86 



PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION B. 



up to— 31° ; refractive index, 1-5325 to 1-535; saponification 

 number up to 20-8, with S.N. for free acid up to 1-26 ; soluble in 

 I volume 70 per cent, alcohol by weight. 



The yield of oil obtained commercially would be about 1 per 

 cent., and as this is heavier than water it would be necessary, of 

 course, to separate it from the bottom of the receiver. From the 

 above results it may be assumed that when the whole of the oils 

 of the Melaleucas shall have been investigated they will be found 

 to be as diverse in composition as are the oils of the Eucalypts. 



I wish to express my thanks to my colleague, Mr. R. T. Baker, 

 F.L.S., the Curator, for botanical assistance. 



8.— ON •' RED RAIN " DUST. 

 By THOS. STEEL, F.L.S., Sydney. 



In 1898 I communicated to this Association^ an account of an 

 examination of a sample of dust which fell in Victoria in December, 

 1896. On the morning of October 11th, 1909, a similar dust- 

 shower occurred over Sydne}'' and surrounding districts, the fall 

 being subsequent to a period of strong westerly winds. Although 

 a fair amount of rain fell just before that cariying the dust, the 

 latter was brought down by a moderate shower, immediately after 

 which the weather became fine, so that much of the dust remained, 

 adhering to railings, roofs, leaves of plants, footpaths, etc., where 

 it quickly dried. On the morning of the fall I was able to gather 

 a fair quantity of the dust from flat skylight windows and from 

 gutters on the roofs of buildings at Pyrmont, a suburb of Sydney. 

 The dust which was deposited on the flat skyhght windows had to 

 a large extent accumulated in a line along the lower edge of the 

 glass, and by scraping this off into a sheet of paper a very clean 

 sample, quite free from soot and other contamination, was obtained 

 for analysis. The dust was examined by boiling with hydrochloric 

 acid, the solution being treated in the manner usual in such 

 analyses. The results obtained were : — 

 Sample dried at 110°C. — • 



1 This Journal, VII., 1898, p. 334. 



