142 Geological Society. 



sounds telegraphically as herein described " (p. 215). Thirdly. It 

 must be borne in mind that Mr. Prescott distinctly advocates Mr. 

 Gray's claim. This, indeed, is clear from what has been already 

 said ; and if further confirmation were needed, it would be found, for 

 example, in the notes on p. 71 and p. 73, and in the passage at the 

 end of chapter v. on p. 217 : he by no means keeps to the attitude 

 of a candid inquirer, which he appears to assume in his preface. 

 On this side of the Atlantic we shall be very much surprised if Mr. 

 Bell's claims to priority of invention are successfully contested ; 

 still the matter is one which must be adjudicated in the United 

 States. 



Of the remaining parts of the volume there is not much to say. 

 They seem to us by no means Veil drawn up. From time to time 

 the composition is very slovenly. In the contents there are both 

 excess and defect. For instance, in the chapter on the Electric 

 Light a good deal is said which the reader might be presumed to 

 know, while the parts relating to " novelties " are cut very short. 

 In several cases elaborate figures are given marked with half the 

 letters of the alphabet, and plainly designed to accompany detailed 

 explanations ; the explanations, however, are not there (figs. 202, 

 203, and 207 are instances). Another very serious fault — and the 

 more serious as the book deals in part with evidence— is the way in 

 which documents are quoted and extracts made from other writers. 

 It is never easy, and sometimes impossible to tell whether an ex- 

 tract is given verbatim, and even where it begins and where it ends. 

 Still, with all its faults, the book is one of considerable interest, and 

 will doubtless find many readers. 



XXV. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



[Continued from p. 67.] 



Jan. 8, 1879.— Henry Clifton Sorby, Esq., E.B.S., President, in the 



Chair. 

 rPILE following communications were read : — 

 *- 1. " On some Tin-deposits of the Malayan Peninsula." By 

 Patrick Doyle, Esq., C.E. (Communicated by the Rev. T. Wiltshire, 

 M.A., E.L.S., E.G.S.) 



The tin-ore of the Malayan peninsula is obtained from " stream- 

 works " in an alluvial plain extending between a range of granitic 

 mountains and the sea. The author describes the mines of the 

 district of Larut Perak. The ore is got in open workings at an 

 average depth of about 10 feet. The tin-bearing stratum has an 

 average thickness of 4*87 feet ; it is overlain by stratified sand and 

 clay, and rests upon either porcelain-clay or, sometimes, a sandstone. 

 The ore varies from a fine sand, near the sea, to a coarse gravel, 

 near the mountains, and is mixed with quartz, felspar, mica, and 

 schorl. The author is of opinion that the stratum of ore has been 

 derived from the granite of the mountain -range (in which it still 

 occurs in veins) by denudation, and under conditions which still 

 exist, though in a modified form. 



