ELISHA MITCHELL SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY. 1 27 



Dr. F. A. Getith, who has done so much for the miner- 

 alogy of the State, and is so thoroughly conversant with 

 it, writes: 



"I regret that I cannot give you any additional informa- 

 tion about the occurrence of platinum in North Carolina. 

 I have no personal knowledge of any find, and it seems 

 that General Clingman is the only person who can authori- 

 tatively speak of its occurrence. I would like very much 

 to see and examine some of the grains which he is said to 

 have sent to the late Prof Shepard." 



Dr. C. D. Smith says: "I do not know of the occurrence 

 of platinum anywhere in the State. Many years ago it 

 was claimed to have been found in some gold placers in 

 the Piedmont region of the State. I, however, have no 

 knowledge of just ground for such claim. I very much 

 desire that it might be found in North Carolina." Dr. 

 Smith has spent his working years among the minerals of 

 Western North Carolina and has had every opportunity of 

 hearing of such a find if one had been made. 



Mr. Edison was attracted by the reported occurrence of 

 platinum here and hoped to find a source of supply of the 

 costly metal for his incandescent lamps. He advertised 

 for large quantities, hoping thus to stir up private investi- 

 gators, and at the same time sent trained experts to look 

 for it. The following brief note, received from his labo- 

 ratory, gives the results: 



''Mr. Edison has instructed me to inform you that his 

 assistants panned in every gold stream in North Carolina 

 without ever getting a color of platinum." 



Mr. Hidden, who was one of these assistants, has given 

 me a short account of his investigations: 



"iVs to platinum in North Carolina and my search for 

 veins of it in 1879: The localities visited comprised those 

 mentioned in 'Dana,' and nearly all the 'placer gold dig- 

 gings' of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and 



