GOLD. 



are fcarce. The minute three-fided pyramids, wUiuli arc oflcu 

 feen to drufe the membrane, and the limidc triangular lUHrks 

 on the pktes of the Tranlylvanian native gold, are the re- 

 fnhs of hurried anddifturbed cryllallization ; the former of 

 them being the folid angles of the cubical, and the latter the 

 rudiments of the octahedral variety. 



The cryllals are minute (thofe defcril.ed by Mr. Efmark 

 as oftohedra and cubes of two lines in diameter, have uc\cr 

 before been heard of); thi.-ir furfaee is always fmonth. 



Luitre metallic : externally fplendent : while that of the 

 grains is fometimes gliilening, fometimes approaching to dull ; 

 internally it is glimmering and gliilening. 



The fracture of gold Is fine huckly. Its fragments are 

 indeterminately angular. 



It is foft, highly flexible, malleable, and duftile. 

 The fpccific gravity of pure gold is from 19.253 t" 

 19.640; but that of the brafs-yellow variety, owing to a 

 greater proportion of fdver witli which it is alloyed, is ge- 

 nerally confiderably lefs, though always above twelve. 



The light, or brafs-yellow gold, occurs almofl always in 

 veins in greywackc, greywackc flate, and newer porphyry ; 

 feldom, as the following fub-fpecies, in primitive rocks, or 

 mider other circumltances that befpeak a hmilar remote 

 antiquity. 



It occurs chiefly with quartz and iron pyrites, and not un- 

 frequently with grey antimony. Other concomitant fubllances 

 pre, among the earthy fofllls, calcareous fpar, brown 

 fpar, barytes, felenite, and feldom fmall quantities ot 

 bole, lithomarge, and common garnet ; of metallic fub- 

 llances, red and vitreous filver ores, (feldom native iilver,) 

 copper pyrites, grey copper ore, copper green, brown iron 

 ilone, galena, green lead ore, blende, with occafional traces 

 of white cobalt, copper nickel, red orpiment, native arfenic, 

 «nd arfenical pyrites. 



2. Deep or C ohl-yelloii' Native Gc/i/.— Gold-gelbes ge- 

 <liegciT-gold of Werner. 



Its colour is the highefl gold-colour, feldom verging on 

 brafs yellow. 



It occurs maflive and in fmall roundifli and flattened pieces, 

 3S alfo in grains of vaiious dimcnhons, detached or difl'jmi- 

 nated; feldom in particular external forms, fuch as in leav.s 

 »nd laminae, fdiform and mofslike ; fcarcely ever cryllallized : 

 ahuoil all the cryfl;alhne forms defcribed by authors W - 

 longing to the light -coloured fub-fpecies. 



E.xternal luiWe glifteniiig, fometimes (as in tie variety 

 called Spanifli fnufi') divelled of all lullre. Its fpecilic gra- 

 vity is rather greater than tliat of the light or brafs-coloured 

 gold, with which it agrees in the remaining eharatlers. 



It occurs nioflly loofe, in alluvial fituations, and in the 

 fand of riv?rs, and, as fuch, appears to have been originally 

 flifleminated in rocks of ancient formation : it is, however, 

 alfo found in veins in Norway, Siberia, Bohemia, Hungary, 

 in the Eail Indies, &:c. almofl always difleminated in quart/,, 

 accompanied by iron-pyrites ; but nothing is as yet known 

 ■ refpfiting the age of thefe veins. At Fatzebay it is found in 

 minutely mofslike external forms, often of a dull powdery 

 appearance, on common quart/ fometimes mixed with iron 

 pyrites ; in this fl;ate it is by the miner called Spauifli fnuff.. 

 Geographical Jiiuatkjn. — The following loaaiities compre- 

 hend both the lub-fpecies into wliich native gold is divided 

 by Werner. By far the greater part of that ibund in Eu- 

 rope belo;igs to the brafs-yeUow lub-fpecies, except the gold 

 of rivers a.id alluvial foil, which is principally deep yellow, 

 and to which the immcufe quantities of tliis precious metal, 

 furniflied by the other parts of the world, appear Hkewife 

 Vc be refcriible. 



