THE 
AMERICAN 
JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, &c. 
—— 
Art. 1—On the ee of the Gold Region of North 
Carolina, in a letter e Editor, dated Aug. 25, 1828 ; 
by EvtsHa ideatesk Pipe fessor of Chemistry, ~sin eae 
ogy, and Geology, in the University of IN. Carolin 
TO PROFESSOR SILLIMAN, 
Dear Sir—It is with some hesitation and reluctance, that 
I crave a place in the Journal, for a paper upon a subject 
that has already twice occupied the attention of your read- 
ers—the gold mines of N. Carolina—of which there is an ac- 
count from the pen of Professor Olmsted in the ninth, and 
another by Mr. Charles E. Rothe in. ee eee volume. 
oth of these communications include some notices of the 
geological composition and structure oft She ste in 2 em 
the precious metal occurs. The first appears to c 
leading and important error, (sack as it is difficult to avoid 
during a first examination) which is beginning to be pro 
pete into other books ;* and if it contain but one, it will fol- 
low that the other has but slender claims to accuracy, since 
the two are so much at variance with each other, that it 
must be quite impossible for a person who has never been 
upon the spot, to arrive by a collation of the two accounts, 
at any probable conclusions respecting the ag char- 
acter of that part of North Carolina in which the gold is 
found. This will be evident from a comparison of the fol- 
lowing extracts ; 
Professor Olmsted remarks, that “ The prevailing rock in 
the gold country is argillite. This belongs to an extensive 
*See Coenaiak’s Pats: page 176. Robinson’s Catalogue, page 211. 
Vou. XVI.—No. 1 
