ot the clay by a hot sun or air, and the return of a sharp 
current of water bearing- along with it the sand that formed 
the casts of the moulds — circumstances of great interest to all 
who speculate on the physical condition of the globe at that 
remote period.” 
Mr. Baxendell stated that Mr. Heelis had received a letter 
from Mr. May, of Westminster, relative to the remarkable 
atmospheric pressure on the 10th inst. Mr. May’s barometer, 
situated at an elevation of twenty-five feet above the mean level 
of the sea, stood at eleven a.m. on that day so high as 30*804, 
the temperature being 53°. Mr. Baxendell added that the 
reading of the barometer in Manchester was almost identical 
with that in London, allowing for the difference of altitude. 
Professor Roscoe communicated a Paper by W. S. Jevons, 
Esq., late Assayer in the Sydney Branch of the Royal Mint, 
entitled, “ Observations on the Gold Districts of Australia.” 
The Paper was illustrated by numerous specimens of the 
rocks and deposits in and near which the gold is found ; as 
also by some photographic views, showing the general 
character of the country, and by geological maps and sections. 
The Author first discussed the special geological features 
of the several diggings of Victoria — Bendigo, Ballarat, Cres- 
wick Creek, &c. In these diggings the gold is found in two 
distinct forms, viz., in alluvial deposit as “wash gold” in fine 
grains, and disseminated through the solid quartz rock. In 
the Author’s opinion the whole of the gold found in Victoria, 
is in the first instance derived from the “ reefs” or dykes of 
more or less pure quartz which intersect both the granite of 
the country, and the overlying slate which is proved to be of 
the older silurian formation. The gold now found in the 
alluvium is supposed to be derived, together with the whole 
detritus, from the disintegration of the formerly existing 
schistose or granite hills penetrated by the auriferous quartz 
