On the Amalgamation of Ores containing Gold and Silver, in the German language, published in 4to, in 1786. Of this work something has been al ready said above. There is a translation of the work into English, by Raspe, a Hanoverian, once Pro fessor at Hesse Cassel; and who afterwards resided in Britain, where he was sometimes employed as a viewer of mines.
Catalogue methodique et raisonne de la Collection des Fossiles de Mademoiselle Eleonore de Raab, al Vienne, 8vo, 1790. This catalogue is drawn up so as to form a system of mineralogy, each species of mineral being carefully described, and arrang ed systematically. It was well esteemed, and cited by mineralogical writers in its time, but has been superseded, like other treatises, by more recent works, on account of the great additions that have been continually making to the science.
He edited the Jesuit Poda's description of the machines used in the mines of Schemnitz.
Ferber's Leiters front Italy ; were written to and edited by Von Born. Ferber and he were in habits of great intimacy ; and, Ferber in return, published the letters that Von Born addressed to him, during his excursion in 8c. in 1770 ; en titled Briefe uber mineralogische gegenstande tuff seiner reise durch das Temeswarer Banned, Sieben burgen, Ober and Nieder Hungarn. Frankf. 1774. To this work is prefixed a well engraved portrait of Von Born. There is an English version by •Raspe, and a French one, with notes, by Monnet.
He lent his assistance to the first three volumes of a work published in German, entitled Portraits of Learned Men and Artists, natives of Bohemia and Moravia.
There are some papers of his in the Abhandlungen der B6hmischer, gesellschaft den Wissenschaflen.
The Transactions of a Private Society at Prague, in Bohemia, for the improvement of Mathematics, Natural History, and the Civil History of the coun try, contains several papers written by him. He was the founder of this society.
He published an annual periodical work in Ger man, entitled The Philosophical Transactions of the Masons' Lodge of Concord at Vienna. This masons' lodge, of which Von Born was the founder and patron, employed a part of its meetings in scientific pursuits. This, as well as other societies of a similar nature, was tolerated by Joseph H. for some time ; but he after
wards imposed restraints that caused its dissolution. Von Born was also a zealous member of the Society of Illuminati ; and when the Elector Palatine of Ba varia suppressed the masonic societies in his do minions, Von Born being a member of the Academy of Sciences of Munich, was required to declare, within eight days, whether he would withdraw from the ma sonic societies. He returned an answer, in which he praised the principles of the free-masons, and resign.; ed his place in the Academy, by sending back his diploma.
He wrote some articles in the German work published by Trebra, mine-director at Zellerfeld in the Hartz, entitled, a System of Instruction in the Art of Working Mines, 4to. Also, Observations in support of the Metallization of the Alkalis, in Crell's Annals; 1790, 1791. Ruprecht and Tondi thought at that time that they had reduced the alkalis and barytes to a metallic state, by the strong heat of a furnace urged by bellows ; but it was afterwards found that the metallic substance thus obtained 'was phosphate of iron, proceeding from their crucibles and fluxes. Sir Humphry Davy was the first who obtained any of the alkaline class of bodies in a metallic state ; and this he accomplished by the intense heat excited by a galvanic battery, manly years after the time here spoken of Relatio de Aurilegio Dacia Transalpine, 1789, in the Nova Ada Academia Natures Curiosoruna, Tom. VIII. p. 97. This is an account of the method em ployed in Transylvania in collecting gold from the sand of the rivers. The auriferous sand generally contains iron, attractable by the magnet. It is washed on a sloping board seven feet long and three feet broad, covered with a woollen cloth, having a dish shaped cavity at the upper end, and inclined to the horizontal plane at an angle of 20 or 25' degrees. Only a very scanty livelihood can be gained by this employ ment. It is carried on by the poorer classes of the country people, and in some districts by bands of the people called Gipsies. The King's Collec tors buy the gold from the gold washers at a stet ed price, to the amount of more than 800 pounds weight annually. (v.)