March 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 



THE GOLD-FIELDS OF IRELAND. 339 



much amused by noticing that the eye of his friend Mr. Scott, to whose 

 care it had been entrusted, never left it for an instant (laughter), and 

 that as it approached the door his glance redoubled in vigilance 

 (laughter). That nugget was of the same character as the mock one, 

 being also a specimen of rolled gold. With respect to gold of that de- 

 scription, the problem was, to determine how it came to assume that 

 form, it being known that gold was most difficult to be reduced by fire. 

 These nuggets would appear to have either been fused by heat or to 

 have been welded together mechanically. The next question which 

 arose — namely, as to where they came from— was of still greater inte- 

 rest. He was perfectly well acquainted with the chemical composition 

 of every part of the Croghankinsella mountain, which was most remark- 

 able. No other granite mountain had such an extraordinary diversity 

 of composition as it possessed. On its slopes were the gold-bearing 

 streams which had made Wicklow famous, and the sands of which con- 

 tained magnetic iron and other minerals, the connection of which with 

 gold was at present very obscure and ill-understood. Why those streams 

 should carry down masses of geld was, in the present state of science, 

 incomprehensible. How the gold came to be originally in the higher 

 parts of the mountain, and also how it was blended together in masses, 

 as was evident in the nuggets produced, were problems yet unsolved. 

 He agreed with Mr. Sanders, and the other gentlemen who were asso- 

 ciated with him, that those questions were of the greatest importance, 

 and should be solved. The quartz reefs containing the gold must be 

 found. He was not an antiquarian, but he thought it was a mistake to 

 suppose that the gold which the ancient Irish used in the manufacture 

 of their ornaments came from abroad. He believed that every particle 

 of it came from Wicklow, and that the trade which some antiquarians 

 alleged to have existed in gold between Ireland and Spain, and other 

 countries, was a delusion. There was no satisfactory evidence that gold 

 was then found in any other part of Ireland except Wicklow, unless, 

 perhaps, a small quantity in Mayo and some other parts of the west of 

 Ireland ; and he believed that the cross of Cong, the tores, and the 

 other ornaments were made by Irish workmen, of gold found at Crog- 

 hankinsella. It was right to say that he believed the farther we went 

 back in time the larger were the nuggets that had been found in the 

 Wicklow districts, so that in all probability those from which Malachy's 

 collar was made were six or seven times larger than any now to be met 

 with ; and until we reached the quartz goldq)roducing reef, he did not 

 believe that we should get any more large nuggets. It appeared to be a 

 law that, in old times, through causes unknown, the quartz reefs were 

 altered, and large masses, like the model, were produced, amalgamated 

 by forces that we now do not understand. That the first diggers carried 

 off the largest nuggets appeared to be true of the searchers in all the 

 gold countries ; but he believed a very rich harvest was open to those 

 who should explore the gold-fields of Wicklow. 



