494 



NATURE 



[March 24, 1898 



tion had not yet been actually traced. Reference was made to 

 Lake George, where somewhat similar periodic waves were 

 frequent, and all were traced to meteorological causes. 



Sets III ological Report. 



In presenting the report of the Seismological Committee, the 

 Secretary, Mr. George Hogben, of Timaru, New Zealand, re- 

 ferred to the work already done in his own Colony through the 

 officers of the Telegraph Department, who, on the occurrence 

 of any earthquake shock, filled up certain forms, stating the 

 exact time and duration and such other details of the earthquake 

 as might enable the seismologist to determine the origin of the 

 disturbance, the velocity with which the waves were propagated 

 through the earth's crust, and sometimes to make a very good 

 guess as to the nature of the subterranean causes that gave rise 

 to the earthquake. By means of these observations the sources 

 of many of the earthquakes had been accurately found, their 

 velocity of propagation determined, as in general rather under 

 twenty miles a minute ; in a few cases the depth of the origin 

 was also ascertained, the deepest one found so far coming from 

 a point about twenty-four miles below the earth's surface. This 

 work had been done in New Zealand since 1889, and the other 

 Colonies had been asked to follow suit. This they had done to 

 a certain extent, but the Committee was anxious that the system 

 should be developed, and made uniform throughout. Of recent 

 work the most interesting item was probably the fact, based upon 

 rough calculations from returns sent by Sir Charles Todd, 

 and others, that the great South Australian earthquake of 

 May 10, 1897, proceeded from a line parallel to the coast near 

 Beachport and Kingston, and was possibly due to a sliding of 

 one part of the crust upon another, such as forms what was called 

 in geology a " fault." This was probably deep, but the later and 

 slighter shocks were surface ones, caused by readjustments of 

 the immediate crust. The subject was still under investigation 

 by the Secretary. But Mr. Hogben pointed out that 

 it was as part of a world-system of seismological observ- 

 ations that the work of the Committee might be most 

 useful. An International Seismological Committee had been 

 set up embracing all the ablest workers in every part 

 of the world, and in cooperation with that Committee 

 were Committees of the British Association and of the 

 Royal Society. They desire especially to be able to track the 

 microseismic vibrations of minute earthquake waves, which 

 travelled from the sources of disturbance all round the earth's 

 surface, or it might be right through the solid mass of our 

 world (if it was solid). The speed of these finer waves was many 

 times greater than that of the larger waves felt by us, reaching a 

 velocity as great as twelve miles per second, or even more. For 

 the purpose of observing them the International Committee had 

 agreed upon a certain type of instrument, the horizontal pendu- 

 lum to be used by all stations alike, as it was important that 

 instruments of the same kind and of the same degree of sensi- 

 tiveness should be employed for purposes of comparison. 



Mr. Hogben stated in answer to questions that, at the sug- 

 gestion of Sir James Hector, the New Zealand Government had 

 ordered two instruments — improved forms, of the horizontal 

 pendulum. He asked for the moral and financial suppprt of the 

 Association in this object. Unless instruments were procured 

 at once for Sydney, Melbourne and Timaru (the three stations 

 in Australasia named by the International Committee), the 

 chain of world-stations would be interrupted. 



Chemistry. 

 Constitution of the Matter in the Universe. ' 



The New South Wales Government Analyst, Mr. William M. 

 Hamlet, delivered the presidential address in this section, the 

 subject being "The molecular mechanism of an electrolyte." 

 He defined an electrolyte as a body in solution or state of fusion, 

 capable of being instantaneously decomposed by a current of 

 electricity, and he claimed that if the explanation he offered was 

 adequate for the electrolyte, it must hold good for the constitu- 

 tion of the matter in the universe, so that the treatise on the 

 electrolyte has a most important scientific bearing. The method 

 of investigating the action of one body upon another, he re- 

 minded his audience, was brought to a high degree of accuracy 

 by the immortal work of Sir Isaac Newton. He alluded to 

 some observations of the late Prof. Clifford, made over twenty 

 years ago, this authority remarking, almost prophetically, " We 

 can look forward to the time when the structure and motions in 



NO. 1482, VOL. 57] 



the inside of a molecule will be so well known that some future 

 Kant or Laplace will be able to make an hypothesis about the 

 history and formation of matter." 



