274 



as not pertinent to our subject)^ we find in tlie galena of Ulster 

 County, New York (Ellen ville locality), gold to the amount of HI 

 grains, or 75 cents, to the ton. 



The most curious result was obtained from the galena of New 

 Britain, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, where gold was found in 

 the proportion of 2] grains, not quite ten cents, to the ton. This 

 represents one part in 6,220,000, and may serve as a remarkable ex- 

 ample of refinement in the art of assaying. The operation was per- 

 formed on five ounces of the ore. The speck of gold which resulted 

 is visible to a good eye, and is exhibited in the Cabinet of the Mint. 



Turning next to the examination of lead in its metallic and com- 

 mercial shape, we find the Spanish bar lead, which is sufficiently free 

 from precious metals to be used as an agent in our Mint assays, con- 

 tains 12 grains of gold to the ton, or one part in about 1,170,000. 



The next inquiry was, whether other metals, especially those which 

 are commonly considered to be naturally unaccompanied with gold, 

 were absolutely so. 



Copper was tried in various forms. A cent of 1822, the material 

 for which was imported from England, showed gold equal to one 

 part in 14,500; which is one cent's worth in 20 cents. An English 

 halfpenny showed a like trace of gold. A cent of 1843, of Ame- 

 rican material, was found to contain one cent's worth of gold in 14 

 cents. This result brings to mind the old story of the golden cent 

 of 1814. In that year, as was idly reported, the melters at the 

 Mint carelessly emptied some gold into a pot of copper, from which 

 the cents were coined. It gave some trouble at the counter of the 

 Mint for many years afterwards, in consequence of numerous inqui- 

 ries, and offers to sell. It turns out to be pretty certain that every 

 cent we have coined contains gold, effectually locked in. 



Lake Superior copper is perhaps as free from gold as any, yet is not 

 absolutely so. A trial of 30 grammes showed a quantity not sufh- 

 cient to affect sensibly a delicate assay balance. 



Adverting to other metals, it is well known that silver is never 

 found in nature quite free from gold. In the Lake Superior silver 

 there is a mere trace, as also in the silver of the southwestern region 

 of South America. In other localities the proportion is generally 

 greater, though very various. 



A specimen of nietallic antimony was found to contain gold, one 

 pint in 440,000. In bismuth, the gold amounted to one part in 

 400,000. A specimen of zinc proved to be absolutely free from 

 gold; a result which may relieve some minds uf the suspicion that 



