426 Brief Notices. 



reactions and isodynamie changes, such as have generally been 

 considered as spontaneous, and in all cases where a solution in contact 

 with air is liable to be affected". 



5. Paleontology at Shepherds Bush. — In the Museums Journal 

 for May Dr. Bather describes and comments on " The Palaeontology 

 Exhibit at the White City, 1910 and 1911". Exhibits of modern 

 British palaeontology were organized by him in connexion with the 

 Eranco-British, Japan- British, and Coronation Exhibitions. The first 

 illustrated methods of research, and the last two aimed at showing 

 the scientific results obtained by those methods, especially such as 

 could be obtained only by palaeontology. By concrete illustration, 

 the exhibit attempts to embody abstract philosophical ideas. Among 

 the subjects thus elucidated are the restoration of extinct animals, the 

 relations of extinct faunas and floras to those now living, variation 

 in space compared with mutation in time, evolution of single lines of 

 descent, recapitulation and rejuvenescence in individuals and in 

 colonies. Among those to whose assistance Dr. Bather gratefully 

 refers are Dr. C. W. Andrews, Rev. H. IS". Hutchinson, Mr. G. C. 

 Crick, Dr. Lewis Moysey, Mr. and Mrs. Clement Reid, Mr. G. E. 

 Dibley, the Bristol Museum, Dr. A. Wilniore, Mr. R. G. Carruthers, 

 Mr. C. P. Chatwin, Mr. T. H. Withers, Mr. BZ. L. Hawkins, 

 Mr. W. K. Spencer, and Mr. W. D. Lang. 



6. Sutherlandshire Gold. — We learn from Nature (July 13) that 

 a new attempt is- being made to work the alluvial goldfield in 

 Helmsdale, in Eastern Sutherland. The existence of gold there has 

 long been known, and some of the gold of the ancient ornaments 

 found in North -Eastern Scotland may have come from that district as 

 suggested by the Bev. J. M. Joass. The first modern attempt to work 

 the field was during the years 1868 and 1869, when gold was obtained 

 in the Kildonan and Suisgill Burns, two tributaries of the Ullie, the 

 main stream of Helmsdale. Royalty was paid on about £3,000 of 

 gold, but the amount obtained is said to have been considerably 

 higher. According to Dr. Lauder Lindsay (quoted by Dr. J. Malcolm 

 Maclaren) gold of the value of £15,000 was obtained from Sutherland 

 in 1869. The largest nugget was found in the Kildonan Burn, and 

 weighed 2 oz. I7dwt. The richest alluvial deposits were in the 

 Suisgill Burn, a higher tributary of the IJllie. This burn flows over 

 mica-schists belonging to the Moine system, which have been invaded 

 by granite dykes. The existence of gold in this granite was recorded 

 by Bryce in 1870. The workings were stopped at the end of 1869 

 owing to damage done to the fishing and the farmers. A serious 

 effort to reopen the field is now being made by the Duke of Sutherland. 

 Gold is being obtained, but whether it occurs in paying quantities has 

 still to be proved. Particulars of the geology of the district will be 

 found in papers by Joass, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, xxv, p. 314, 1869 ; 

 E. Greenly, Trans. Edin. Geol. Soc, vii, p. 100, 1895 ; and Maclaren, 

 Trans. Inst. Mining Engineers, xxv, 1903. 



7. South African Journal of Science. — In No. 6, vol. vii, 1911, 

 Professor P. D. Hahn calls attention to the occurrence of a geyser in 

 the Zambesi Valley, about 2 miles south of the river near Eulunka's 

 Kraal, and 40 miles downstream from the confluence with the Gwai. 



