17 July 1908, 1 p.
P. 152 letter from Woodward to Carter at Broome Hill re: Declining offer of further English bird skins as Museum already had so many that there was no chance of displaying to the public as there was insufficient staff for preservation. Acknowledged previous receipts from Carter and Walter and Charles Rothschild.

3 August 1908, 1 p.
P. 179 letter from Woodward to Carter at Broome Hill re: Acknowledging the receipt of an Amytornis. Will have it photographed and returned.  

17 August 1908, 1 p.
P. 194 letter from Woodward to Carter re: Stating your birds will be exhibited at the Natural History Society, photographed and returned.

22 August 1908, 1 p.
P. 199 letter from Woodward to Carter at Broome Hill re: Advice of sending photograph of  A. varia. Sending his specimen of A. gigantura and another No. 5421.  The specimens had been exhibited at the Natural History Society where it was agreed that the differences in the chestnut colouring on the ventral surface was a local variation and not a new species. Regrets that he did not have a specimen of A. macrura.

7 September  1908, 1 p.
P. 221 letter from Woodward to Carter at Broome Hill re: Acknowledging the receipt of a bird (not named).  Offered congratulations on the finding of a new species.


10 October  1908, 1 p.
P. 262 letter from Woodward to Carter at Broome Hill re: accepting offer of the nests of A. apicalis, C. montallis, P. goodanolil and bicolor.

9 December 1908, 1 p.
P. 352 letter from Woodward to Carter re: Acknowledging the receipt of skins. Acknowledged Carter would like Amytis varia to figure in the "Ibis" but reported that the only skin ever received had been returned. Offered to lend a pair of Amytornis gigantura but regrets not having spare Ptilotis carteri or leilavalensis.  Accepted the offer of clutches of common bird eggs.

17 December 1908, 1 p.
P. 361 letter from Woodward to Carter at Broome Hill re: Acknowledging the receipt of a box of eggs.  Reported that Mr Conigrave has not shot a Pardalotus punctatus but will if Mr Milligan has done so.  Posting a pair of Amytornis gigantura (Nos. 9236 5421).

29 December 1908, 1 p.
P. 386 letter from Woodward to Carter at Broome Hill : Apologies for the short postage on the return of skins. Best wishes for a good trip.

CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PRROPERTIES.

Gold is always found in the native or metallic state, but generally alloyed with silver, copper, or iron, and although one of the most widely distributed and earliest worked metals it is comparatively rare, owing to the fact that it mostly occurs in small quantities requiring a great deal of labour to win it. It has been always highly prized owing to its beautiful colour, the ease with which it can be worked, the fact that it does not tarnish when exposed to the action of air or water, and so far it has been almost universally adopted as the standard of exchange.

In the early part of the 4th century the Alchemists spent their lives in seeking what was called the Philosophers stone which would give them the power of melting the baser metals in certain proportions, and thus transforming them into gold. It has now been generally decided by chemists that it is an element, or in other words that it cannot be split up into any more elementary substances, neither can it be manufactured. In the pure state its specific gravity is very high, being [figure unclear] times as heavy as water, which physical character is taken advantage of in separating it from other minerals, for beside platinum and two or three of the very rare metals, an equal bulk of it is heavier than any other substance.

This metal melts at 2000deg. Farenheit, [sic] and can also be volatilised at very high temperatures. In the pure state its colour and streak (a mark made by it on porcelain) is a deep golden yellow, but in the finely divided state it is either red or black, whilst by transmitted light it is green. It is the most malleable and ductile metal, as a grain of it can be beaten out large enough to cover 54 ¾ square inched of 1—280,000th of an inch in thickness, whilst Faraday calculated that the gold from four sovereigns, if drawn into wire, would be long enough to reach round the earth at the equator.

It does not readily enter into chemical combinations with the other elements, and when it does the resulting salts are very unstable being decomposed when brought in contact with other metals, metallic salts, organic substances or by exposure to the action of light and air. It is not acted upon by any simple acid, but is dissolved by chlorine in solution or by nitro-hydrochloric acid forming auric chloride, one of its most stable salts.

