2S6 On the native Gold Dust found in Le Loire* 



shillings a day, at other times scarce a fourth or fifth of this 

 sum. The size of the particles too varied much, from an 

 almost invisible atom to the weight of nine or ten grains or 

 more. They were afterward sold to merchants, who sent 

 them to the mint. 



I do not speak here of gold dust disseminated in arable 

 land. Earth of this kind in the territory of Salussole, as I 

 am informed by my colleague Giobert, contains particles of 

 gold. The earth oF gardens is known to contain them. It 

 has been proved in our days by the experiments of Sage, 

 Bertholiet, Rouelle, Darcet, and Deyeux, that there are 

 particles of gold in vegetables. Bertholiet has extracted 

 about 2*14 gram. (33 grs.) from 48900 gram, or a hundred 

 weight of ashes. 



Gold has not yet been found in the arable land in the en- 

 virons of St. George, but only in the stratum beneath the 

 clay, the surface of which is cultivated. The auriferous 

 stratum, as I have observed, is more than thirty feet deep 

 below the argillaceous stratum in some places. 



We have nothing to do here with particles of gold mixed 

 with the surface mould by the decomposition of plants, or 

 which plants have derived from the earth. I have no doubt 

 that the particles of gold found in the environs of St. 

 George have the same origin as those met with from Pont 

 to the entrance of the Oreo and of the Mallon into the Po, 

 from Valperga and Rivara, to Aglie and St. George's ; as 

 well as of those which Dr. Bonvoisin observed in the en- 

 virons of Challant in the valley of Aoste. The famous piece 

 of native gold preserved in the arsenal was found there. In 

 that space, pieces of gold of the weight of a louis have 

 sometimes been found ; and other pieces are mentioned of 

 the value of more than lOOlivres (l/. 35. 4d.). Probably the 

 gold found in the earth in the valley of Brozzo, and in other 

 places, has the same origin. My conjectures on this sub- 

 ject shall be proposed in the second part of this memoir, 

 where the nature of the earths and stones of the auriferous 

 strata, as well as the nature of the land in which they are 

 contained, shall be entered into more at large. 



h. Some 



