THE 
QUEENSLAND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 
(From the Queensland Daily Guardian , May 18, 1867.) 
A meeting of the Members of the Philo- 
sophical Society was held on Saturday, the 
18th of May, at which Mr. George Wight 
read the following Paper 
ON THE APPOINTMENT OF A GOVERN- 
MENT GEOLOGIST FOR QUEENS- 
LAND. 
Three months ago, when I engaged to pre- 
pare a paper “ On the appointment of a 
Government Geologist for Queensland,” to be 
read before the Philosophical Society, and to form 
the basis of some practical action in the matter, 
I had a strong conviction that were such an 
officer appointed the results would be very 
beneficial ; and now since I have devoted some 
considerable attention to the subject, in all its 
bearings, that conviction grows in strength. 
The members of the society will understand 
that this paper is not intended to be a disquisi- 
tion on the science of geology. We must, 
indeed, make free and frequent reference to the 
science, and may sometimes venture to advance 
an opinion on controverted points ; but this 
shall be done only so far as it may appear 
necessary to gain the end contemplated. The 
appointment of a thoroughly practical geologist 
by the Government is, in our judgment, the best, 
cheapest, and speediest means of guiding and 
aiding the development of the vast natural re- 
sources of Queensland. This is the ground 
that we take in this paper, and we shall now do 
our endeavour to make good the position. 
It is not very many years since geology was 
considered by many as both a dangerous and a 
useless science. We can remember the time 
when Christian men had a fear lest it should 
undermine the Book of their faith, and when 
even practical men were wont to say — “ It is 
all very well for those who 'have leisure, and 
whose tastes lead that way, to investigate the 
so-called facts of geology, and follow its wild 
deductions ; but, when all is done, what is the 
use P — what results, of a practical nature, are 
likely to follow ?” 
Strong as the prejudices have been against 
geology, perhaps no science has more speedily 
and satisfactorily relieved, if it has not removed, 
the groundless apprehensions of some good 
men relative to its legitimate results ; and cer- 
tainly it would be difficult to name a science 
that has so quickly and so universally risen into 
favour on the acknowledged ground of its high 
economic value. 
The modern estimate of this science is just i 
In the rocky crust of the earth there are many 
proofs, legible enough to those who have eyes 
and courage to read them, of the Divine 
Attributes ; and the vast accumulations of 
rocky materials, with which the geologist 
has made us familiar, furnish, perhaps, 
the grandest commentary on the Bible des- 
ignation of the Great Creator, — “ The Ancient 
oe Days.” It is now generally acknowledged 
that, while geology derives aid from other 
sciences — such as chemistry, mineralogy, Ich- 
thyology, conchology — the obligation is mu- 
tual ; and, besides, it is freely conceded by all 
persons of intelligen ;e that it affords, in a 
variety of ways, liberal assistance to the most 
practical of all the sciences, and contributes 
largely to the success of the most useful of our 
great industries. Modern agriculture is im- 
mensely its debtor ; civil engineering is much 
beholden to it ; and it is the basis of all 
thorough and trustworthy mining operations. 
Hence, the Governments of the European 
nations have found it incumbent upon them to 
establish and maintain, in some instances at a 
large annual expenditure, a Geological De- 
partment for the scientific and economical 
development of the natural resources 
of their respective countries. Establish- 
ments of this kind exist in countries whose 
mineral treasures do not include the precious 
metals ; and even in these circumstances, when 
efficiently worked, they amply rep »y the money 
expended. The Geological Department of 
England, for example, where the precious 
metals are so sparsely deposited that they may 
be considered as not existing, is doing an 
amount of good in which, one way or other, 
every subject of the Grown may have an ap- 
preciable share. By the elaborate system of 
geological surveys whereby the country is being 
accurately mapped ; by the establishment of 
an extensive and well-ordered museum 
for geological specimens, open to the 
public ; by reports of field operations, 
and memoirs on important discoveries ; by 
periodical series of popular lectures, with 
illustrations, by the ablest men on the staff ; by 
printed journals and books; — -the physical 
features of the country ; the character of the 
soils ; the nature of the rocks ; the value of 
the hidden deposits in any part of the British 
