Occasional Notes. 
Minerals from California. — Well-deserving of in- 
spection, in a new case in the Museum, is to be seen a 
varied collection of minerals received from the State 
Mining Bureau of California in exchange for samples of 
colonial woods. Among them are ores of gold, silver, 
copper, lead, tin, quicksilver, antimony, nickel, cobalt, 
chromium, manganese, etc. A model of the gold nugget, 
found in 1848 at Sutter's Saw Mills, which caused the 
rush to the Californian gold fields, is shewn, together 
with a large assortment of specimens of gold-quartz, 
which have all been obtained, as in the case of the other 
minerals generally, from mines which are either paying 
or have paid well. With the exception of one small 
specimen of Calaverite or Telluride of gold, the auriferous 
ores shew no free gold, though they abound in the glitter 
of the " sulphurets" of iron, copper etc., often mistaken 
by the inexperienced eye for the flash of the more 
precious metal. In these specimens of auriferous quartz, 
the gold is so intimately associated with the " sulphurets," 
that a process other than amalgamation with mercury is 
required to extra6t it — a process known as chlorination, 
already described on p. 46. Illustrative of two steps 
in this process, samples are included of auriferous ore 
yielding $100 per ton, after it has been crushed to a fine 
powder by the " stamper/' and after it has been roasted 
previous to its being moistened and treated with chlorine 
gas. A very interesting addition to the series of gold 
ores, is present in the form of " country rocks" and 
<; wall rocks" — the former being the characteristic rocks 
A- 
