ Brisson (1723-1806), author of a Dictionnaire raisonné de physique (Paris, 1781). Telles' 'new authorities' were all fairly old in 1831 - not the most up-to-date bibliography in European terms.
133. For Jean-Antoine Chaptal, cf. note 94 and text. Richard Kirwan (1735-1812), an Irish chemist, wrote Elements of Mineralogy (London, 1784) which was translated into Spanish (Madrid, 1789); he also wrote an Essay on Phlogiston and the constitution of acids (London, 1787). Pierre-Joseph Macquer (1718-1784)
134. For Jean-Antoine Chaptal, cf. note 94 and text. Richard Kirwan (1735-1812), an Irish chemist, wrote Elements of Mineralogy (London, 1784) which was translated into Spanish (Madrid, 1789); he also wrote an Essay on Phlogiston and the constitution of acids (London, 1787). Pierre-Joseph Macquer (1718-1784) was a French chemist whose Éléments de chimie théorique et practique (Paris, 1749-55) was translated into Spanish (Madrid, 1784). See Maffei and Rua Figueroa, Apuntes para una Biblioteca Española. 'Brison' is probably the French naturalist MJ Brisson (1723-1806), author of a Dictionnaire raisonné de physique (Paris, 1781). Telles' 'new authorities' were all fairly old in 1831 - not the most up-to-date bibliography in European terms.
135. Telles describes afrechillo as the result of 'smelting an ounce of lead or tin, and while liquid adding another ounce of mercury, which is then cooled and ground with salt or ash until it forms an impalpable earth…' See Principios, p. 88.
136. Accordingly, Telles does not hesitate to refute Chaptal's theoretical opinions by appealing to his own practical knowledge. See, e.g., Principios, p. 130.
137. See note 24. Although Villegas presents the boiling method as a rediscovery made by his brother and himself, it is worth noting that in the nearby mining centre of Huantajaya (Tarapacá), which Villegas knew, the copper cauldron method appears to have been recovered shortly before 1798. According to the refiner Antonio Orozco, people collected slags [llampos] in the tailings of Huantajaya, 'and as the grade is low, and they believed that their processing would not be profitable by the common method, they formed offices [oficinas] on the desert plains [pampas] of Tamarugal (Tarapacá) by cooking them over heat in copper pots constructed for this purpose' (Carlos Sempat Assadourian, personal communication). Orozco's testimony indicates yet another mining centre, belonging to the Carangas mining district, where Alonso Barba's method was recovered in the years following Nordenflicht's visit to Potosí. It also indicates its use in Tarapacá for refining poor ores.
138. Juan Alcalá y Amurrio, Directorio del Beneficio del Azogue, en los Metales de Plata. Documentos que se dan en sus reglas. Oruro 1781 (unpublished MS, consulted in ANB, Colección Rück), The author gives a fine description of the yard method of amalgamation, with special attention to the use of tin, but does not mention boiling in copper cauldrons.
139. A 'pearly skin' is the sign of the first degree of heat; following alchemical practice, different 'accidents' are often recognised by the colour of the sample in the refining dish, with heat tending to lead and cold to black. See Appendix. Cf. Holmyard, Alchemy, pp. 24-25.
140. Both Villegas and Telles seem to have made good use of the detailed description of the leads (degrees of heat) and the touches (degrees of cold), given in Alcalá y Amurrio, Directorio, chs. 4-5.
141. ANB Rück 410, Barrador de Cartas de Dámaso de Uriburu, letters to Mariano Sarratia, Potosí, dated 13 Aug. 1825, 27 Aug. 1825, and 12 Sept. 1825.
142. Concepción Gavira, 'Oruro: centro minero del Alto Peru, 1750-1820', unpubl. PhD diss., University of Seville, 1998 (epilogue).
143. The influence of Alonso Barba on early Republican miners is also apparent in a Report on the mines of Lipez, sent to the Departmental Prefect in 1834 by Governor Miguel de la Puente (a Bolivian Citizen who had owned mines in Famatina, Argentina, for 22 years): '…I began making observations like another Barba, who as Priest of this Capital [San Cristobal de Lipez] for many years made a detailed survey especulación disminutiva] of this vast Cordillera, and other Provinces of our Republic, using chemical principles and scientific knowledges and a lengthy practical experience acquired in America. Today, the merit of this estimable man's vast knowledge is recognised… No peninsular till now, of the many who have trodden this land, has brought us the new regulation [cartilla] to provide us with the routine practice of our profession. In the time of Charles IV, King of Spain, more than 30 scientific Hungarians were sent to instruct American youth in the modern way of refining and assaying ores. No progress has yet been achieved with this method, but we cannot for ever be obliged to beg for it to be revealed to us, and so, not seeing any advantage in it, we must follow the ancient practice of our profession, although without Theory, but anyhow sufficient to extract silver and disembowell the mountains with great sacrifice…' ANB MI PPR t. 51 no 26 (1834). Note the characteristic contradiction between the 'chemical principles and scientific knowledges' attributed to Alonso Barba, and the 'lack of Theory' attributed to the 'ancient practice of our profession'.
144. Carmen Salazar-Soler, 'Alvaro Alonso Barba: teorías', and 'Magia y modernidad'.
145. See, however, for seventeenth century Lipez, Peter Bakewell, Antonio López de Quiroga, industrial minero del Potosí colonial (Cochabamba, 1973); and for Cochinoca and Huanchaca, Antonio Mitre, Los patriarcas.
