Professor Moissan, in vaporizing gold in the electric furnace, find that 100 to 150 gr. can be evaporated in two or three minutes. By condensing the gold vapor on a cool surface, either filiform masses or cubical srystals can be obtained. It is found that gold, like copper and iron, dissolves a certain amount of carbon when in the liquid state, but this separates out as graphite on cooling. Gold is to be found less volatile than copper. The properties of distilled gold are the same as those of hammered gold, or the melted metal reduced to a ne powder. When an alloy of copper and gold is distilled, the vapor of copper comes over first, showing that there is no definite compound. In case of alloys of gold and tin, the latter metal burns in contact with air. This tin oxide is found to be of a purple color, due to a deposit of fine gold on its surface.

Many rivers, especially in broad valleys, are bordered by a terrace or plain, there being sometimes two or more, extending like a series of shelves, or steps, up the valleyside. The lowest of these is often covered by the river during periods of high water, and is consequently termed the flood-plain.