NOTE ON THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN ARTESIAN BASIN. 431 



NOTE ON THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN ARTESIAN 



BASIN. 



By E. F. PlTTMAN, A.R.S.M. 



[Read before the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, November 7, 1917.'] 



[See paper by Dr. A. L. du Toit, supra p. 135.] 



I desire to briefly allude to several instances in which Dr. 

 du Toit, in his paper on "The Problem of the Great Aus- 

 tralian Artesian Basin," 1 has quoted from my writings, 

 and in which he has drawn misleading or inaccurate deduc- 

 tions therefrom. 



1. In his introduction to his paper he makes the follow- 

 ing remarks: — 



"Against such views (Professor Gregory's views. — E.F.P.). M r. 

 Pittman, the most uncompromising protagonist of the meteoric 

 theory, vigorously protested, claiming that all other geologists in 

 Australia were at one with him in favour of a purely meteoric 

 derivation of the water in the Great Basin. When in Australia 

 in 1914 the. author found that, so far from this being the case, 

 quite a number of the local geologists were perfectly ready to 

 admit that many aspects of the problem could better be explained 

 by the rival hypothesis." 



The actual statement made by me in reference to this 

 matter was as follows : — 



"The unanimous opinion of those geologists who have had oppor- 

 tunities for a careful study of the Great Australian Artesian Basin 

 is that the water which comes from the flowing wells is of meteoric 

 origin, and that hydraulic pressure is the primary cause of its 

 rising above the surface in bores. Amongst those who hold these 

 views are the Government Geologists of Queensland, New South 



1 This Journal, Li, p. 135 (1917). 



