lix 



although such a vast amount of research 

 work had been accomplished among the 

 numerous secondary lead salts. Its de- 

 tection was, therefore, of special interest, 

 and it followed that its characteristic 

 habit, coupled with its composition, neces- 

 sitated that a specific name should be ap- 

 plied to it. As it was considered to be 

 recstricted to the Adelaide Proprietary 

 mine at the locality indicated on account 

 of the local peculiarities necessary for its 

 molecular growth, tlie term Dundasite 

 was applied to it. Under what conditions 

 and with what associations it has been 

 found at its newly recorded locality is not 

 as yet fully apparent, but the interesting 

 fact remains that a new mineral originally 

 discovered in this island has been ob- 

 tained at a special locality in the old 

 world. This in itself is worthy of record. 

 I have now some additional information 

 to offer as to its distribution at the mines 

 at Dundas, and its detection at other 

 localities on the West Coast. Its general 

 habit of occurrence is in somewhat small 

 rounded aggregates closely packed to- 

 gether, which show w^hite radiating tufte 

 on separation. It is easily disintegrated 

 into fine silky fibres after the manner of 

 chrysotile. In many instances the in- 

 dividual tuft has as a nucleus a minute 

 crystal of the bright hyancinth-red ool- 

 Qured crocoicite, which is again sometimes 

 implanted on its surface. It often occurs 

 coating the interior of vughs in the harder 

 fefro-manganese gossan which is immedi- 

 ately beneath the softer superificial lode 

 capping, and in the zone above the un- 

 altered primary sulphide minerals. At 

 its original locality it is occasionally 

 coated with an outer film of extreme 

 tenuity, and of a bright green colour. 

 This is probably a substance allied to 

 pyromorphite, but as only an extremely 

 minute quantity can be secured, this has 

 not been satisfactorily determined. It is 

 again sometimes stained on the exterior 

 with a salt of copper to a pale bluish 

 green, and more rarely discoloured by 

 brown hj'drated iron oxide. At the 

 Hercules mine at Mount Kead it has been 

 found on rare occasions in a very pure 

 condition, when it is immaculately white, 

 implanted in isolated internally radiating 

 tutts and small aggregates on cellular 

 quartz; and yet more rarely on crystals 

 of cerussite, closely associated with an- 

 other rare lead mineral which has been 

 named hydrocerussite. These groupings, 

 although very attractive, are extremely 

 fragile, and thus most difficult to preserve 

 for the cabinet, but through the kindness 

 of the late general manager, Mr. Sydney 

 Thow, I was enabled to secure a specimen, 

 both unusally large and very beautiful. 

 This is doubtless the finest example whicii 

 has so far been obtained, but needless to 

 say it is simply of scientific interest. At 

 the Florence mine at Zeehan the mineral 

 under review occurs sparingly in gossany 



cavitiee, but much iron-stained, and at a 

 few other mines it has occasionally been 

 met with, but never in any appreciable 

 quantity. 



Mr. R. M. Johnston thought that it was 

 a matter for congratulation that Mr. 

 Petterd's discovery, wliich had been an- 

 nounced to the society some time ago, had 

 been confirmed by another discovery in 

 Groat Britain. Mr. Johnston also spoke 

 of the services to science rendered by Mr. 

 Petterd. 



Evolution of Language. 

 The next paper was one read by Pro- 

 fessor H. B. Kitz on the "Evolution of 

 Words." After some intro-ductory re- 

 marks, Mr. Eitz stated his thesis in the 

 following terms: — The meaning of a 

 primitive woid is expressed by the musical 

 pitch of the sounds of which it is com- 

 posed; and (2) the changes which words 

 undergo in the course of time and under 

 various circumstances are governed by the 

 psychic life of the speakers exprass^ by 

 variations of pitch and emphasis. The 

 true origin of any word was, he said, the 

 feeling evoked by the tnought it signifies. 

 The feeling occasioned by any object 

 differs according to circumstances, and its 

 vocal expression reflects not only the gen- 

 eric feeling,but its specific modification in 

 a particular case; and it may appear as a 

 voluntary exclamation or as conscious or 

 unconscious imitative gesture of the vocal 

 organs, but is always in accord with the 

 feeling. Mr. Eitz exemplified this gene- 

 ral rule by pointing out the significance 

 of pitch in laughter, and also of the ar- 

 rangement of syllables bearing tonic ac- 

 cents in rhythmic utterance. Musical 

 pitch was also an expression of emphasis,, 

 the emphatic word being not only louder, 

 but of a higher pitch than its neighbours. 

 Thus, Mr. Eitz insisted, musical pitch is 

 a prominent and important constituent of 

 human speech. ISiot only is each part of 

 a word of a specific pitch, but the succes- 

 sive parts are at concord or discord with 

 each other; and, as in pure music, so in 

 the applied music of human speech, the 

 natural tendency is to avoid discord and 

 effect concord. Consequently our phonetic 

 alphabet must be a kind of musical scale 

 in which every speech sound may find a 

 place. After describing the mechanism 

 of speech, Mr. Eitz dwelt on the psycho- 

 logical character of tne different musical 

 key.s, and pointed out that as a matter 

 of common experience a different pitch 

 of the same Avord corresponded with a 

 different state of the speaker's mind. 

 From an examination of a particular 

 sound occurring in different words it 

 might be possible to arrive at its mean- 

 ing, and to determine the feeling whicb 

 prompted its utterance. Dealing with 

 the principles of the evolution of words, 

 Mr. Eitz laid it down that the meaning 



