174 Analysis of Scientific Books and Memoirs. 



the title of a model of a new construction of wheels for carriages , called a 

 Moveable Railway. 



Art. XXXVII.-.ANALYSIS OF SCIENTIFIC BOOKS AND 

 MEMOIRS. 



1. Account of a Curious Manuscript Volume ^ entitled " The Discover ie and 

 Historic of the Gold Mynes in Scotland, written in the year 1619. By 

 Stephen Atkinson." Printed A. D. 1825, with a Preface and an Ap- 

 pendix of Notes, for distribution among the Members of the Bannatyne 

 Club. By Gilbert Laing Meason, Esq. F. R. S. Edin. 



1 HIS most singular work, with a copy of which we have been favoured, 

 furnishes us with a complete and very instructive history of the mining 

 schemes which agitated the whole of Scotland in the 16th and 17th cen- 

 turies. 



The chief object of mining speculation in Scotland Was the search after 

 gold. That gold existed, and that it even now .exists diffused through 

 certain mountains, particularly in the south of Scotland, there can be no 

 possible doubt. Its diffusion is, however, in such very sparing quantity, 

 as to render it questionable if it ever has been detected in situ, that is, 

 actually imbedded in its solid matrix. The rock in which it is contain- 

 «d has, like all other rocks, been for ages subject to gradual disintegra- 

 tion, and it is fVom the result of this disintegration, namely alluvial de- 

 posits, that grains of gold have been collected. The native gold of Scot- 

 land has thus been indebted for its developement to a process which has 

 occupied a duration of time that cannot be estimated ; and as it is probable 

 that the investigation of the contents of this alluvium has been long since 

 completed, and, consequently, the supply of Scottish gold exhausted, we 

 must wait for a revolution of many more thousand years before the bed 

 will be again sufficiently rich with gold, once more to tempt the avarice 

 of mankind. 



For a narrative of the mining speculators of Scotland we are indebted to 

 the manuscript volume written by one Atkinson, an Englishman, and now 

 printed with some very valuable notes and a preface by Mr Laing Meason 

 for the use of the Bannatyne Club. From this work we shall make a few 

 extracts^. 



Atkinson distinctly informs us, that gold Was to be found " on Cray- 

 ford Moore, and Fryer Moore, within Clidesdale ; on Robburt Moore, and 

 Mannocke Moore, in Nydesdale ; uppon Glangaber Water, and in Hender- 

 land, within the fforrest of Atricke." We are also instructed that the 

 gold found at Crawford Moor and other places was obtained from alluvi- 

 um, generally after it had been diffused through the valliesby great rains, 

 and that the ore was afterwards separated by washing. 



Atkinson's speculations, that the gold found in these places was the re- 

 sult of the general deluge, would accord with the' views of many geologists 

 of the present day. We shall quote what h« says on the subject, particu- 



