OHDER IX. HEXAHEDRAL GOLD. 439 



2. A variety of the brass-yellow native Gold has yielded 

 to LAMPADIUS, 



Gold 96-60. 



Silver 2-00. 



Iron 1*10. 



Hexahedral Gold melts pretty easily, and is soluble only in 

 chlorine or nitro-muriatic acid. Gold may be obtained 

 crystallised from fusion. A solution of muriate of gold in 

 sulphuric ether yields hexahedral crystals on evaporation. 

 Brilliant crystals of the compound form of the hexahedron, 

 octahedron, and dodecahedron, have been accidentally form- 

 ed by exposing for several years an amalgam of gold wrapt 

 up in cotton. 



3. The hexahedral Gold is so minutely disseminated in 

 several rocks, that its presence can be discovered only after 

 pounding and washing. It occurs frequently in beds, in 

 small nodules, imbedded in rhombohedral Quartz ; it is 

 more rarely met with in imbedded crystals. It occurs in 

 veins traversing various kinds of rocks, sometimes very 

 short and narrow, presenting a great variety of crystals and 

 imitative shapes. In beds it is generally accompanied by 

 rhombohedral Quartz and hexahedral Iron-pyrites, some- 

 times also by prismatoidal Antimony-glance and pyrami- 

 dal Scheelium-baryte. In veins it occurs along with near- 

 ly the same minerals, but likewise with many others, of the 

 orders Glance, Pyrites, Blende, Baryte, Haloide, Metal, 

 &c. Hexahedral Gold is often found in the sand of rivers, 

 in valleys and plains into which it has been carried from its 

 original repositories, in the shape of larger or smaller, ge- 

 nerally flat pebbles, often mixed with rhombohedral Quartz. 

 From the generally high gold-yellow colour of these varie- 

 ties, it seems probable that they are derived from beds or 

 mountain masses, and not from veins. The greyish-yellow 

 native Gold occurs in a similar manner along with native 

 Platina. In this kind of repositories it is accompanied by 

 octahedral Iron-ore, peritomous Titanium-ore, (for instance, 

 the Nigrine from Ohlapian), and several species of gem, 

 among which pyramidal Zircon is not rare* 



