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Gold Veins of the United States’ Mine, Va. 325 
Arsenical compounds heated alone on charcoal, or in the open 
tube with black flux give the odor of garlic. 
Antimonial compounds may be recognized when heated in the 
open tube, by giving white fumes which are easily driven by heat 
from one part of the tube to the other, and have not the odor of 
garlic. ; = 
The compounds of mercury heated in the matrass with lime or 
iron filings, yield metallic mercury which sublimes. 
The principal ores of lead and silver are easily reduced on char- 
coal alone, and with still more ease, with a little soda. 
This list might be much extended, and other characters might be 
mentioned for many of the substances; but it is believed best to 
give only those which are most important, and easily remembered. 
By applying the. principles of chemistry, many other processes 
will suggest themselves to the intelligent student and as Bergman re- 
marks “celui qui apporte dans ce genre d’experiences une main 
habile, se fraye tous les jours, de nouvelles routes qui conduisent 
toutes a la verite.” 
Arr. XIV.— Notice of the Gold Veins of the United States’ Mine 
near Fredericksburg, Va.; by Lt. M. F. Maury, U.S. Navy 
TO THE EDITOR. 
Dear Sir—A mutual friend informs me that you have mislaid, or 
lost, your notes on some of the gold mines in this vicinity ; he has 
requested that | would supply the deficiency ; this I cannot pretend 
to; but as I was with you when you visited the United States’ gold 
mine last summer, I may be able to embody some facts and cireum- 
- stances, which will bring to your memory the striking features of the 
lost notes. 
If you recollect there are several veins at this mine, which strike 
and dip, each in a different ditection; the former (the strike,) is 
tortuous, and the angle of the latter is not constant. 
The general course of vein No. 1. is about N. E. and S. W., it 
passes through a micaceous slate, which, near the surface, is soft and 
fissile, being easily removed with the pick; but at the depth of one 
hundred and twenty feet, it loses its fissility, and passes into a horn- 
blende (?) slate, which is very compact and is with much difficulty 
removed by blasting. 