146. See, however, for seventeenth century Lipez, Peter Bakewell, Antonio López de Quiroga, industrial minero del Potosí colonial (Cochabamba, 1973); and for Cochinoca and Huanchaca, Antonio Mitre, Los patriarcas.
147. See Table 2. Also AHP EN 459, 11 July 1837, when Santiago Rivera and Gregorio Caba, smelters of millstamps and cauldrons, formed a company to make copper cauldrons in Camargo (Cinti). Rivera was maestro facultativo in the business.
148. El Tiempo (Potosí), 22 March 1890. Mineral was extracted from the Rosario mine on the Rich Mountain, and averaged 40 marks/box 'with much tin'.
149. Agustín Telles, Principios, pp. 125-127.
150. For the 'Rules for Refining with Mercury and Tin', see also the detailed description in Alcalá y Amurrio, Directorio, Part II. The alloy used by Villegas and the Indians for constructing their cauldrons may, however, constitute another example of the 'deterioration of tradition': Alonso Barba, as we have seen, recommended the use of pure copper only.
151. Villegas states that colonial miners resisted amalgamation by boiling because the rules given by Barba were only appropriate for high grade ores.
152. As described by Alcalá y Amurrio, Directorio, Part III.
153. Concerning the stationary barrels (Stevenson's method) briefly installed in Calixto Yañez' refining hacienda of San Joaquin (Portugalete) (see Table 2), the Governor of Chichas promised in 1843 '…a detailed report on its material structure, combinations, apparatus and the motor power of the machine; and another with details of the class of metals refined, their comparative grades, consumption and loss of mercury, reagents and stimulants employed, the time demanded by each metal processed, the regularity of the results, and everything else of interest…'. See AHP PD 431 no 48. José Manuel Pizarro to the Prefect, Tupiza, 13 March 1843. I have not been able to locate these reports.
154. The 'Washoe iron-pan hot amalgamation method', adopted in mid-nineteenth century Nevada, USA, was also derived from the Mexican 'pan and cooking' variant of Alonso Barba's method. See Table 1 and A.D. Hodges, 'Amalgamation at the Comstock Lode, Nevada: A historical sketch of milling operations at Washoe, and an account of the treatment of tailings at the Lyon Mill, Dayton', Transactions of the American Institute of Mining Engineers, vol. XIX (New York, 1891).
155. Small mining was an important part of the twentieth century Bolivian economy; but tin (especially from Huanuni) was important in American refining long before the first wave of North Atlantic demand in the late eighteenth century. For the latter, see Conceptión Gavira, 'La minería del cobre y el estaño en el Alto Peru'.
156. See Juan Garcia Font, Historia de la alquimia en España (Madrid, 1976); José Ramón de Luanco, La Alquimia en España (Valencia, 1997 [Barcelona, 1889]). Also Holmyard, Alchemy, ch. 5. For Phillip II's relations with the 'transmutatory art', which filled part of the Escorial with experimental laboratories, see Francisco Javier Puerto Sarmiento, 'La alquimia española durante el siglo XVI. Los manuscritos alquímicos seudolulianos conservados en la Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid', in Francisco de Solano and Fermin del Pino (eds.), América y la España del siglo XVI, vol. 1 (Madrid, 1982).
157. See Juan Garcia Font, Historia de la alquimia en España (Madrid, 1976); José Ramón de Luanco, La Alquimia en España (Valencia, 1997 [Barcelona, 1889]). Also Holmyard, Alchemy, ch. 5. For Phillip II's relations with the 'transmutatory art', which filled part of the Escorial with experimental laboratories, see Francisco Javier Puerto Sarmiento, 'La alquimia española durante el siglo XVI. Los manuscritos alquímicos seudolulianos conservados en la Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid', in Francisco de Solano and Fermin del Pino (eds.), América y la España del siglo XVI, vol. 1 (Madrid, 1982).
158. See Juan Garcia Font, Historia de la alquimia en España (Madrid, 1976); José Ramón de Luanco, La Alquimia en España (Valencia, 1997 [Barcelona, 1889]). Also Holmyard, Alchemy, ch. 5. For Phillip II's relations with the 'transmutatory art', which filled part of the Escorial with experimental laboratories, see Francisco Javier Puerto Sarmiento, 'La alquimia española durante el siglo XVI. Los manuscritos alquímicos seudolulianos conservados en la Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid', in Francisco de Solano and Fermin del Pino (eds.), América y la España del siglo XVI, vol. 1 (Madrid, 1982).
159. See Juan Garcia Font, Historia de la alquimia en España (Madrid, 1976); José Ramón de Luanco, La Alquimia en España (Valencia, 1997 [Barcelona, 1889]). Also Holmyard, Alchemy, ch. 5. For Phillip II's relations with the 'transmutatory art', which filled part of the Escorial with experimental laboratories, see Francisco Javier Puerto Sarmiento, 'La alquimia española durante el siglo XVI. Los manuscritos alquímicos seudolulianos conservados en la Biblioteca Nacional de Madrid', in Francisco de Solano and Fermin del Pino (eds.), América y la España del siglo XVI, vol. 1 (Madrid, 1982).
160. For the problem of contemporaneity, see Johannes Fabian, Time and the other: how anthropology makes its Object (New York, 1983).