ASSOCIATIONS FOR THK ADVAN( KMHNT OK SCIKM K. (AUSTRALASIAN.) 39 



President's Address. Choosing ns his subject 

 \ i i niury of Geological Progress," Prof. Talc 

 <>l>M-r\ed that he had "read a hundred volumes" 

 ti> produce the modest pamphlet of his address. 



RALI'H TATE. 



The history of the progress of geology in Aus- 

 tralia is intimately associated with that of its 

 geographical discovery, and of its advancement 

 in scientific culture ; hence it followed that for 

 the first three or four decades of this century the 

 geological knowledge was almost entirely de- 

 rived from maritime surveys. In more recent 

 vears this information had been supplemented 

 by inland exploration, followed in time by the 

 systematic geological surveys in New South 

 Wales and "V ictoria. Having thus outlined his 

 address, Prof. Tate then began the treatment of 

 the subject more in detail, referring at the out- 

 set to the geological and other scientific re- 

 searches of Vancouver, who in 1791 discovered 

 King George's sound ; then, carrying his hearers 

 step by step past the discovery of gold, in 1851, 

 in New South Wales, followed by that of richer 

 deposits in Victoria during the same year, down 

 to the foundations of the universities in Mel- 

 bourne and Sydney, and describing the various 

 surveys of the colonies, he culminated with men- 

 tion of the publication of the geological map 

 of Australia in 1887. The glacial periods were 

 discussed, and the information most of which 

 is quite recent bearing on this interesting 

 topic presented in detail. The imperfection of 

 the geological record, and the utter impossibility 

 of reconciling the order of succession in the 

 Australian stratified deposits with those of 

 other countries, were clearly pointed out by the 

 speaker. The various circumstances tending to 

 retard the progress of geological science in Aus- 

 tralia were mentioned, and the pernicious prac- 

 tice of sending palaeontological data abroad for 

 study, in lieu of keeping them at home, deplored. 

 As to the antiquity of continental Australia, 

 the speaker contended that much of the evi- 

 dence on which the views of this subject de- 



pended was illogical. The phy>i<'nl characters 

 of the interior of the continent were rehearsed, 

 and he, closed with a plea for chemical geology 

 and mil Toscopjc. petrology. Geologists had been 

 too much oerupii-d with the golden harvests of 

 palaeontology and stratigraphy, and consequently 

 had ignored the lest* attractive studies. 



A. Astronomy, Mathematics, and Physics. 

 This section was presided over by H. C. Russell, 

 Government Astronomer of New South Wales, 

 who delivered an address on "Astronomical 

 Photography," in which he paid pleasant com- 

 pliments to the work of the elder Draper and to 

 the more recent labors of the American astrono- 

 mers, Bond, Pickering, and Hale. Among the 

 papers presented before this section were the 

 following : " Meteorological Work in Australia," 

 by Sir Charles Todd; "The Construction of 

 Pendulum Apparatus for Differential Observa- 

 tions of Gravity." by E. F. J. Love ; " Tides of 

 South Australia," by R. Wi Chapman and Capt. 

 Inglis ; " On the Earthquake Intensity in Aus- 

 tralia " and " The Origin of the Earthquake of 

 Jan. 27, 1892," by G . Hogben; "The Applica- 

 tion of Mathematics to Actuarial Science," by 

 J. J. Stuckey; "Some Difficulties in making 

 Exact Observations in Astronomy," by W. >,. 

 Cooke ; " Construction and Use of an Azimuth 

 Diagram," by Capt. Weir ; " The Effect of the 

 Length of a Solenoid on the Form of its Equi- 

 potential Surfaces," by C. C. Farr; "On the 

 Thermo-Electric Diagram," by W. H. Steele; 

 " Stokes Theorem " and " From Numbers to 

 Quaternions," by G. Fleuri ; also the report of 

 the Seismological Committee was read, and 

 finally a resolution passed "that this section 

 desires to express a hope that the Government 

 of Tasmania may be able at an early date to 

 establish the proposed Leake Observatory at 

 Hobart." 



B. Chemistry. The presiding officer of this 

 section was C. N. Hake, Inspector of Explosives 

 to the Government of Victoria, who spoke on 

 " Recent Progress in Manufacture of Explo- 

 sives." He reviewed the recent high explosives, 

 and especially the English " cordite." Among 

 the papers read before this section were the fol- 

 lowing : " The Production of Gold Nuggets and 

 the Mode of Occurrence of Gold in Veins," by A. 

 Liversidge ; " Hyponitrites," by D. H. Jackson ; 

 " The Use of Ethyl Nitrite for the Preparation 

 of the Hyponitrites," by D. Avery ; " On the Re- 

 duction of Nitric Oxide by Sodium Amalgam in 

 the Presence of Alcohol," by G. W. Macdonald : 

 " Osmotic Pressure," by Orme Masson ; " On the 

 Experimental Investigations of Osmotic Press- 

 ure," by Orme Masson and J. B. Kirkland : 

 " Notes on Determinations of Sugar in Samples 

 of Musts of Victorian Wines," by W. Percy Wil- 

 kinson ; " Wet Treatment for Copper and Gold 

 in Australia," by G. Sutherland ; " The Deter- 

 mination of Nitrates in Certain Waters," by E. 

 H. Rennie : and "Certain Modifications in the 

 Electrolytic Method of determining Copper in 

 its Ores, by T. C. Cloud. 



C. Geology and Mineralogy. Sir James Hec- 

 tor, Director of the Geological Survey of New 

 Zealand, was the presiding officer of this section, 

 who delivered a lecture on " The Progress of Ge- 

 ology in the Southern Hemisphere during the 

 Past Year," confining himself, however, chiefly 



