DECEMBER 24, 1896] 
MT ORE 
187 
intrusive masses varying much in composition, are all circum- 
stances favourable to the development of mineral deposits in 
them. Gold is the only mineral that has been found in payable 
quantities in these ranges, and that only in a very limited area 
of about fifty square miles, situated seventy to eighty miles 
E.N.E. of Alice Springs, on the Arltunga or Paddy’s Hole 
goldfield. Although, as just stated, gold in payable quantities 
has been found on the above-mentioned goldfield, yet alluvial 
gold in small quantities has been found also near Winnecke’s 
Depot, Bald Hill, and in some of the gullies in the Georgina 
Range. 
The most important auriferous quartz reefs have a prevailing 
due north and south trend, and their gold contents show a 
remarkable uniformity. The country-rock includes metamorphic 
gneisses and mica schists, intruded by eruptive dykes. Where 
not absolutely vertical the underlay is almost without exception 
to the west, and varies from 5° to 10°... The outcrops of these 
reefs, which are not, as a rule, traceable for any great distance, 
vary in width from four inches to two feet six inches, while at 
the bottom of trenches and shafts the width varies from three 
inches up to four feet six inches. Taking the average of ten 
reefs, the width at the surface was found to be twelve inches, 
while at an average depth of twenty-one feet it was fifteen inches. 
Gold is contained not only in the veinstone, but occasionally and 
in a less degree in the selvage also, on one or both sides of the 
reef. In nearly all the reefs the gold is associated with gossary 
quartz, some of the best results being obtained from a spongy 
siliceous matrix, which crumbles easily when subjected to pres- 
sure. 
The lithological specimens gathered during the Horn Expedi- 
tion included examples of a number of interesting rocks. The 
microscopical structure of some of the eruptive, and a few of 
the most typical of the metamorphic varieties, are briefly de- 
scribed by Mr. W. F. Smeeth and Mr. J. A. Watt, their paper 
being illustrated by four plates. The Paleontology of the ex- 
pedition forms the subject of a scparate contribution by Prof. 
Ralph Tate, who also deals with the botany, : 
Origin of the Flora. 
The route traversed by the main body of the expedition prac- 
tically circumscribes what has been termed the Larapintine region. 
The Larapintine flora is fully described, Prof. Tate taking in 
turn the general physiography and boundaries of the region, 
botanical characteristics, origin of the flora, previous explora- 
tions, enumeration of the flowering plants and vascular 
cryptogams, and diagnosis of new genus and species. The flora 
of the central ** Eremian region” is briefly described in a separate 
paper. 
The distribution of the constituent elements of the Larapintine 
flora and their exoteric relationships, taken in conjunction with 
the physiographic changes that have taken place within the area, 
lead to the conclusions that :— 
(1) The Larapintine table-land was isolated, except perhaps 
in a northerly direction, during the deposition of the marine 
sediments constituting the Rolling Downs system (Upper 
Cretaceous). $ 
(2) The marine submergence was replaced by a lacustrine 
area during the deposition of the Desert Sandstone (Supra- 
Cretaceous), 
(3) A cosmopolitan flora prevailed at this period, which con- 
tinued into Paleocene times. 
(4) The area occupied by the lacustrine area of the Desert 
Sandstone period was somewhat reduced, yet high pluvial con- 
ditions continued into Pliocene times. 
(5) In Post-Pliocene times a high state of desiccation was 
reached, which has continued till to-day. The cosmopolitan 
flora became largely extinct, and its place occupied by an 
Oriental immigration, more especially over the previously- 
submerged areas. 
A short description, by Mr. J. H. Maiden, of the vegetable 
exudations collected during the expedition, concludes the 
volume. 
We have had to content ourselves with a sketch of the work 
of the expedition and of the conclusions arrived at from the 
knowledge gained. This abridgment will suffice, however, to 
show the value of the results obtained in geology and botany ; 
and we need only point to the volumes themselves as monuments 
to Mr. Horn’s generosity, and to the industry of the members of 
the expedition organised by him. 
NO. 1417, VOL. 55 | 
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE. 
THE Paris University Council has resolved to consider the 
institution of a degree which foreign students might take away 
with them as a proof of their studies and acquirements in 
Paris. 
