404 NATURAL SCIENCE. Dec, 



members of a party occupy posts that should be held by scientific 

 men, not Government but scientific men are to blame. 



Geology in Queensland. 



We do not know whether it is that geologists are more united, 

 or that geology, from its obvious connection with the Deluge, has had 

 the public ear for a larger period than other branches of science that 

 should come within the cognisance of the State, but the recognition 

 of geology by the State has resulted in more active work in geology, 

 both in England and in the colonies, than in any other branch of 

 science. 



We have received the Annual Progress Report of the Geological 

 Survey of Queensland for the year 1893, ^J M^- •^- L. Jack, the 

 Government Geologist. The work of the year appears to have been 

 much interrupted by the disastrous floods, which took place at 

 Brisbane during the month of February, and which might have 

 irretrievably injured the collections had not prompt measures been 

 taken by those on the spot, and had not the officers out in the field 

 been summoned home by telegraph. 



Since that time of trouble the offices and the collections of the 

 Survey have been removed from their temporary home in Elizabeth 

 Street to a more centrally placed building, recently occupied by the 

 Registrar for Titles' Department. Here the collections have been 

 rearranged and exhibited by the two energetic and able Assistant 

 Geologists, Messrs. W. H. Rands and A. G. Maitland. The result of 

 this moving, and the greater available space for exhibition, appears 

 to have been to increase the popularity and therefore the usefulness 

 of the Museum. Even at the somewhat inconvenient premises in 

 Elizabeth Street, the collections were daily visited by about twenty- 

 one people ; the attendance has now greatly increased. 



The exhibits in the Museum are arranged under the four heads 

 of Maps, Minerals, Rocks, and Fossils. The productions of the 

 colony itself naturally occupy a prominent place, and, subordinate to 

 a broad scientific classification, they are arranged in accordance with 

 their geographical position, beginning in each case with the northern- 

 most representative. The rocks of Queensland are now completely 

 exhibited for the first time. The arrangement of the fossils naturally 

 follows that adopted in Messrs. Etheridge and Jack's excellent work on 

 " The Geology and Palasontology of Queensland and New Guinea." 



In a rising and imperfectly surveyed country such as Queensland 

 the officers of a Geological Survey have naturally little time to spare 

 for what we at home dignify by the title of pure science. They are 

 bound to consider the immediate need of the community that pays 

 them, and to devote their attention to the practical and commercial 

 side of geology. In fulfilling this duty, the Geological Survey of 

 Queensland, though miserably small in numbers, and though suffer- 



