Apeil 1, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



453 



Economic Science and Agriculticre, ' Consiim- 

 able Wealth,' by Mr. E.. M. Johnston, Gov- 

 ernment Statistician of Tasmania; Engineer- 

 ing and Architecture, ' Notes on Some Eecent 

 Engineering Experiences,' by Mr. A.B. Mon- 

 crielf; Sanitary Science, 'Aspects of Public 

 Health Legislation in Australia,' by Hon. 

 Allan Campbell ; Mental Science and Educa- 

 tion, ' The Influence of English History on 

 English Literatui'e,' by Mr. John Shirley. 



The report of the Glacial Research 

 Committee, South Australia, was sub- 

 mitted by Professor T. W. E. David 

 and Mr. Walter Howchin. The local- 

 ities 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 Govern- 

 ment Geologist of Victoria, whilst travel- 

 ling through the Inman Valley, discovered 

 a polished rock surface, which, to the prac- 

 ticed 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, oc- 

 curred in the bed of the Inman River, a lit- 

 tle 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 distri- 

 bution 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 reference 

 to a combination of agencies, rather than 

 to a single form of ice action. 



In presenting the report of the Seismo- 

 logical Committee, the Secretary, Mr. 

 George Hogben, M.A., of Timaru, New 

 Zealand, referred to the work already 'done 

 in his own colony through the oiiicers of 

 the Telegraph Department, who, on the oc- 



currence of any earthquake shock, filled up 

 certain forms, stating the exact time and 

 duration and such other details of the 

 earthquake as might be useful to the seis- 

 mologist. By means of these observations 

 the sources of many of the earthquakes had 

 been accurately found, the velocity of prop- 

 agation determined, as in general rather 

 under 20 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 24 miles below the earth's sur- 

 face. This work has 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 com- 

 mittee was anxious that the system should 

 be developed and made uniform through- 

 out. Of recent work the most interesting 

 item was probably the fact, based upon 

 rough calculations from returns sent by Sir 

 Charles Todd, Professor Bragg and others, 

 that the great South Australian earthquake 

 of May 10, 1897, proceeded from a line par- 

 allel to the coast near Beachport and Kings- 

 ton, 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 readjustment of the immediate crust. 

 The subject was still under investigation by 

 the Secretary. 



At the final meeting of the General 

 Council the following suggestions from the 

 Recommendation Committee were agreed 

 to : (1) That the New South Wales govern- 

 ment acquire the quarry of prismatic sand- 

 stone at Bondi, with a view to its preserva- 

 tion as a remarkable geological occurrence. 



(2) The re- appointment of the Committee 

 on ' The Systematic Conduct of the Photo- 

 graphic Work of Geological Surveys.' 



(3) A Seismological Committee for 1900. 



(4) The government of New Zealand to 

 equip Timaru with approval seismological 



