526 Correspondence. 



to the fusing point of certain bodies being augmented by pressure. 

 In taking down this sentence from the lecturer's lips, I was in some 

 doubt as to the words used, and I recorded those which I understood 

 him to utter. You, however, have set the passage right by means of 

 a very simple alteration. My second error was the substitution of 

 the word decomposed for recomposed. This obviously arose from 

 similarity of sounds. On page 367, the letter " p " is inserted in 

 Professor Thomson's name, but I find that Dr. Sterry Hunt has 

 himself committed the same mistake in the report of his lecture in 

 the Chemical News. My fourth error is the substitution of the word 

 ault for coal. This occurred in transcribing my notes. 



Of the other errata, three are what are familiarly termed " printers' 

 blunders." They consist of the substitution of the words seven for 

 several, orchid for orchard, and mutation for nutation. These might 

 have been avoided if I had seen a proof before the Magazine went 

 to press. 



The remaining thirteen corrections are, in reality, emendations of 

 the lecturer's own words, and departures from the actual language of 

 the lecture. These errors are, for the most part, only such as are 

 common to unwritten discourses; but they cannot, as Dr. Sterry 

 Hunt would imply, be with any fairness classed under his descrip- 

 tion of " mistakes into which the reporter has fallen ;" and I must 

 beg leave to protest against being held responsible for the lecturer's 

 own inaccuracies of expression. 



If Dr. Hunt prefers the version of his lecture given in the Chemical 

 News, it cannot be because it approaches more nearly to what he 

 actually said than the version which you have published. If the 

 Chemical News report was founded upon shorthand notes at all, the 

 author has performed the work of revision so vigorously that the 

 original transcript has disappeared. 



I am, Sir, obediently yours. 



The Shorthand Writer. 



London, October 17th, 1867. 



SHELLS ON THE GREAT OEMESHEAD. 

 To the Editor of the Geological Magazine. 



Dear Sir, — Owing to my absence from Cambridge, I have only 

 lately seen Mr. Maw's letter, in the August number of the Maga- 

 zine. The shells which I found at Gwydfyd were by no means in 

 such numbers, or in such a condition, as to suggest to me the idea 

 that I was on a kitchen-midden. If that be the case, they are very 

 different to those in the kitchen-middens on the N.W. side, and, 

 though I cannot speak positively, I am disposed still to adhere to 

 my original opinion. Yours very truly, 



T. G. Bonnet. 



St. John's College, Cambridge. 



