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.

Among those present were Lady Robinson, Lady Forrest, [the] Hon. H. W. Venn (Commissioner of Railways), Mr. R. Fairbairn, R.M., Dr. and Mrs. [Jam]eson and Mr. Poole.

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....

A meeting of the above Society was held on Monday evening, when Mr. Poole
took the chair, owing to the absence of the President at the Federal Convention.

The minutes having been read and other business transacted, the Chairman
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....

The launch first proceeded to Freshwater Bay, when Mr. Alpin Thomson was taken on board, with an oyster dredging net, which he kindly placed at the disposal of the Society. Some dredging was then attempted, but owing principally to the large mesh of the net, with no results save a few shell-fish and a crab.  After dredging for some time the order was given by Mr. B. H. Woodward, the indefatigable Secretary of the Society and the chief organizer of these enjoyable outings, “Full steam ahead to Peppermint Grove.” There the party disembarked, and after some slight refreshments a start was again made, this time for Rocky Bay, where the dredging was more successful, several pieces of sponge, which, under the microscope, may possibly reveal some interesting forms of animal and vegetable life, being obtained.

On the homeward journey Peppermint Grove was again touched at, to pick out some of the party who had remained on shore, and Perth was reached a few minutes before half-past six.

In spite of the partial success of the dredging operations, all were unanimous in the opinion that a thoroughly enjoyable and pleasant afternoon had been spent. The weather was perfection, and as it was the first time that several of the party had been down the Swan, they saw the river under the most favourable circumstances, and were enthusiastic in their praise of its beauties. It is intended, we understand, to make a similar excursion at some future date, when if possible a dredge specially made for obtaining specimens will be used. This evening the usual monthly meeting of the Society will be held at the offices of the Geological Department, at 7.30, when Dr. Tratman will read a paper on the insect locally known as the “chick-chick.”

THE GOVERNMENT GEOLOGIST ON “GOLD.”

At the last monthly meeting of the West Australian Natural History Society, the Government Geologist read the following paper on “Gold” :—

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....

There is, however, one danger which needs to be forseen. While within the next few years Western Australia may be made quite as desirable a country to live in as any of the Eastern colonies, so far as mere comfort and convenience are concerned, the younger generation growing up in the colony may find themselves at a disadvantage educationally, as compared with the youth of the Eastern colonies and the United Kingdom.

Western Australia is pre-eminently a colony where a young man anxious to push his way in the world may hope to succeed, and it may be expected that for some time to come greater proportionate progress will be made in ten years here than in half a century of the life of many older countries. But for educational purposes no one would choose Western Australia as being in any way conspicuous. Putting aside those studies necessary for a professional career, and supposing merely that a lad wishes to prepare himself for the occupations of mining or farming, for which there are unlimited openings in Australia, he can in most, if not all, of the Eastern colonies obtain instruction suited for his purpose. He will find schools of mines, agricultural colleges, geological and botanical museums, and experimental gardens at hand. He has, in fine, excellent opportunities of obtaining that scientific knowledge and training which is of inestimable value to the miner and the agriculturist. But the West Australian lad, unless his parents can afford to send him out of the colony for his education, is at present quite denied advantages like these. The lack is undoubtedly serious, and the duty of supplying it as far as practicable is one which no wise Government will fail to keep in view.

That we possess vast natural resources is indisputable, and if constant reiteration of that gratifying fact is of any service, we are not likely to forget it. But if these resources are to be turned to good account there must be some knowledge of nature, some acquaintance with the contents of her vast laboratory, some discrimination in selecting what to utilise and what to leave alone.

The meeting of the West Australian Natural History Society, at the Geological Museum, yesterday, serves to remind us that, in one direction at least, and in a very important direction, modest but very useful effort is being made to supply the colony with an educational adjunct, which should prove of special value in relation to its mineral resources. It is a happy coincidence that what may he described as the formal opening of the Geological Museum should have fallen to the lot of a Governor, who, during a previous term of office, was responsible for its inauguration.

In the intervening years the Museum has undergone a course of self- development rather than exercised any educational influence in the way of spreading knowledge of the colony's geological formations and mineral wealth. Until a comparatively recent period, it was housed in a room. adjacent to the private residence of the late curator—the Rev C. G. NICOLAY, —to whose fostering care in the struggling days of its infancy it owes so much, and it may safely be said that its existence, unless in some vague, indeterminate way, was known only to a few. Its removal to a more central position in Perth was a decided attempt to burst forth from its chrysalis state, and the appointment of a salaried curator, in the person of Mr. B. H. WOODWARD, has also helped to direct attention to an institution which, if rightly used, should have a very definite and practical value to the colony.

