THE ALLEGED DISCOVERY OF MERCURY 

 IN MALACCA. 



BY 



Dr. W. Bott, f.c.s. f.g.c.s., f.p.s., &c. 



N November last year, I was informed that a quantity 

 of mercury had been discovered during excavations 

 on St. Paul's Hill, Malacca, on the site of the new 

 water reservoir for the town. The discovery, I 

 believe, produced some little excitement at the time, 

 and may, in certain quarters, even have conjured up 

 pleasant visions of a new-born revenue of Malacca from a 

 rich mercury mine. Now the existence of such a treasure 

 would doubtless have resulted in a transfer of the proposed 

 reservoir to a new place and the giving up of the venerable 

 hill of St. Paul to the rude attacks of the pick and spade of 

 the miner, and, as the work of excavation was then progres- 

 sing, and the very spot of the discovery was about to be 

 covered up, it seemed desirable to enquire into the matter 

 without delay. In due course, I received two large bags of 

 the supposed ore — one from the exact place where the mercury 

 had been collected, the other from the immediate vicinity. 

 Both samples consisted of bright red earth, and the colour might 

 or might not have been due to cinnabar (Sulphide of Mercury) 

 as far as mere appearance went. On closer examination, 

 visible globules of metallic mercury were found throughout 

 the whole of the first sample, while the second contained none. 

 Unfortunately the character of the soil in which the mercury 

 was found, did not accord with its occurrence, for further 

 examination shewed that the colour of the soil was entirely 

 due to red, argillaceous ferric hydroxide, and that besides 



