64 Report on the Exhibition of Gems. 



vast proportion of this thickness was evidently deposited in 

 the deep sea, where accumulation could only go on with 

 extreme slowness ; and remember, too, how long a time 

 would be required to silt up our own Hobson's Bay, close to 

 the shore, and of very inconsiderable depth. Or take another 

 geological phenomenon, that of denudation. How long 

 must it have taken for the most rapid currents, and the 

 most boisterous seas, to have cut down and carried away that 

 vast amount of strata which has evidently been removed all 

 over the Australian continent. Not a few geologists have 

 gone so far as to suggest whether the erosion of gorges and 

 valleys in granitic mountain chains has not been the result 

 of long continued atmospheric action alone. Grant this, and 

 surely the objection raised upon the score of time must be 

 abandoned. 



I must again request that you will not look upon the 

 present paper as an attempt to set up a theory. So far as I 

 have had an opportunity of examining the rocks of this 

 colony, they certainly, to my mind, appear to favour the 

 suppositions herein advanced. It may happen, however, that 

 observations made in other lands might have led me to very 

 different conclusions. It is in order that I may supplement 

 my own facts and observations with the facts and observa- 

 tions of other and more experienced geologists that, with 

 the greatest difSdence, I lay this paper before your Society. 



Aet. VII. — A Report on the Results of an Exhibition of 

 Gems, both Victorian and Foreign, and Works in the 

 Jewellers' Art, in both Gold and Silver, held in the 

 Hall of the Royal Society of Victoria during the week 

 ending the 6th May, 1865. Drawn and presented to the 

 Royal Society by the Eev. J. J. Bleasdale, D.D., the 

 President for the current year, 1865. 



To THE Council and the Members of the Royal Society. 



Gentlemen, — I have the honour to submit the following 

 Report on the Exhibition of Gems and Jewellery, which 

 originated in a suggestion of mine made some months ago 

 in a short paper read before this Society, and which, under 

 your auspices, has now been brought to a successful 

 termination. 