But even now the museum is not so well- known as it should be. The gloomy pile which has been assigned to the Geological Department for its head quarters and which was built for quite different uses, is not the place where one would expect to find a museum except for the relics of criminality, and it can only be regarded as a temporary habitation. But the gathering of yesterday and the publicity which it will receive through the medium of the press will no doubt materially help to awaken the public to a knowledge of the museum's existence, and it may be recognised that the old gaol, like the toad, ugly, if not venemous, “wears yet a precious jewel in his head.”

But a museum for the housing and display of geological specimens does not include all that is needed by the colony in this direction, as was pointed out by both the Governor and the Premier yesterday. We have to look forward in the future to the establishment of botanical, ethnological, zoological and technological museums, as well as a fine art gallery.

As yet we have not one of these in the colony, but the time has certainly come when the Government should take in hand the collection of objects for all of these, no matter how small the scale on which operations have first to be begun. And it will be noted with peculiar satisfaction that the PREMIER has promised that the Government will make an early attempt to supply all those deficiencies, and undertake seriously the creation of these institutions.

The initial step, however, is to provide a suitable building in which collections as they accumulate can he properly housed. If the Government can see their way to make the necessary provision for this purpose, they may rest assured that there are few objects for which the colony will more willingly sanction a moderate expenditure. Even with an immediate beginning it must be many a year before any of our local museums can hope to compare with the fine collections in the Eastern colonies. But these had their day of small things, and it is astonishing what steady progress can be achieved by the help of a moderate annual grant, provided its expenditure is placed in competent hands.

The present excellent museum at Adelaide, which comprises all the branches we have named, has grown in this modest fashion, and excluding the cost of the admirable building which it occupies on North Terrace, the expenditure incurred in bringing it to its present condition has been very much less than might be supposed. The temptation which we must resist here, at least for some years to come, is that of spending too much on bricks and mortar.

The ambition to provide a fitting home for our national collections is a worthy one, but it must be withstood until such a time as the colony is in a position to build a habitation of which it can feel proud. But when that time does come our whole strength should be put into the work. There is a deep truth in the teaching of RUSKIN that architecture is the revealing medium or lamp through which flames a people's passions, and which is the embodiment of their polity, life, faith or no-faith. And even in the first simple building, the mere shell of brick or jarrah, with no other object but to provide safe housing and shelter against the elements, one of the first principles of architecture, the law of truth, or the spirit of reality and sincerity characteristic of all noble schools of the art, can be observed. An effort could he made, if only for economy's sake, apart from beauty's, to dispense with all that sham and bastard ornamentation which is the curse of so many modern attempts at architecture. Better to have a plain structure revealing itself as such than some pretentious pile aping the palace, and with sham written on every gew-gaw and bit of trumpery that vainly strive to hide its real nature. All the money that can he raised should as far as possible be spent in collecting, for some years to come.

THE members of the West Australian Natural History Society paid a visit to the Geological Museum yesterday, and opportunity was taken of the presence of His Excellency the Governor to formally open the museum to the public. The museum, which occupies what formerly was the chapel of the old gaol, has now attained some magnitude, as a collection and scientific classification of the minerals, especially the marketable ores, of West Australia, together with other valuable specimens lent by the Curator, Mr. Bernard H. Woodward, representing the geology of most parts of the world.

A numerous company of members and visitors, including a goodly number of ladies, assembled in the afternoon to be present at the opening ceremony. Speeches appropriate to the occasion, were delivered by Sir John Forrest, who opened the proceedings, his Excellency the Governor, the Rev. C. G. Nicolay, who had first commenced the collection at Fremantle, and Mr. Woodward the Curator. An extended report of the proceedings is unavoidably held over till to-morrow, for want of space....

At the meeting of the West Australian Natural History Society on Monday evening, Dr Jameson delivered an address on bacteria.  

The Doctor began his address by discussing the position of the bacteria in relation to the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and although favouring their being placed in the vegetable kingdom, yet advised, owing to there still being some doubt, that they should be named microbes, which simply means “small living things.”

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....

