FROM READING, PENNSYLVANIA. 351 



silver treated with nitric acid which left a coherent mass of gold weighing 0*006 gramn 

 One hundred pounds of the earth would, therefore, contain 01 grammes of gold, worth aboul 

 twenty-six and a half cents. 



During a stay at Reading, in the summer of 1851, I noticed a vein of decayed ferru- 

 ginous quartz, very much resembling the auriferous quartz of North Carolina. It was 

 uncovered in exploring the deposits of iron ore in Penn's Mount behind the city. I neg- 

 lected at the time to secure specimens, and upon a second visit to the locality this spring, 

 to obtain a quantity for analysis. I found it covered. I obtained, however, from the 

 vicinity a quartz rock, quartz and felspar mingled, and sand, which, on analysis, yielded 

 an exceedingly minute quantity of a brownish powder after treating the silver button re- 

 sulting from cupcllation by nitric acid; but which were too minute from which to derive any 

 definite conclusion as to the presence or absence of gold. A former pupil of mine in an 

 examination of the pyrites of the same locality, thought to have detected traces of gold. 

 I have no doubt, that a more careful examination of the rocks in the vicinity would 

 yield affirmative results in an examination for this metal. 



vol. x. — 62 



