Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-16
THE OCEAN A VAST GOLD NINE
Old Neptune Claimed to Be the Greatest
Goldbug on Record,
BILLIONS AFLOAT, BUT HARD TO GET
Possibility Of Prcciritntiug the PRE-
cious Metal by Means oG EIcc-
tricitS-ThC Story Uf a
Man Who Tricd II.

tlon large quantities Of gold, and perhaps
some silver besides, In the strictly scientific
world. however, this has been an open qucs-
ton for more than thirty years and it hae
remained for an eminent chemist in the
University Of sydney, Australia, Prof Liver
sidgc. to crer from a series OF exhaustive
tests not only conclusive proofs Of the
presence of gold in the ocean, but also 20
determine with some degree Of precision the
amount.
The results of Prof. Liversdgcs re-
searches are little less than astounding.
Whore no previous Investigator has been
able to find more than minute trace
which, If represented in figures. would not
perhaps amount to tenth of grain per ton
of sea water, this Australian professor has
firmly demonstrated that all sea water con-
tains more than half a grain Per ton, and
that much of 1t contains more than full
grain.
OF course this amount is still very minute,
for a grain Of gold dissolved so as to re-
main in solution in water will net, when
preciptated, show more than a thin film.
like a trace of oil, on the top OF water.
Nevertheless when even this small guam
tity is considered In relation to the enor-
nous volume of water in the sea, the total
amount of g5ld which the ocean contains
TONS or GOLD TO THE CUBIC MILE.
At from half to one grain per ton
cubic mile Of sea water contains between
1870 and 2G0 tons of solid gold. At $50 an
ounce-the actual value is somewhat in
excess of this-a ton OF sid Is worth
little short of 100000. In other words
cubic mile of sea water contains gold TO
the value of between S65.0O0,0o0 and Sl3O
900 COO. On the surface of the globe there
Is computed t. be between 300 900 and
400 600 0GO cubic miles of ocean. Taking
the smaller of these estimates. at half
grain per ton, the total amount OF gold In
the would be above thrty-hve million
billions. At one grain per ton IL would
be just twice this-seventy million billions.
1t is almost impossible to grasp the mag
nitude of such sum. Some comparisons
will help. The total amount Of gold in all
the world at the present time is calculated
at something like 5000 900 or $1,000
coo 900! The computed wealth of the
United States, and this is the richest nation
on earth. Is something like $50, 600 10000
or $4,000, 900. 900. The gold wealth OF
the ocean is a million times this. The ocean
Is indeed, gold mine compared with whose
value the present wealth OF all the nations
Of the world sinks into insigniticGacc
CuTously enough the presence of gold in
the sea water was not suspected oven by
chemists until the announcement made by
Prof Wurtz in 1866 before the American
Even then the fact was not generally ac-
eepted, and Il was not until the famous
English chemist SOnStadt, reported invoSti-
cations whose results confirmed the view OF
Pros. Wurt2 that the fact was believed by
scientific men. But neither Sonstadt nor
Wurtz were able TO secure more than a mere
trace Of the presence OF the precious metal,
and many chemists who came after them
could not find even this. So late as two
years ago the president Of the Society OF
I,,1, % nod
in his annual address that "the presence Of
gold in sea water has not been satisfactorily
doterm ed"
CONCLUSIVE DEMONSTRATIONS MADE.
Prof Liversidgc began his investigation
at the University of Sydacy something like
two years ago, ana has just reported the re-
suits to the Royal Society of Australia. The
method which he employed was a long and
complicated one, and in order to yield any
results at all the utmost care and precision
was required. Tho sea wafer n chemically
clean bottles, was first treated with a solu-
tion of pure ferrous sulphate dissolved in
water and to this solution a few drops of
hydrocbloric acid were added. This was then
heated slowly so as to prevent ebullition,
and about half the water drawn off by evapO-
ration.
In the process of heating a film of lus-
trous iron oxide was formed on the sides
of the vessel, and when this had attained
its maximum thickness the water was en-
tircly poured OF and this film treated with
chlorine, the resulting solution then
cyaporated and further treated with diluted
hydrochloric acid. This liquid was then
poured into test tubes containing a solution
OF stann0us chloride. After standing still
for a few minutes gold would then show in
thin blush or purple tints on the surface Of
the solution. Allowed to remain for some
little time a gray precpitate was formed
which when dried, scorifed ana cuppled
yielded a minute bead of gold
In order to check this process and also
to determine whether all the gold contained
in the sea water naturally had thereby
been extracted, Prof. Livcrsdge made up an
artificial solution containing small quantities
of gold and subjected 1t to the same process.
with the greatest care the loss in the gold
recovered ragged from 10 to "a per cent, re-
vealing clearly that the sea water actually
contains a considerably greater amount OF
gold than that revealed by Prof Liyersidge's
process.
In order to establish his discoveries be-
yond any question, Prof. Liversidge em-
ployed sevoIa! other processes of a similar
nature, ali of which yielded equally con-
elusive results, though not all of them re-
veaed so large quantity. The long CON
troverSy may therefore be regarded as
finally settled.
hut in the practical American mind the
ques ion remains, can the gold in the sea
water eyer be extracted at a profit? The
question apparently does not greatly inter
est Prof Liyersidge, and 1t is reasonably
certain that in the long and complicated
process by which he effected the extraction
would mean an expense all out of prOpOr-
tion TO the amount of gold obtained. This
is where my part Of the story comes in.
1T DIDN'T PAN OUT
Some years ago when on a roughing tour
in the northwest, on a lonely mountain side
in the Cascades, | CHANGED upon a prospec-
tor holding down a stray claim The latter
at best Is hardly to be Classed as a cheerful
occupation, and there are times when its
loneliness hangs like a pail. kindred
human with whom to hold converse is a
welcome visitor always and as my prOspeC-
tor-host turned out to be a curious and eX-
ceedtngly interesting Individual. | not only
stopped with him for several days, but saw
much of him in the following months He
was one OF these versatile geniuses who only
seem to lack organization or concentration
to achieve a high degree of success. He
was an all-around assayer, metallurgst,
chemist and electrician, and what else /
know not. besides being the leader of an
orchestra in the city in the winter months
When, therefore. | had grown into friendly
terms with him, and into his confidence, 1t
was not with great deal of surprise that
one day received his announcement that
he had discovered the greatest gold mine
IN the world-a mine 80 vast he de-
clared, apparently piqued at my lack Of eX-
element, That were its existence to be-
come known the price of gUid would fall
so enormously it would cease to be used "a
a money metal"
IDlga1 uag Iat 70, ,fbI oh