 As the land composing the State of Western Australia has been for many
ages undisturbed, by upheavals of a geological nature, the soil and
climate must have varied very little during all that time, so that at the
present day the conditions of existence for organic beings may be taken to
be similar to these prevailing many thousand years ago. Through all this
time successive generations of plants have been accommodating themselves
to the conditions surrounding them, with the alternative that, if they
could not so adapt themselves, they would suffer extinction. Individual
plants that have for any reason been able to withstand particular trying
conditions better than their companions have in consequence of this
survived, and their descendants, through their possession of those
qualities, have continued on their course. A certain amount of
modification of structure will accompany, if it be not the cause of, this
power of resistance, and when further modifications of the same kind
arise, or others equally favourable, or other characteristics are
introduced by crossing with different forms, the plant may thus, by a
process of natural selection, be so much altered from its original form as
to constitute a distinct species. Long-continued drought, for example,
would impose such a test of the endurance of plants ; and as a matter of
fact, drought, periodic or constant, is the most prominent and
characteristic feature of the environment of plants in Western Australia.
In only a few other regions on the earth’s surface is aridity of climate
so pronounced as in some parts of Australia, and yet the driest parts of
its area are furnished with plants able to live through it and propagate
their kind. We are thus led to infer that our native plants must be
particularly well adapted to droughty conditions, while the duration of
this dry environment, and of the resulting structural modifications, seems
to suggest the idea of fixity of the forms now existing, seeing that a
long-continued succession of similar seasonal cycles, with little
disturbance of soil conditions, must in the course of time have brought
each form of plant to a state of perfection in its adaptation to this
unvarying environment.

ACQUIRED CHARACTERS.

According to Weismann and others, acquired characters cannot be inherited,
the germ plasm being continued unaltered in structure from parent to
offspring, and therefore incapable of producing new characters ; so that
no matter how highly any particular characteristic may be developed during
the lifetime of an individual organism that characteristic cannot possibly
be inherited by the offspring, at birth that is to say. Hence they deny
the correctness of part of the theory of development propounded by Darwin,
who believed that the inheritance of acquired characters was one of the
means through which new species arose, besides the crossing of our species
or variety with another. All depends, however, on the sense in which the
characters called “acquired” have arisen. If acquired characters were
heritable in the sense that the progeny at birth would be provided with
them, then an animal or a plant at various stages of its course through
life ought to produce descendants showing characteristics corresponding to
those acquired by the parents at particular stages. Although the traits
evolved in an organ or tissue by the action of particular stimuli brought
to bear on them in their nevironment [sic] may not appear in the progeny
at their birth, there is at least no reason to suppose that the
descendants should be less capable of developing the same characteristics
in a similar way. On the contrary, each successive generation subjected to
the same conditions—to the same stimuli or the same absence of stimuli—may
carry the development of a characteristic further and further to an
indefinite degree, and the capacity for such specialisation may become
greater and greater the longer the favouring conditions keep the same. We
can scarcely impose a limit to the degree to which an organ may develop
under special stimuli, or to the successive forms an organ may pass
through in a long series of generations, all under the action of the vital
forces inherent in the germ cells. If an entirely new organ or a structure
of a different type were supposed to be included in the expression
“acquired character,” it would be quite reasonable to doubt the
possibility of such being produced in the individual or inherited the
descendants. But if the specialisation has taken place simply from the
action of the stimuli encountered in the environment on the qualities
inherent in the germ cells of the organism, it seems quite reasonable to
expect that not only the capacity but the structure evolved on typical
lines may in time become fixed and heritable and when by the action of
tile external forces (such as drought) educing those new traits those
organisms lacking them are cut off on account of unfitness, the characters
of those surviving may be very unlike the originals.

Apart from the direct inheritance of acquired characteristics, however, a
highly developed trait may have an important influence on the capacity or
chances of an individual plant or animal so provided, for effective
crossing with another  variety.

STRUCTURAL MODIFICATION.

The structural modifications by means of which plants are enabled to live
and flourish in dry climates are very varied and interesting. In some
cases the plant as a whole, or particular organs, are highly specialised
to cope successfully with drought, while the great majority of our species
show some indication in their structure of the necessity that exists for
special provision against this feature of the climate. In considering the
question of how this is effected it is necessary to study the relation of
the plant to water, the element of most vital importance to it. Plants
live and grow by the absorption of water from the ground by means of their
roots, which serve also to keep them in a fixed position. This water finds
its way through the stem and branches to the leaves, from the surface of
which it is exhaled into the air. This water is not pure when it enters
the plant, but contains dissolved in it in small quantities a number of
different mineral substances necessary in the formation of its tissues.
Sometimes, however, these ingredients in the water are prejudicial to the
growth of the plant, and may cause its death ; in other cases they may be
tolerated or even favourable to growth, while in others again they may be
the cause of peculiarities of structure sufficiently pronounced to have
caused botanists to describe as distinct species plants so modified by the
absorption of water charged with a particular mineral substance derived
from the soil in which they grew. These substances in the soil may be
injurious to the majority of other plants, so that toleration of them by a
particular variety may be the means of its advancement and spread, through
being relieved from the competition of other plants in that soil.

