March 24, 1898J 



NATURE 



495 



reached. A letter received from the Royal Society of London, 

 stated that the Society was so pleased with the results already 

 attained at the Funafuti bore, that it had voted a further sum to 

 meet the expenses, making their total subscription up to the 

 present 500/. Opinions amongst scientific men in Great Britain 

 as to the conclusions to be drawn from the evidence of the 

 Funafuti bore were at present divided. While the advocates of 

 the Darwinian theory were inclined to congratulate themselves 

 upon the results, Dr. Murray's supporters say that the evidence 

 substantiates their views. Prof. David considered that the last 

 portion of the core obtained weakened the subsidence theory. 



Glacial Research. 



The report of the Glacial Research Committee, South Australia, 

 was submitted by Prof. T. W. E. David and Mr. Walter 

 Howchin. The localities dealt with were comprised within the 

 peninsula which formed the southern limits of the Mount Lofty 

 Range. In 1859 Mr. Alfred Selwyn, at that time Government 

 Geologist of Victoria, whilst travelling through the Inman Valley, 

 discovered a polished rock surface which, to the practised eye, 

 exhibited clear proof of glacial action. This was the earliest 

 discovery of its kind in Australia, but the position was lost sight 

 of until re-discovered by the authors of the paper in March last. 

 This polished pavement, which measured over 20 feet in length 

 and 6 feet in breadth, occurred in the bed of the Inman River, 

 a little past the seventh mile-post from Port Victor. The glacial 

 beds of the Inman River have at present an elevation of over 

 600 feet above sea level. If, therefore, the agency of shore-ice 

 as the means of distribution were admitted they must assume 

 that there had been an elevation of the land since the days 

 of glaciation. The facts were, perhaps, best explained by a 

 reference to a combination of agencies, rather than to a single 

 form of ice action. 



A paper " On the Occurrence of Glacial Boulders at Yellow 

 Cliff, Crown Point Station, Fincke Valley, Central Australia," 

 dealt with a recent discovery by Prof Baldwin Spencer, of 

 Melbourne University, and Mr. P. M. Byrne, of Alice Springs 

 telegraph station, of large glaciated pebbles at a level of about 

 1000 feet above the sea. This is the nearest point to the 

 tropics in Australia at which traces of glacial action have been 

 observed, and the discovery is therefore of great interest. 

 The pebbles are from 2 inches up to i foot in diameter, and 

 form a layer about 3 feet in thickness, overlying a soft grey 

 sandstone, the geological age of which is unknown. It is not 

 known at what period of geological time the ice existed which 

 produced these markings. The only other instance of possible 

 evidence of ice action in Australia near to the equator than 

 Yellow Cliff is that mentioned by Mr. R. L. Jack, viz. the 

 Bowen River coalfield of Queensland. At that locality small 

 boulders of rock foreign to the district are found embedded in 

 the marine permo-carboniferous strata. It is just possible that 

 these boulders were rafted to their present resting-place by 

 floating trees, but the glacial explanation is thought to be the 

 more probable one. 



A paper entitled " Further Evidence of Glacial Action in the 

 Bacchus Marsh District," by C. C. Brittlebank, G. Sweet, and 

 Prof. David, dealt specially with the deep preglacial valleys 

 bounded by steep sides, 500 to 600 feet high, which had been 

 choked with glacial drift, and powerfully glaciated at their 

 bottoms and sides, as well as on the summits of the intervening 

 ridges. The fact was commented on that very few rocks of 

 local origin were observable in the glacial beds, and that all 

 the glacial beds were more or less stratified, in which respect 

 they differed markedly from the glacial till of Northern Europe. 



Geology and Afineral Deposits of Portions of West Australia. 



