364 Notices of' Botanical Works recently 



and constitutes the common currency. Almost every man carries about 

 with him a goose quill or two of it, and a small pair of scales in a box like 

 a spectacle case. The value, as in patriarchal times, is ascertained by 

 weight, which, from the dexterity acquired by practice, is a less trouble- 

 some mode of counting money than one would imagine. I saw a pint of 

 whisky paid for by weighing off three and a half grains of gold. 



The greatest part, of the gold collected at these mines is bought up by 

 the country merchants at 90 or 91 cents a pennyweight. They carry it to 

 the market towns, as Fayetteville, Cheraw, Charleston, and New York. 

 Much of this is bought up by jewellers ; some remains in the banks ; and 

 a considerable quantity has been received at the mint of the United States. 

 Hence it is not easy to ascertain the precise amount which the mines have 

 afforded. The value of that portion received at the mint before the year 

 1820, was 43,689 dollars. It is alloyed with a small portion of silver and 

 copper, but is still purer than standard gold, being 23 carats fine. (Bruce, 

 Mineral. Jour. I — 125.) 



It will probably appear evident to geologists, from the foregoing state- 

 ments, that the gold of North Carolina occurs in a diluvial formation. 

 Such, indeed, seems to be its usual bed ; and, in this respect, it resembles 

 the gold countries of South America, of England, of Scotland, of Ireland, 

 and of Africa. (Buckland, Rel. Diluv. 218—20.) 



Our author next proceeds to the discussion of two questions connected 

 with this subject : 



1st, Is the gold brought down from the sources of the rivers? And, 



2d, Did the present lumps and grains ever form parts of large masses 

 in a continued bed or vein ? 



The first of these questions Professor Olmsted answers in the negative ; 

 but he considers it as evident that the rivers cut through a stratum con- 

 taining the gold, which covers like a mantle an extensive part of the coun- 

 try through which they flow, and that they bring the precious metal to 

 view by separating it from its stony matrix. 



On the subject of the second question, Professor Olmsted concludes 

 that this gold existed originally, that is, before its removal to its present 

 position, in pieces somewhat larger than those found at present, but still of 

 a moderate size; but he considers it is impossible to decide whether those 

 pieces lay contiguous to one another in a large vein, or whether they were 

 scattered abroad in individual masses. 



Art. XXIX.— NOTICES OF RECENTLY PUBLISHED BOTANI- 

 CAL WORKS. 



We have already mentioned the " Flora Hdinensis, or Description 

 of Plants growing near Edinburgh," of Dr Greville, which appeared 

 last year. Shortly after was also published, by James Woodforde, Esq. 

 " A Catalogue of the Indigenous Phenogamic Plants growing in the 

 neighbourhood of Edinburgh; and of certain Species of the Class 



