(1) The following notes are taken from Christy’s translation of a brochure on the Imperial Quicksilver Works at Idria, Krain:-- In the oldest times of the existence of the present works, vermilion was manufactured. In the beginning it was merely pure pulverised cinnabar ore, then later it was a product made by sublimation from this substance; and there were formerly other works for vermilion manufacture than those for quicksilver production. When the Venetians and Dutch began to produce better wares, the production here sank steadily. The researches of Christofoletti, 1681, and of Baron Richtenfels, 1726, for the improvement of Idrian vermilion, met with as little success as those of some Venetian women--1740-1741--who had lost their husbands in the Venetian works and had offered themselves to manufacture vermilion according to the Venetian method. After Hacquet had strongly urged the manufacture of vermilion, Oberhüttenmeister Ignaz v. Passetzky succeeded, with the Dutchman Gussig assisting him, in making beautiful cake cinnabar in 1782, and in 1785 vermilion also, in the newly-built works on the right bank of the Idriza. In 1796 Oberhüttenverwalter (manager of the works) Leopold v. Passetzky introduced the sublimate and precipitate manufacture, but it was abandoned as unprofitable in 1824. The many foreign attempts to manufacture vermilion in the wet way caused similar ones here, as those of Fabriks-Controlor Rabitsch in 1838, and later of Hüttenverwalter M. Glowacki, which brought large amounts of the vermilion so manufactured into the market. Still this manufacture came to no full development, and became forgotten, until, finally, in the years 1877 and 1878, experiments led to its being discontinued on account of the costliness and uncertainty of the method. A new set of experiments in 1878 and 1879, by Assayer E. Teuber and Director of Works (Hüttenverwalter) H. Langer, under the direction of the Imperial Agricultural Ministry, led to favourable results. A new manufactory, set in operation in 1880, furnishes three sorts of vermilion manufactured in the wet way. The arrangements of the works for the manufacture of vermilion in the dry way consist of:--One sulphur stamp battery. One amalgamating plant with eighteen small barrels; both pieces of apparatus being driven by a two horse-power water-wheel. Four sublimation furnaces, each with six retorts of cast iron. Four vermilion mills, each driven by a water-wheel of 2·5 horse-power. Kettles and vats for heating, digesting, and refining the ground cinnabar. One drying hearth. The preparation of vermilion as an article of commerce, falls into several separate operations, viz.: 1. Amalgamation; i. e. preparation of the raw mohr. 2. Sublimation; i. e. preparation of the cake cinnabar. 3. Grinding of the cake cinnabar, refining and drying of the vermilion.