The Scottish Naturalist. 185 



years resident there, and whose manse looks down upon the spot 

 where that gold-quartz specimen was found. These suspicions 

 were confirmed by the statements contained in a topographical 

 account of the district, published by Dr Porteous in the follow- 

 ing year ^ (1876); and these doubts of mine were of such a char- 

 acter that I determined on visiting the district, collecting evi- 

 dence, and personally examining the specimen. This I could 

 not do till after it had been consigned to the Museum of Science 

 and Art. But with all the evidence now before me I find it im- 

 possible to regard the Gemmell Quartzite as Scotch, until at least 

 some more satisfactory proof than at present can be adduced is 

 brought forward as to its connection with the auriferous quartzites 

 of Wanlockhead. I doubt very much whether any such proof 

 will ever be forthcoming, unless it can be shown by chemists 

 and mineralogists that there is some peculiarity in the said quartz- 

 ites whereby they may be distinguished from those that are Aus- 

 tralian, and that the Gemmell Quartzite possesses the peculiarity 

 in question. 



On the other hand, it cannot be proved that the specimen is 

 Australian — perhaps never will be proved that it is so. But the 

 presumptive evidence that it is so is the following — and I ask the 

 attention of the Society to the nature of that evidence — which is 

 rather of an ordinary or circumstantial, than of a scientific, kind ; 

 and hence a general verdict may be given by those accustomed 

 to the weighing of evidence, who make no pretensions neverthe- 

 less to specific chemical or mineralogical knowledge. 



1. No such specimen of gold-quartz was ever before found in 

 Scotland : or at least there is no authentic record of any such find.^ 



2. No such gold-quartz in situ has yet been found in Scotland : 

 or at least there is no authentic record of any such discovery. 



3. Within a stone's-throw of the place where the Gemmell 

 Quartzite was found, one of the lead-miners of Wanlockhead has, 

 or had in his house, a large collection of Australian gold-quartz 

 specimens. 



4. On a certain day in 1872 a ''flitting" took place from 

 another house in the village to this one — the said gold-specimens 

 being conveyed between the two houses in an open hand-barrow, 

 as so much road-metal might have been. 



5. On the day following this flitting, the Gemmell Quartzite 



^ ' God's Treasure-House in Scotland : a History of the Times, Mines, and 

 Lands, in the Southern Highlands.' 



'■■* Vide Dr Porteous's ' Tieasuie- House,' p. 55. 



