6Q EEV. F. A. WALKEE, D.D., E.L.S,, ON 



Rev. Canon Girdlestone, M.A. — Perhaps our Chairman would 

 open the subject for discussion. We are all anxioas to hear him. 

 (Applause.) 



The Chairman (Sir William Dawson, C.M.G.,LL.D., F.R.S.).— 

 I may say, that having studied most of the rocks referred to in 

 Dr. Walker's very charming and suggestive paper, I find that he 

 has brought before my mind a great many things that I noticed 

 when in Egypt, and to which 1 perhaps gave less attention 

 than I should have done ; and further, his remarks have 

 given, I think, a very clear proof of the close observation oE 

 the old Greek father of history when he visited Egypt. He 

 lived in days before the rise of modern geology ; but never- 

 theless he had the natural gifts of a geologist, and he noticed 

 many points which have escaped the attention of most travellers, 

 except where, like Dr. Walker, they have been bent on following 

 up the notes he made. 



Dr. Walker referred to the celebrated granite of Syene or 

 Assouan, a magnificent material which the Egyptians utilised to 

 the utmost. I think anyone who has seen the obelisks (I do not 

 refer to the somewhat smoked one on the Embankment here) 

 in the eastern sunlight, with their beautiful rosy colour, would 

 easily understand why the Egyptians made choice of so beautiful 

 and durable a stone as this of Syene, which is like that we have 

 from Peterhead in the North of Scotland. 



In regard to the differences of these granites, I may say that 

 the term " syenite " has now been restricted to the granitic rocks 

 which contain only two of the ordinary constituents of granite, 

 viz., felspar and hornblende. The older geologists, however, 

 called the hornblendic granites by this name, and I am not sure 

 that they were not right, for these have a very varying quantity of 

 quartz, and this is the case with the granite of Egypt as well as 

 that of other countries. The great broken statue of Rameses II, 

 on the southern side of Thebes, is composed of gneiss, a laminated 

 variety of granite. When polished you can see the lines of 

 lamination, whereas true typical granite is a perfectly uniform 

 stone, and has no such lamination. Whether that lamination is a 

 sign of stratification, or whether it is merely the effect of com- 



