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Prof. J. 8. Newberry, in a paper—On the Genesis and Distri- 
bution of Gold (Sch. of Mines Quarterly, 111., New York, 1881), 
does not support Selwyn’s hypothesis. He points out that a mass 
og A. LIVERSIDGE. 
of vein gold was obtained, weighing ninety-five and a half pounds, 
and originally one hundred and forty pounds, from the Monumental 
Mine, Sierra Buttes, Cal., which proves that large masses do occur 
in veins as well as in the form of nuggets. 
He thinks that the proportion of large masses from veins is 
quite equal to that from placers or alluvial deposits. The smaller 
proportion of silver in alluvial gold, he thinks, is accounted for 
by the greater solubility of silver in various solutions, and its 
consequent removal just as in the process of “pickling” by 
jewellers. 
Other “nuggets” from veins might be cited ¢.g., a mass of gold 
and quartz celebrated. as Dr. Kerr’s ‘“‘ hundred weight of gold ” 
was found in 1851 in the Meroo or Louisa Creek, River Turon, 
N.S.W., at a place now known as Hargraves. Although in three 
pieces when discovered, it apparently had formed one mass ; the 
three pieces weighed one and three-quarter hundred weight and 
yielded one hundred and six pounds troy of gold. Another mass 
of gold and quartz which yielded one hundred and twenty pounds 
of gold on being pounded with a hammer was found at Burrandong 
near Orange, in New South Wales, in 1858. Some very large 
masses of gold were found in Beyers and Holtermann’s quartz 
reef at Hill End, N.S.W. From ten tons of quartz 102 ewt. of 
gold were said to have been obtained. (A. Liversidge—Minerals 
of V. S. Wales, p. 21, London 1888). 
Walter B. Devereux, E.M., in a paper—On the occurrence of 
Gold in Potsdam Formation, Black Hills, Dakota (Trans. Am. 
Inst, Mining Engineers, 1881, p. 465), states that careful observa- 
tion in the field and consideration of the facts have led him to 
reject the theory that the gold has been deposited in the con- 
glomerates from solution, and he regards it as a purely mechanical 
constituent; but states, p. 471, that ‘the larger the grain of the 
alluvial gold the greater the amount of silver it contains.” 
