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ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS, JULY, 1905. 



The monthly meeting of the Royal So- 

 ciety waiS held at the Museum on Monday 

 evening, July 10, the President, His Ex- 

 cellency Sir Gerald Strickland, K.C.M.G., 

 presiding. xVmong those present were. 

 —Bishop Mercer,. Mr. A. G. Web- 

 ster (chairman of the council). Sir Elliott 

 Lewis, Hon. G. H. Butler, Sir Adye Doug- 

 las, Messrs. G. E. Moore, M.H.A., Russell 

 Young, and several lady and gentleman 

 members of the society. 



Mr. Morton, secretary, apologised for 

 the absence of Mr. R. M. Johnston, I.S.C). 



His Excellency said he had been invited 

 — as president — to represent the feelings 

 of the Royal Society in offering very 

 hearty congratulations to Mr. Bernard 

 Shaw on the occasion of His Majesty the 

 King having conferred on him the recogni- 

 tion of his long services by making him a 

 member of the Imperial Sei^vice Order. In 

 looking at the report of the honours con- 

 ferred on the whole of Australia and Tas- 

 mania on the last occasion, it had been a 

 matter of satisfaction to him to observe 

 that Tasmania had not been forgotten, but 

 that she had received comparatively a 

 fair share. Mr. Bernard Shaw's services 

 were remarkable as having commenced at 

 the age of 17, so long ago as 1853, in which 

 year he entered the Public Service of Tas- 

 mania as clerk in the office of the police 

 magistrate, Swansea. The office was abol- 

 ished by the introduction of local munici- 

 pal government in ISGO. He re-entered the 

 service in 1866 as acting police magistrate, 

 Devonport. He held successively the offices 

 of Clerk Assistant, House of Assembly, 

 police magistrate at George Town, Com- 

 missioner for Mines, Secretary for Mines, 

 Commissioner of Goldfields, Comrai-sioner 

 of Police and Sheriff, Police Magistrate 

 and Commissioner Court of Requests, trus- 

 tee of the Tasmanian Museum and Botan- 

 ical Gardens, and a member of the Coun- 

 cil of the Royal Society of Tasmania, also 

 Commissioner of Fisheries of Tasmania. 

 Mr. Shaw retired from the service on Au- 

 gust 28, 1904, and was granted a pension 

 by special Act of Parliament. 



Mr. Bernard Shaw, I.S.O., thanked His 

 Excellency for the kindly way in which 

 he had referred to his services. It was 

 very gratifying to receive such a token of 

 appreciation and goodwill. (Applause.) 



His Excellency said that two important 

 papers had been pi^epared for their consid- 

 eration that evening, each of which con- 

 tained ample matter for at least two sit- 

 tings and for prolonged discussion. He 

 thought the best way would be to have the 

 two papers read first, and leave the dis- 

 cussion of the paper on coal to a future 

 meeting. Dr. Elkington's paper might, 

 perhaps, be discussed that evening. 



Mr. K. L. Murray, C.E., then read a 



somewhat technical paper on "Coal and a 

 Coal Mine," which was illustrated by spe- 

 cimens from the Sandfly colliery and 

 other coal mines, boili in and outside of 

 Tasmania. The most valuable constituent of 

 coal was fixed carbon, of which the Sand- 

 fly colliery product contained satisfactory 

 amount. It was generally acknowledged 

 that semi-bituminous coals were the best. 

 The two leading instances of this class of 

 coal in the south were the Tasmanian 

 Sandfly and the Victorian Jumbunna. The 

 latter was recognised in Melbourne as the 

 best obtainable. It sold at from 4s. to 6s. 

 higher than any other coal, including the 

 Newcastle coal. The Samdfly coal was 

 similar in character to the Jumbunna 

 coal, and even the fossils were similar. 

 The lecturer drew a comparison between 

 bituminous auu semi-bituminous coal, and 

 shov/ed that the use of the latter would to 

 a large extent do away with the smoke 

 nuisance. The speaker then described the 

 way in which coal was formed hunderds of 

 millions of ^-ears ago, when the earth was 

 in a far different condition to what it was 

 now, pointing out that nature never was 

 in a hurry, and that for millions of years 

 no use had been found for these coal mea- 

 sures, till at last a creature was formed 

 who discovered that coal would burn. Fos- 

 sils were found in these measures which 

 belonged to the mesozoic period from 

 which they could gather some idea at what 

 a distant period some of the coal had been 

 formed. The difference in the density of 

 coal was owing in a great measure to the 

 different periods at which it was 

 formed, some being very much earlier 

 than otliei^. Anthracite coal, for 



instance, was much denser than 

 any olher coal, of which he produced sam- 

 ples that evening. It was the lowest in 

 the Saudfly colliery, and was the oldest 

 formed. In conclusion, he said that it had 

 been proved that a field of very great im- 

 portance and value existed over a wide 

 area and under the same conditions near 

 Hobart consisting of anthracite and semi- 

 bituminous coal. (Applause.) 



His Excellency regretted that Mr. 

 Murray could not be present that day 

 month when his paper would be dis- 

 cusised, but it was so important that it 

 might command the attention of the 

 society for a whole evening. He now 

 called upon Dr. Elkington to read his 

 paper. 



Dr. Elkington (Chmf Medical Officer) 

 then read an exhaustive p.aper on "Some 

 Social and Economic Aspects of Public 

 Health Work.'' This was generally re- 

 garded as the youngest daughter of 

 medical science, but it had flourished 

 among the ancient Jews. The Mosaic 

 system of sanitary law impressed upon 

 every individual the fact that he was his 



