124 JOURNAL OF THE 



(written before receiving my reply), Mr. C. adds still 

 farther: 'Mr. T. T. Erwin, who presented it to me, says 

 that his overseer, in whose veracity he has the fullest con- 

 fidence, gave it to liini with the gold obtained from the 

 rocker, and that he (Mr. Erwin) does not entertain the 

 smallest doubt of its having been found in his mine in the 

 north part of Rutherford county. Should it prove to be 

 platinum, it is of interest to me as the first specimen of 

 that mineral found in the United States.' 



"Fearing, however, that the grain might have origi- 

 nated in a foreign locality, I addressed particular inquiries 

 to Mr. C. on this head and received from him the follow- 

 ing additional statements: 'Tliie platinum specimen 

 formerh' sent you was taken from the gold rocker by Mr. 

 Lyon, the overseer of Mr. Erwin. Mr. L. is a man of 

 good character, and all persons who know him entertain no 

 doubt whatever of his having obtained the specimen as 

 represented. Mr. h. had no suspicion of its being any- 

 thing more than silver, which was known to be found with 

 the gold. The place at wliich he obtained it was in 

 Rutherford county, near the line of the new count}- of 

 McDowell. I would have sent you his certificate, but I had 

 no doubt that other specimens would be found. In fact, 

 almost every miner to whom I described it said he had 

 seen just such specimens, but they had supposed them to 

 be fragments of steel or iron that had been broken froin 

 the edges of the mining tools.' " 



In a foot-note referring to the above, Dr. Shepard adds 

 the following statements. The foot-note is headed: 



^^ Bisinuthic Gold. In the letter from which the above 

 is extracted, was forwarded to me a few grains of which 

 the largest w^eighed only 0.907 grains of an alloy of bis- 

 muth and gold, to which faint traces of mercury were 

 adhering. Concerning their origin, Mr. C. observes: 

 'They were brought me by a friend, Mr. Willis, under 