The great bulk of the woody tissues of plants, however, is not derived
from the water supplied through the roots, but from the atmosphere, which
contains carbonic acid gas, the source of the element carbon, the chief
constituent of wood. The extraction of carbon is effected by the vital
action of the leaves in their performance of the function of respiration.
In a large tree bearing many thousands of leaves it can be understood that
a very great quantity of water is required for its growth, but if the soil
does not contain much or soon becomes exhausted the growth will be
proportionately restricted. In soils that are very dry or liable to become
so at particular seasons plants must be modified in some such way as will
enable them to do with a scanty supply of water. One obvious way in which
moisture may be secured even during the dry season, is by an extension of
the root system to the deeper strata of the soil, which are less subject
to the disiccating [sic] influence of the sun and atmosphere than the
superficial layers. As we have a very long dry summer we should expect to
find the great majority of our native perennial plants to have roots long
enough to reach deep into the ground. Examples of this may be found by
anyone who will take the trouble to dig deep enough. As all example, let
me mention calythrix [?]lavesceus, a small shrub less than a foot high,
that makes the sandy scrub gay with its bright yellow flowers during the
hottest months of summer, when the majority of flowers have faded. You
will find that the clusters of branches appearing above ground spring from
a root-like underground stem running horizontally at 3 to 6 in. below the
surface, and that the true roots for absorbing moisture are attached to
this and extend downwards to a lower stratum of the soil. In like manner
the bush casuarina (C. distyla) of the sandy scrub sends out underground
shoots which at intervals come to the surface as young plants, thus
helping in its propagation independently of its seeds. The same thing
occurs more strikingly still in the Christmas tree (nuytsia floribunda).
When this tree becomes broken down, as easily happens oil account of the
brittleness of its wood, or succumbs to a bush fire, you frequently find
that within a radius of a few yards from the old tree a large number of
young bushes have made their appearance, sometimes in a circle, and these
are found attached to underground shoots given off by the old stock at
various depths below the surface of the ground.

ROOT SYSTEM.

These plants illustrate one arrangement by which the drought of a long dry
summer, and other untoward conditions may he overcome ; but there are many
other ways in which the root system is modified in a special way to retain
life in the plant, and even at shallow depths in the soil. Such are seen
in bulbs, tubers, and various forms of swollen roots or underground stems,
in all of which water is stored up during the wet seasons of the year,
that the germ of the plant may be kept alive through the droughty period,
to start into active growth again when the next rains supply moisture
sufficient for the growth of a new plant which forms roots and provides a
new bulb or succulent organ in which water is again stored up. It is not
only in the underground portions of plants that this storage of water is
effected ; we see it also in the stems and branches of plants such as
those of the cactacrae and some euphorbiaceae, giving them quite a
peculiar character. This type of plant is seen in the most arid regions,
where only a scanty rainfall over a short period of the year must be made
the most of for growth and storage, before the hot, dry air takes it all
back from the ground. Active transpiration is not possible in these dry
surroundings, and as leaves are not required to carry off surplus water
they are suppressed altogether or reduced to scales or prickles, the stems
themselves taking their place and performing their functions to the extent
required In these plants, and in succulent plants generally, water is
stored up in cellular tissue set apart for the purpose, to be drawn upon
when necessary. There are many native plants around us with succulent
leaves in which water is stored against drought, such as the saltbushes,
mesembryanthemums (or pig-face), members of the portulaca family,
including the ice-plant in which water-containing cells on the surface of
the leaves glisten like particles of ice. Some of the lobelias —poisonous
plants not uncommon with us—frequently have their juices so carefully
stored and protected from evaporation in stem and flower that we may find
plants still standing upright in the ground, flowering and ripening their
seed, although the root and lower part of the stem with the leaves on it
are dead and brittle. Others, of the Portulaca family, are so retentive of
life that they may be used for room decoration without water for weeks or
months, while under heavy pressure within sheets of drying paper they
continue their growth for long periods.

THE LEAF.

