Ivii 



physical characteristics of the mosquito 

 that conveyed yellow fever were such as 

 to enable it, under given conditions, to be 

 a potent and dangerous factor. It was 

 the best of all sea travellers of the mos- 

 quito family, and its distribution was 

 well-nigh univemal. A clot?e connection 

 of that mosquito existed in Tasmania, 

 particularly on the East Coast, namely, 

 the Stegomyia notoscripta, the other be- 

 ing the Stegomyia fasciata. Certainly, 

 Tasmania's cold climate was a protection. 

 As to what the Bishop of Tasmania had 

 said in reference to the Jews, their su- 

 perior health in congested and insanitary 

 surroundings was due to the excellent 

 domestic management of the Jewish wo- 

 men. In many points they set an ex- 

 ample to their sisters of other faiths. It 

 was exceedingly rare to find their child- 

 ren fed artificially; their cooking was 

 good, and they were particularly keen in 

 the observance of their religious duties 

 and rites. As to the absence of sanita- 

 tion in mining districts, he was painfully 

 aware of it. It was almost wholly due 

 to a lack of sanitary inspection and en- 

 forcement. As to the care and feeding 

 of infants, he hoped, with the aid of the 

 Director of Education, to soon have prac- 

 tical demonstrations given to girls in 

 school on the subject. Eeferring to the 

 work of local authorities, he acknow- 

 ledged that the City Local Board of 

 Health and its officer formed a shining 

 example to local sanitary authorities in 

 Tasmania. But local sanitary authori- 

 ties were not invariably essential. In 

 New Zealand they were retained, but were 

 more or less of a phantom, for there the 

 State took up practically all the work. 



A hearty vote of thanks was passed to 

 Dr. Elkington for his paper amid ap- 

 plause. 



The Housing Question. 



Bishop ^Mercer read a paper on "The 

 Housing Question," reviewing certain 

 economic principles bearing thereon. 



Discussion on the paper was postponed 

 till the next meeting. 



New Member, 



Mr. J. Adam was unanimously elected 

 a Fellow of the society. 



Obsidian Buttons. 



Mr. Morton (the secretary) read a paper 

 on ''Record of Obsidianites or Obsidan 

 Buttons in Tasmania, prepared by Mr. 

 W. H. Twelvetreees, E.G.S. The author 

 said during recent years some more of 

 these inteie-^ting, though etill mysterious 

 objects have been found in Tasmania, and 

 it seems desirable to place the localities 

 on record, as a knowledge of their dis- 

 tribution and conditions of occurrence 

 may assist in forming some idea of their 

 age. Mr. Twelvetrees said the locality- 

 list brought up to date stands as 22 speci- 

 mens of Obsidian buttons found in Tas- 

 mania. The writer further said : " It 

 might be as well to record the information 

 obtained as to their occurreuco before the 

 particulars pass into oblivion. It seems 

 to be clear, said Mr. Twelvetrees, that no 

 evidence has come to light which would 

 require us to assign to them a date so far 

 back as early or middle tertiary. They 

 have nowhere been found in gravel pro- 

 tected bv the middle tertiary basalt." Mr. 

 Twelvetrees said he had repeatedly made 

 inquiry at Derby (Tasmania), but always 

 with negative results. 



The proceedings then terminated. 



