6. The Gold is found in positions where there is a transition from the ordinary crystalline rocks to those of the sedimentary character. This remark leads us at once to the interesting and debated subject of the “ORIGIN OF GOLD.” Some say that the gold of our gullies and hills is washed down from a matrix or source,—that is from certain golden lodes in a mountain. Others affirm that a volcano once burst forth and showered gold instead of cinders, and they direct us to the shot like appearance of nuggets. It is believed, also, that mica is the mother of Gold. Without doubt some is washed down by rivers, and more was deposited by ancient floods when covering the whole country, but a large amount is found _in situ_ as it always had been. It is assuredly a fact noticed in all auriferous countries, that the gold is seen in positions where the sedimentary looking rocks come in contact with the so called igneous rocks. It is also, always found associated with iron, and commonly in the decomposition of rocks. It is in auriferous sulphuret of iron in Chili; ochreous decomposed silicious rock, adhering to specular iron, in Columbia; ferruginous sands in the Niger; decomposed reddish granite in Thibet; honeycomb quartz and rotten slate in Virginia; black peroxide of iron in Ceylon; pyrites in decomposed felspar in Hungary; sulphuret of iron in quartz in France; ferruginous clay slate in Granada; with iron of all kinds in Wieklow; decomposed crystalline rock with iron pyrites in the Ural; so in California, so in Australia. It would appear, then, that the gold was the produce of certain changes in certain rocks. The formation of crystals is somewhat analogous. The wall of a mine previously bare is seen gradually to get covered with crystals. Even crystals of iron pyrites are so produced, and are known by miners as “Young Mundic.” There must be, then, constant activity going on in the apparently inert mass of mineral matter. There is no rest in creation. The heavens above us speak of eternal movement. The animal and vegetable kingdoms reveal an incessant round of change. And now the dull rock unfolds to us the existence of motions and transformations that know no stay. There may be death upon the earth, there can be none beneath. We sweep off crystals only to make way for more. And may it not be so with metals in general? We may not know the particular elements and circumstances necessary for the formation of the yellow treasure, but some approximate conception may be gained by observation.