170 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



The rapid progress of the colony since this discovery was famihar to everyone, 

 and the histoiy %i the gold-niigget trade would display prominently the value of 

 observant habits. The lectiu-er'then described the various large nuggets which 

 had been brought into thi^? country, the largest being four feet two inches long by 

 ten inches wide. This was melted ar.d pr; duced fine gold of the value of 6,905/. 

 rfa. 9c/., onlv twenty-one ounces of sioiiy matter remaining. 

 'Diamonds in the rough state had been thrown aside by the gold-seekers, and 

 many other valuable substances were fi'equently wasted in ignorance of theur 

 natme and properties. 



The most interesting part of mineralogy was crystallogTaphy, and the lecturer 

 gave illustrations of the methods of distinguisliing ciystals by their forms, fractiu'e. 

 frangibihty, degrees of hardness, kc. 



Some specimens of ciyolite, from Greenland, were exhibited, to show the 

 importance of the study of mineralogy, in developing the means of cheapening 

 useftd commodities. Aluminium, at the time of the Paris Exhibition, could not 

 be obtained for less than 4/. per ounce. It was soon afterwards offered for 21. per 

 ounce ; but. since cryoline liad been used, it was reduced to less than 15s. per 

 oimce. This was an irnj'Ortant metal, and although hitherto oidy known as a 

 curiosity in the lahiaatury, would probably, before long, become of the highest 

 commercial importance. 



The lecturer concluded with some statistical accounts of the values and annual 

 produce of the chief British minerals. 



Malyerx Natural History FiELD-CLrs. — The annual meeting of this 

 Club was held ^'m the ^I-t ult.. at the 3Iuseiim of the Chib, in Malvern, when the 

 President, the Re\". S. ^yni' nJs, of Pendock. delivered the annual addi'ess. 



Mr, Symunds recorded with deep soitow the loss the Society had sustained 

 during the last year by the death of two of theu' most active and distinguished 

 member- - P .y. T. T. Lewis and the Kev. F. Dyson. Sir Roderick 3Iurcliison, 

 in his 1 "f " Siluria," renders a full acknowledgment of the valuable 



assista]j-_ i i nv'in M"r. Lewi* in the foundation and estabhshment of 



" the Siluna .' Tlie life-l^ng c.jnduct of such men as Lewis and Mr. 



Dyson will e . I. - rtaiit refutation to the l)elief, sometimes entertained, 



of the iiicumpatii-i -nix ^f science with religious energy and duty ; 



inasmuch as the . ^il kiiovrn as faithful ministers of the Gospel, 



who, while they Lj\ rii.- ; ,'.y <yL nature, a^- tl^.e e.xponent of the vast and varied 

 plans of the iue 3Iir,d. 'lid jvjX make science, as some do, their idol, nor exalt 

 philosophy above those nobler principle^, the moral relations of man to God. 



31r, Symonds entered at sc'me length iut j the mineralogy of the Malvems, and 

 their microscopic crystallogi'aphy. 



Speaking of the Caiubrian rocks, he Kiid. — You Avill, I am sure, allow me to 

 take this opjiMit^.pitv ..f con£n-atulatiiu' an illustrious honorary member of our 

 Society, Sir K ' k ' ' ^ h' cation of his new and long-expected 



edition of allow that I have not chosen an 



unillustrativc \- ..u in iuy ;c iv-, c : wldch to offer our congratulations, when I 

 tell you that Sir Roderick lias rcivlevel a very important addition to the records 

 of geolog}', by the discoverv ol a - •~e'^ ':ir:entarv deposits of more ancient 



date than those rocks of the Lo: . dure, r.f Xorth Wales, and of 



Ireland, which we have been a. .... ctim Cambrian.. These oldest 

 known sedimentary rocks occur on the nortii-v. est coast of Scotland, and are un- 

 conformably sunnounted l\y mountain masses of conglomerates and sandstones, 

 now known to be of Cambrian age, and the equivalent's in time of the Longmynd 

 and North Welsh deposits. Thts lowest Cambrian deposit is a gneiss. 



On reading Sir R. ^[urchisou's account of this most ancient'giieiss, some tune 

 ag(\ I determined to examine closelv certain stratified deposits wliich are in con- 

 tact with the .^lalyern syenite, to which Sir R. :\Iurchison alludes (in " Sihma," 

 p. 103\ as consisting of " chloritic schists, quartzite, and highly micaceous schists, 

 almost pa.ssing into gneiss." For this purjiose, I have twice explored the whole 

 lengtli of the tunnel near Malvern Wells, and have given particular attention to 

 certain schistose rocks on the Swinvard, Mid^^ummer, and Ragged-stone Hills, at 