As the leaf is the respiratory organ of the plant besides being concerned
in transpiration, its formation and intimate structure are important
objects of study. The leaves are in direct continuity with the roots
through the medium of the vascular fibres, which pass from the roots
through stem and branches, and from these through the stalk of the leaf,
breaking up on entering its blade into an expanded network visible to the
naked eye, so that every minute portion of its area is supplied with
water. The surface of the leaf is studded over with minute pores, which
allow the water to escape into the air as vapour, and at the same time let
in the air for respiratory purposes. The small cavities to which the pores
or stomata give access are lined with delicate living cells which are the
active agents in the function of respiration or breathing. The carbonic
acid gas entering with the air becomes dissolved in the water that has
descended from the roots, and is thus presented to the active living cells
which decompose it into the oxygen which escapes into the atmosphere,
while the carbon is appropriated for the formation of the woody tissue of
the plant. The breathing pores or stomata are so affected by the state of
the atmosphere that when it is very dry the two cells guarding them so
alter their form and position as to close the opening, while with a moist
atmosphere and a full current of sap flowing they become more turgid and
bulge outwards so as to form an opening that allows communication with the
air again. It can be well understood that in a dry climate a large
distilling apparatus of the kind indicated would not generally be suitable
; for lack of moisture it could not be kept in action. The extensive scale
on which broad-leaved trees in a moist atmosphere transfer water raised
from the ground to the air has to be reduced, so that the quantity exhaled
shall be proportioned to the amount present in the soil. Accordingly the
broad leaves, with innumerable breathing pores, must have their surface
diminished in extent, and the cellular tissue and stomata reduced in
proportion. In conformity with this requirement we find that in a very
large number of our local plants the foliage is of a very stiff, spiny,
and harsh character, the soft cellular tissues being reduced to a minimum,
the leaves being narrow, with prominent ribs, and ending in sharp points.

As we have a copious rainfall in the winter months, a luxuriant growth of
some broad-leaved plants is encouraged, but the leaves of such, not being
deciduous, are protected by many interesting devices from the influence of
the dry air and hot sunshine of summer, which directly tend to induce
transpiration and rob the plants of their moisture. The leaves of the
eucalypti, acacias, and others are set in a vertical position, so that
their surfaces will be parallel to the sun’s rays at the hottest time of
the day, and so receive less heat. In others the leaves are covered with
hairs, especially on the under surface, and sometimes they, or the whole
plant, are enveloped in a covering of hairs so dense and so matted
together as to resemble thick flannel or blanket. Such a covering not only
protects the substance of the leaf from excessive heat or cold or other
injurious influences, but it may retain for a considerable time such
moisture as may come to it from rain or dew, to the benefit of the plant.
During the growing season leaves may be somewhat soft and delicate, but
with a gradually increasing intensity of sunshine and dryness of the air,
the superficial layer of cells forming its substance may become thickened
into an impervious cuticle, preventing evaporation of the moisture below,
and modifying the effects of the light and heat of the sun. In other cases
fluids are excreted on the surface of the leaf, so that the epidermis is
protected and the stomata effectually sealed with wax, gum, resin, or
lime. In some leaves the stomata are so deeply sunk below the surface as
to be removed from the direct action of the light and heated air, or they
may be situated in the bottom of grooves which themselves become shrunk
and partly closed when the air is dry. In some grasses and sedges you may
observe that as they grow the leaves are quite flat, but shortly after the
stalk is plucked you find that the leaves have lost their flat character
and appear curled up lengthwise, the change being due to the stoppage of
the sap current when the stem was severed from the roots. One of the
plants now coming into flower about Perth is Grevillea oxystigma, a small
shrub with abundance of white blossom. You will notice that as long as the
rainy season lasts the leaves are mostly flat, but at a later date, in the
dry season, they appear more often as double-barrelled tubes each half of
the blade having curved backwards to the midrib as if to exclude the dry
air from the under surface, which is already protected by a covering of
minute hairs. This rolled condition appears to be more constant in the
drier districts of the interior, such as Kellerberrin or the Stirling
Ranges, while in these localities other species of G. show the peculiarity
in a still more pronounced degree. The rolling back of the margins is
often so tightly effected in some plants, that the leaf must be broken up
if you wish to see the hidden under-surface. From this condition of the
leaf it is only a step further to one that is quite solid with the under-
surface obliterated and a groove marking the position of the midrib ; and
from that again we easily arrive at the terete form, as it is called, like
a knitting-needle, quite smooth all round and presenting to the air the
least possible area of the surface, and ending in a sharp point most
frequently.

INJURIOUS EXTERNAL INFLUENCES.

