WHY GOLD IS A SCARCE METAL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVII, Issue 6536, 7 February 1882, Page 6

WHY GOLD IS A SCARCE METAL.

Gold and silver are essentially the “ precious metals ” from the mere fact of their being rare. The scarcity of gold is certainly the chief cause of iti value. But can it be ex* plained why gold is so rare ? According to Dr Suess, it is because gold is one of the heaviest metals. Three metals are noted for their extreme density—iridium, platinum, and gold. Their weight compared to water taken as a unit is represented by the following figureslridium, 22*88; platinum, 8151; gold, 19*868. With the exception of that strange and also rare metal, mercury, the density of which is 13*59, gold and platinum weigh more than any other metals; for, as aa instance, lead reaches 11*36, silver 1047, bismuth 9 88, copper B*Bo, nickel 8*27, and iron only 7*84. Is there a connection of cause and effect between these two facts, that gold is a rare metal and, at the same time, one of the heaviest that exist ? One would be in* dined to think that there is, if one admit that the earth was first in a gaseous and afterwards in a liquid state. In this case the heaviest matters must have occupied the centre of the globe in a melting condition. If it be true that our whole planetary system has been formed from matter, which constituted in the beginning an immense nebula, it follows that the plane's the nearest the centre must be the heaviest. These ideas were brought forward by the great German philosopher Sent, about the middle of the fast century, and have been from time to time referred to since. “The great weight of platinum and gold,” says a German naturalist, Betzholdt, “u the reason for these metals being so scarce on the surface of the globe, for the greater quantity of them is contained in the still liquid kernel of the earth, there shielded from men’s greediness.” Some observations that have been made help to support these ideas. The spectrum analysis reveals no gold in the sun; we may therefore conclude that it is quite in the centre, bidden from view by other lighter bodies in a gaseous state forming the photosphere. The planets may be divided according to their weight into two groups. The planets in the interior of the circle of asteroids are comparatively heavy; those exterior are comparatively light. Mercury, the nearest to the sun, weighs almost seven times as much as water; Yenns, the Earth, and Mars, five times as muoh; while Jupiter weighs barely as much aa water; Saturn 073 and Uranus o*B4, therefore less than water. The density of Neptune, which has not been quite accurately determined, is at all events very trifling. So we see that in our planetary system the heaviest bodies are nearest to the centre, and this leads-us to assume that the same distribution of matter will be found in each planet. As the rooks forming the surface of our globe weigh on an average 8} times as much as water—limestone B*6 to 2*B, granite and gneiss 2*64 to 2*7, and lava or basalt 2*7 to 3—and as, on the other hand, tire specific gravity of toe globe is 6, we are necessarily led to conclude that the interior must be composed of heavy matter, far exceeding in weight the earth’s average of 6. The existence of gold in the central strata of our globe appears, therefore, very probable. —M. Emile de Laveleye, in the Nineteenth Gentnry,