The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-09
DOES GOLD GROW?
Some Remarkable Facts Connected
with the Precious Metal.
Philadelphia Record.


Philadelphia Record
Gold differs in it's physical characteristics
from every other metal. 1t is absolutely
unoXidizable, and is therefore unchanged by
exposure for ages to the atmosphere. 1t is
almost the only element which is found in
nature in the metallic form. Iron, for ex-
ample is always combined with oxygen or
other gaseous elements forming oxides or
earths or ores. Platinum ami some of the
very rare metals resemble gold in these
qualities, and copper and silver are also
sometimes found in the metallic state, ow-
ing to local geological causes. The gold
prospector requires simply a hammer to
break the stones tin pan and "a supply
of water and grub" BY dexterous ro-
tating and shaking movement he washes
away the lighter particles of earth in his
pan and separates the gold grains or dust
Nothing could be simpler than this
and we have read recently of instances
in which miners in the Klondike region
have gathered hundreds of dollars worth
OF golden grains in one panning.
Every now and then the old alchemical
idea of "transmutation" is revived, and
some people are led to believe that the long
sodght-for philosophers stone has at last
been found. Modern science does not coun-
tenance any belief in the possibility of
changing a base metal into gold; vet it's
revelations sometimes approach sufficiently
close 10 the ancient doctrines to startle the
student and encourage the charlatan to new
schemes of fraud. One of the modern the
cries of matter prOcaims that all sub
stances have common origin; that the I'LL
innate atom is of uniform kind, and that
the different combinations of atoms form
ing molecules give rise to the protean
forms OF matter, just as the architect may
produce royal palace gloomy prison or
staring factory building from common
pile of bricks or stones. The Royal Society
OF England, perhaps the most famous sci
years ago appointed a committee of its
members to investigate the subject of
Metals and Their Alloys" The chairman
Is the chemist of the royal mint; and
probably this accounts for the interesting
fact that the most important studies and
discoveries have recently been made with
gold and it's alloys. Surprising, indeed, are
the results which have been far an
nounced. In fact they are simply astound-
ing; and ii emanating from a less dis
tinguished authority they would be re-
garded as fairy tales.
1t is we'll known that gold is one of the
densest of all metals. 1t bears about the
same relation to iron in this respect that
cork bears to some close grained wood such
as chestnut. A lump of lead (the faVorite
metal Of the alchemiSt for tranSmutation
into gold weighing, let US say, ia pounds.
would if changed into a lump OF 30 d OF
the same size weigh 1914 pounds, while a
lump of pure aluminium of the same d.
mansions would only weigh tritte over
2l2 pounds. Assuming for the moment that
all substances have q common origin or
genesis in the ultimate atom, how enor-
mousIy compressed crowded together
must be the molecules of gold as compared
with those of aluminium, or even with
those of lead or irOn And what incon-
ceivable intermolecular pressure must have
existed in natures laboratory during the
formative period in past ages to have pro-
0ncQ1 o might S1lDpOSp that
the particles of gold are in the closest pos
sible juXtaposition; but long ago it was
found that If a hollow sphere of gold be
filled with water and then squeezed in a
press the water will oOZe through the pores
of the gold as through a sieve. Lord KEEL
YIN, the greatest living authority on such
abStruSe questions, announced some years
ago that the molecules of matter conSti-
tuting solid objects are so far apart as
compared with the spaces between them
that they are not, relative to the mass,
closer together than $50 men would be if
scattered over the whole of England or one
man to 400 square miles To the ordinary
mind this seems incredible The recent re-
port of the committee on metals and alloys
to the Royal Society goes a step further
and announces that the molecules of metals
are rushing about through this intermo-
lecular space, hitting. against each other
balls; and that if this incessant motion
should cease for one-billionth of a second
of time the metal or other substance would
cease to exist as we know it.
The committee of the Royal Society has
also found that the excursions of the mole
culeS of gold are not always confined to
the intermoecular spaces, but that the
molecules may at times and under certain
conditions wander off into space or connect
with other metals This remarkable an
nouncement was experimentally demon
Strated by placing a sheet of pure lead
upon a piece of pure gold in warm closet
for few days, when. 10, the particles of
gold actually made excursion into the
lead and Travelled to its upper surface,
where they were detected. Several years
ago, long before these recent observations
had been recorded, a Philadelphia scientist
wrote article entitled Does Gold
Grow?" in which it appeared that a pro-
fessor of metallurgy at the ancient Uni
versity of Heidelberg, in overhauling an
old cabinet of minerals which had remained
fury, found that some gold specimens con-
tanned in little phials were larger than the
mouths or necks of the bottles, SO that
they could not be shaken out. This seemed
curious, and led to a careful investigation
A list of the specimens was found suisse
quently in the cabinet, and the weight of
each gold nugget was therein given When
these specimens were reweighed each one
had gained in weight about hundredth
part over the original recorded
weight, In the same same cabinet other 3anir
weights duly recorded. These. when
reweighed, tailed closely with the
original weights, and the professor was
finally convinced that there had been an
on in the dark cabinet which amounted
approximately to an increase OF about a
hundredth part in hundred years This
article was written for the private ediflca-
ton of a scientific association, and was
never published. 1t was based upon a pure
ly hypothetical case, but it would be a
curious though not impossible coincidence
should some modern investigator serious
ly announce at some future day that he
had discovered that gold is a growth, like
a plant, and capable of multiplying itself