/ 
336 A. LIVERSIDGE. 
we know it must be there, because it is contained in the pyrites 
deposited from the waters, by decaying organic matter reducing 
the sulphates in solution. 
The following extract from the Mining and Metallurgy of 
Gold and Silver, by J. Arthur Phillips. Foot-note, p.p. 10, 11, 
is given because it refers to the recent deposition of gold from 
solution and apparently also by volatilization :— 
“The moulds of cubical crystals of iron pyrites are frequently 
found in the quartz of auriferous veins, and more particularly so 
near the surface, thus showing that the formation of the pyrites 
must have been as old as that of the vein itself. In such cases, 
although the iron has often been entirely removed by chemical 
action, the cavities left sometimes contain finely divided goid, 
obviously liberated by the decomposition of pyrites. The gold 
contained in crystallised pyrites enclosed in quartz, is readily 
rendered apparent by placing the specimen, for a few hours, in a 
warm place in nitric acid, by which the pyrites is dissolved, and 
finely powdered or filiform gold will partially occupy the resulting 
cavities. With regard to the age of auriferous quartz veins, it 
has been already shown that many of them must evidently be of 
comparatively recent date, but in some cases the deposition of 
gold bearing quartz would appear to be taking place even at the 
present time. At Steamboat Springs, near Virginia, in the State 
of Nevada, and in other localities on the Pacific Coast, numerous 
parallel deposits of quartz, assuming the form of veins, are taking 
place along a line of boiling springs now in a state of great activity. 
The quartz from this locality exactly resembles that of the ordinary 
auriferous quartz veins of California, and besides small quantities 
of iron and copper pyrites, contains oxide of iron and traces of 
manganese. On making an examination of this quartz for gold 
and silver, we were unable to find an appreciable quantity of 
either of these metals ; but Mr. Laur, who made a similar investi- 
gation of this quartz, succeeded in finding specimens containing 
small quantities of gold.—(Annales des Mines, Sixiéme Série, iii. 
p. 421.) These facts would, therefore, not only tend to lead to the 
