488 



METHODISTS. 



working of gold-ores in the mines at Victoria. 

 The Black Hill Company originally employed 

 copper plates, in conjunction with ripple 

 tables, and blankets, but the plates have for a 

 long time been abandoned, and the blanket- 

 tables are now stretched below the ripples. A 

 small quantity of mercury is placed, about 

 every twelve hours, in the stamp-boxes, and 

 the ripple-grooves are also filled with it. Of 

 the gold obtained by this process, 60 per cent, 

 is retained in the stamp-boxes, 30 per cent, is 

 absorbed upon the ripple-table, and 10 per 

 cent, is arrested upon the blanketing. At the 

 Clunes workings, ripple-tables of a peculiar 

 form are employed. The grooves are wide 

 and deep, the quantity of mercury required is 

 large, and all the crushed material is forced 

 through the quicksilver before it can pass off 

 at the lower end of the table ; by this means 

 the gold is readily separated, while the residue, 

 falling on to the blankets, is robbed of the 

 small remaining portion of the metal that has 

 escaped the quicksilver. At the Marlborough 

 mines, ripples, plates, and the Chilian mill, are 

 employed. A similar system prevails at an- 

 other mine, where, in addition, shaking-pans 

 are used, in which the crushed quartz is placed 

 with the mercury, and the contents are well 

 agitated. At the Prince of Wales mine, Chi- 

 lian mills instead of stamps are used for break- 

 ing up the quartz, and the amalgamation is ef- 

 fected by means of shaking-tables and pans. 

 This process gives very fair results, the mills 



being effective, though slow in their action. It 

 has been found that the use of hot water in 

 the reducing-mills produces better results than 

 cold. 



METHODISTS. I. METHODIST EPISCOPAL 

 CHURCH. The Methodist Episcopal Church in 

 1870 had seventy-two Annual Conferences. 

 The following is a summary of the statistics 

 of the Church in 1870, as compared with 

 1869 : 



The total lay membership of the Methodist 

 Episcopal Church, as officially reported in 

 1870, is 1,367,134.* The deaths reported for 

 the year were 14,244. The net increase over 

 the membership reported in 1869 is 68,196. 

 The following tables will show the totals by 

 conferences, and net increase returned in each : 



The result of the ministerial vote on the ad- 



* Exclusive of the membership of the missions in 

 China, Bulgaria, and South America, 

 t Decrease. 



mission of lay delegates to the General Con- 

 ference, in all the conferences which met in 

 1869, was given in the last volume of the AN- 

 NUAL CYCLOPEDIA. Above we give the result 