The New South Wales Government Geologist (Mr. E. L. Pitt- 

 man), read a paper " On the Geology and Mineral Deposits of 

 certain portions of West Australia." The geology of the Perth 

 artesian water basin was first dealt with, and it was stated that the 

 water occurred in a porous rock, consisting of calcareoussandstone 

 of aeolian origin. The basin was about fifteen miles wide, but 

 extended along the coast for several hundred miles in a north 

 and south direction. The chief peculiarity of this artesian basin 

 was that it was not covered by any continuous impervious beds, 

 such as had hitherto been regarded as essential for the oc- 

 currence of artesian water. Reference was next made to the 

 Collie coalfield, and the opinion was expressed by the author 

 that it was of Mesozoic age, like the Victorian coalfields, and 

 that of the Clarence River. The Coolgardie goldfield was 



NO. 1482, VOL. 57] 



then briefly alluded to. The gold here occurred in some of the 

 reefs in phenomenally rich " chutes," separated by intervals of 

 barren material. The "cement deposits" of the 25-Mile were 

 described as alluvial deposits, containing very angular gold, in 

 fairly-defined channels. The Kalgoorlie goldfield was described 

 at considerable length, and particular reference was made to 

 the famous telluride deposits of the Boulder. These, in Mr. 

 Pittman's opinion, consisted of igneous dykes of quartz, felspar, 

 porphyry, which had been subjected to an enormous amount of 

 crushing, and this had induced a .schistose or foliated structure 

 in them. 



General Geology. 



The Rev. J. Milne Curran read a paper on " Artesian Water 

 in New South Wales." He concluded that the artesian water 

 of the north-west and west of New South Wales was derived 

 from Triassic beds, and, in his opinion, there was no evidence 

 to show that a single artesian well in the Colony derived its 

 waters from Cretaceous rocks. Photographs were exhibited of 

 artesian flows. Cretaceous and Silurian country in the far west. 



In the discussion that followed, Mr. R. L Jack stated that 

 artesian water had just been struck in Queensland, on the 

 central line of railway at Maria Creek, west of the Dawson 

 River, in rocks of permo-carboniferous age. These were the 

 oldest rocks in Australia in which artesian water has as yet been 

 discovered, and they were not known previously to be water- 

 bearing. 



The Rev. J. Milne Curran, in laying before members of the 

 section some " Notes of a Geological Reconnaissance on the 

 Mount Kosciusko Plateau," said that his conclusions were (i) 

 that there was no satisfactory evidence of extensive glaciers 

 having existed in the present valleys, under the highest peaks 

 of Mount Kosciusko ; (2) that there was no evidence of exten- 

 sive glaciation on the Kosciusko plateau ; (3) that the " glacial 

 epoch of Australia " in post-Tertiary times, as described by 

 Dr. Lendenfeld, had no foundation in fact. 



Biology. 

 Relations of Morphology and Physiology. 



The President of this section. Prof. C. J. Martin, dealt, in his 

 opening address, with the growth of the science of morphology, 

 which was now a separate science from physiology ; the scope of 

 research in both directions having, within the last fifty years, 

 become greatly widened. Morphology deals with the structural 

 conformation and anatomy of animals ; physiology, with the 

 functional workings of the animal system. During the last half- 

 century the discoveries in both these sister sciences have been of 

 a most beneficial character to mankind, and the future was full 

 of possibilities. Prof. Martin did not let the occasion pass 

 without bearing testimony to the ungrudging and valuable 

 services of the late Prof. Jeffery Parker, during his term of the 

 presidency of the section. 



Geography. 

 Submarine Geography. 



The President, Sir James Hector, K.C.M.G., F.R.S., in his 

 presidential address, dealt at length with the subject of '* Sub- 

 marine Geography." Since their last meeting. Sir James said, 

 the results of the exploring expeditions equipped by the muni- 

 ficence of the late Sir Thomas Elder and Mr. Horn had been 

 made public, and the wonderful expansion of our knowledge of 

 the central and western parts of the continent obtained through 

 the intrepid journeys would greatly assist the material develop- 

 ment of the vastly rich but hitherto neglected interior area of 

 Westralia. Another feature of great promise to the future ad- 

 vance of geographical discovery in the more difticult parts of the 

 Australian continent was the steady extension of the "artesian 

 well" system into the arid areas of the interior, where the 

 absence of water had not only prevented the settlement of the 

 country, but even its exploration, and had caused the loss of 

 many brave and enthusiastic pioneers under circumstances of 

 intense personal suffering. When the sources of underground 

 water circulation were fully comprehended and utilised, both ex- 

 plorationandoccupationof large and almost unknown areas would 

 become possible. After dealing with geographical researches 

 conducted in different parts of the world, the President said the 

 crowning event that had absorbed the interest of geographers 

 since the last meeting was the successful achievement of Nansen. 

 The scientific results of this wonderful venture had not yet been 

 published, but two remarkable advances in geographical science 



