144 APPENDIX. 



— but until experiment and observation can very clearly establish the con- 

 trary, we must be content to assume that there is some affinity between them 

 in se, — and if there be any peculiar operative external agency instrumental 

 in associating them, it is rather an agent than a prime cause. 



The presence of the metal and the material for its matrix, in a certain 

 degree of proximity, must be pre-supposed as a normal condition — fusion by 

 heat as a prime cause of the arrangement of mineral lodes ; at any rate until 

 we are in a position to establish a better theory, we must accept this. 



Silica, the base of quartz, pure or impure, is the most universally distri- 

 buted mineral ; it enters into fully two-thirds of the earthy minerals known. 



Gold can be extracted by the expert chemist, tending to show that in very 

 minute proportions it is as universally present as iron or the commoner metals 

 — the analysis has been carried to such an extent, that it is alleged to hava 

 been found in a flower ! 



So that in nearly every metamorphic fusion which has taken place, silica 

 and gold must have participated. 



Where the subsequent crystalline arrangement on cooling has resulted in 

 the formation of paying lodes, veins or seams of any metal useful in the arts, 

 it is natural to conclude the pre-existence of the metal contained in unusual 

 local proportions. 



Notwithstanding the obvious simplicity of this theory, which really more 

 resembles a natural postulate than a hypothesis, the Barrel lode at Laidlaw's 

 is valuable evidence confirmatory of a once controverted question which it is 

 eminently calculated to set at rest, so much so, that it is hardly to be regretted 

 if its bad yield has saved it from entire destruction. 



It is evident that when in a true plastic state contortion took place, which 

 could not have resulted had the quartz been in either a solid or a perfectly 

 fluid state. 



The lode is, or was, nearly horizontal, had very little dip, its contortions 

 may have been partly attributable to the nature of the ground, but I dont 

 think so ; I believe the whole, killas and all, were in a state of fusion flowing 

 against an obstacle at a lower level, the lower portion becoming stitfer from 

 cooling, whilst the succeeding on-flow of a less viscid mass overlapped and 

 cooled in its turn. 



The contortions were very singular from their regularity ; when the backs 

 were bared they presented an appearance aptly described as resembling 

 trunks of trees laid from two to four feet apart, parallel to one another ; the 

 undulations were so remarkable, that it is questionable whether any other 

 mineral lode has ever been found of a similar character, and it is worth 

 notice — perhaps record. 



Irrespective of scientific value, a report on this lode may be of practical 

 use, for in shafting to intercept a known lode, in a contorted "country," 

 unless bends be observed, in mining on a large scale calculations may be a 

 verj great number of fathoms out on the wrong side of the estimate, causing 

 serious additional exi^ense and delay. 



As according to Mr. Campbell's opinion, as I understand it in his first 



