fi7J^ NATITE GOLD BUST. 



more. They were afterward sold to merchants, who sent them 

 to the mint. 

 Ck»M found in i am not speaking here, as is obi'ious, of gold dust dis* 

 ojther ikua- seminated in arable land. Earth of this kind in the territory 

 'of Saliissole, as I am informed by my colleague Giobert, 

 contains particles of gold. The earth of gardens is known 

 to contain them. It has been proved in our days by the ex- 

 periments of Sage, Berthollet, Rouelle, Darcet, and Deyeux, 

 that there are particles of gold in vegetables. Berthollet has 

 extracted about 2*14 gram. [33 grs.] from 48900 gram, or a 

 hundred weight of ashes. 

 Here not on Hitherto gold has not been found in the arable land in 

 te under it the environs of St. George's, but only in the stratum be- 

 $0iiDietliTie9 to neath the clay, the surface of which is cultivated. The 

 a (c*)n»i era e 3urif(.,.(,us^ stratum, as I have observed, is more than thirty 

 feet deep below the argillaceous stratum in some places. 



We have nothing to do here with particles of gold mixed 

 with the surface mould by the decomposition of plants, or 

 which plants have derived from the earth. I have no doubt. 

 Every where it that the particles of gold found in the environs of St. 

 kaa a coaiiuon Qgorge's have the same origin as those met with from Pont 

 to the entrance of the Oreo and of the Mallon itito the Po, 

 from Valpsrga and Rivara to Aglie and St. George's; as 

 well as of those, which Dr. Bonvoisin observed in the envi- 

 rons of Challant in the valley of Aoste. The famous piece 

 of native gold preserved in the arsci al >vas found there. In 

 that space pieces of gold of the weight of a louis have 

 sometimes been found; and other pieces are mentioned of 

 the value of more than iOOl. [£4 35. 4c?.]. It is probable, 

 that the gold found in the earth in the valley of Brozzo, 

 and in other places, has the same origin. 1 shall propose 

 my conjectures on this subject in the second pait of this 

 memoir, where I shall enter more at large into the nature of 

 the earths and stones of the auriferous strata, as well as th« 

 nature of the land in which they are contained. 



IV. 



