In the present paper an attempt will be made to summarise known facts respecting the mode of occurrence of gold in its matrix, and to draw certain inferences from these facts as to the manner in which the gold has been deposited. The general opinion of miners that it has been introduced by igneous action, in a state of either fusion or volatilization, does not agree with modern theories of the origin of metalliferous veins, which ascribe their existence to hydrothermal action, or at any rate suppose the metals to have been introduced in aqueous solution.