4 6 4 



NATURE 



[October 5, 191 1 



of Banket Ore Treatment, by Dr. \V. A. Caldecott ; 

 Assaying, Testing, by A. McA. Johnston ; vol. ii., contain- 

 ing Design and Construction of Plant, Transport of 

 Materials, by C. O. Schmitt ; and new editions oi The 

 .Metallurgy of Steel, F. W. Harbord, illustrated ; The 

 -Mechanical Treatment of Steel, J. W. Hall, illustrated; 

 A Handbook on Metallic Alloys : their Structure and Con- 

 stitution, G. H. Gulliver; A Text-book of Elementary 

 Metallurgy, including the Author's Practical Laboratory 

 Course, A. H. Sexton, illustrated; The Clayworker's Hand- 

 book : an Epitome of the Materials and Methods employed 

 in Brickmaking and Pottery, A. B. Searle, illustrated ; 

 Lubrication and Lubricants : a Treatise on the Theory and 

 Practice of Lubrication, and on the Nature, Properties, and 

 Testing of Lubricants, L. Archbutt and R. M. Deeley, 

 illustrated. Crosby Lockwood and Son. — Milk Testing : a 

 Practical Manual, G. S. Thompson. Whittaker and Co. — 

 Radio-telegraphists' Guide and Log-book, a Manual for 

 Wireless Telegraphy Operators, W. H. Marchant ; and a 

 new edition of Colour in Woven Design, Prof. R. Beau- 

 mont. John Wiley and Sons (New York). — Analysis of 

 Paint and Varnish Products, Dr. C. D. Holley ; Electric 

 Ignition, F. R. Jones ; Foundry Practice, R. H. Palmer, 

 edited by R. T. Kent ; The Technical Analysis of Brass 

 and of the Non-Ferrous Alloys, W. B. Price and R. K. 

 Meade. 



Miscellaneous. 

 Bailliere, Tindall and Cox. — Foods : their Origin, Manu- 

 facture, Composition, &c, W. Tibbies; Modern Micro- 

 scopy, M. I. Cross and J. Cole, new edition. II'. 

 Heinemann. — Criminal Psychology, H. Gross; Modern 

 Theories of Criminality, C. B. de Quiros ; Crime : 

 its Cause and Remedies, C. Lombroso ; Criminal 

 Sociology, E. Ferri. Hodder and Stoughton. — The Story 

 of Ancient Egypt, Dr. R. Souttar ; The Creation Story in 

 the Light of To-day, Rev. Dr. C. Wenyon ; The Law of 

 the Air, Dr. H. D.Hazeltine. John Lane.— The Criminal 

 and the Community, Dr. J. Devon. Macmillan and Co.. 

 Ltd. — Laughter : an Essay on the Meaning of the Comic, 

 Prof. H. Bergson, authorised translation from the sixth 

 edition bv Cloudeslev Brereton and F. Rothwell ; The 

 Problem of Formal Logic, Dr. F. C. S. Schiller; 

 Spices, H. N. Ridley, F.R.S., illustrated. The Medici 

 Society, Ltd. — Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, 

 Dr. E. A. W. Budge, illustrated ; Mesopotamian Archaeo- 

 logy : being an Introduction to the Archaeology of 

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 Handcock, illustrated ; South American Archaeology : 

 being an Introduction to the Archaeology of the 

 South American Continent, with Special Reference to 

 the Early History of Peru, T. A. Joyce, illustrated. 

 Methuen and Co., Ltd. — Thp Roman Era in Britain, J. 

 Ward, illustrated ; Roman-British Buildings and Earth- 

 works, J. Ward, illustrated ; Gems and Precious Stones, 

 Dr. G. F. H. Smith, illustrated. Oxford University Press. 

 — Sir John Burdon-Sanderson : a Memoir by the late Lady 

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 J. S. Haldane and E. S. Haldane. Walter Scott Publish- 

 ing Company, Ltd. — TIip Composition of Matter and the 

 Evolution of Mind. D. Taylor. University Tutorial Tress, 

 Ltd. — Hygiene for Training Colleges, Dr. R. A. Lyster. 



TWO MINOR AUSTRALIAN COLDFIELDS AND 

 THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN AUSTRALIA.' 

 ""THE goldfield of Forbes and Parkes is situated about 

 200 miles to the west of Sydney, where the old rocks 

 of the East Australian Highlands disappear beneath the 

 Black Soil Plains. Low spurs from the Palaeozoic rocks 

 project westward into the plains, and wide valleys of 

 alluvium run eastward into the foothills. Gold was found 

 during iSin in the river gravels at Forbes, near the bank 

 of the Lachlan River, and a gold-quartz lode was dis- 

 covered in the following year at Parkes, on Gooban Creek, 

 a tributary of the Lachlan. Further leads and lodes were 



1 The Forbes-Parke.s Goldfield, New South Wales, Department of Mines. 

 i. No 1 Sydney, toio (issued 1911). By E. C. Andrews. 

