xlix 



SEFTEMBEH, 1S99. 



The monthly evenin.o: meeting was held 

 on September 18 in the Tasmanian Art Gal- 

 lery, the acting president, His Excellency 

 the Administrator (the Hon. J. S. Dodds, 

 C.M.G., C.J.) presiding. 



The Secretary read an apologj' from 

 the senior vice-president (the Hon. Sir 

 James Agnew, K.C.M.G.), regretting that, 

 owing to ill-health, he was unable to 

 attend, and also from Mr. A. G. Webster. 



PAPERS. 



Mr. Thos. Stephens, M.A., F.G.S., pre- 

 sented an interesting work, entitled 

 " Theory of the Earth," bv James Hutton, 

 M.D.,F.R.S.E. Vol. in. This book, recently 

 published by the Geological Society of 

 London, at the instance of, and under the 

 able editorship of Sir Archibald Geikie, 

 comprises chapters IV. to IX. of the con- 

 cluding volume of Hutton's "Theory of 

 the Earth," the first two volumes of which 

 were published as far back as 1795, two 

 years before his death. The MSS. 

 from which it is printed were not then 

 quite ready for publication, and appear to 

 have passed from hand to hand until they 

 finally came into the possession of 

 the (Geological Society. The first three 

 chapters will probably never be recovered. 

 Hutton has often been styled the father 

 of modern geology. Of his description of 

 the Island of Arran, in the present volume, 

 Sir A. Geikie says:— "This striking essay 

 is a masterpiece of acute observation and 

 luminous generalisation. Had it been 

 published in his life-time it would have 

 placed him at once as high in th-^ ranks of 

 field-geologists as he admittedly stood 

 among those of the speculative writers of 

 his time. It seems but a tardy act of 

 nistice to his fame that the merit of this 

 practical side of his life-work should be 

 now at last fully established." 



The Bishop of Tasmania (Right Rev. 

 H. E. Montgomery, D.D.) read an in- 

 teresting paper entitled " Notes on the 

 Habits of the Cape Barren Goose {Cereopsis 

 novce hollandice). 



Mr. A. Morton made some remarks on 

 the subject matter of the Bishop's paper. 



Messrs. W. A, MacLeod. B.A., and O. 

 E. White contributed two very interesting 

 mineralogical papers entitled — 



(1.) " On the occurences of a new species 

 of garnet at Port Cygnet." — This paper 

 describes a new species of garnet 

 discovered in a dyke formation on 

 the beach between J?orf Cygnet and 

 Lymington. As far as could be ascertained 

 this dyke formation is contemporaneous 



with permo carboniferous sediments. A 

 detailed investigation then follows of the 

 rock itself, its macro and microscopic 

 characters being given, and its relation- 

 ship to the trachyte family established. 

 The garnets of a brownish, yellow tint are 

 abundantly scattered through the rocls, 

 and show well developed crystalline form. 

 From analysis conducted by the authors, 

 the garnet was found to contain about 12 

 per cent, magnesia, 12 per cent, lime, and 

 12 per cent, manganese oxide (lower.) These 

 percentages are entirely new so far as 

 published lists of analyses go, and to this 

 new species the authors have proposed the 

 name of Johnstonite, as a slight token of 

 appreciation of the arduous and excellent 

 work done by Mr, R. M. Johnston, F.L.S., 

 in the geology of Tasmania. 



(2.) Notes on a Fayalite basalt from One 

 Tree Point.— This paper gives a petrotogical 

 description of a peculiar rock, the 

 geological occurrence of which is given by 

 Mr. R. M. Johnston (systematic account 

 of the geology of Tasmania, p. 149.) 

 This rock outcrops as a lava flow beside 

 the electric lighting station, and runs 

 down to the beach as a thin flow 

 The authors discuss the term "Basalt," its 

 definition and application to this rock, 

 and are of opinion that the present rock in 

 texture is a basalt, and the ordinary ferro- 

 magnesian minerals are replaced by the 

 peculiar iron-olivine fayalite, whence the 

 term Fayalite basalt. A complete analysis 

 of the rock is given, also its specific gravity 

 and microscopical characters. These 

 points are followed by a careful review of 

 the various microscopical characters of the 

 rock as exhibited in their sections, and the 

 paper concludes by some remarks on 

 structural characteristics. Both papers 

 are accompanied by coloured drawings 

 showing the microscopical appearance of 

 the respective rocks. 



Mr. R. M. Johnston offered some ob- 

 servations on the papers read. 



tasmanian forestry. 



Following up the interesting paper read 

 at the last 'meeting of the Societv by Mr. 

 L. Rodway, entitled "Forestry for Tas- 

 mania," Mr. E. C. Nowell read an im- 

 portant paper " On the Conservation and 

 Culture of Trees." 



The writer, in the course of the remarks, 

 said : — 



For many years the tendency in this 

 colony has been to substitute imported 

 deals for our own hardwoods. The follow- 



