Ignaz von Born

He then travelled extensively to present-day Germany, the Netherlands, and France, studying mineralogy, and on his return to Prague in 1770 entered the department of mines and the mint.

[4] He introduced a method of extracting metals by amalgamation (Uber des Anquicken der Erze, 1786), and other improvements in mining and other technical processes.

[4] Born was well acquainted with Latin and the principal modern languages of Europe, and with many branches of science not immediately connected with metallurgy and mineralogy.

After the death of the emperor Joseph II, the diet of the states of Hungary rescinded many innovations of that ruler, and conferred the rights of denizen on several persons who had been favourable to the cause of the Hungarians, and, amongst others, on Born.

They will go by Cape Horn to Otaheiti, from thence to Sandwich Island, to the American Coast on the North side of California, and finally to China.

[10] At the time of his death in 1791, he was writing Fasti Leopoldini, probably relating to the prudent conduct of Leopold II, the successor of Joseph, towards the Hungarians.

Born's essay Über die Mysterien der Ägypter (The Mysteries of the Egyptians), published in 1784 in the freemason periodical Journal für Freymaurer, was one of the sources for the libretto for The Magic Flute written for Mozart by Emanuel Schikaneder.