404 Miscellanies. 



Of the amount of gold bullion, deposited at the Mint, within the 

 lastyear, about ^131,000 were received from Mexico, South Amer- 

 ica, and the West Indies ; f 22,000 from Africa; about |12,000 

 from sources not ascertained; and the residue, about f 134,000, 

 from North Carolina, and the adjacent States of South Carolina and 

 Virginia. The proportion from North Carolina may be stated at 

 ^128,000 ; that from South Carolina at |3,500, and that from Vir- 

 ginia at $2,500. 



The first notice of gold from North Carolina, on the records of 

 the Mint, occurs in the year 1814, within which it was received to 

 the amount of ^11,000. It continued to be received during the 

 succeeding years, until 1824, inclusive, in varying amounts, all infe- 

 rior however to that of the year first mentioned, and on an average 

 not exceeding ^2,500 yearly. In 1824, the amount received was 

 f5,000; in 1825, it had increased to f 17,000 ; in 1826 it was 

 ^20,000 ; in 1827 about |2 1,000 ; and in 1828, nearly |46,000. 

 In 1829, as above stated, it was ^128,000. 



This remarkable increase in the amount of gold received from 

 North Carolina, during the years following 1824, has been consider- 

 ed of sufficient interest to be noted in the annual reports from the 

 mint, since that period. The circumstance will attract additional at- 

 tention, from the fact now ascertained, that the gold region of the 

 United States extends far beyond the locality to which it has hereto- 

 fore appeared to be limited. Gold bullion had not been received 

 from Virginia or South Carolina, until within the last year ; or, if at 

 all received, it has been in quantities too inconsiderable to have been 

 specially noticed. The gold from all these localities is found, in its 

 native state, to be, on an average, nearly of the same fineness as the 

 standard of our gold coin. 



Some additional observations on the gold mines of the Carolinas, 

 which arrived too late for this number, will appear in the next. 



3. Electrical properties of Caoutchouc— -ProL Walter R. John- 

 son, in a paper read to the Academy of Natural Sciences, April 20, 

 1830, has developed the electrical properties of caoutchouc, and 

 states some novel results and applications. 



Although Dr. J. K. Mitchell had .before placed it among non- 

 conductors, Mr. Johnson has shewn that it is one of the most perfect 

 non-conductors. In the common process of removing pencil marks 

 from paper, much of the latter, with the crayon and some of the 



