448 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
twenty or more localities. At tlie Clogau mine, which is the 
most prolific and is still worked (situated 1,000 feet above 
the sea), they found a regular gold lode ; not, indeed, of sohd 
metal, but composed of quartz rocks, impregnated with ores 
of sulphur, iron, lead, and (very richly) with native gold, 
which occurs partly disseminated through the mass, but fre- 
quently in strings or “bunches.” Mr. Beadwin tells us that 
this was once worked as poor copper ore, and that the Flint- 
shire copper smelters were averse to leaving it off, and even 
offered five shillings a ton more for its continuance ! At the 
adjacent mine of Dolfrynog, Professor Ansted found gold also, 
occurring in grains and in thin flakes, together with crystals of 
galena (lead ore) and copper pyrites. The existence of this gold 
has been known for a long time, and various attempts have been 
made to extract it profitably ; but somehow they have all failed, 
owing to the great cost of labour and machinery ; for we must 
remember that Ave have not here the rich gold-bearing drift, 
although, by the way, a very slight quantity of gold Avas dis- 
covered in the marine drift on the slopes of the hill. There 
are tAvo ways of extracting the ore : one by chemical and the 
other by mechanical means. The latter lias been the most in 
vogue, and consists simply in extracting masses of quartz, and 
then crushing it by machinery. This was tried at Dolfrynog 
and also at Cwmhesian ; but the costly character of the process 
soon made it anything but profitable ; besides which, from the 
finely-divided state of the gold in the quartz and blende in this 
neighbourhood, it is almost impossible to prevent its escape 
during the operation of stamping. Mr. Dean, in a paper read 
before the British Association, in 1844, declared that the 
Avhole of the Snowdonian frontier Avas replete Avith auriferous 
veins ; and it is certain that a company was started at Frods- 
ham, in Cheshire, for procuring the quartz from North W ales, 
and crushing it here, Avith a vieAV to extracting the gold. 
The chemical mode is by amalgam, in Avhich a certain quan- 
tity (by weight) of metalliferous mineral is triturated or ground 
up Avith so many pounds of mercury, on the principle that 
gold ahvays exists in a metallic state, and that AA'hen it is 
present in minerals the mercury Avill dissolve it. This, Iioav- 
ever, Avas frequently a failure, OAving to the mercury being 
capricious, and neglecting the gold to consort Avith other and 
less dignified minerals. The process is, nevertheless, used at 
Clogau, care being taken not to intrude any mineral which 
Avould neutralize the affinity of the mercury for the gold. The 
grand point, after all, is the result which has proved so successful 
in the patient hands of Mr. Beadwin, avIio has for many years 
been experimenting on these Welsh ores, feeling certain that a 
practical gain was to be obtained at some time or other. 
