TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION C. 617 



WEDNESDAY, SEPTBMBEB 7. 



The following Papers and Reports were read : — 



1. The Pre-Oceanic Stage of Planetary Development, and its Bearing on 



Earliest History of the Lithosphere and the Hydrosphere. By Rev. A. 

 Irving, D.Sc, B.A. 



The phrase ' pre-oceanic stage,' as used by the author 1 for more than twenty 

 years, is explained, and it is thought that the present offers an opportunity for 

 a fuller discussion of what is connoted by it, since it appears to have been 

 generally ignored by geologists as if connoting something Ultra-geological. The 

 physical principles involved are briefly stated, and special reference is made to 

 the author's letter in ' Nature ' ~ five years ago. The bearing of the idea upon 

 the results established in recent years for the pre-Cambrian series of rocks, as 

 set forth by Professor W. G. Muller' 1 last year at Winnipeg, and by Van Hise 4 

 two years ago, is discussed, all tending to throw light upon the true position, 

 in the lithospheric succession, of the great crystalline-schist series, as advocated 

 by the author in 1888-89, and by Lawson " 1 in 1890, on the lines intimated by 

 Bonney G and Credner. 7 Reference is made to the mineral origin of graphite in 

 the Archaean stage. 8 and the probable derivative origin of that found in the 

 Algonkian (Huronian) slates, &c. The great unconformities and basal conglome- 

 rates in the North American series and in other areas are referred to the abrading 

 and erosive and abrasive action of the tides upon the early submarine crustal 

 elevations, when the moon was nearer to the earth than at present." while in other 

 areas there is an unbroken succession. Criticisms are offered upon a certain 

 theory in vogue as to the salinity of ocean waters and upon certain recent pro- 

 nouncements of Professor T. C. Chamberlin. 10 Reference is made to 'spiral 

 nebulae,' as illustrating the idea of the nucleate origin of the planets of the solar 

 system suggested by the author in 1SS9 " and advocated by him more recently. 12 



2. Beport. on the Erratic Blocks of (he British Isles. — See Reports, p. 100. 



3. Fifth Beport on the Crystalline Bocks of Anglesey. — See Reports, p. 110. 



4. Beport ov the Fanned Succession in the Lower Carboniferous Limestone 

 (Aro)iian) of the British Isles. — Sec Reports, p. 10G. 



5. Beport on the Excavation of Critical Sections in the Pedceozoic Bocks 

 of Wales and the West of England. — See Reports, p. 113. 



1 A. Irving, Mefamorphism of Bocks (Longmans, 1889) ; also on ' The Malvern 

 Crystallines.' Geol. Mag., October 1902. 



2 ' On the Consolidation of the Earth.' Nature. May 2f\ 1905. 

 s Brit. Assoc. Report. 1909. 



4 Presidential Address to the Oeol. Soc. of America, 1908. 

 6 Bulletin Geol. Soc. of America, vol. i., pp. 175-194. 



6 Presidential Address to the Oeol. Soc. of London, 1880. 



7 Geologie (Leipzig, 10th ed., 1906). 



8 A. Irving, Brit. Assoc. Beport, 1888, pp. 030, 079 (Bath Meeting); Chemical 

 News. No. 1505 ; Met. of BorL-s, pp. 110-119. 



9 A. Irving, op. cit., p. 91 (reading now pre-Cambrian for ' Cambrian '). 

 lu Nature, March 10, 1910. 



" A. Irving, op. cit., p. 22. Also Appendix ii., note c. 



'- Trans. Vic. Institute, vol. xxxviii.. pp. 79, 80 ; also vol. xlii., pp. 187, 220. 



