232 
Maitlaxb. — U'csfcrn Ansiralum Geology. 
Palnoontological res(*aiH-lies li.ave also boon carried out under 
tlie aiis])ices ot tlie AVestern Australian Museum, whilst the results 
of several jju])ortaut studies by Messi’s, L. (Hauert, J. Tj. Reatli, 
T. Withers, and h, W. Wliitehouse, At. Sc., have appeared in the 
]iaycs of 1lie doiirual and I'^roceedings of the Royal Society of 
AVest(‘rn Austi-alia. The results of the local ])alaeontolo^ical re- 
seaiclu's have fitrnislied Jiuicli valuabh' information relating to the 
faunal ndalionsldjis of the strata from which the fossils were 
<lerived and of tlii'ir stratigraphical ecpiivalents not only in the 
count I'ies bordeidng the Indian Ocean, l)ut also in (d]ina and Great 
Hritain, in addition to being of fundamental significance wilh 
relation to palaeogeograjehy, climatic vicissitudes, and problems of 
biological history, Ihdaeontedogical research is still being carried 
(;u with im'reasiiig energy. 
Dui'iiig the course of this address, a field of gathered fact 
and glowing generalisation has lieen traversed, an<l an endeavour 
made to show that AVestern Australia, which forms Init a frac- 
tional part of the globe, lias added its (]uota to the general fact>s 
and ])riih-iples of earth history. And as one reflects not so much 
u)Hm what has already lieen accomjilished but as to what may 
be ]>ossibl(‘ in tlu’ fiitnr(\ for the necessity for further knowledge 
is insistent, the ]n'o]iheti(' words of Seneca of 2000 years ago 
cannot but commend themselves to our admiration, besides furnish- 
ing a keynote for the future. 
Seneca in Ihiok AMI of his ‘ ' Quaestionum Natuialium, ” a 
Latin jirodmd'ion coustitntiiig mie of the few works of its time 
bearing u])on the facts and |)]imiomena of Natural History Science, 
ixininds ns that: 
‘‘Many discov(-ries ai'e reserved for the ages still to be, when 
oiir nu'iMorv shall have perished. The world is a poor affair if 
it do not contain matter for investigation for the whole world 
in ev(M'v age. Some of the .sacred rites are not revealed to wor- 
shippers all at once. EJnisis contains some of his mysteries to 
show to roiaries on their second visit. Nature does not reveal all 
her secrets at once. We imagine we are initiated in her mysteries; 
we are as vet but hanging around her outer courts. These secrets 
are not oiieii to all indiscriminately. They are withdrawn and shut 
up ill tlie inner slirine. Of one of them this age will catch a 
glinpise; of anotlier the age that will come after.” 
Printed for the Roval Society of AVestern Australia by R. S. 
Sampson, 971-973 Hay Street, Perth. 