Pure gold is so soft that it can be scratched by the finger nail, therefore it has to be alloyed with other metals to increase its hardness, silver or copper being the most generally employed. An alloy it must be understood is not a chemical compound, as no chemical action takes place, but simply a mixture of two or more metals in any proportions, the English gold standard being an alloy of 11 parts of gold to one part of copper, but as this is not hard enough for jewelry the proportion of copper is greatly increased. The fineness of those alloys is spoken of as so many carat gold. Pure gold is expressed as 24 whilst in lower standards the number of parts of pure gold in the 24 is mentioned, a sovereign is 22 carat or 22 parts gold and 2 copper.

As gold used in jewelry is mostly of certain standards as 22, 18, 15 or 12 carats it is not necessary to melt it up to tell its fineness, but this can he done by marking with it on a black basaltic stone (called a touchstone) then treating the mark with dilute nitric acid and comparing it with golds of known standards similarly treated.

Gold also has the property of forming an amalgam with mercury at ordinary temperatures, when it forms a soft slimy mass in which the gold and mercury are found to be perfectly mixed This affinity of mercury for gold is taken advantage of in its extraction.

For testing the presence of gold in very minute quantities the mineral is finely pulverized and agitated with an alcoholic tincture of iodine, into this solution a piece of filter paper is dipped and then burnt, when if the colour of the ash is purple, it indicates the presence of gold; but this should be confirmed by evaporating the alcoholic tincture to dryness and treating the residue with nitro-hydrochloric acid, and again evaporating, dissolving the residue in water, and dropping in a drop of a mixture of stannous and ferric chloride, when a deep purple colour will be seen (Purple of Cassius), which confirms the presence of gold.

Gold may be distinguished from iron pyrites, copper pyrites, and mica, by the ease with which it will cut with a knife. Iron pyrites, being as hard as quartz, will not cut; copper pyrites will cut, but it yields a greenish powder ; whilst mica splits off in shining scales. Another method, where the specks are too small to try the with a knife, and acids are not at hand, is to make the stone red-hot, and either let it cool or drop it into cold water, when the iron pyrites will turn red, the copper black, and the mica lose its lustre, whilst the gold will remain unaltered.

There need be no fear of melting the gold, as it requires a much higher temperature than that of an ordinary fire. Gold, besides being valuable as a medium of exchange, is one of the most useful metals. For jewelry it cannot be surpassed, owing to its beautiful colour. the fact that it does not rust, and the ease with which it can be worked. It is also used largely for plating and gilding, in both of which processes gold leaf was originally used, but now it is found much more economical, when the article to be plated is metal, to deposit a thin coating of gold from solution by means of an electric current, by which a very thin film of gold can be evenly deposited over a large surface.

Gold is used also for colouring glass, the beautiful reds called ruby glass being due to the pretence of it in small quantities. In photography it in also of great value, owing to the permanency of the beautiful tones that can be obtained by replacing the silver in the original print with it, and a great variety of shades are produced, varying from black, blue, pink to brown, according to the salt used in the solution.

ITS OCCCURRENCE.

Gold, as was before said, is always found in nature in the metallic state, but mostly alloyed with small quantities of other metals. It was formerly supposed to be always associated with quartz which was considered to be an indication of it, but this idea has exploded, as it has now been found with calcite, serpentine, diorite, and granite, and associated with the ores of lead, iron, antimony, copper and tin.

It is true certainly that quartz commonly occurs with it, but the white quartz reefs which were
first worked are now not thought so much of as the more mineralized veins. Although always found in the metallic state it is highly probable that it also exists in nature as a sulphide, but as this salt is so unstable it would be decomposed before this could be determined.

Gold occurs in nature in two forms namely alluvial gold and reef gold, in the former state it is found in the stream beds and deep leads and has been derived directly from the reefs by the weathering action of the stream, the gold being left behind at the bottom of the gully owing to its great specific gravity, whilst the lighter minerals have been washed away. Reef gold occurs in veins, lodes or dykes, the term reef or vein being used to describe a lode where there is a predominance of an earthy mineral, lode where an ore or metallic mineral is in the larger proportion, and a dyke when it owes its origin to plutonic action and is infilled from below. These reefs and veins mostly occur in the older Palaeozoic formation, the rocks being generally clay slate or schist. Veins are fissures or faults which have been infilled by mineral matter in solution, either from small cross fissures and leaders, or directly from the side of the vein itself, which has been mostly the case in this colony where, as a rule, the reefs have one good wall coated with a greasy impervious caseing, whilst on the other side the country is much broken, and many small veins and leaders or feeders strike away from it into the country, and the rock on this side being as a rule more pervious than next the good wall.

