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A _regulus_ is a compound of one or more of the metals with sulphur; it is usually brittle, often crystalline, and of a dull somewhat greasy lustre. It is essential that the slag, when solid, shall be so much more brittle than the regulus, that it shall be easy to crumble, and remove it without breaking the latter; and it must not be basic. The effect of fusing a regulus with a basic slag is well seen when _sulphide of lead_ is fused with _carbonate of soda_; the result is a button of metal (more or less pure), and a slag containing sulphides of lead and sodium; and again, if sulphide of lead be fused with an excess of oxide of lead, a button of lead will be got, and a slag which is simply oxide of lead (with whatever it may have taken up from the crucible), or if a sufficient excess has not been used, oxide of lead mixed with some sulphide. When (as is most frequently the case) the desire is to prevent the formation of regulus, these reactions may be taken advantage of, but otherwise the use of a flux having any such tendency must be avoided. A good slag (from which a regulus may be easily separated) may be obtained by fusing, say, 20 grams of ore with borax 15 grams, powdered glass 15 grams, fluor spar, 20 grams, and lime 20 grams; by quenching the slag in water as soon as it has solidified, it is rendered very brittle.

When using a balance sit directly in front of it. Ordinarily the substance to be weighed is best put on the pan to the user's left; the weights and the rider are then easily manipulated. Powders, &c., should not be weighed directly on the balance; a counterpoised watch-glass or metal scoop (fig. 25) should be used. In some cases it is advisable to use a weighing-bottle. This is a light, well-stoppered bottle (fig. 3) containing the powdered ore. It is first filled and weighed; then some of the substance is carefully poured from it into a beaker or other vessel, and it is weighed again; the difference in the two weighings gives the weight of substance taken. A substance must always be cold when weighed, and large glass vessels should be allowed to stand in the balance-box a little while before being weighed. Always have the balance at rest when putting on or taking off anything from the pans. Put the weights on systematically. In using the rider (except you have a reason to the contrary), put it on at the 5; if this is too much, then try it at the 3; if then the weights are too little, try at the 4, if still not enough, the correct weight must be between the 4 and 5; try half-way between.

That day we went over eleven successive hill ranges and crossed as many little streamlets between them. My men were terribly downhearted. We had with us a Mauser and two hundred cartridges, but although we did nothing all day long but look for something to kill we never heard a sound of a living animal. Only one day at the beginning of our fast did I see a big _mutum_--larger than a big turkey. The bird had never seen a human being, and sat placidly perched on the branch of a tree, looking at us with curiosity, singing gaily. I tried to fire with the Mauser at the bird, which was only about seven or eight metres away, but cartridge after cartridge missed fire. I certainly spent not less than twenty minutes constantly replenishing the magazine, and not a single cartridge went off. They had evidently absorbed so much moisture on our many accidents in the river and in the heavy rain-storms we had had of late, that they had become useless.

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