It is interesting to note how the stems of trees and other plants are
protected from injurious external influences. In a visit to the North-West
I was struck with the fact that the few trees seen had their trunks and
branches provided either with a rough thick corky bark or had them smooth
and quite white as if painted with a cooling composition such as that
applied to the roofs of houses. In either case it evidently serves as a
protection from the excessive sunshine and heat of that region. The heat
of the sun and air is probably the cause of the development of the thick
protective cuticle, like that on the palm of the village blacksmith, and
the white stems reflect the light and heat of the sun, so that the
interior of the stems will not suffer injury. When the moisture in the
soil is not pure water, but contains particular substances dissolved in it
such as salt, many plants would be injured or killed if planted there,
while others, like saltbushes would grow and thrive. The saltbushes may
grow well in an ordinary soil, so that a distinctly brackish condition is
not indispensable to them : but they have a tolerance or affinity for
salt, and may extract more of it from an ordinary soil than other plants
do, and store it up in their tissues. They thrive better in a moderate
degree of brackishness, however, and their roots, when not in active
growth, might suffer no injury from a somewhat concentrated solution of
salt, as those of other plants would. The subject of the adaptation of
plants to their surroundings may be said to be co-extensive with the
vegetable kingdom, and we may go on speaking of examples of their ways and
means of doing so indefinitely ; but it would be advantageous to consider
some of the means by which the economically important family of grasses
maintain their position under trying conditions. In some grasses—for
example, Sesleria aenciefolia, a South European species—a remarkable
intricately-woven tunic is provided for the covering and protection of the
lower part of the stalks. The sheaths of the lower leaves—the part of the
leaf embracing the stem—are composed of longitudinal and crossing zigzag
fibres so woven together as to form an intricate network in the tissue of
that part of the leaf. When the upper part of the leaf withers and drops
away in dry weather this fibrous net remains as a protective clothing for
the steam [sic] of the grass during the trying period between summer and
the following spring. Instead of having a woven fibrous tunic the base of
the leaf sheath may be more strawlike in its nature, as in some of our
native grasses, but in drought either texture is calculated to protect the
plant, to absorb moisture when the chance occurs, and to retain it for a
longer or shorter time during intermediate dry periods.

PROTECTIVE COVERING.

In Australia and South Africa another form of protective covering has been
evolved in the native grasses of those parts of the world. On the bases of
the leaf sheaths, instead of woven fibrous or straw as described, we find
a great development of hairs of a woolly nature so copious as to
completely cover the base of the stem and give it a bulbous appearance.
These woolly hairs are sometimes woven into a feltlike fabric of
appreciable thickness, giving effective protection from injurious outside
influences, and at the same times preventing the escape of moisture, while
it absorbs water from the atmosphere and retains it for the replenishment
of that required in the vital processes carried on in the living tissues
of the plant. Eragrostis eriopoda, a North-West grass, gives a typical
example of this arrangement, which may he observed, though to a less
degree in other species of Eragrostis, Stipa, Panicum, Danthonia, etc. It
would be easy to demonstrate the power of this felted tunic to retain
moisture by wetting a clump of one of these grasses and a similar clump of
another grass unprovided with a hairy covering, and laying both in an open
place to dry, when it would be found that the felted covering would still
be moist long after the other had become perfectly dry.

In the sandy soil about Perth and in the South-West generally during the
spring months may be seen a tall purplish grass, bearing at the top of its
stalk a loose bunch of flowers somewhat resembling quaking-grass in shape.
This is Poa nodosa, which grows up during the wet season, and continues
for some time further into the dry period, flowering and ripening its
seeds when the sand in which it grows is almost constantly dry. If the
base of the stem is examined there will be seen one, two or three bulbous
swellings of the base of the stalk, just below the surface of the sandy
soil. These swellings are succulent, and contain a store of water in
anticipation of the plant’s reeds during the course of the long periods of
dry weather that are sure to follow. A similar formation is found in a
variety of well-known Timothy grass that grows in the drier districts
about the Mediterranean Sea. There is no specific difference between this
variety and the typical form (Phleum pratense) found in moister
localities, beyond the presence of the bulbous swelling of the underground
stem, and when this form is transplanted to cultivated ground and supplied
with sufficient moisture, the stems lose their bulbous character. Whether
Timothy grass grown in dry localities in Western Australia ever assumes
this bulbous form, perhaps some of our agriculturists may be able to say.
If it should be able to adapt itself to our climate it may be worth
encouraging for that reason alone ; but whether the bulbous form be
imported as such from its native steppes or modified from the ordinary
form by a process of acclimatisation, it would be scarcely reasonable to
expect it to possess the same succulency as the grass grown with abundant
moisture. It might prove of value in dry districts, but at the same time
our native grasses, long used to the climate, may be found, if properly
tested by experiment and analysis, to be quite as nutritious.

