GOLD IN THE SEA.

Hokitika Guardian, 5 December 1924, Page 3

GOLD IN THE SEA.

(By W. M. Doherty, K.1.C.) The search for gold never ceases. By some general human telepathic instinct manifested in all dimes, in every age, amongst ail manners of people savage, barbaric or cultured, is tht- quest pursued. At the risk of life itself, mankind endeavours to obtain that for which every other one will barter all that the world has to bestow. The rigors of the Arctic zone, the miasmas of the tropical forests, alike are cheerfully encountered if only at the journey’s end there he prospects of the alluring element. \\ ill it not then stir some of us to know that this sought for, elusive, and precious body leaves our coast continuously and in prodigious quantities? Every wave that strikes the length of our coast-line holds in its embrace ounces by the hundred thousand. Prolessor Liversidge, of the chemical department of our own University, at one time took some pains in the estimation of the gold content of the Paeilie, and the work is extant.

Years afterwards, some 27 years ago, I took the advantage of a time of residence on the shores of Botany Bay whilst investigating certain sewerage purification methods, and the couse of fish mortality ill our estuaries, to test the waters of the open hay. I found there a confirmation of Professor Liverside’s figure for gold in the Pacific. This was approximately similar to that lately given as obtained by Professor Fritz lloher, of the Berlin University, from water oil the coast of New South Wales.

A rough estimate of the- total amount of gold in solution in the- hay itself was one million ounces. A realisation of the- vast amount of the precious metal so close lo us, of course, suggested thoughts of winning some of it, and much ccigiDitii.il and ingenious experiment was expended cm the- problem, without avail. The alcimalion ol the gold in its limiti-chloricle combination and scili■ t|ioii in sea water is too extreme to admit of ils payable collection hv ally means at present known. I remember well, long alter I had ceased to interest myself actively with the problem, while one (lay walking cm the beach, being suddenly arrested by a purple ol Cassius siam on the while sand, which was exuding from a sea slug that had been washed up by the waves. Now this purple of Cassius stain is one ol the colours taken on by gold in one of its many forms, and I have reasoned that, as seaweed collects and secretes iodine, so perchance this obliging slug was busy concentrating gold, and had ccmvcrtoc! it into some colloidal form. Alas! my inspiration came to nought, for numerous such slugs were then and there collected and appropriately investigated, with negative results. It may he, however, that one of these clays some inaiiue organism will he found worth exploiting for its gold content. ll' some contain incline, which occurs ill muiiltc traces in their element, why not others gold? The ease with which gold engenders and maintains a colloidal state suggests stuli a biological possibility.

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