ELECTRO-MERCURIAL AMALGAMATION. 23 



tables present the appearance of frozen snow. The amalgam is 

 removed with India rubber " squegees " every five hours, and when a 

 quantity is obtained it is squeezed through chamois leather, leaving a 

 heavy hard ball. This ball is placed in a retort, which is heated and 

 the mercury expelled, leaving a sponge-like mass of pure gold, when 

 the crushed ore contains titanic iron sand which adheres to the tables 

 and allows the gold to pass over. From a slight knowledge of electi'i- 

 city possessed by Mr. Dobson, he discovered that a current of electri- 

 city would heighten the activity of the mercury and keep the titanic 

 sand in agitation and from adhering. Mr. Dobson explained the 

 working of his machine, and said that with its aid he had extracted ^ 

 dwt. of gold from 250 lbs of black sand taken from the St. Lawrence 

 region. 



Mr. Arthur Harvey believed that the next generation would 

 see Canada one of the most important mining countries in the 

 world. That the Dominion would develop into a great gold 

 producing country, he had no doubt whatever. There was a 

 great gold belt running from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick, 

 through Quebec, going across the St. Lawrence, the Ottawa 

 River, and thence by the north shores of Lake Huron and 

 Lake Superior to Rat Portage and the surrounding district. 

 This gold belt is of almost unparalleled richness. Sir William 

 Logan had said that some day or other Canada would be one 

 of the greatest gold producing countries in the world. Mr. 

 Harvey then gave an account of his personal explorations in 

 the Marmora district. The Moira river came down between 

 the Silurian on one side and the Laurentian on the other. The 

 Richardson mine was just on the edge where the Silurian 

 joined the Laurentian formation. Between these formations 

 one of these gold-producing belts happened to run. He said 

 that it was perfectly certain that on the fourteen miles of that 

 belt there was $500,000,000 worth of gold waiting for explora- 

 tion. Mr. Squier told him that he had seen $500,000 worth of 

 gold in one pocket. At the same time that the Richardson mine 

 was taken up by people from Chicago, Mr. Gatshall took up a 

 location seven miles from Madoc, which had also been success- 



