“A new Method of extracting Pure Gold from Alloys and from Ores.” [P. 187 in:] The American Journal of Science and Arts, Second Series, No. 17—September, 1848.

Charles Thomas Jackson on extracting gold, 1848

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First journal publication of Charles T. Jackson’s 1-page account of a chemical process for separating and refining gold, issued on the eve of the California Gold Rush. Jackson, already known for his contested role in the ether anesthesia controversy, here proposed an improved method for extracting pure gold from ores and alloys. His paper reflects the urgent mid-nineteenth-century demand for reliable chemical assays and refining techniques.

A Boston-trained physician, Jackson was a Harvard Medical School graduate and studied chemistry under Justus Liebig in Germany. Though his career was dogged by disputes, he contributed significantly to American geological and chemical science. His government service included surveys for the U.S. Geological Survey and the discovery of copper in Michigan and iron in New Hampshire.

Very scarce in its original printed wrappers, with other important contributions including “On the Anomalies presented in the Atomic Volume of Sulphur and Nitrogen” by T. S. Hunt, “Results of Analytical Researches in the Neptunian Theory of Uranus” by Enoch F. Burr and “An Account of a Meteorite of Castine, Maine, May 20, 1848” by Charles Upham Shepard.

Price: $125.00