'schists, etc. The replacement process 

 is plainly seen in a specimen of Red 

 Hills felsite, Avhere the igneous rock 

 has been converted into hematite, leaving 

 a few unaltered ciystals of felspar to tell 

 the tale, and the same process is probably 

 responsible for all similar bodies of 

 mineral in this belt of country. The schists 

 in the vicinity of Mount Read occasionally 

 retain less altered remnants of clay slate, 

 but no fossils have yet been found in them. 

 Judging from the succession, they are 

 somewhat older than the Zeehan series, 

 but great caution is necessary here, as the 

 test of superposition is unreliable. The 

 persistent easterly dip of the'strata on the 

 W. side of Mount Read points to ovei"- 

 folding on a large scale, which has pro- 

 duced an inverted succession of the beds. 

 In any case the felsite is much older than 

 any of our known granites. Suspecting 

 the felsites to be soda felsites or kerato- 

 phyres (in their altered sheared form often 

 called " porijhyroids "), the authors sub- 

 mitted specimens to Prof. Rosenbrush, 

 one of the highest living authorities on 

 petrographical geology, who has confirmed 

 the reference, and remarks that they are 

 members of the quartz-porphyi-y family, 

 adding that their characters point not to 

 quartz-porphyry in the narrower sense, 

 but to quartz-keratophyre and kerato- 

 phyre, forms which in Germany were 

 originally called porphyroids and placer- 

 porphyries. The authors give a list of 

 minerals found in the schists, and describe 

 the microscopical features of the kerato- 

 phyres. The latter are summarised by 

 the statement that they are rocks with "a 

 compact felsitic groundmass with porphy- 

 ritic crystals of quartz, orthoclase and 

 albite felspars, sometimes distributed 

 sparingly, at other times crowded. In the 

 typically norphyritic varieties are altered 

 spherulites and' signs of fiuidal structures. 

 In a word, they are ancient devitrified 



acid lavas. This long geographical line of 

 felsites parallel with the West Coast range 

 indicates that below that area in Silurian 

 times there must have been a corre- 

 sponding Plutonic body of rock, which the 

 vast period of post-Silurian denudation 

 has not been sufficient to uncover. 



MODERN LITERATURE. 



Mr. W. H. Dawson read a paper on 

 "Forecasts of the Future in Modern 

 Literature." The paper was lengthy and 

 of a metaph.ysical and economic character, 

 dealing with the future social state of man. 

 He contended that improved environment 

 was demanded. There might be an abuse 

 of it, but things would right themselves. 

 Speaking of war, he said that probably war 

 would be done away with by the invention 

 of weapons of warfare which would make 

 war impossible. He referred to the 

 position of woman in the coming state, 

 and said that if she were allowed to 

 develop herself, she would assuredly find 

 her right place. 



Mr. R. M. Johnston praised Mr. Daw- 

 son's paper, and suggested it should be 

 discussed on another occasion. 



HARTZ MOUNTAINS AND PICTON. 



Mr. J . W. Beattie read a most interest- 

 ing Daper, and Mr. Leonard Rodway 

 gave an account of a recent visit made 

 by them to the Hartz Mountains and 

 the Picton district. The remarks were 

 illustrated by a great number of splendid 

 lantern slides prepared by Mr. Beattie. 



Discussion on Mr. Beattie's paper was 

 postponed on account of the lateness 

 of the hour. 



The Administrator of the Government 

 cordially thanked the readers of the papers 

 on behalf of those present. 