Red Rain Dust. 



Much interest was manifested in a paper read by Mr. Thomas 

 Steel on " Red Rain Du.st," in the section devoted to chemistry 

 and chemical research. The author remarked that from time 

 to time records of the fall of dust, either alone or accompanied 

 by rain, have been reported from various parts of the Australian 

 Colonies, in common with the rest of the world. Although it 

 was extremely probable that in the great bulk of the cases the 

 dust was merely of terrestrial origin, it was interesting when 

 positive facts regarding the source of the material could be 

 ascertained. On December 27, 1896, an unusually heavy fall 

 of dust of a red colour occurred in Melbourne and was earned 

 down by rain. 



An analysis of a clean sample of this dust gave the following 

 results : — Organic matter, 1070 ; sand, insoluble and un- 

 determined, 66 21 ; soluble silica, 75 ; ferric oxide, 468 : fer- 

 rous oxide, '50; alumina, I5"i6 ; lime, 136; sulphuric an- 

 liydride, '62. The dust may therefore be regarded as a 

 characteristic example of ordinary surface soil, such as is de- 

 rived from the weathering of volcanic rocks. Both in appear- 

 ance and composition it agreed closely with several samples of 

 such soil from widely separated localities. Under the micro- 

 -scope, in addition to the diatoms noticed by other observers, the 

 dust was seen to contain a few lepidopterous scales. 



Geology and Meteorology. 

 Early Life on the Earth. 



In this section the President, Prof. F. W. Hutton, F. R.S., 

 delivered an address on the subject of " Early Life on the 

 Earth." After describing the various periods through which 

 the earth has passed, Prof. Hutton presented some speculations 

 regarding pre-Ordovician life. Speaking of the origin of life, 

 he said it was highly probable that the first living organisms 

 were evolved near the surface of a warm ocean. They might 

 safely assume that the first protoplasm was not so complicated a 

 substance as it had since become. Ordovician and Silurian life 

 followed, and the lecturer said, in conclusion : "We have thus 

 arrived at the conclusion that the ocean was the mother of life ; 

 that on its surface floated the first organisms whose descendants, 

 but little changed during all the millions of years that have since 

 passed away, still float and multiply. Presently some of these 

 animals found their way down to the bottom, where all the 

 debris from the floating organisms collected, and here in still 

 water they lived and increased for a long time. Slowly they 

 invaded the rough waters of the coastline, and at last gained a 

 footing on the land. It was plants which formed the army of 

 invasion that conquered the land." 



Coral-boring Expedition to the South Seas. 



Considerable interest was manifested in the section devoted 

 to geology and mineralogy, owing to the fact that Prof. David 

 was announced to read a paper on " The Coral-boring Expedi- 

 tion of 1897 to the Island of Funafuti in the South Seas." The 

 funds for the expedition were found chiefly by Miss E. Walker, 

 of Yaralla, the late Mr. Ralph Abercrombie, and the Royal 

 Society of London, while the New South Wales Government 

 lent a diamond drill and the workmen. The method of working 

 the drill and simultaneously attacking the great coral cliff which 

 bounds the atoll seawards was explained, and an account given 

 of .some of the manners and customs of the natives. Special 

 reference was made to the nature of the last part of the boring 

 done while Mr. Sweet was in charge. The last 30 feet of core 

 were particularly interesting, being formed of a soft chalky rock, 

 with numerous foraminifera, and showing that the coral forma- 

 tion proper had been all but completely penetrated. Had it 

 been possible to bore a little deeper, Prof. David thinks that the 

 foundation rock would have been reached. Mr. Sweet had 

 done all that he judged would most conduce to attaining this 

 end, and when the boring had to be stopped had left the bore in 

 such a condition that it was possible in resuming the bore to 

 utilise the old borehole, now 698 feet deep. Prof. David urged 

 that this meeting might use its influence with the Council of the 

 Association to have a recommendation made to the Government 

 of New South Wales to extend the loan of the diamond drill so 

 as to admit of the boring being continued till bedrock was 



