Arizona republican., 1903-07-28
GOLD FOUND IN TREE ASHES.

Many an enthusiastic botanist will tell you that certain of his specimens are worth their weight in gold. Of course. he has in mind the extreme rarity of the plant or root. Very diff ferent, however. Is the meaning of pr. E. E. Lungewitz, a well known metal lurgical chemist when he states the proposition that certainTrees are worth a proportionate part of their weight in gold; for after conducting many eX- periments on certain classes of trees he has come to the conclusion that such trees actually contain pure gold in a diluted form.
 Chemists have long suspected that gold might slowly dissolve in surface water, and have disposed of the ob- jection that that proposition has never been established by analysis by con- tending that the solution is infinitely weak
 After giving the subject considerable study and thought Dr. LungewitZ came to the conclusion that if the surface water contained dissolved gold at all, however small the quantity, it should naturally be drawn up by the roots of trees in the near vicinity and would there appear in more substantial form.
 Accordingly he selected a number of trees growing in the neighborhood of lodes and placers, had them felled and cut them into pieces of convenient size. After the bark had been removed with about one inch of the outside wood, the pieces were placed upon a clean sheet of corrugated iron and | fired. The ashes, which yet containeed grains of charcoal, were then collected and assayed. The experiment was not a distinct success. While gold was undoubtedly present its quantity was so infinitely small that an accurate estimation of its amount or fineness was out of the question: As these trees were of the soft wood variety it was thought that better results might be obtained by experimenting upon trees of differ ent kind. And that is just what hap pened. The ashes of some So-called l ironwood trees yielded between 10 cents and 40 cents worth of gold to the ton. | In all of thes experiments only the l trunks of the trees near the roots had been used and it was determined there fore to ascertain whether more satis- factory results could not be obtained | by reducing the upper branches 10 dSHtS HS DTONSd lO Ue richer in gold than any other part of the tree heretofore tested. In one In- stance the ashes yielded no less than $1.17 worth of gold to the ton, while in many cases the assay showed a return of over $1 per ton.
 The significance of these experiments lies in the fact that they establish be- yond doubt that gold is dissolved by the surface waters traversing and per colating gold formations. They give rise likewise to the interesting question as to which compent of these surface waters possess this gold -dissolving property Dr. Lungewitz has not at tempted to answer it, but has left it for further investigation. He advances the theory, however, that this peculiar action must have a disastrous effect rnon gold deposits in the course of time.
 As to the business opportunities ine volved in the discovery, 1t is perhaps sufficient to say that the lovers of trees need feel no apprehension as to any wholesale destruction of them, for the gold yielded is too little to warrant the cXpense.-New York Press.