PROCEEDINGS OP SECTION C. I9t 



merit of suggesting a source, and presumably is considered capable of 



explaining their form, but their composition and distribution seem to 



be incapable of explanation under this hypothesis. The suggestion 



that they are artificial products is quite untenable, and must be 



rejected. The hypothesis that Australites were a peculiar form of 



volcanic bomb was at one time the prevailing opinion, but seems to have 



but few advocates at the present day. In this case there is the so far 



unsurmountable difficulty of determining the source and explaining 



the distribution of these bodies. As has already been pointed out, 



some of the bombs are found nearly 2,000 miles from the nearest 



suggested source. If we could believe that a volcano was capable of 



hurling bombs to this distance then the form need present no difficulty. 



As the upholders of the meteoritic hypothesis believe that the form was 



impressed on the Australites during their flight through the atmosphere, 



they must admit that similar forms might be assumed by bombs that 



had reached the earth 2,000 miles from the volcano that had ejected 



them, especially as the trajectory would be such that in their flight 



they would pass beyond the earth's atmospheie, and consequently 



during the latter portion of their journey would closely simulate 



meteorites. A volcano that could have produced such wonderful 



results would surely have left other traces of its existence, and the 



absence of such traces forces us to abandon this explanation of the origin 



•of Australites. 



It has already been pointed out that the bubble hypothesis does 

 not satisfactorily explain the form of Australites, and the actual source 

 of these imaginary bubbles is still wrapped in mystery. ^V^lile the 

 hypothesis supplies a method of distribution it fails utterly to explain 

 the localization of the Australite to Tasmania and Southern Australia. 

 The supporters of the volcanic origin of Australites, whether they 

 believe that they were produced by violent ejectment from a volcano 

 or were distributed as blebs of bubbles, have, so far, been unable to 

 point to any volcano in Australia or its near neighbourhood which has 

 produced lava whose composition is at all comparable with that of the 

 Australites. Mr. Dunn has published an analysis purporting to be 

 that of Moldavite, from Mount Tairua, New Zealand. This is an 

 analysis of Jiormal Obsidian, and however much the specimen may have 

 simulated the appearance of Moldavite, it is quite dissimilar in compo- 

 sition to these bodies. 



Turning to the meteoritic hypothesis we find that so far no 

 unanswerable arguments have been advanced against the belief that this 

 hypothesis is capable of explaining the source, form, composition, and 

 distribution of Billitonite and Moldavite, as well as of Australites. 



' It has been shown that the forms of Australites are those which 

 could be assumed by a rotating liquid, the departures from the theoreti- 

 cal forms being due to the resistance of the atmosphere. 



