384 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [June 18, 



coral and volcanic matter alternately overlying each other ; and at 

 the boring of an artesian well near the town of Pepita five alternate 

 strata of coral and volcanic ashes were bored through in the space 

 of 25 feet, showing not only that several eruptions had occurred, 

 but that sufficient time must have intervened for the zoophytes to 

 have formed the coral between each, long before the island was ele- 

 vated to the height it now is. The same thing occurs at Oahu (near 

 Honolulu), one of the Sandwich Islands, at the foot of an extinct 

 crater called " the Punch bowl *." In conclusion I must say I re- 

 turned from the Pacific Islands with a conviction there is a greater 

 extension of land going on by volcanic and coral formations, than 

 diminution by abrasion or subsidence. 



7. On the Possible Origin of Veins of Gold in Quartz and 

 other Rocks. By L. L. B. Ibbetson, Esq., F.R.S., F.G.S. 



[Abstract.] 



Having mixed a solution of gold in nitromuriatic acid with five 

 times its weight of water, and placed it in a Berlin evaporating-dish 

 on a thick sheet of copper over a gas-lamp, the author observed a 

 crack in the basin, which was increasing. On transferring the solu- 

 tion to another basin, he found that the crack presented a vein of 

 gold ; the pure gold forming small nodular masses along the fissure, 

 both inside and out, and resembling veins of gold in auriferous 

 quartz-rocks. Under the circumstances of the low temperature at 

 which the solution was being evaporated, the diluted state of the 

 solution still left unevaporated, and the difference of the appearance 

 of the nodular form of the gold- vein from the usual appearance of 

 the metallic gold obtained by evaporation from such a solution, the 

 author thought it worth while to describe and exhibit the specimen 

 to the Meeting. 



June 18, 1856. 



SPECIAL GENERAL MEETING. 



Sir C. Lyell, V.P.G.S., in the Chair. 



I . It was announced from the Chair that, in consequence of the 

 lamented decease of Daniel Sharpe, Esq., the late President, the 

 Society was now called upon to elect a President and a Member of 

 Council. 



* This was filled with fresh water until 1837, when it disappeared during an 

 earthquake. 