Although only found in workable quantities in the mineral veins amongst these older rooks gold occurs in minute quantities throughout the whole geological series, and the sea water in some places contains an appreciable quantity of it in solution. It was upon this fact that the theory of the latteral infilling of mineral veins was based, as previously the presence of gold could only be accounted for by the theory that all reefs were filled from below, the vein stuff which carried the gold being thrown up in a molten state. But now that we know that gold is soluble under certain conditions, it is highly probable that highly heated water, charged with certain salts, might have dissolved the minute traces of gold from out of the rock through which it passed, depositing it in the fissures.

In what state the gold was when in solution it is impossible to say, as we have no means of experimenting with it, at enormous temperature, and under the tremendous pressure that existed when it was deposited; but it is highly probable that it was in the form of a double sulphide. The silica was also probably in the form of soluble silicate, whilst the other metals would be in the form of sulphides. The water charged with the mineral matter would gradually find its way into these fissures, on the sides of which it would deposit the mineral in layers, which would cause the banded appearance which is so commonly met with in veins, whilst owing to the peculiar physical character of minerals which, when deposited from solution, sort and arrange themselves, the gold, instead of being all through the stone in an inappreciable form, would be deposited in smaller or larger specks or particles according to the richness at the time of the infilling solution.

ITS EXTRACTION.

To extract gold the stone must first be pulverized. This is done either by batteries or mills, the former of which although a very rude contrivance is found to answer the purpose better than any more complicated machine.

A battery consists roughly of a number of pestles or stampers (generally five) working in a mortar or box into which a stream of water is conveyed by a pipe, and the stone fed in from the back whilst at the front there is a fine wire grating or screen through which when fine enough the stone is carried by the water on to the table. This is an inclined board with amalgamated copper plates and a number of troughs filled with mercury, whilst at the lower end of the table are blankets; owing to the greater density of the gold it sinks into the mercury, or when in very fine particles is caught by the amalgamated plates, whilst the blankets catch the coated gold which will not amalgamate and other ores which may be rich in the precious metal.

Mills are of various patterns, but the general principle on which they work is to grind the stone with mercury which amalgamates with the gold whilst the earthy minerals are worked away as sand and mud. The amalgam resulting from both these processes is heated in a retort, which drives off all the mercury, leaving behind a spongy cake of gold, which is then melted and cast into ingots. The blanket sands are generally roasted and ground with mercury, when the resulting amalgam is treated as above.

In other processes, like the chlorination, the stone is first pulverised and then put into vats. These vats are closed down and charged with chlorine gas which attacks the gold, forming a soluble chloride. When this part of the process is complete it is dissolved out with water from which the pure gold is precipitated. This process is largely used when the gold is very finely divided, as at Mount Morgan, but it would not pay where the simple modes of extraction suffice.

Alluvial gold is mostly found associated with a more or less free wash or dirt (pay dirt) in a gutter at the bottom of a stream bad or lead (old watercourse), but sometimes it is cemented by lime, magnesia, silica or iron, which makes it impossible to work without first crushing it, whilst at other times the wash contains so much stiff clay that it is necessary to puddle it before it can be washed.

There is very little trouble as a rule in working alluvial ground, except in places like Victoria where the leads are covered by basalt often of great thickness, and the gold can be easily separated from the dirt by either washing or dry blowing. The washing is done in many ways, the principals of which are the sludge, the cradle, and the dish. The first of these consists of a long inclined box open at the lower end with a false bottom and ban or ledges, called a Long Tom, through which a stream of water is run and into which the dirt is thrown, the whole being cleaned up at certain intervals when the gold is found under the false bottom and ledges, whilst all the stones and rubbish have been washed out at the lower end.

A cradle is a box on rockers with a coarse screen at the top on which the dirt is put, water in small quantities poured over it and then rocked, which sifts out the coarser stones, which are thrown away, whilst the finer pass over a number of inclined boards with ledges in the inside of the cradle and finally, minus the gold, are discharged from a small shoot at the bottom. In this, as in the sluice, the gold is found along the ledges of the inclined trays.

