The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1883-08-31
Fool 8 Gold.

be expected that gold itself, the king of
metals, should have its counterfeits,
natural or artificial. Leaving aside the
latter class, from time immemOrial have
men been deceived by those of the form
or, that is, in installing other minerals
for gold.
A farmers lad, slowly wading through
a little stream, looks down into the
water, and there, brought into view by
the sparkling rays of the sun, he sees
something glistening and shimmering so
brightly that, seized by sudden curiosity,
he runs his hand through the he'd of the
brook and brings up a handful of sand
interspersed with shining yellow specks,
and, behold. he has found gold! So he
fancies, and the wonderful discovery is
noised far and wide. A sample is quick
ly sent to some expert, and the report
is, mica IN sand. But who can blame
the infatuated, self-dcccivcd rustic? 1t
looks like gold to him, and his castle in
the air rises higher and higher until the
rude fiat of the one who docs know
dashes it to the ground.
1t is not so long ago that pill-box
| containing an ounce or more OF this
mica bearing sand was sent to me to
ascertain its value; and the sender was
exceedingly disappointed when l in
formed him of its worthless character.
And to-day | preserve some of it in my
cabinet to show my visitors, and when
the question is asked of each rs to its
nature. nine out of ten promptly reply
that ii is gold. Then, asa short, practi-
cal lesson in mineralogy of this metal,
second bottle, containing sand carving
the genuine article is brought out, and
| the difference is seen ut once.
What assayer, mining engineer, min
eralogist q; metallurgist has not had
the same experience?
But mica is not the mineral that has
done the most harm. Pyrites of iron
and copper Copper pyrites or chalcO-
pyrites), and pyrites of iron, the fools
gold" have misled thousands.
In general appearance. this fools
gold is not sovery unlike the true gold,
| this is, when the latter is not directly
compared with it. 1t has bright. vel
low, metallic luster OH the surfaces of
unoxidized pieces and the interiors of
freshly-brOken pieces which are decom-
posed on the outside.
In lGOS, about the time of the first set
Element of Virginia, the colonsts "be-
lieving that they had discovered grains |
OF gold in a stream of water near James
town, the entire industry of the town
was directed in digging, washing, REIN
ing, and loading gold; and notwith-
standing circumstances of Smith, ship |
was actually freighted with the glisten- |
ing earth and sent to England" (HW- |
sons american History. Whether this |
glistening earth was mica or minute |
pyrites in the clay or sand. history does
not tell us. but presumably the latter.
since it is found to considerable extent
throughout that State.
From that time down to the present, |
the mistake has often been made, not of |
imagining the pyrites to contain gold, |
but that it is gold.
There is probably no other metal
liferous mineral more widely distribute
ed than iron pyrites. 1t is found in rocks
of every age. and almost in all parts of
the world. Hardly Estate or Territory
OF the United States but contains it to a |
greater or less degree, hence the great
prevalence of the error concerning it.
10 illustrate: cOlored man in Mis-.
sissippi mailed me lump of this min
eral, water-worn into 4 rude semblance
of gold nugget, and desired me to sell
it for him! All l could do was to tell
him of its worthlessneSs, and instead of
piece of gold worth $40 to $50 rs he
supposed, il was, in fact, not worth the
postage paid on it.
TO come nearer home: from two sep
arate places in Michigan, and from two
different counties in Wisconsin, has the
same mineral, with the same question,
been sent me, and lately an intelligent
looking gentleman brought me three or
four pounds OF this same delusive stuff,
picked up on the shores of our lake,
twenty miles north. 1t is needless. per-
hapS, to say that they were all disap-
pointed in their great expectations.
From all that have written there can
surely be deduced moral rs it can from
the history of any nation, race. or sect.
or life of any eminent individual, and
the moral is. q more plncticat education
in all Of orr schools.
| do not refer To those institutions
which make specially OF teaching
geology, mineralogy, metaluryy, as
saying, or other branches OF science, but
to the average, the common schools, for
il is in such that the majority of our
people obtains all it knows of books and
learning. 1t should be as imperative
for the scholar TO know Il lump of coal
from Il piece of iron ore, 10 be able TO
distinguish Il copper ore from one of
lead, to learn the difference between
granite and limestone, between fools
gold and real gold, as it is for him to
learn that six and seven do not make
eleven or that the wonderful English
language is capable of pronouncing
rough rs ruF and bough as bow!
1t is not necessary to make of the
youth whose entire school education is
acquired in one or two years, an expert
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. are limits To ali
simply to know more of the
things, such as he is likely to .
meet with in his every day life.
TO give point to my moral and to
return to my subject, let the one who ,,
finds something bright and yellow and
it to be gold try to cut it (if it
be large enough to handle) with his
knife. If it cuts easy somewhat like
lead) and ilattens by use of hammer and
anvil, it probably is what it is thought I
to be. ut all events it is worth investi- I
eating. If, on the contrary. the speci- |
men is too hard to be cut iron pyriics), |
Or crumbles instead of being sliced (cop- q
per pyrites), it certainly is not gold.
Finish the test by placing some of the |
mineral, powdered. in com
mon iron spoon over the fire. IT, when
il has been well heated. fumes arise and
a smell rs of II burning match is per- i
ceived. then pyrites is present. for it is
The sulphur leaving the iron (oriron and |
copper) with which it was united To i
form the pyrites that causes the fumes
and odOr. c
In conclusion, let the enthusiastic
seeker of the precious metal remember
he ancient but wise adage that "All is E
not gold that outward shewith brighte."
Waller Lee Broom, in Mining Reviesv. y
Oh The Monster, i