WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY 



Fikst Meeting : 13 th June, 1894. 

 Major-General Schaw, President, in the chair. 

 New Member.— -Mr. P. W. Tait. 



A copy of vol. xxvi. of the " Transactions and Proceedings 

 of the New Zealand Institute," and copies of the Proceedings 

 of the Society for last year, were laid on the table. 



Address by the President. — "The Last Glacial Epoch: 

 explained by Major-General Drayson's Discovery of the 

 Second Potation of the Earth." (Transactions, p. 5l3.) 



Sir James Hector proposed a cordial vote of thanks to the President. 

 At the same time, as he had been specially asked to express an opinion, 

 he must dissent from any view of the cause of the Glacial period that 

 rested on the occurrence of astronomical cycles. Geological evidence 

 was opposed to such regular cycles. The period since the great Ice Age 

 in the north is quite insignificant compared with the immense time pre- 

 ceding, covering all the Tertiary and Secondary formations, during which 

 evidence of extreme refrigeration is wanting. He described the glacial 

 phenomena of New Zealand, which indicated a former greater extent 

 and altitude of the land, with broad, lofty plateau-ridges that formed 

 breeding- grounds for glaciers that have since eaten their way back, and 

 converted the plateaux into sharp ridges and peaks. This, with the 

 subsequent depression of the land, attended by changes in the distri- 

 bution of shore-lines and ocean-currents, he thought, might be quite 

 sufficient to account for the former great extent of glaciers in New Zea- 

 land. Of former glacial action, in the usual sense of the word, there was 

 no evidence in the New Zealand islands. 



Mr. Travers had great pleasure in seconding the vote of thanks, 

 which was carried. He could not, however, agree with the views of 

 Major-General Drayson either as to the causes for or the period at which 

 the last glacial epoch took place. His views upon these points were 

 entirely opposed to those of astronomers, geologists, and writers on bio- 

 logical matters, especially as affecting the distribution of plants and 

 animals in the regions subjected to glaciation during that epoch; and 

 it would certainly be extraordinary if such men as Laplace, Leverrier, 

 Adams, the Herschels, and a host of other astronomical observers and 

 writers who had dealt with the motions of the earth, should have alto- 

 gether overlooked so important a matter as that which is involved in 

 General Drayson's supposed discovery, or that such a discovery, though 

 propounded nearly twenty years ago, should ever since have been, as it 

 is, entirely ignored. It is suggested that this has been the result of 

 jealousy ; but it is impossible to suppose that the host of great men who 

 have dealt with the question under discussion, and whose sole desire has 

 been to discover the truth, could have been actuated by so unworthy a 

 feeling if there had really been anything in it. The occurrence of the 

 glaciation referred to, and its extent, are unquestionable. That it was 

 partly due to astronomical causes and partly to changes in the distri- 



