24 



THE MUSEUM. 



ed in auriferous quartz is reported 

 from the Imperial Institute at Edin- 

 burgh, Scotland. J. C. F. Johnson, 

 of Adelaide, Australia, who has given 

 great attention to the subject, exhib- 

 ited specimens of non-gold-bearing 

 stones in which he has artificially in- 

 troduced gold in interstices and on the 

 face in such a manner as to defy de- 

 tection, even by skilled experts. Some 

 of these specimens were shown pri- 

 vately to several distinguished geolo- 

 gists, who expressed great surprise at 

 the remarkable character of the exhi- 

 bition. The discovery, some years 

 ago, that gold could be induced to de- 

 posit from its mineral salt to the me- 

 tallic state on any suitable base, such 

 as iron sulphide, led Mr. Johnson to 

 experiment with various salts of gold, 

 and by which he has produced most 

 natural looking specimens of aurifer- 

 ous quartz from stone which from pre- 

 vious assay contained no trace of gold. 

 Moreover, the gold, which penetrates 

 the stone in such a^ thorough manner, 

 assumes some of the more natural 

 forms. In one specimen shown not 

 only appears on the surface, but pene- 

 trates each of the laminations, as was 

 proved by breaking. While this 

 knowledge of how gold was probably 

 deposited may help to suggest how it 

 may be economically extracteci, the 

 thought also occurs what a power for 

 harm it would be in unscrupulous 

 hands, for the fraudulent "salting" of 

 mines. 



A Giant Platanus Occidentalis. 



Three miles southwest of Browns- 

 town, the county seat of Jackson Co., 

 Ind. there once stood a giant syca- 

 more tree, which I believe to have 

 been the largest tree that ever grew 

 in the United States, east of the fam- 

 ous Yosemite Valley. 



The sixteenth section of every con- 

 gressional township (six miles square) 

 was set aside for school purposes. 

 When this section was sold my father 



purchased the part on which stood 

 this tree, within one hundred yards of 

 Driftwood River — the east fork of 

 White River. The bottoms on this 

 stream are wide and very rich and 

 were once heavily timbered with black 

 walnut, sycamore, elm, sugar beech 

 and other timbers. I never saw the 

 tree standing, my recollection extend- 

 ing between the years 1852 to 1864. 

 During this time the outlines were 

 plainly visible, a large section of the 

 stump still standing. My father told 

 me tfiat at about the height of fifteen 

 feet the tree formed in three branches 

 — the smallest of which was at least 

 seven and one-half feet in diameter. 

 After the fall of the tree it was found 

 to be hollow and while lacking con- 

 siderable of being ronnd, a pole eigh- 

 teen feet long could be turned com- 

 pletely around within the hollow. 

 The outside wood was about eighteen 

 inches thick. The tree was measured 

 by the surveyor of the lands and was 

 more than sixty-six feet in circumfer- 

 ence. I have not the exact data as 

 to size, but distinctly remember that 

 it was over a surveyor's chain in cir- 

 cumference and I believe all surveyor's 

 at that time used a Gunter's chain. 



Nearly all /'. occidentalis were hol- 

 low and all farmers in the early times 

 used them for holding grains. Some 

 of them yet remain on the farms. 



Prof. E. T. Cox on page 70, Geol- 

 ogical Survey of Indiana says: "I 

 measured four poplar trees that stood 

 within a few feet of each other; the 

 largest was thirty-eight feet in circum- 

 ference three feet irom the ground, 

 one hundred and twenty feet high and 

 sixty-five feet to the first limb. The 

 others were respectivelj' eighteen and 

 one-half feet, eighteen feet and seven- 

 teen feet in circumference. On the 

 same farm a red elm measured eigh- 

 teen feet in circumference." 



Should any reader of this know of a 

 larger tree, of any species, please call 

 my attention to it. M. Crabb. 



Erie, Ind. 