The dish most commonly used in these colonies is round with a flat bottom, sloping sides and a little groove on one side to prevent the gold running away with the water and sand. Into this dish the dirt is put with water, the gold being settled to the bottom by a peculiar circular motion. The dish is then inclined and partially submerged in water, by which the lighter material is washed off until only the gold in left.

Dry blowing is only resorted to when water is very scarce. This consists of a winnowing process. First one dish is placed upon the ground in as windy a place as possible, then another is taken full of dirt and poured into the first from as great a height as the blower can reach. After this has been repeated several times and the larger stones picked out, the reduced quantity of heavy material is treated in one dish, from which it is thrown into the air in a particular manner after being first shaken in the pan. When this is sufficiently reduced it is finished by picking out or blowing the small remaining stones away from the gold which is then fairly clean.

AURIFEROUS BELTS OF THIS COLONY.

There are four auriferous belts in this colony, the first of which runs nearly North and South, about 200 to 250 miles from the coast in the southern portion of the colony, and it is on this belt that Yilgarn and the Murchison goldfields are situated.

In the Ashburton the belt runs North West and South East, but is probably the extension of  the Yilgarn belt, which ends at the head of this river. The Roebourne belt strikes East and West along the North West coast from the Nicol River to the DeGrey River, disappearing beneath the sandy tableland to the eastward. The Kimberley belt strikes in a North East and South West direction, and is very probably the extension of the Roebourne belt, re-appearing on the North-Easterly side of the sandy tableland. These belts carry gold for a great length, the reefs as a rule are of great size and very rich, and wherever they have been tested they have proved to be good.

A large quantity of stone has been crushed from the different fields, which has averaged 1oz. to the ton of stone, whilst alluvial patches of great value are still being worked. Gold mining here is in its infancy, not yet being ten years old ; but as during this time it has made great progress, especially during the last year or two, there is every prospect that this colony, before long, will be one of the chief gold producing countries of the world.

He then described their appearance, consistence, and mode of life, advising a simple classification of spheres, rods, filaments or spirals, according to their shape. He further recommended, however, a functional classification, namely, Chromogenic – pigment forming; Septic – Putrefactive; Zymogenic – Fermentative; Pathogenic – producing specific diseases.
 

• Of the Chromogenic, he mentioned, Micrococcus Prodigiosus, a spherical microbe filled with a reddish oil, giving rise to blood-coloured stains upon whatever it might settle e.g., bread, meat, and articles of food. Also the Protococcus Nivalis which in northern regions gives the snow a reddish tinge, and also the Spirillum which renders rain of reddish colour.

 

• Septic or Putrefactive, represented by the Bacterium Termo, which abound everywhere, and are the agents to which all living nature must bear bow, namely, “Dust to Dust.” So soon as life leaves our bodies, they are at once attacked by millions of these microbes, which reduce them to the primary forms from which there were derived, and thus the mineral constituents again mingle with the soil, and so the equilibrium of nature is sustained, there being no creation, no destruction. Plants draw their nutrients from the soil and air in the form of mineral solution, and are devoured by animals; and animals are in their turn devoured by microbes, and return by means of putrefaction to the soil and serve for the nutrition of plants. It has lately been shown that these microbes exist in enormous quantities in the soil to a depth of about 20 inches, but that at greater depths they are comparatively few. This is a factor of great importance to the sanitarian, for it is thus that organized materials such as excreta and refuse of towns, when placed upon the surface of the soil, are quickly changed, whereas, when placed at a greater depth, are slow to undergo decomposition.  It is probably due to the recognition of this fact that thrifty nations such as the Chinese, who use the refuse of their cities upon the soil for agricultural purposes, outlive other nations, such as the Ninevites, Babylonians, Romans and Athenians, who did not recognize this necessity. Thus though, when properly taken advantage of, they are friends to the sanitarian, they are most deadly enemies to the surgeon. Dr Jameson here described how Sir Joseph Lister had discovered a means of contending against them, now known as “Listerism, or the antiseptic system.”

