THE question as to how gold was originally deposited in our auriferous lodes is one to which a large amount of attention has been given, both by mineralogists and practical miners, and which has been hotly argued by those who held the igneous theory and those who pronounced for the aqueous theory. It was held by the former that as gold was not provably existant in nature in any but its metallic form therefore it had been deposited in its silicious matrix while in a molten state, and many ingenious arguments were adduced in support of this contention.Of late, however, most scientific men, and indeed many purely empirical enquirers (using the word empirical in its strict sense) have come to the conclusion that though the mode in which they were composed was not always identical, all lodes including auriferous formations were primarily derived from mineral impregnated waters which deposited their contents in fissures caused either by the cooling of the earth's crust or by volcanic agency.