INDIGENOUS FODDER PLANTS.

Under a sort of fatuity we neglect the plants growing in our own soils and
search all over the world for new kinds of fodder plants, without giving a
thought to those growing in our own vicinity. There are many grasses and
saltbushes adapted to withstand the most severe droughts, and all that is
done is to take advantage of the bounty of nature and use up all the
herbage provided till it is in danger of extermination. The grasses are
known to be highly nutritious, but no steps are taken to preserve them or
to extend the area of their growth ; while the saltbushes, though they
have been analysed and proved, in foreign countries to have high feeding
qualities, receive scarcely any consideration, as if they were thought as
indestructible as the sand or as inevitable as drought. In connection with
this subject we have to distinguish between perennial plants and annuals.
The pastoralists are concerned with the former, but their scheme of
exploitation of the country grazed upon does not include provisions for
the future continuation of the fodder plants originally provided. On the
other hand the cultivator of the soil imports plants from foreign
countries, apparently without always considering whether the conditions of
existence here are fairly comparable with those of their home country.
Fodder plants from India, with its combination of heat and moisture may
grow here, but they could not be expected to do as well in our dry season
as when in their own home. Some plants form that country or from the basin
of the Nile might produce abundance of fodder or fruit, with the help of
irrigation ; but land is so plentiful and the population is so scanty in
Western Australia that irrigation does not recommend itself to cultivation....

F.G.S., C.M.Z.S., Director of the Museum, and he chose for his subject
“The National Parks of Australasia, and their value in regard to the
preservation of the native animals.”

Dr. Hackett, M.L.C., the Chairman of the Museum Committee, presided, and
in introducing the lecturer, remarked that this was the twelfth and final
lecture of the third series, and that he was pleased at the good
attendance there had been throughout, which showed that they supplied a
popular want.

Mr. Woodward expressed regret that owing to the Government Geologist, Mr.
Gibb Maitland, having been detained at Pilbarra, the audience would have
to wait until next session to hear about the “Volcanic History of Western
Australia.” He was, however, glad to have the opportunity of bringing
forward a subject in which he had always taken the greatest interest, and
to which he had on all possible occasions, since his arrival in the State,
over eighteen years ago, endeavoured to attract public attention, viz.,
the preservation of the Indigenous Fauna and Flora, the most interesting in the world, for the animals of Western Australia were even more remarkable and peculiar than those of the Eastern States.

The lecturer then read the copy of the petition drawn up by the sub-
committee of the W.A. Natural History Society, and handed by the
President, the Bishop of Perth, the Right Rev. Dr. Riley, to his
Excellency the Governor, Admiral Sir F. G. D. Bedford, G.C.B., as patron
of the Society for transmission to the Minister for Crown Lands. The
petition was as follows :—

“We, the President and members of the Western Australian Natural History Society, humbly petition that the reserve for the protection of the native fauna and flora in the Darling Ranges, Murray No. 2,461, gazetted on January 31, 1902, may be vested in trustees as a national park. This reserve was originally gazetted with slightly different boundaries on February 16, 1904, on the petition drawn up and signed by the President (Sir John Forrest), and members of the Western Australian Natural History Society, which was presented by its patron, His Excellency, Sir W. C. F. Robinson, to the Hon. W. E. Marmion, Commissioner of Crown Lands. It is unnecessary to recapitulate the reasons then given in support of the request ; they are, however, of still greater urgency at the present time, as so many native animals are becoming very rare, and others almost, if not quite, extinct, and they are clearly set forth in the British Parliamentary paper, Africa, No. 5, 1900, reporting the Convention signed in London for the preservation of wild animals, birds, and fish in Africa. The contracting parties were the Queen, the Emperor of Germany, the Kings of Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium, and the President of the French Republics. The extent of the protected areas then declared is enormous. Nor is it needful to call attention to the reserves of the Eastern States and New Zealand, to the numerous reserves, including several islands, made in the United States of America since 1900, although that country, with an area only three and a-half times the size of Western Australia, had already a national park fourteen times as large as the one we ask. These questions have been so prominently brought forward in the leading newspapers and magazines of the world that their importance is a matter of common knowledge. We are moved to call attention to the urgency of the matter, as licences to cut timber on this area have been granted, although there is very little fine timber upon it, and this only on the western side, for we consider that it would be a great misfortune to have ‘the eyes picked out of it.’ The Minister for Lands, the Hon. Geo. Throssell, wrote in his minute on this reserve, dated November 11, 1897, ‘he feared an ancient tree would become a thing of the past, and that the reserve should contain some of the noblest trees.’

