308 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



specific difference in one case might be far greater than that required 

 in another. The mastodon and Elephas primigenius are acknowl- 

 edged to be extinct, and he saw no reason why other classes in the 

 animal kingdom should not be exterminated by the same causes ; he 

 was convmced that careful examination would show that the lowest 

 mollusks in the tertiary beds are as different from the present as are 

 the larger animals. 



The Great Falls of Zambesi, Southern Africa. Dr. Livingston, in 

 a recent letter to Sir R. I. Murchison, states that he greatly under- 

 rated, in his published " Travels," the magnitude of the Victoria Falls 

 of the Zambesi River, which are probably the most wonderful in the 

 world. Their breadth, which he had estimated at about one thousand 

 yards, is now ascertained to be at least one thousand eight hundred 

 and sixty yards, with a sheer fall of three hundred and ten feet. 



Mineral Produce of Great Britain. Sir R. I. Murchison, in an 

 address before the geological section of the British Association, 

 (1861), thus states the present yearly mineral production of Great 

 Britain : 



" We are now consuming and exporting about 80 millions of tons 

 of coals annually a prodigious recent increase, and daily augment- 

 ing. Of iron ore we raise and smelt upwards of 8 millions of tons, 

 producing 3,826,000 tons of pig iron. Of copper ore we raise from 

 our own mines 236,696 tons, which yield 15,968 tons of metallic cop- 

 per; and from our native metallic minerals we obtain of tin 6,695 

 tons; of lead, 63, 525 tons; and of zinc, 4,357 tons. The total an- 

 nual value of our minerals and coals is estimated at 26,993,573, and 

 that of metals (the produce of the above minerals) and coals at 

 37,121,318!" 



Tin Ore from Maine.- At a recent meeting of the Boston Society 

 of Natural History, Mr. Yen-ill exhibited a piece of tin ore, from Mt. 

 Mica, Paris, Me., which was part of a mass which originally weighed 

 five pounds. He stated that he had also found several smaller speci- 

 mens, some beautifully crystallized, scattered through the mass of 

 rock constituting the vein ; they were generally in contact with albite 

 or quartz. 



Auriferous Veins. As respects auriferous veins, one tenet of geo- 

 logical science has received ample confirmation in Australian experi- 

 ence. Throughout the known world it has been found that auriferous 

 veins are, as a general rule, only very rich near the surface. They 

 decrease rapidly in richness as they increase in depth, which is not 

 true of the veins of the baser metals. Now the colonists of Victoria 

 would not give due heed to this dictum of science, but, believing the 

 contrary, they commenced extensive works on nearly every lode 

 which had proved rich near the surface, and intended to prosecute 

 deep mining thereupon. Hence, in spite of science, a gold-mining 

 fever arose, and unfounded speculation raged far and wide. The min- 

 ing experience, however, of 1859-60 has warranted the truth of the 

 scientific opinion, or rather induction from numerous observations, 

 and has proved the folly of popular presumption. Not a tithe of 

 the mining companies formed in 1859 are now in existence ; and 

 " there are not six quartz veins in the colony of Victoria in which a 

 sufficient quantity of gold has been obtained, at a depth of four hun- 



