LXXXII ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



it was at once communicated to the persons who were iininediately and 

 directly interested and could practically test the correctness, or otherwise, 

 of the observation. 



Two of the most notable and ini})ortant of these conclusions, in early 

 days, were the permanence and the de])th to which the auriferous veins 

 of Australia could, and probably would, be protitably worked. The 

 second was the extension of the auriferous deposits beneath the overlying 

 tertiary lavas of the plains. The first test of this observation is recorded 

 in Wathen's Golden Colony, page 234, where we read: "But these 

 indirect proofs are verified by a very recent letter from Mr. Selw}'n, who 

 states that the <liggers are now actually in one place sinking shafts 

 through the lava down to the auriferous drift beneath." 



T have no record of this letter, Init it must have been written early 

 in 1854, and both predictions have since been amply verified. 



As. however, this adtlress will be the close of my geological labours, I 

 mav perhaps be excused if in it, and in the quotations and references 

 which seem desirable for the clear elucidation and vindication of the 

 opinions I am about to express on some of the subjects treated of, I refer 

 to personal records, published or otherwise, more fully than under other 

 circumstances would be either desirable or requisite. 



The publications, books, journals, magazines, addresses, pa])ers and 

 pamphlets are now so numerous and voluminous, that one feels inclined 

 to exclaim with rioethe — 



" Mich iinfïstigt das Vertanf^liche 

 Im widrigcn Gcschwiitz 

 Wo nichts verrharret, Allesflielit, 

 Wo schon verschvvunden was man sielit." 



Which may be translated thus : 



1 weary witli tlit- tanj^li' 



Of the opposing cliatter, 



Where all is transient : nothing lasts 



Where already what one sees is past. 



Vou will, however, thus see how impossible it is for me to bring for- 

 ward any thing new, or that has not been more or less exhaustively and 

 ably treated in one or other of the publications referred to. The facts 

 arc mostly well known and recorded. My remarks will, therefore, deal 

 rather with the interpretation of the facts, than with the facts them- 

 selves. And my excuse for occupying your attention is my desire to 

 place on record, through the medium of the Royal Society of Canada, 

 my own views on the interesting and obscure subject of Archaean rocks. 



Geike says ("Text-book of Geology," 1895) : "The mode of origin 

 of the Archa-'an crystalline schists is a problem which cannot yet be satis- 

 factorily solved." Professor Bonney, in an address to his students on a 



