448 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



upheavals, which have occurred at the same geological epoch, trend in the 

 same general directioti. 



Mr. Seelcy. — It is worthy of remark, that the sweepings, which we 

 throw away here, pay the English to refine. Some sweepings have lately 

 been exported and were found to pay for the trouble. 



There are some facts connected with the refining of gold, which are gen- 

 erally known, Gold cannot, for instance, be separated from platinum by 

 eupellation. Gold may be removed from silver, when the silver is in excess, 

 by the use of nitric acid, In Europe, sulphuric acid, has recently been 

 employed in place of nitric acid, because it was cheaper. One house here, 

 now uses sulphuric acid with success in their refinings. 



Chlorine will replace sulphur or any of its compounds. That is it will 

 unite with the gold and set the sulphur free to unite with the oxygen of the 

 air. Mr. Plattner received the Council medal, at the World's Fair, for 

 using chlorine on pyritical compounds, and I can, on good authority, say 

 that it has been used on a large scale in Russia, and that with profit. 



Mr. Seeley. — At the first trial of the separation of silver from gold by 

 Bulphuric acid, vessels were made of platinum, afterwards cast iron was 

 tried and found to answer well. The insido of the iron becoming coated 

 with silver, is protected from the action of the acid. 



Dr. Deck in reducing gold, uses the hypochloride of lime. Having 

 roasted the ore he drops it into cold water to disintegrate it. He then 

 digests the roasted and powdered ore with the bleaching powder, stirring 

 the mixture constantly. A very large quantity of gold is obtained from 

 the bottom of the cask in which the matters have been digested. 



Plattner's process is to use dry chlorine^ but the hypochloride of lime is 

 preferable for some kinds of ore. 



The Chairman suggests that the discussion be changed to the subject of 

 the value of gold, how that value was affected by the introduction of gold 

 from California, and what was the bearing of that event upon commerce, 

 banking, etc. 



Mr. Garbanati urged tbe taking up of the subject suggested by the 

 President, as one upon which he could talk. 



Mr. Tillman would like the subject to be discussed in relation to the 

 arts. 



Dr. Vanderweyde stated that the use of gold has been abandoned in 

 medicine, because when once introduced into the system, it could not be 

 eradicated. 



The Chairman doubted whether its use was wholly abandoned, though it 

 was true that once in the system it could not be got out, for it resists the 

 action of all acid agents that could be employed for that purpose. 



Mr. Tillman. — All metals which have high atomic weights are objection- 

 able in medicine. There are only sixteen elements in our bodies, and gold 

 is not one of them, and it is wrong to put anything into our system which 

 is not a compound part of the human body. 



Dr. Deck has a very high opinion of gold as a medicine, when used in the 