 Pp. Hi+lOQ+map 1 



> western Central 

 lia). By L, C. E.'Gee. Pp. . l-map+19 illustrations. (Adelaide, 



NO. 2l88, VOL. 87] 



discovered at both localities. Mining on the field has, 

 however, been very irregular in its results. The alluvial 

 deposits at Forbes yielded 212,547 oz. in 1862 and 

 71,493 oz. in 1S63 ; but since then the output from both 

 fields has varied from 57,851 oz. in 1875 down to as low 

 as 1583 oz. Mining at Forbes has at times ceased 

 entirely, and the field is now almost derelict. In the 

 hope of reviving mining there, Mr. Pittman, the Govern- 

 ment geologist of New South Wales, arranged for a geo- 

 logical survey of the field to collect trustworthy evidence 

 as to its past history and determine the most likely direc- 

 tions for future mining. The problem of the field is 

 mainly physiographic ; and the work was entrusted to Mr. 

 E. C. Andrews, who has already made his mark as an 

 able physiographer. His interesting report is a valuable 

 contribution to the geology of central New South Wales. 



The main gold supply of the field has come from its 

 leads, which are buried river channels containing auriferous 

 gravels. These old river beds lie beneath the alluvium, 

 and their working has been hampered by the excessive 

 water with which they are saturated. Alluvial mining has 

 ceased owing to the difficulty of following the deposits into 

 the deeper ground. The methods of deep-lead mining were 

 developed in Victoria, where, as a rule, the gold is found 

 most abundantly in the deep, central river channels. In 

 the Forbes area, however, for reasons which Mr. Andrews 

 clearly explains, some of the richest patches of gold are on 

 the sides of the buried valleys, and he advances weighty 

 arguments that the deep drifts of the old Lachlan Valley 

 would, if discovered, prove too poor in gold for profitable 

 working. 



The lode mines of the field are of two types. The 

 foundation of the area consists of Ordovician and Silurian 

 rocks associated with intrusive andesites and andesitic 

 lavas, and covered in places by some Devonian rocks. 

 To the east are some large areas of granite of post- 

 Silurian, but pre-Devonian or Devonian, age. The gold- 

 quartz lodes are associated with the intrusive andesites or 

 occur along crush-zones. Mr. Andrews concludes that the 

 gold has been introduced into the lodes in solution, and 

 did not come from the igneous rocks, and that where gold 

 has been found in igneous rocks in New South Wales it 

 is of secondary origin. 



The report includes one item of anthropological evidence 

 that may prove of unusual importance. Hitherto 

 Australia has remained the one continent on which there 

 is no direct evidence of the antiquity of man. It has often 

 been pointed out that, in spite of the thorough search of 

 Australian drifts during mining operations, no early trace 

 of man has yet been found in them. Mr. Andrews records 

 (pp. 19 and 27) the occurrence of some blackfellows' ovens 

 18 feet below the surface, and associated with remains of 

 Diprotodon. It is to be hoped that a more detailed account 

 of this discovery will be published. On the theory that 

 the Australian aborigines entered Australia in the north- 

 west, and were specialised for desert existence, as they 

 worked their way across Central Australia, it is in such 

 localities as Forbes, where mining operations expose the 

 drifts on the borders of the central plains, that early 

 remains of the aborigines would be expected. Though 

 under special conditions 18 feet of alluvium might accumu- 

 late in a short time, the association of the ovens with 

 bones of Diprotodon appears to indicate that Forbes has 

 yielded the earliest trace of man yet found in Australia. 

 Mr. 'Andrews holds that the whole series of drifts, of 

 which that containing the ovens is one of the later 

 members, is of post-Tertiary age. 



Mr. Andrews's memoir is of great interest and unusual 

 merit. The history of the field, too often neglected in 

 such reports, has been carefully compiled, and the features 

 of the country are graphically described and suggestively 

 interpreted. Considering that the closing of the mines 

 prevented the author from inspecting the old workings, he 

 has collected instructive evidence as to the structure of the 

 lodes. His sections, however, give no strojig support to 

 his suggestion that the Silurian rocks have been over-l 

 thrust on to the Ordovicians. As such memoirs are for 

 the benefit of the mining industry, the less familiar terms, 

 such as miarolitic, might be explained in footnotes. The 

 most serious omission is the absence of heights from the 

 map. The scarcity of altitudes on Australian maps is at] 



