GEOLOGY. 



THE AURIFEKOUS QUAKTZ OP WANLOOKHEAD.i 



By W. LAUDER LINDSAY, M.D., F.L.S. 



IN March 1877 Mr Dudgeon of Cargen exhibited to this So- 

 ciety a specimen of auriferous quartz found at Wanlockhead 

 in 1872, of which specimen a short descriptive note is given in 

 the Society's pubHshed Proceedings (vol. ix. p. 338). The 

 specimen in question has since been placed in the Museum of 

 Science and Art, and it had previously been figured in a beauti- 

 ful coloured lithograph that forms the frontispiece of a 4to pamph- 

 let printed for private circulation by Mr Dudgeon in 1875.^ 



Not till July 1877 had I an opportunity of inspecting the said 

 specimen, or of collecting evidence regarding the circumstances 

 under which it was found. But the result of the examination and 

 inquiries then made convinces me that what I have already spoken 

 of elsewhere — and will now for the sake of brevitv and conveni- 

 ence speak of — as the^Gemmell Quartzite"^ — is much more 

 probably Australian than Scotch, albeit it was found, as alleged, 

 at Wanlockhead. 



The object of the present short paper is simply to call atten- 

 tion to this opinion as to \\.?> foreign origin, and to the kind of evi- 

 dence on which the opinion is founded ; though I submit that 

 it is rather for those who contend for the Scottish nativity of the 

 specimen to prove their case. 



I may, however, first remind the Society, that so long ago as 

 February 1863 — at a conversazione of the Society — I made an 

 exhibit of the gold and gold-rocks of New Zealand, especially 

 of those of the province of Otago ; while, in a special descrip- 

 tive prospectus of the said exhibits, I endeavoured to direct 

 attention to the probable auriferous riches of Scotland — basing my 



1 A Paper read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh on March 4, 1878. 

 - * Historical Notes on the occurrence of Gold in the South of Scotland.' 

 3 "The Auriferous Quartzites of Scotland," 'Scottish Naturahst,' vol. iii. 

 P- 54- 