 

• Of the Zymogenic or Fermentative microbe, he mentioned lactic fermentation or the souring of milk due to Bacillum Lactis, the acetic fermentation, or the conversion of alcohol into vinegar, due to Mycoderma Aceti, and also the various diseases of wine, such as mouldiness, over-fermentation, ropiness, and bitterness, all due to microbes.

 

• Of the Pathogenic microbes, which are of such great importance to the physician, he pointed out that it was daily more and more believed that contagious and infectious diseases, such as fevers, are due to microbes multiplying and flourishing in the system. In some such as anthrax and relapsing fever, this has been demonstrated beyond all doubt, and there are many other diseases in connection with which bacteria have been found, e.g. ague, cholera, diptheria, erysipelas, glanders, leprosy, small-pox, typhoid, and tuberculosis or consumption.  He then showed the probable means of combatting these diseases in the near future.

At the conclusion of the address, an interesting discussion took place on the points raised by Dr. Jameson, and before the members separated opportunity was taken to examine under the microscope the specimens of the diptheria and other microbes which Dr. Jameson had provided to illustrate his address.

called upon Dr. Harvey to Tend his paper on " Sponges."

Dr. Harvey stated that sponges had lately been raised into a separate sub-
kingdom—Polystomata—from their former place as the highest order of the
Protozoa. He then proceeded to describe the three varieties of sponge, the
horny, the calcareous and the siliceous, these terms describing merely
their skeletons, for the living sponge comprises numberless colonies of
minute amaeboid animals that have a common integument, although they are
separate individuals as far as their own internal economy is concerned.
They are ciliated, and by that means keep currents of water continually in
motion, which bring them particles of food and oxygen. The water is
constantly entering by the minute apertures that are to be seen in all
sponges, and passing out by the large openings. The calcareous sponges
build up their skeletons of large numbers of minute calcareous spicules,
while the silicious use flint for the purpose of giving them strength, and
these are often of very beautiful shapes. The only sponges utilized are
the " horny " whose skeleton is composed of a substance known as keratode,
that is very similar in composition to the hair and claws of the higher
animals. The doctor then proceeded to give an account of what is known of
the methods of reproduction in this sub-kingdom. The paper was admirably
illustrated by numerous diagrams, and by specimens obtained by the members
who had attended the excursion to the North Beach on the Saturday
previous, which allowed the enormous variety of sponges to be obtained on
the the [sic] west coast. The Rev. C. G. Nicolay exhibited a sponge nearly
two feet in diameter from Sharks' Bay, and the Secretary specimens of
those silicious sponges known as Venus' Flower Basket, Eupletcella
aspergillum.

Doubtless the sponge industry will in the future assume considerable
importance on the West and North West coasts, while now there is a large
field for the Naturalist in collecting, describing, and naming them.
The next excursion of this Society will be to the Helena Valley on the
first Saturday in April, and on the Monday following a paper will be given
on the “Spectroscope” by the honorary secretary, Mr. Bernard H. Woodward.

interesting paper on coal and lignite. There was a good attendance of the
members of the Society, and the Vice-president (the Hon. J. G. H. Amherst)
presided.

Mr. BERNARD WOODWARD said:
The consideration of coal may be taken up from various points of view, both scientific and practical, but this evening we are chiefly interested in the former, and will endeavour to review what geology, mineralogy, palaeontology and chemistry can teach us on the subject. The name coal, spelt cole, until a comparatively recent period, is derived from the root col, or kull, meaning fuel, and is common, to all the languages comprised in the Teutonic group of the Indo European family of languages.

GEOLOGY.

As a matter of custom the term coal is applied to almost every kind of
solid mineral fuel, but by geologists it is used specially to designate
those mineralized plant remains that occur in the upper series of the
Palaeozoic rocks known as the carboniferous system, because seams of coal
form one of its distinguishing characteristics in most parts of the world.

Seams of coal also occur in the Old Red Sandstones, the Permian and the
Triassic series. While to those coals found in Mesozoic rocks the term
lignite or brown coal is applied. These occur in both the Jurssic [sic]
and the Cretaceous epochs, but more notably in the latter, in which seams
over six feet in thickness are worked in Germany.

The New Zealand and Californian coals are of this age.The brown coals of Germany are chiefly of Tertiary age (Oligocene). In Greenland the latest Arctic Expedition discovered a bed of coal of Miocene which so recently although it is as black and lustrous as the Palaeozoic fuels.

