206 NOTICES OF THE MEETINGS [May 28, 
cimens of gold were exhibited which had been extracted from pyrites 
from Wicklow in Ireland, Alston in Cumberland, and California. 
From historical records it would appear that gold has occasionally 
been found in different parts of the United Kingdom, but never in 
quantities to justify the slightest comparison with the recently dis- 
covered gold fields. In 1796, great excitement was caused by the 
discovery of gold in Wicklow, and about £10,000 worth of metal is 
said to have been obtained, but at a cost which did not cover the ex- 
pences of extraction, notwithstanding that one lump was obtained 
weighing 22 ounces! It is very important, that at the present 
time, when so much excitement prevails respecting the newly ex- 
plored gold regions, the public should not be misled by the notion 
that the extraction of gold will in every instance be profitable. 
The extraction of Gold from auriferous sand or alluvium.— The 
method of washing by the bowl was described, and some different 
forms of bowl shewn. The principle of separating gold by washing 
depends upon its very high specific gravity as compared with that 
of the associated matter. The process carried on in the Ural was 
described in detail, and illustrated by diagrams. The average pro- 
portions of gold separated is little more than half an ounce to five 
tons. From 1819 in Siberia, and in the Altai from 1830 to the 
beginning of 1850, 774,920 lbs. (avoirdupois) of gold were obtained, 
of the value of about £46,495,200 sterling (Zerrener). The 
weight of matter removed by washing in the extraction of that 
amount of gold was (taking the average of half an ounce to five 
tons) 297,569,280,006 pounds, or 128,379,142 tons. 
Stamping, washing, and amalgamation.— When gold is diffused 
through masses of quartz, as in the auriferous quartz veins of Cali- 
fornia, the mass must be reduced by stamps to a fine state of di- 
vision. The product is washed in various ways ; and the fine portions 
of gold, which might otherwise be carried away, are retained by 
mercury in an apparatus called the amalgamation mill. The method 
in practice at Schemnitz for this purpose was minutely described, 
and illustrated by diagrams, without which it would be difficult to 
render the processes intelligible. 
Smelting of Gold ores, or the extraction of the metal in the furnace. 
The quartz must be reduced to a state of fine division and mixed 
with a substance which at a high temperature will combine with it 
and convert it into a fusible glass or slag. Such a substance is 
lime in certain proportions, or oxide of iron, or still better a mixture 
of the two. But as the gold exists only in very small proportion 
as compared with its matrix of quartz, it is necessary to introduce 
into the furnace lead, which may serve the purpose of dissolving 
and collecting the gold. By thus forming an alloy of gold and 
lead, and greatly increasing the bulk of the metal, which will subside 
to the bed of the furnace below the slag, the loss of gold will 
comparatively be prevented. In the event of employing oxide 
of iron as an agent to effect the fusion of the quartz, it would 
