216 GOLD Iisr SCIENCE AISID IN INDUSTRY. 



two elements which stand out conspicnonsly because of the supreme 

 influence they have exercised over the trend of human effort and 

 ambition. I refer, of course, to the metals gold and iron. 



From the early beginnings of civilization gold has been highly 

 prized and eagerly sought after. Human life has been freely sacri- 

 ficed in its acquirement from natural sources, as well as in its forcible 

 seizure from those Avho already possessed it. The "Age of Gold '" 

 was not necessarily the " Golden Age," for the noble metal in its 

 unique and barbaric splendor has symbolized much that has been 

 unworthy in national and individual aims and ideals. 



We have accustomed ourselves to think of the present as the Age of 

 Iron, as indeed it is, for we see in the dull, gray metal the plastic 

 medium out of which the engineer has modeled the machines and 

 structures which play so large a part in the active life of to-day. 

 Had iron not been at once plentiful and cheap, had it not brought 

 into the hands of the engineer and artificer its marvelous cpialities 

 of hardness and softness, of rigidity and toughness, and to the 

 electrician its mysterious and unique nuignetic ({ualities, it is not 

 difficult to conceive that manV control over the forces of natm-e 

 might have been delayed for centuries, or perhaps for ages. For 

 iron has been man's chief material instrument in the conquest of 

 nature; without it the energy alike of the waterfall and of the coal 

 field would have remained uncontrolled and unused. In this con- 

 quest of the resources of natiu'e for the service of man are Ave not 

 entitled to say that the intellectual and social gains have equaled, 

 if they have not exceeded, in value the purely material gains; and 

 jnay we not then regard iron as the symbol of a l)eneficent conquest of 

 nature ? 



With the advent of the industrial age gold was destined to take 

 a new place in the Avorld's history as the great medium of exchange, 

 the great promoter of industry and commerce. While individual 

 gain still remained the i^ropelling power toward its discovery and 

 acquisition, every fresh discovery led directly or indirectl}' to the 

 freer interchange of the products of industry, and thus reacted 

 favorably on the industrial and social conditions of the time. 



So long as the chief supplies of gold Avere obtained from alluvial 

 deposits by the simple process of Avashing, the Avinning of gold almost 

 necessarily continued to be pursued by individuals, or by small grou]DS 

 of workers, Avho Avere mainly attracted by the highly speculatiA'e 

 nature of the occupation. These Avorkers endured the greatest hard- 

 ships and ran the most serious personal risks, draAvn on from day to 

 day by the hope that some special stroke of good fortune Avould be 

 theirs. This condition prevailed also in fields in AAdiich the reef gold 

 occurred near the surface, Avhere it Avas easily accessible without 