The peat that is still in process of formation in the bogs of Ireland, may be described as a poor kind of coal that only requires subjecting to heavy pressure to produce a fuel equal in value to many of the lignites, an event that may occur by ordinary natural causes in the course of time. Thus we see that nature has provided us with a vast number of beds of fuel extending from the Devonian Age up to the present time; and these vary in strucure [sic] and appearance from the peat and the soft and earthy peat coals the paper coals occurring in thin yellow grey layers like compressed leaves of paper, to those lignites having a distinctly woody appearance, and hence termed “wood” or “board coal,” and to others as hard and black as true coal and known as “stone” coal, so that it is impossible to tell by simple inspection whether some of these hard black fuels be true coal or merely superior lignite, some of the latter being far superior as fuels to many of the poorer coals.

Consequently difficulties arise as to the exact definition of coal, the engineer, the manufacturer, the merchant, being only interested in these fuels as far as their economic value is concerned, whilst the geologist classifies them according to their derivation, which led to some curious evidence being brought forward in the remarkable case which was tried in 1853, at Edinburgh, before the Lord Chief Justice and a special jury to settle the question, What it] coal?

The owner of an estate had granted a lease of the whole coal contained in it. In the course of working, the lessees extracted a combustible mineral of great value as a source of coal-gas, and they realized a large profit by the sale of it as gas-coal. The lessor then denied that the mineral in question was coal, and disputed the right of the lessees to work it. At the trial there was a great array of scientific men, including chemists, botanists, geologists, and microscopists ; and of practical gas engineers, coal viewers and others there were not a few. On the one side it was maintained that the mineral was coal, and on the other that it was a bituminous schist.

The evidence, as might be supposed, was most conflicting. The judge, accordingly, ignored the scientific evidence altogether, and summed up as follows ;—“The question for you to consider is not one of motives, but what is the mineral ? Is it coal in the language of th[ose] persons who deal and treat with that matter, and in the ordinary language of Scotland ? Because, to find a scientific definition of coal after what has been brought to light within the last five days, is out of the question. But is it coal in the common use of that word as it must be understood to be used in language that does not profess to be the purest science, but in the ordinary aceptation [sic] of business transactions reduced to writing ? Is it coal in that sense ? That is the question for you to solve.”

The jury found that it was coal. Since this trial the mineral has been pronounced not to be coal by the authorities of Russia, who accordingly have directed it not to be entered by the Custom-house officers as coal.

PALAEONTOLOGY.

As we have before said the geologist calls that true coal which is of carboniferous age, and to determine this point he has to call in the aid of the palaeontologist because the age of rocks is determined by the fossil remains of plants and animals found in them; for a certain order of appearance characterises these organic remains, each great group of rocks is marked by its own special types of life, and these types can be recognised, and the rocks in which they occur can be correllated, even in distant countries, where no other means of comparison is available.

In the Devonian system, only algae and other cryptogams with a few cycads and conifers are found. In the Carboniferous ferns attained a special development, as did certain lycopodiaceae, known as sigillaria and lepidodendra, these reaching 60 to 100 feet in height, with a diameter of 40 inches, while their modem representatives the club-mosses rarely exceed 8 or 10 inches in height. Gigantic equisetaceae known as calamites were equally luxuriant. True coal consists of the remains of these plants.

In the Permian system palms first appear. In the Secondary or Mesozoic age, the forms characteristic of the palaeozoic beds, sigillarae, lepidodendra and asterophyllites (ferns) disappear; and in the Jurassic times the prevalent forms in the forests were cycads, and with these were associated numerous conifers related in form to our arancarias and thujas, with an undergrowth of ferns and fleshy fungi.

In the later Oolitic times the earlier forms of cycads and ferns disappear, and are replaced by those more nearly related to those of the present time.

In the Cretaceous system the dicotyledonous trees appear, being represented by juglandites and ac[c]rites, related to our walnuts and maples, also alders and hornbeams and shrubs allied to our willows, while the cycads are much diminished in numbers.

In the Kainozoic or Tertiary strata the flora approaches still more closely to the present, for the brown coals of Germany of this age are composed almost entirely of the remains of conifers, although oaks, beeches, birches, alders and willows have assisted in the composition.

