43 
brought to him as presents (2d Chronicles, chap. i. 15, 
chap. iv. and y., chap. ix. 13, where it is stated that the 
whole of the gold which was brought to Solomon in one 
year was 666 talents, and in verse 14, that all the kings of 
Arabia, and the governors of the land, brought gold and 
silver as presents). 
Native gold is of a deep yellow colour, with a high 
degree of metallic lustre, and gives a brownish-yellow streak 
on the touchstone, which is not acted on by nitric acid; 
it approaches more to silver-white, however, as the 
gold contains more or less silver. The amount of silver 
contained varies from 1—10 per cent, and more, and is 
not constant; that from the Urals and South America 
contains, on an average, 98, the Australian 95, and the 
Californian 90—93 per cent, of gold. The silver-gold or 
electrum of Schlangenberg in Siberia contains 36 ; that of 
Borospatak in Siebenbiirgen 38§; the golden silver of 
Kongsberg as much as 72 per cent, of silver; besides, 
there are generally traces of copper and iron, sometimes 
also of platinum and gold. The hardness is = 2’5 —3*0, 
and rises somewhat with the amount of silver; while, at 
the same time, the specific gravity falls, since from 19*4 it 
sinks down to 12 - 6. The former of these weights is that 
of fine beaten gold. 
Gold is malleable in a very high degree; so much so, 
that a single grain may be beaten out to 56f- square inches. 
This gold-leaf, which is principally used for gilding wood, 
metal, paper, etc., is by transmitted light somewhat trans¬ 
lucent, and presents a sea-green colour. In the fracture 
gold is hacked and uneven; the structure generally appears 
to be perfectly compact. 
Gold is found usually associated with granular quartz, 
sometimes along with iron and copper pyrites, in veins of 
the primitive rocks; as, for instance, at Salzburg, in 
Dauphinee, in some parts of the Central Alps, at Bersowsk 
in the Urals, and in the United States of America, in the 
syenitic porphyry on the south-east of the Carpathians. 
In more recent formations it occurs sometimes with quartz, 
in Siebenbiirgen and Hungary, principally in combination 
with telluric ore. In Brazil it is found in iron-micaceous 
schist. Gold is, however, generally found in clayey sand, 
containing more or less iron, in wet districts, in the so- 
called gold buddies, but, in this case, it is also usually ac¬ 
companied by grains of quartz. The gold alluviums known 
up to the present time are those at Caschmir in Persia, 
on the Upper Indus, in Borneo, Celebes, and Sumatra, in 
Asia; in the districts of the origin of the Upper Nile, at 
Senegal and Gambia, in Africa; in California in the 
Sacramento territory; in the rest of the United States; 
in Georgia, Virginia, North and South Carolina; in Brazil, 
especially in the districts of Minas-Geraes, and in the 
neighbourhood of Bahia. In the district of the Cordilleras 
gold is found in the veins and sands of Lima, Peru, and 
Chili. In Australia the gold alluviums seem unlimited, 
and the provinces of Victoria and Sydney especially have 
already, within a few years, yielded an amount of gold 
which exceeds that of California. Many sand-stones also 
of the lias and tertiary formations contain traces of gold, 
and many streams in France and Germany, especially the 
Rhone and Garonne, the Moselle and the Rhine, the Iser 
and the Danube, yield a small quantity of gold. Gold 
has also recently been discovered in considerable quantity 
on Fraser’s River, Vancouver’s Island, and immense num¬ 
bers of miners are being attracted thither. Recent 
accounts — ( Times Correspondent , 21st August 1856) — 
report that, wherever the bed of the river has been worked, 
gold in abundance has been obtained, and that nearly all 
the miners concur in the opinion that gold exists in remu¬ 
nerative quantities. The same account announces the dis¬ 
covery of silver in the interior, of which the ore is said to 
be abundant, and that lead ore is also found on the island. 
Gold is used for all kinds of objects of art and orna¬ 
ment, for plate, and especially as coinage, and a medium of 
exchange. It is always alloyed with a small quantity of 
copper or silver, or of both, in order to give it hardness and 
durability; the beauty of its colour is, however, damaged 
by the process. The value of gold is usually calculated by 
that of silver, 14 to 15^ parts of this metal by weight 
being equal to one part by weight of gold; and its present 
price in bars is about £3 per oz, the mint or standard 
price is £3:17: 10| : . In the working of gold the 
amount of silver contained is taken into consideration as 
well as the value of the work, and the material is taxed 
according to the caratage. Gold of 24 carats is said to 
be quite pure gold; that of 23 carats consists of 23 parts 
of gold and 1 part of copper or silver. The gold which 
is most worked is of 16—18 carats; that of the gold 
coinage of 22 to 23|- carats. If the alloy contains silver 
only, it is called the white alloy; if it contains copper, the 
red; and if both silver and copper are contained, it is 
called the mixed alloy. The last gives the best colour, and 
the goldsmiths know by experience that it imparts to their 
work a remarkably fine colour. 
The average minimum price for the years 1844—56, 
in Frankfort on the Maine, was 875| florins (a florin = 
l/8d.), the highest 3801 florins, per mark (= 8 oz.), so 
that at the minimum it has 15i times, and at the maxi¬ 
mum IS),- times the value of silver. 
At the Paris Bourse a kilogramme (= 2 lbs. 8 oz. 3 
dwts. 2 grs.) of fine gold is rated at 3437 francs 77 cents, 
and valued according to the current rate of exchange; in 
1846 it was as 15'44, and in 1856 as 15’54, to the price 
of silver in bars. 
In London, from 1831 — 40, the proportion was = 15’75 
„ „ 1841—50, „ „ = 15-83 
„ „ 1851—55, ,. „ = 15-42 
The produce of gold has increased at least tenfold within 
the last fifty years, as will be seen from the following table 
of comparison:— 
In Russia, anno 1800, 
YIELD OF GOLD. 
1,440 pounds— 
■1853 
64,000 pounds. 
11 
Austria, „ 
3,400 
11 
11 
5,700 
11 
11 
the rest of Europe, 
100 
11 
11 
100 
11 
11 
south of Asia, „ 
10,000 
11 
11 
25,000 
11 
11 
Africa, ,, 
660 
11 
11 
4,000 
11 
11 
Australia, ,, 
0 
11 
11 
210,000 
11 
11 
S. America & Mexico, 38,400 
11 
11 
34,000 
11 
11 
California, ,, 
0 
11 
11 
252,000 
11 
11 
rest of United States, 
0 
11 
11 
2,300 
11 
54,000 pounds. 598,100 pounds. 
In 1 cubic metre (= 39 inches) of Rhine sand, as it 
is used for washing between Basil and Mannheim, are con¬ 
tained 0014 to 1-01 grains of gold, so that the cubic foot 
contains only T ko~l grain of gold. The gold sand of 
