THE TECHNOLOGIST. [March 1, 1865- 



338 THE GOLD-FIELDS OP IRELAND. 



resemblance to those of the county of Wicklow than any others that he 

 was acquainted with. 



Mr. J. Knight Boswell said that the failure of the Government effort 

 to find gold in the county of Wicklow, in 1 796, was no reason why the 

 present mining operations which were conducted there for that purpose 

 should not be persevered in. It was many years since he first visited 

 those mines, and purchased gold from the people there. He had in his 

 possession a beautiful specimen of that gold — a piece of quartz, with 

 gold all round it which was evidently the effect of water. He then 

 formed the opinion that the gold came from the quartz reefs of the dis- 

 trict, and that whoever should discover those quartz-bearing reefs would 

 make a princely fortune ; and he had not changed that opinion since. 

 He believed that at a very remote period, when the surface of the soil 

 there was utterly destitute of vegetation, masses of gold were carried 

 from the upper parts of the mountain downwards by the action of water. 

 In the course of subsequent ages a deposit of vegetable matter or peat 

 had accumulated to the d a pth of from fifteen to twenty feet, so as to 

 hide the site of the original quartz reefs. He would mention a circum- 

 stance which he heard from a family named Byrne, who were farmers 

 at Croghankinsella some thirty years ago. They said that in the upper 

 part of one of the rivers they found a mass of metal about a pound and 

 a-half in weight, which they supposed to be copper. It remained for 

 several years in their possession, and was used by them as a weight ; but 

 at length it was disposed of to a travelling tinker, who carried it to 

 Dublin, where he sold it for a large price to a jeweller in Capel street. 

 That was what led to the Government investigations there in 1796; and 

 it was stated, on the authority of Government, that at that time, during 

 a space of two months, 10,000Z. worth of gold was purchased from the 

 people of the district by jewellers in Dublin. 



Mr. Scott said he understood from official records that the amount of 

 gold raised in "Wicklow which passed through the hands of the Govern- 

 ment in 1796 was about 9,000Z. worth. 



The Chairman (Dr. Haughton) said this was a most interesting sub- 

 ject, and that society was the proper place for the discussion of it. The 

 first point that occurred to him was the extraordinary manner in which 

 the gold occurred in the localities referred to. The large "model" which 

 had been just inspected by those present, represented a very celebrated 

 Wicklow nugget which some people said had been presented to George 

 the Fourth, but which others said that that monarch took the liberty 

 of stealing out of this country. Without prejudging the question, 

 there was no doubt that it was a very remarkable specimen, and the 

 museums of Trinity College, the Dublin Society, the British Museum — 

 in fact, all the museums — had copies of it. The peculiarity of it was, 

 that the gold appeared to consist of masses conglomerated or lumped 

 together. The other which had been exhibited was real ; and as it had 

 Lioue round the room through the hands of the audience, he had been 



