Silver by fire, Silver by mercury : a chemical history of silver refining in New Spain and Mexico, 16th to 19th centuries

Intro -- Contents -- ‎General Series Editor's Preface -- ‎Acknowledgements -- ‎List of Illustrations -- ‎Figures -- ‎Colour Plates -- ‎Tables -- ‎Guide to the Text -- ‎Chemical Symbols -- ‎Units of Measure -- ‎Equivalence of Units of Measure -- ‎Monetary Units -- ‎Translations -- ‎Illustrations and Drawings -- ‎Cover Illustration -- ‎Photographs -- ‎Other -- ‎Introduction -- ‎Chapter 1. The Genesis and Nature of Silver Ores -- ‎Why Spain? -- ‎To Have and Have Not -- ‎Old World Silver Ores -- ‎New World Silver Ores -- ‎Silver Sulphide and Silver Chloride -- ‎Argentiferous Galena -- ‎A Red Herring -- ‎The Other Chemical Keys -- ‎The Immoveable Object and the Unstoppable Force -- ‎The Table is Set -- ‎Chapter 2. The Dry Refining Process: Smelting of Silver Ores -- ‎Deceitful Mercury -- ‎Smelting of Silver Ores: The Human Context -- ‎The Chemistry of Smelting and the Nature of the Ore -- ‎The Architecture of Smelting in New Spain -- ‎The Infrastructure of Smelting in New Spain -- ‎Plata de fuego (Silver by Fire) -- ‎Chapter 3. The Dry Refining Process: Its Impact on the Environment -- ‎Lead: The Nature of Its Consumption -- ‎Lead: The Directionality of Its Loss -- ‎Lead: Its Source -- ‎Charcoal and the Scale of Depletion of Woodland -- ‎The Local Environmental Impact of Smelting -- ‎A Straightforward Decision -- ‎Chapter 4. The Wet Refining Process: The Chemistry of the patio Process -- ‎Plus ça change -- ‎The Alchemy of Mercury -- ‎The Gold Connection -- ‎The Complex Mechanism of a Mercury-Based Refining Process -- ‎The correspondencia: The Key to the Fate of Mercury -- ‎The Loss of Calomel -- ‎The Stages in the Use of Mercury to Refine Gold and Silver Ores -- ‎The Twists in the Trail -- ‎Mercury-Based Refining of Silver Ores: The Human Factor -- ‎Plata de azogue (Silver by Mercury) -- ‎Chapter 5. The Physical Infrastructure of the patio Process.