Peat, the formation of which is now going on, is composed chiefly of bog-mos [sic], Sphagnum palustre, which has the curious property of growing on upwards while the stem decays. Many of the plants have been beautifully preserved in the shales associated with the various coal measures, its can be seen in the collections exhibited in our Geological Museum, while microscopic sections still further help to elucidate the mystery of the composition of the coals, for even when they have been so much altered that the stems and leaves are represented by nothing but a structureless mass of black carbonaceous matter, there are found diffused through this a multitude of minute resinoid yellowish brown granules, which represent the spores of the gigantic Lycopodiaceae of the carboniferous flora. The of course do not occur in the lignites, which generally show a true woody structure under the microscope.

Although for want of time I have only referred to the flora, Yet in the identification of strata the fanna [sic] is still more important, because more numerous, and I would call the attention of members to the collection of the British carboniferous fossils in the Geological Museum, and ask them to compare them with those from the Irwin district, when they will be speedily convinced that that is truly of Carboniferous age.

MINERALOGY.

Considered from a mineralogical point of view, coal is placed in the hydro-
carbon group, along with petroleum, the wax-like parrafin series, amber,
the mineral resins, asphalt, &c., all of which are believed to be of
organic origin, although so much altered as to have lost all trace of
organic structure, as is the case with albertite—a brilliant jet black
hydro-carbon found in the lower Carboniferous rocks of Nova Scotia—which
is very valuable for gas-making, but only occurring in irregular fissures
cannot be regarded as a coal. The chief varieties ties of coal
are—firstly, anthracite, which contains 80 to 95 per cent. of carbon, but
graduates into the next variety, bituminous coal, which contains from 73
to 90 per cent. of carbon, and is divided into caking and non-caking, the
latter approaching most nearly to anthracite in composition, and being
also termed free-burning or steam coal, according to the purposes for
which it is used ; secondly we have cannel coal, the name being corrupted
from candle, because a because a splinter can be lighted and will burn
with a flame. It differs very little in composition from some of the
bituminous coals, but yields on destructive distillation large quantities
of gas and oils, both burning and lubricating ; and lastly, there is
torbanite, an earthy variety of cannel that yields large quantities of gas
and oil, but leaves an ash almost at bulky as itself. This was the subject
of the 1853 law-suit above mentioned. Then come the lignites or brown
coal, of which jet is a variety.

CHEMISTRY.

In the next place we will see what light chemistry can throw upon our
subject. Coals may be analysed to show actual per centages of carbon,
hydrogen, oxygen (these two apart from the amount contained in the water
which would have been previously been driven off), nitrogen, sulphur, and
ash, and the ash may be separately analysed, as is done to ascertain if it
contain anything that will interfere in metallurgical operations. Analyses
do not always throw much light upon the economic value and uses of a coal,
for a good deal depends upon the way in which the molecules arranged, for,
as before mentioned, some bituminous coals yield much more oil than others
of almost identical chemical composition, their constitution being
evidently widely different. In Lignites the amount of carbon varies from
49 to 75 per cent., hydrogen from 3.79 to 5.63, nitrogen from 0.57 to1.34,
sulphur from 0.49 to 4.59, ash from 1.83 to 19.34, water from 5.90 to
49.50, the specific gravity from 1.13 to 1.41. In coals the carbon varies
from 70 to 95 per cent., hydrogen 4.65 to 6.00, nitrogen 1.49 to 2.65,
sulphur 0.55 to 1.51, ash 0.79 to 4, water 1.35 to 3.50, and the specific
gravity from 1.25 to1.46. From these figures we see that coals [sic]
contains more carbon and hydrogen and less nitrogen than lignite, but the
latter contains much more water and generally more ash. The assay method
of estimating fuels is of more practical value, giving the amount of
water, ash, coke, and volatile hydro-carbons. Coals give from 50 to 90 per
cent. of coke, and from 8 to 33 per cent. of gas, except in the case of
some of the superior cannel coals which give up to 66 per cent. of
volatile matter. Lignites give from 30 to 63 per cent. of coke from 15 to
36 per cent. Gas.

CONCLUSIONS.