£'hco^:? .'^Hungary, the Bannat, and principaliy Tratr- 

 fylvania. In Upper Hungary it occurs in gneifs : at Scliem- 

 nitz, in Lower Hungary, it is found accompanied v^itli 

 feveral filver ores, and v.ith galena j at Kreninitz, in and 

 on cellular and fluttered quart/., lamellar barytes, wltli vi- 

 treous filver and grey copper ore, copper pyrite.s, brown 

 fpar, &c. ; at Oravizza, in the Bannat, it occurs filiform 

 and diiTeminated in pale flefli-red and greenifli-white lime- 

 llone, with white cobalt ore and copper nickel. In Tranfv!- 

 v.mia, the richell country of Europe in this metal, it prin- 

 cipally occurs in a kind of clay-porphyry of different de- 

 grees of frelhnefs, wliich is the Saxum luctalliferum of 

 Born, in grauwacke and grauwa( ke flate: at Kapnik it is 

 fometimes found with red. orpiment : at Stanifha in calcare- 

 ous fpar, mixed with arfenical pyrites, &:c.: other places of 

 Tranfylvanla abounding in gold (which is for the greate:> 

 part brafs-yellow), are Vereflipatak, Abrudbanya, 15oiza, 

 Ofl'er.banya, Futzebay, Toplitza, Treflityan, &c. Alfo the 

 rivers, both of Hungary and Tranfylvanla, are richly auri- 

 fi-rous ; gold fand is found in the Nera, and underneath a 

 llratnm of chalk on the plain traverfcd by this river. Tiie- 

 richetl river of Tranfylvanla is the Araniofli, and tlie plain bor- 

 dering on the river Morolh, contams likewifegold in grains,be- 

 t\s-een a ftratum of mould, and another of ichillus, neither of 

 which llrata is in the leall auriferous. Alfo at Okipian, gold 

 is obtained by wafliing; it is there mixed with magnetic iron- 

 rtone, titanium, garnet, and cyanlte. The gold of the great 

 rivers of Tranlylvania is generally of 21 carats, tliat of 

 Olapian and Rolhinar is even of 23 carats, fix grains. 



In Germany it is found in feveral places, at Joiiangeorgen- 

 ftadt in Saxony, in Carinthia, where it accompanies cojjpcr- 

 ores, in Tyrol and Saltzburg ; but it is only in the lall of 

 thefe diilricls, or rather in the chain of mountains, feparating 

 Tyrol from Carinthia, that gold-mines are \\ orked : in tlie 

 Zillerthalit is found in various external forms, and accompa- 

 nied with iron-pyrites, &c. in mica fl.lte. In Bohemia gold' 

 occurs in quartz. 



Spain is probably very rich in gold ; certain it is that 

 confiderable gold mines were worked there in former tiines, 

 and, according to Diodorus Siculus, as far back as the time 

 of the Phccnicians, after whom the Romans undertook to 

 work them ; and Pliny informs us, that thofe nations dcrivrj' 

 great profit from them., Afturia v.-as the province which 

 furniflied moil of this metal. After the diicovery of Ame- 

 rica thefe mines were entirely given uj^and loft. The Ta- 

 gus and fome other rivers of Spain arelikewife auriferous. 



France has no goldmine that is worthy to be worked ; the 

 firft difcovery of gold m that country was made in 1781, at 

 la Gardette,.in the vaUey of Oyfans, in the prefcnt depart- 

 ment of the Ifere : the mine was worked for fix years, 

 but the produce in gold aud accom.panying minerals was ton 

 fmall to compenfate for the expence of cbtaininij them, and, 

 indeedj the lofs amounted to upwards of 2i,oco livres. 

 It occurs there, with reck cryilals and iron pyrites, ill 

 gneifs. The fand of feveral rivers of France is auriferous, 

 fuch as that of the Arriezc near Mirepoix, the Gardon ani) 

 Ceze in the Cevennes, the Rhone in the Pays de Gex, tiie 

 Rhine between Stralburg and Phillplhurg, the vSalat in the 

 neighbourhood of St Giron, in the Pyrenees, thcGaronne near 

 Touloufe, and the Herault at Montpellier. Alfo mnll of the 

 black fand and of the bog-iron found in the neighbourhood, 

 of Paris is faid to contain a fmall quantity of gold. 



In Piedmont veins of auriferous pyrites and quartz are ■ 

 found near Macugnaga, at the foot of Monte Rofa : which . 

 mountain confifl;s of veined granite in horizontal beds. The 

 veins of pyrites and quartz have upon the whole a per- 

 pendlcub.i; direiftion, but in fome parts tliey crofs each other. 



