Take an evaporating dish, put into it 880 parts by weight of pure gold; then 4400 parts of muriatic acid, and 3520 parts of nitric acid. Place over a gas flame until gold is dissolved, and then add to it 22 parts of pure tin, when tin is dissolve add 42 parts by weight of butter of antimony. Let all remain over the gas until the mixture begins to thicken. Now put into a glass and test with the hydrometer which should give about 1800 specific gravity.
Pour into a large glass and fill up with water until the hydrometer shows 1090; pour all the solution into a chemical pot and add to it 1760 parts, by weight, balsam of sulphur, stirring well all the while, and put it over the gas again. In one hour it should give, on testing, 125 oF, gradually increase the heat up to 185 oF, when it should be well stirred and then left to cool about 12 hours.
Put the watery fluid into a large vessel and wash the dark looking mass 6 times with hot water. Save each lot of water as it contains some portion of gold. Remove all the moisture from the dark mass by rolling on a slab and warming before the fire occasionally so as to keep it soft. When quite dry add 2.25 times its weight of turpentine and put it over a small flame for about two hours, then slightly increase the heat for another hour and a half. Allow this to stand for 24 hours and then take a glazed bowl and spread over the button 1760 parts by weight, of powdered bismuth, pour the prepared gold over it in several places. Now, take a vessel containing water to boil for 3 hours, allow it remain until settled and pour off the gold from the settlings of the bismuth and try it. If not quite right continue the last process with bismuth until good. The bismuth causes the gold to adhere.
To recover gold from the remains of the foregoing process put all the watery solutions into a large vessel and mix with a filtered saturated solution of copperas (ferrous sulphate), this will cause a precipitate of pure metallic gold to gradually subside, wash it with cold water and dry in a evaporating dish.
All rags and settlings that are thick should be burnt in a crucible until a yellow mass is seen. Then take this and dissolve it in 2 parts hydrochloric acid and 1 part nitric acid. Let it remain in a porcelain dish until it begins to thicken, and crystals form on the sides. Add a little nitric acid and heat until crystals again form. Now take this and mix with cold water, add a solution of copperas to it and allow it to settle, pour off the water, and with fresh water wash until quite free from acid. The gold then may be used again and if great care is exercised almost one half the original quantity can be recovered.