34 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Februaky 1, 1895. 



ness.in Sutherlandshire.in 1245, and in more recent times 

 gold has been found at Helmsdale. 



In 1852 there was considerable excitement over the 

 attempts made to resume the workuig of these long- 

 abandoned deposits. The gold-digging mania lasted about 

 a month, and many coal and iron miners threw up their 

 employment to embark in the alluring lottery of gold-seek- 

 ing. The origin of the mania was the statement of a convict, 

 a native of Kinnesswood, who wrote from Australia to the 

 friends he had in the Kinross-shire village, that he had 

 often seen gold at home in the lime quarries similar to that 

 which was being dug in Australia. At this particular time 

 the public mind was in a condition of great excitement, 

 produced by the brilliant discoveries in California in 1847, 

 intensified and revived by the no less splendid results of 

 gold-digging in Australia in September, 1851. 



The records of the Scottish Parliament contain frequent 

 mention of gold. The mines of Manlockhead, in Niths- 

 dale, were in full workmg until the defeat at Flodden in 

 1513, and the death of the king led to the suspension of 

 operations. In the reigns of James IV. and V. of Scotland, 

 vast wealth was procured in the Leadhills, in Lanark- 

 shire, from the gold washed from the mountains ; in the 

 reign of the latter, gold to the value of £300,000 sterling 

 is said to have been found. The men of this mining 

 district have occasionally employed their leisure time in 

 searching for the precious metal among the alluvial deposits 

 and mine debris of the district. The able-bodied Leadhills 

 miner never, however, gives up his usual labour, at which 

 he earns about fifteen shillings per week, for the more 

 precarious gains to be derived from gold-findmg. To gold- 

 seeking he devotes his spare hours, his holiday times, or 

 his periods of sickness or debiUty, and very frequently his 

 Sundays. 



The gold thus collected is mostly to order for cabinet 

 specimens, or for jewellery materials. Many of the 

 wealthiest families in the vicinity have ornaments made of 

 it, and the Empress Eugenie has a necklet manufactured 

 from the gold of her grandfather's country. 



The method of collecting the gold at Leadhills with the 

 primitive wooden trough is essentially that employed in 

 the early history of gold diggings. In many places the 

 precious metal may be rendered visible after fifteen or 

 twenty minutes' washing, and frequently small nuggets 

 have been found weighing from 1 to 4 or 5 dwts., but these 

 are often either contained in pieces of loose quartz or have 

 quartz fragments attached to them. 



The Albany medal was made in 1524 from gold found 

 in these mines ; the Scottish Eegalia and the celebrated 

 bonnet-pieces of the reigns of James IV. and V. were also 

 made of native metal. 



At the marriage banquet of James V. with Mary of 

 Guise, several cups filled with native gold were presented 

 to the French envoy and his suite, as specimens of the 

 wealth of a country at the apparent barrenness of which 

 they had jeered. From the account books of James V. we 

 learn that miners were sent to Scotland from Lorraine, in 

 1539, to work the Crawford mines on behalf of the king. 

 They were placed under the charge of a goldsmith, John 

 Mossman, and it appearsthat between 1538 and 1543,41Joz. 

 of native gold were used in making a crown for the king 

 and 35 oz. for a crown for the queen, 17 oz. for the king's 

 great chain, and a belt for the queen weighing 19i oz. 

 Beyond this there was a large coinage of gold bonnet-pieces 

 as before stated, and special gold ornaments ; all the metal 

 having been obtained from Crawford and other moors. 



About 1578 Sir Bevis Bulmer, described as " an 

 ingenious gentleman " who worked the diggings very 

 vigorously, is said to have found two nuggets of pure 



gold, one weighing 6 oz. and the other more than 5 oz. 

 Bulmer erected a stamping mill and succeeded in getting 

 much " mealy gold." He worked at several mines in 

 Scotland, but appears to have been most successful in 

 Hinderland Moor, in Ettrick Forest, which gave him large 

 quantities of gold, "the like of it in no other place in 

 Scotland," and he presented to Queen Elizabeth a porringer 

 made of native Scottish gold. 



It does not appear that the process of obtaining gold 

 by amalgamating it with quicksilver was in use at this 

 time, so that only the coarser particles could have been 

 obtained, while the quartz veins were scarcely touched 

 at all. Gold must have been found about 1683, as a gold 

 medal, struck to commemorate the coronation of Charles I. 

 in Scotland, bears round the edge, ex avro vt in scotia 

 REPERiTVR. From that time imtil very recently no con- 

 siderable attempt to find gold has been made in Scotland. 



Ireland, now so constantly bewailing its lack of mines, 

 was better favoured in former days than any other portion 

 of the United Kingdom. So well was this known that, at 

 the period when the Norman princes exacted treasure for 

 the use of their French possessions, England was required 

 to furnish 23,730 marcs of silver alone, whUe Ireland was 

 called upon for 400 marcs each of gold and silver — an 

 enormous quantity in those days. Gold ornaments were 

 more common in Ireland than in other parts of the British 

 Islands, and the abundance of gold ornaments and weapons 

 found in the Emerald Isle clearly show that large quantities 

 of gold must have been obtained at a very early period of 

 its history. 



The localities in Ireland which have yielded gold in 

 the largest quantities are Ballinvally, Ballintemple, and 

 Killahurler, all situated in the same valley. At the 

 present day small quantities of gold are bought by the 

 Dublin jewellers from the neighbouring cottagers, who 

 have obtained it from the refuse of the old Government 

 works and the beds of the streams. One nugget found at 

 the Wicklow mines is affirmed to have weighed 22 oz., 

 another 18 oz., and others 9 oz. and 7 oz., and so on to 

 the smallest particles. However, more thau forty years 

 ago there was exhibited in the rooms of the Koyal Dublin 

 Society one specimen weighing, with the quartz attached, 

 40 oz. 



There are perhaps few countries of the world in which 

 gold is more generally distributed than in the British 

 Isles. It has been found in a large number of districts, 

 and only a few years ago specks of it were detected in 

 a quantity of pebbles taken out of a gravel pit on Tooting 

 Common, in the suburbs of London. 



Notice of Boolt. 



History of Astronomy during the Nineteenth Century. By 

 Agnes M. Gierke. Third edition. (A. & C. Black, 1893.) 

 When the first edition of this now well-known work was 

 published, a history of astronomy in its modern develop- 

 ments was greatly needed. The valuable work of Prof. 

 Grant appeared more than forty years ago, and dealt with 

 the science of the m3feme)its of the heavenly bodies, whilst 

 researches into their nature belong entirely to the latter 

 half of the present century. And this new astronomy, 

 which has grown up by the side of the old, lends itself, as 

 the authoress observes, more readily to popular treatment 

 than the former aspect of the science. How well Miss 

 Clerke has performed her task, the appearance of a third 

 edition in less than ten years is a convincing proof. These 

 editions are not simply reissues ; each shows a distinct 

 improvement upon its predecessor, besides being thoroughly 