To sum up, it is impossible to distinguish coal from lignite by external
appearance, or by chemical analysis the superior lignites being better
fuels than some of the inferior coals. The lignites mostly contain much
more water than coal, and while the latter may be dried it is useless to
perform that operation on lignites for they re-absorb water from the
atmosphere almost to the extent of that driven off. While only some coals
are non-caking, all lignites are and so nearly valueless for gas-making as
the coke being left in powder has no commercial value. Lignites are often
valuable fuels, and are largely used in all parts of the world. In this
colony there are many beds of lignite in the southern districts, some of
which like the Flybrook and Fitzgerald are so friable that they are never
likely to be of much commercial value, but the Collie will be most useful
for household purposes, locomotives, smelting works, &c., though it cannot
be economically employed in gas making, as it does not cake, and so does
not give coke of any value, nor will it not be accepted by mail steamers
on account of the large amount of water it contains, necessitating the
carrying not only of the additional ten per cent. of useless water but
enough extra fuel to drive that off. It is hard and travels well, and so
will certainly be a source of great profit. Our great hope, however, of
finding good steam and gas coal lies in the districts extending from the
Irwin to Kimberley, where the Carboniferous formation is so largely
developed as stated in the  reports of the Government Geologist.

The GOVERNMENT GEOLOGIST (Mr. Harry Page Woodward) gave an interesting description of the different formations of coal in this colony. The collie coal resembled very closely lignites, and he put it down as Mesozoic coal. certainly not the coal of the Carboniferous Age, and as it was generally decided that anything that would sell in the market was coal he had called it coal.

There were very large seams there, and extended a great depth. The coal was a coal that would travel. But at present the colony had no great need for coal, as, if the coastal steamers used it, and the railways used it, the total amount they would require would not keep one mine going. As far as the prospects for coal in this colony were concerned, he considered the colony had very fine prospects indeed, for the Carboniferous rocks outcropped in many places between the Irwin and Wyndham, in fact they were more largely developed than in any other part of the world.

Mr. R. WYNNE said that about a year and a half ago a gentleman visited this colony who was an expert in coal, and he took the opportunity of showing this visitor a specimen of the coal from Fly Brook. The gentleman in question immediately pronounced it to be lignite and that it was of similar quality as the lignite used at the present time throughout New Zealand. It was, he said, bound to be very valuable for fuel. It was of much more recent formation than the other coal, and possibly the other coal might be found underneath at a greater distance.

The GOVERNMENT GEOLOGIST said that it was very often thought by the public on seeing lignite that it was an indication of coal. This was a mistake as lignite had nothing to do with coal, as the lignite rested on very old crystaline rocks, rocks of an age beyond the Palaeozoic rocks.

Dr. JAMESON proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Woodward for his interesting paper. He thought the question he had gone into was one full of interestat the present time. He had shown them the great complexity of the subject and the difficulty of forming a true opinion. Perhaps it would be better to leave the matter to thoroughly scientific men, and not to experts. It seemed a strange thing that they should apply, as on a recent occasion, to a gentleman from the other colonies for an opinion on the coal, when they had men of a scientific education here.

Mr. POOLE seconded the motion which was carried unanimously.

Mr. WOODWARD said he had had some conversation with Mr. Bond with regard to the Irwin coal, who told him he was going to continue boring and prospecting in spite of any adverse report.

The business of the evening was conc[luded] by the notice that at the next meeting [the] Government Geologist would give a pap[er on] gold.

The president con[fine?]d his address to pointing out to the members of the Society the great field for labour []he colony which lay before all who felt [original text missing] and inclination for the work. The [Soc]iety, he said, had had a very small beginning, but its objects were very extensive. [The]re had been, during the year, many inter- [esti]ng papers read by members, which gave [gre]at encouragement to the Society to pursue [original text missing] interesting and ennobling work of study-[original text missing] and portraying the beauties in nature [wh]ich were to be observed all round.

Among [the] many subjects to which the attention and [earne]st investigation of the Society should be [dir]ected were the aborigines and their language and customs, and the extensive flora [and] fauna of the colony.

At the conclusion [of] his address, the president was, on the [mo]tion of Dr. Jameson, seconded by Mr. Woodward, accorded a hearty vote of thanks.