COXKERKNCK OF SCIK.NTIFU S( )C'l I'.Tl KS. 52/ 



It was ai^Tcc-d thai copies of the resolutions on tlie Metric 

 System, Decimal Coinage and Daylight Saving l)e sent to His 

 Excellency the (iovernor-General, the Prime Minister, the 

 Minister of Mines and the Industries Advisory Board, the High 

 Commissioner for South Africa (London), the British Colonial 

 Secretary, the Decimal Association, London, and the South 

 African Standards Committee. 



The Chairman said that an abstract of the proceedings 

 would be sent to each member of the Conference, and he hoped 

 that each Society represented would confirm the resolutions that 

 had been passed. If no reply were received within one month 

 from the date of the Conference, it would be taken for granted 

 that such contirmation was given. The proceedings terminated 

 with a vote of thanks, proposed by Sir T. M. Cullinan, to the 

 Chairman and the members of the South xA.frican Association 

 for the Advancement of Science for calling the Conference. 



Comet 1917a. — A new comet was discovered by Mr. 

 J. E. Mellish on the 20th March. Its magnitude was 7.5, and 

 it was expected to be visible in the southern hemisphere during 

 -Mav. 



Geology and the War.— The Geological Magazine 

 for February, 1917, contains an abstract of a Presidential ad- 

 dress delivered to the V'esey Club by Dr. A. Strahan, Sc.D., 

 LL.D., F.R.S., V.P.G.S., in the course of which the author said 

 that the researches of the stratigraphical geologist, the palaeon- 

 tologist, and the petrographer had received a respectful tolera- 

 tion in England, but were regarded as a luxury, to be 

 abandoned first among luxuries in time of stress. He hoped 

 that it would not be so necessary in the future to urge the 

 claims of science. The Germans, he said, had been active in 

 their application of geology at the front. Two years ago they 

 had begun to make geologists a part of the army organisation. 

 A staff of geologists was created and placed under the direc- 

 tion of a Professor of the University of Greifswald for service 

 on the Western Front. Among the subjects on which geologi- 

 cal advice was requisitioned were the laying of field railways, 

 the provision of water, the examination of marsh lands, the 

 finding of road-metal, and the guarding against landslides due 

 to gunfire. The German professor of palaeontology, from whom 

 Dr. Strahan quoted, hinted that a much greater use had been 

 made of geological ma])s than he was at liberty to make known, 

 and recommended that. full advantage should now be taken of 

 examining the numerous artificial openings, and of gaining such 

 knowledge of the ground of Germany's neighbours as may be 

 desirable for military purposes, as the coming peace would not 

 be everlasting, and posterity would reproach the present Ger- 

 many if she neglected so favourable an opportunity of examin- 

 ing present fields of battle, on which the wars of the fuUire 

 would ])rol)ably also be fought. 



F 



