Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-06-09

The GENESIS OF GOLD.
Conflicting Theories as to the Deposits Of
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UuS UcSC ylCluo Vi phS ioooi ioooi'SS VI
nature. A diamond is but a lustrous
bit of carbon, but gold is gold and
nothing else, whether considered as a
salt or solid. It combines with 9TH
er metals and may be separated from
them, but no combination or other SUBJ
stances can produce it. Since the days
of Tubal Cain, who probably worked
in gold as we'll as iron, it has been the
dream of the alchemist that the baser
metals might be transmitted into gold,
and in every century except the Nine
teenth Rosicrucians and other reputed
leaders in the black arts have wasted
their lives in the hopeless undertaking.
Concerning the origin of gold and
the methods of its deposition various
theories have been advanced and much
has been written. No one of the ex-
plantations, however, is without its
contradictions, and a definite solution
of the mystery is as yet an unaccom-
plished achievement. Let it be said
that some fundamental facts in relation
to gold are generally accepted. 1t is
admitted that the waters of the seas
contained chloride of gold-enough in
the aggregate, perhaps, to gild the sur
face of the earth-and that in its pri-
NAL condition it is probable that gold
was and is metallic salt in the form
of chloride, sulphide or silicate, or OF
all them, as determined by conditions.
Could it be ascertained through what
agencies this salt was originally evol-
we'd gold might be produced by imita'
ting the processes of nature, as in the
manufacture of small diamonds from
carbon, but this is a sealed book to
science, and research will probably
never be rewarded with the secret.
Until recently the generally accept
ed theory was that molten silica car
rying gold in metallic or some other
form was forced up into assures in the
cooling crust of the earth when the
world was new, and that the gold now
found in gravel and other deposits was
at the same time or subsequently fused
from the quartz that held it and scat
tered by glaciers and the action VI the
elements. There are some weak spots
in this theory. AS the gold would be
volatized by the intense heat CT the
molten silica. 1t is not shown by
what means it afterward uniformly
permeated the quartz in metallic form
and as the clearly defined walls OF
quartz viens were more readily fusible
than the quartz itself, an explanation
is in order of the reason why the walls
should not have fused and mingled
with the molten silica. We do not say
that these apparent inconsistencies dis
prove what is known as the igneous
theory, but they certainly weaken it.
This theory has been attacked by
learned geologists in both hemispheres,
among whom are Professors Bischof,
LIE Conte, Skey, Lobley, Newbery and
others, and more recently by ]. G. F.
Johnson, author of "The Genesiology
of Gold" To it they oppose what
NAV be called the infiltration theory.
They admit that volcanic action had
much to do, not only in the formation
of mineral veins, but in characterizing
their metallic constituents but that
action, they assume, was largely dy-
drothermal. To this theory the origi-
nal occurrence of gold as a metallic
salt is a necessity. 1t is claimed that
when water began to form in large
bodies on the cooling surface of the
earth it penetrated into the heated
regions below, and millions of geysers
were started to spouting their mineral
impregnated waters in every direction.
Where the crust was thin explosions
and upheavals followed. Into riffs
and chasms these waters returned, to
be again elected, or to be the cause OF
further explosions. Later, as the COOL
ing process continued, assures became
more abundant, and as the dry land
began to appear mineral lodes were
formed and the waters, heavily charged
with silicates, carbonites of lime, sui
phides, etc., in solution, commenced to
deposit their contents in solid form.
Taken altogether, these were rather
strange geologic conditions from which
to commence the upbuilding of habit
able world. But, admitting that they
existed, and that the chemical agencies
of the period were favorable to the
production of metallic salts, and the
task of accounting for gold in quartz
veins that were previously barren is
regarded as easy by the advocates Of
the hydrothermal theory. For instance
chloride of gold, now found in sea
water, was more abundant in the azoic
age than it has been since. Says Prof
Johnson: "Sulphide of gold would
have been produced by the action Of
sulphuretted hydrogen hence oul
auriferous pyrites lodes; while silicate
of gold might have resulted from 8
combination of gold chlorides with
silic acid and thus the frequent pres
ence of gold in quartz is accounted for ,
Yes, it is accounted for, but in very
misty and unsatisfactory manner.
Prof. LIE Conte throws better light
on the theory by assuming that miner
allied waters flowed for long periods
up and down assures, continually
impregnating the ores with their de
posts. But if gold originally occurred
as mineral salt, when and how die