186 Scientific httelligence. — Geology. 



made upon this subject by James Dickson, F. G, S., London, by 

 whom the fully ascertained Gold Region of the United States is 

 considered as extending from the Rappahannock in Virginia to 

 the Coosa in Alabama, while, at the same time, it is stated that 

 gold has been found as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, and 

 that it is probable it will ultimately be found to extend to Ver- 

 mont, Canada, and perhaps the Arctic regions. Amidst failures 

 and discouragements, fresh attempts and discoveries are making 

 along the vast region bordering on the Blue Ridge, from Vir- 

 ginia to Alabama. Mr Taylor regards the Gold Region of the 

 United States as richer than the similar regions of Brazil, Mexi- 

 co, and Russia, while the security to persons and property, the 

 abundance of food, the mildness of the climate, and the practi- 

 cable surface of the country, present important adventitious ad- 

 vantages, not enjoyed in South America nor all of them in Rus- 

 sia. In Georgia, the richest mineral belt is in the talcose 

 slate, and granite formations, alternating with hornblende-slate, 

 gneiss, and chlorite-slate ; parallel mineral belts are found also 

 near Augusta, but they cease with the termination of the pri- 

 mitive region. The most productive researches for gold have 

 been made in the branch-mines or stream-mines, in the beds of 

 rivers, rivulets, and ravines. In such cases little capital is need- 

 ed, and few machines except rockers, and the return is almost 

 immediate and daily ; from five to ten penny-weights per day 

 for a single hand are not uncommon, and 120 have been obtain- 

 ed. In the loose deposits the gold is found in a bed of gravel, 

 from 9 inches to 3 feet in thickness, and from 3 to 6 feet from 

 the surface of the ground ; it rests on slate, generally talcose, 

 and is evidently the result of tl'e destruction of a vein or veins 

 crossing a watered ravine, or taking the same direction with it, 

 Mr Taylor considers the process of washing as superior to that 

 used in any country ; the Burke rocker of North Carolina will 

 wash a hundredweight (700 to 1000 bushels of gravel) a-day, 

 and the machine costs, when complete, but 25 dollars. In 

 working the trenches or pits of a branch-mine, numerous veins, 

 partially decomposed, are to be seen in the soft bed of the tal- 

 cose slate, where the superincumbent strata have been removed. 

 The gravel stiata are composed entirely of the broken frag- 

 ments of the quartz veins, which are to be met with outcropping 



