. 



Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 243 



Messrs. Bowman and Ebbett of New York state that much gold 

 appears to be disseminated throughout the gangue, in so minute a 

 state of division as to be invisible to the naked eye.— Proc. Amer.'- 

 Phil. Soc. 1849, p. 85. --^ 



GOLD OF CALIFOllNIA. BY C. S. LYMAN. 



The gold the past season has turned out much better than was 

 expected. Many rich deposits in all parts of the mines have been 

 opened. On the middle fork of the Rio de los Americanos, two men 

 recently dug ^^28,000 in two months. I saw a portion of it in 

 lumps of the size of hen's eggs, and larger. The Mariposa has 

 yielded several similar prizes, and so has the Mokelemnes. But for 

 these few fortunate diggers, there are thousands who scarce earn 

 a dollar a day. From the best information I can get, industrious 

 workers have not averaged more than eight or ten dollars a day — 

 some estimate it much lower ; multitudes do not pay expenses, par- 

 ticularly clerks, professional men, and others unaccustomed to hard 

 work. 



The gold has at last been discovered in place — in veins penetrating 

 quartz beds — on the Mokelemnes, and in the vicinity of the Mari- 

 posa and one or two other places. I have this from gentlemen who 

 have seen the veins, and who are reliable witnesses. These veins 

 are of course not worked yet, as it is more profitable to dig the wash 

 gold. One of these veins has been " denounced" (as it is termed) 

 under the Mexican laws, by Mr. Fremont. The working of the 

 innumerable rich veins, which undoubtedly will be opened in the 

 mountains, will constitute an immense and profitable mining business 

 for centuries. I have no fear that the gold, as many imagine, will 

 all be dug out in a year or two. — Silliman's Journal, January 1850. 



ON THE OIL OF ELEMI. BY M. H. DEVILLE. 



The author states that M. de Bonastre subjected the resin of elemi 

 to distillation with water and obtained an oily principle, respecting 

 which he merely stated that it had been produced. 



Some time since Mr. Stenhouse published a series of experiments 

 on the oils of olibanum and elemi. 



There are several varieties of elemi which differ from each other 

 in consistence and the quantity of ligneous matter accidentally and 

 intimately intermixed. This resin is sometimes as soft as thick 

 honey, and at other times solid and hard, according to the degree of 

 alteration which it has undergone by exposure to the air. It will 

 therefore be readily conceived that the quantities of oil of elemi pro- 

 duced by distilling the resin may vary, as proved by the numbers of 

 Mr. Stenhouse, M. De Bonastre and the author's, very considerably. 

 Some specimens of elemi of good quality yielded M. Deville more 

 than 13 per cent, of oil. 



After the usual purifications, which are very readily effected, the 



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