THE officers for the Oxford University Junior Scientific Club 
for next term will be as follows :—President: A. W. Brown 
(Christ Church). Treasurer: A. E. Boycott (Oriel). Editor : 
A. R. Wilson (Wadham). Chemical Secretary : W. P. Billing- 
hurst (St. John’s). Biological Secretary: J. E. H. Sawyer 
(Christ Church). Committee: R. A. Buddicom (Keble); E. 
H. Hunt (Balliol) ; D. Meinertzhagen (New Coll.). 
Art the inauguration of the Lyons University, the Rector, M. 
Compayre, announced a donation to the university of 4000/. 
from M. Auguste Falcouz,a Lyons banker. The 4rztzsh Medical 
Journal states that the interest of this sum is to be disposed of as 
follows :—Every two years a prize of 4o/. sterling will be given 
to the students of each of the four faculties—literature, science, 
law, and medicine—who write the best essay on a current 
subject. The subject of the essay will be chosen by the Council 
of the Lyons University a year in advance. Every two years 
instruments for the science and medical faculties will also be 
bought. When fifty years have elapsed, the Lyons University 
will have entire control over the capital in order to be able to 
meet the demands of scientific progress. 
Dr. G. H. Bryan, F.R.S., has been appointed professor of 
pure and applied mathematics in the University College of 
North Wales. at Bangor. Dr. Bryan graduated at Cambridge 
in 1886 as Fifth Wrangler. In 1888 he was Smith’s Prizeman, 
his essay being published by the Royal Society ; he was then 
elected Fellow of Peterhouse. In 1895 he became Fellow of 
the Royal Society, and received the degree of Doctor of Science 
of Cambridge University. Dr. Bryan has been appointed one 
of the examiners for Part IT. of the Mathematical Tripos (1897). 
He is the author of a valuable report to the British Association 
on the *‘ Present State of our Knowledge of Thermodynamics,” 
and of several other important papers on mathematics and 
mathematical physics. 
MAGDALEN COLLEGE, Oxford, has just elected Mr. R. W. 
T. Giinther to an official fellowship as tutor in natural science. 
Mr. Giinther, who is the son of Dr. Albert Giinther, F.R.S., 
so well and long known in the scientific world, has had a dis- 
tinguished career at Oxford. He was elected to a demyship in 
natural science at Magdalen in 1888, from University College 
School. He took a first class in morphology in 1892, was 
appointed University student of biology at Naples in 1893, and 
Royal Geographical student in 1895, and has been first lecturer 
and then tutor at Magdalen since 1894. He has made several 
contributions to Prof. Ray Lankester’s very interesting “‘ Linacre 
Reports,” and he read a paper at the British Association meeting 
last summer. It may be noted that Magdalen has already this 
term elected a demy and an exhibitioner in biology, the former 
coming from the Charterhouse. the latter being a pupil of Prof. 
Weldon at University College. 
Tue following are among recent announcements :—Dr. 
Surmont to be professor of hygiene at Lille; Dr. P. V. 
Lichtenfels to be full professor of mathematics in the Poly- 
technic Institute at Graz; Dr. Edler to be associate professor 
of agriculture in the University of Jena; Dr. E. Pringsheim to 
a professorship of physics in Berlin University; and Dr. Karl 
Friedheim to a professorship of chemistry ; Dr. Kalischer to be 
professor of physics at the Technical High School of Berlin- 
Charlottenburg; Dr. Autenrieth, privat-docent of medical 
chemistry at Freiburg i.B., to be provisional successor to Prof. 
Baumanns ; Dr. J. Kurschak to be associate professor of mathe- 
matics at the Technical High School in Budapest ; Dr. Anton 
Pestalozzi to be assistant in the Ziirich Botanical Museum 5 
Prof. Blass to be full professor of geology at Innsbruck. , Dr. 
Szadeczky has been invited to become associate professor of 
geology at Klausenburg; and Prof. Allé, professor of mathe- 
matics in the German Technical High School at Prague, has 
been called to the Technical High School at Vienna. 
THE conference of headmasters was opened at Rugby on 
Tuesday, and was largely attended. After a long” discussion a 
resolution declaring the organisation of secondary education to 
be a matter of pressing necessity, with which the Government 
should be urged to deal in the next Session of Parliament, was 
carried, with a rider expressing the desire. of the conference to 
a i 
