TRANSACTIONS OF SOCJIiTIliS. 62? 



special aileiuion iiichulcd (i) tlic L'Xti.-n.sion of railway coniKctioii to the 

 coal-tields ; (2) the surmounting of (lirticulties arising from the dangers of 

 fire-damp; (3) the hardness of drilling, and costliness of blasting the large 

 horizontal sheets of intrusive dolerite; (4) the geological effects of the 

 dolerite on the Xatal coalfields; (5) the alternative extremes of risk to 

 the safety of the collieries, and loss uf coal apt to be associated with the 

 pillar extraction method; ( () ) tlie fear of goaf tires, the first of which 

 occurred in igoS. 



Royal Societv of Soith Akuica. — Wednesday. March 2sl : L. A. 

 Peringuey, D.Sc, F.E.S.. ]"".Z.S., President, in the chair. — "Xotc on 

 Fahustrom's generalizalioi of Ldiiic's equation": Sir Thomas Muir. 

 " ]\Iestonia antarcticum isp. nox\) from BlocnifonU'in" : Dr. T. F. 

 Dreyer. .\ description of a worm found in a small pond on clay soil 

 near Bloemfontein. The specimen shows an almost negligible amount of 

 variation from .1/. nnitahilc from Tierra del Fnego. — " Colour and 

 clieiniral constitution : a study of the phthalcins and related compounds " : 

 Dr. J. Moir. .\ series of nearly 50 derivatives of phenolphthaUin and 

 fluorescein have been spectroscopically examined, the colours being found 

 to range over the entire spectrum. The author stated a number of con- 

 clusions which he had drawn as to the effect of substitution on colour. A 

 new discovery is the behaviour of these 50 substances in concentrated 

 sulphuric acid, the colouration being about five times as intense as in 

 alkali and of a different band wave length. The author claims to have 

 discovered a law explaining this change of colour. 



Wednesday April i8t]i : L. A. Peringuey. D.Sc. F.F.S.. F.Z.S.. Presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — " Xoic o>! the expansian of the product of tzco oblong 

 arrays " : Sir Thomas Muir. The author explained the relation lietween 

 the sum of products of pairs of determinants resulting from llinet and 

 Cauchy's expansion of 1812. — "Xotes on radiation of crystals": J. S. 

 van der Lingen. I'ive sets of crystals had been studied, and the 

 radiation patterns were described. They included (i) the transformation 

 of magnesium hydroxide into magnesium oxide; (2) diamond tests: ( 3_) 

 Bultfontein apophyllite ; (4) serpentine, malachite, and crocidolite; (5) 

 iodine. — "A summary of the distribution of the genera of South African 

 floivering plants (zvith special reference to th.e flora of the Citenhage and 

 Port Pllizabetli Divisions)'': Prof. S. Schonland. This sunnnary was 

 compiled in connection with a study of the fiora of Uitenhage and Port 

 Elizabeth, but it is hoped that it maj' be welcome to other botanists who 

 desire to have readily availat)ie a summary showing the general trend of 

 distribution of South African genera. — " Note upon the endocrauial cast 

 obtained from the ancient calvaria found at Boskop, Transvaal" : G. 

 Eilliot Smith. The author described the cast of the cranial cavity of the 

 skull-cap from Boskop and stated that whatever the date of the Boskop 

 remains may be the evidence suggests that this early inhabitant of the 

 Transvaal represents the type of the immediate ancestors of the men of 

 the Upper Palaeolithic Age. possibly somewhat modified in the course of 

 his southern migration. It probably represents the earliest (not neces- 

 sarily in actual age) known phase of Homo sapiens in the course of his 

 transformation from a condition analogous to that of Neanderthal man to 

 that of Cro-AIagnon. 



Geological Society of South .-\frua. — Monday, April 2nd: J, J. 

 Garrard, A.M.T.C.E., Vice-President, in the chair. — " The contact belt of 

 the older granite in the Barberton district and Northern Szvaciland " : 

 A. L. Hall. The object of the author was to supply information, hitherto 

 lacking in respect to the nature of the relationship of the granite to the 

 other formations of the Swaziland System in the Barberton district and 

 regarding the distribution and character of the altered rocks. Veins of 

 granitic origin are traceal)le continuously from the main granite into the 

 Moodies and Jamestown Series, and detached tongues of similar origin 

 occur at at least eleven separate localities all round the areas of older 

 groups. Phenomena i.f melan>ori)liism are widespread.. t)oth ou the south 



