5 o6 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which have subsequently been filled up. The greatest part of the gold 

 comes from these sources. Dr. Suss estimates that, of all tbe gold 

 which has been mined between the years 1848 and 1875, the work- 

 ing of the ore has yielded 12'02, while that of the former deposits fur- 

 nished 87'98 per cent. 



Since these deposits are exhausted, attention has for the past few 

 years been directed to the working of the ore. As soon as gold-mines 

 are exhausted, new ones must be found. While the mining of silver 

 is sometimes continued in the same regions for centuries, that of gold 

 is always of short duration, wherefore gold-mines are only to be found 

 in the extreme limits of civilization. Herodotus remarked, when speak- 

 ing of the quantity of gold-dust paid as a ti'ibute to Darius by the 

 inhabitants of India, that the greatest treasures always come from 

 the most remote places of the earth. The old countries have entirely 

 ceased to be productive, and search must be instituted in the yet 

 unexplored regions in order to discover new fields. 



Gold was in excess in ancient times, and mostly taken from the 

 rivers in Asia. The fables of Pactolus, of the golden fleece of the 

 Argonauts, of the gold from Ophir, the history of King Midas, etc., 

 all point to an Eastern origin of this metal. According to Pliny, Cyrus 

 returned with 34,000 Roman pounds of gold (about $10,000,000). The 

 treasures exacted from Persia by Alexander the Great amounted to 

 351,000 talents, or $400,000,000. Gold also came from Arabia, and 

 upon the Nile from the interior of Africa. Pliny calls Asturias the 

 country in which the most gold is found. A tablet bearing the fol- 

 lowing inscription was found in Idanha Velha, Portugal : " Claudius 

 Rufus returns his thanks to Jupiter for having permitted him to find 

 one hundred and thirty pounds of gold." 



These sources of wealth have ceased to flow, and the endeavor of 

 several Englishmen to reopen them have been unsuccessful. Bohemia, 

 Mahren, Silesia, and Tyrol, all have produced gold, and the reced- 

 ing of the glaciers has caused old mines to be uncovered, while upon 

 the Italian side, at Monte Rosa, Yal Sesina, and Val Ansaca, gold- 

 mines are still worked to-day, although with indifferent success. The 

 only works of any note are those of Kremnitz, Hungary. It may, 

 therefore, be safely asserted that Europe is completely exhausted in 

 this respect. 



After America was discovered, the Antilles, especially Hispaniola, 

 and the western coast of Mexico, furnished incredible quantities of 

 gold. That used by Alexander VI to gild Saint Mary Maggiore came 

 from Hispaniola, as is seen by the following inscription : "Quod primo 

 Catholici reges ex India receperant." But the production of these 

 mines did not last loner. 



We find several peculiar statements, with regard to the mining of 

 gold, in an old Dutch book, printed in Amsterdam in the year 1590. 

 It says : " Gold comes from different countries, from the mountains in 