We further beg that the following islands may also be set apart as reserves and included in the Bill : —

Barrow Island, 90 miles off the North-West coast ; Bernier, or else Dorre Island, Sharks Bay ; Mondrain Island, on the South coast. Barrow Island contains at least five animals not found elsewhere in the world. Bernier and Dorre Islands are the last remaining habitats of Lagostrophus fasciatus, Lagorchestes hirsutus, and Bettongia lesueuri, three of the wallabies. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that a Bill may be submitted to Parliament drawn on lines similar to those of the South Australian National Park Act, of 1891, and the Deed of Grant to Trustees of the National Park of New South Wales, in 1887, vesting the reserve 2,461 Murray in trustees, so that it may ‘be used as and for a national park.’”

The lecture was illustrated by a large number of lantern slides, commencing with A Zoo-geographical Map showing the limited area now occupied by marsupials and monotremes, the lowest orders of the mammalia, which, with the exception of the opossums of Central America and the South Eastern United States and two small forms in South America, were now only to be found in the Australasian region, proving that this country must have been isolated from the rest of the world since that remote spoch [sic] which geologists name Jurassic, when these orders were the predominant if not the only mammals in existence, as evidenced by the fossil remains found in Europe, the United States of America and elsewhere.

Then followed some thirty slides of typical marsupials, from the recently discovered mole to the gigantic diprotodon, of which the skeleton was obtained from Dr. Stirling, of Adelaide, in February last. Following next to this was shown the ideal drawing made by Professor Owen when he first received one or two bones of this monster from Queensland, and which approximated in the closest manner to the actual skeleton when further discoveries of bones were made five and twenty years later. Next a photograph of Brock’s bust of the Professor.

In the McCleay Museum in Sydney University, Mr. Woodward saw several Western Australian mammals now extinct, although they were plentiful in 1868 when Mr. Masters made the collections, while those found by Gilbert and described by Gould in 1840 still further prove the rapid disappearance of these most interesting forms of life. The prognostication of Darwin, in 1859, concerning the probable early extinction of Australian marsupials had unfortunately become fully verified in the last half-century, for those animals that had become highly specialised in the struggle for existence in the great continents, when introduced into countries situated like Australia, speedily crowded out of existence the marsupials which were less highly specialised. Mr. Shortridge pointed out how the harmless sheep was causing the extinction of the kangaroo rats.

Mr. Woodward then gave a short account of the reserves in the Eastern
States.

South Australia.

The National Park at Belair, eight miles east from Adelaide, contained 2,000 acres, on the slopes of the range of Cambrian Rocks, which culminates in Mt. Lofty. The park was vested in twelve commissioners. The Act of Incorporation was passed in 1891, and a set of by-laws drawn up in 1892 to protect the fauna and flora, etc. The agitation to obtain this reserve or the protection of the fauna and flora commenced in 1883. The Chairman, Sir Edwin T. Smith, K.C.M.G., in January last, kindly gave him much information about the management of the park. It was, however, too small and too near the extending suburbs of Adelaide to be of use in the preservation of the larger animals, and so the Government were setting apart the western end of Kangaroo Island.

Victoria.

This small State, only one-tenth the area of Western Australia, had a reserve of 70,000 acres on Wilson’s Promontory. This reserve was obtained through the energy of the late Mr Le Souef. There were also in Victoria many swamps and other places proclaimed as “breeding reserves for game,” on which all shooting was strictly prohibited, as was the case in the State forests, which are numerous and extensive.

New South Wales.

Mr. Farnell (Chairman), Mr. Murray White, and Mr. O’Sullivan, trustees of the National Park, took him on two occasions to that magnificent reserve, and the secretary, Mr. Malone, supplied him with a copy of the deed of trust, map, and by-laws. The National Park, about 17½ miles south of Sydney, contained about 35,000 acres, and Kuringai Chase, of about the same area, was 20 miles to the north, while in and about Sydney itself there were nearly 4,000 acres of public parks and recreation grounds. In the National Park the lyre bird was increasing in numbers and losing its shyness, for one seldom passed along Lady Carrington’s drive without seeing some. Mr. Le Souef saw seven nests last year. A number of views of Kuringai Chase and the National Park were thrown on the screen, showing the picturesque weathering of the Hawkesbury sandstone, the waterfalls, the upper of 111 feet, and the lower of 45 feet, the luxuriant growth of the palms and trees, ferns, and the deep gorges cut by the rivers, and the fish hatcheries, etc. In the maps of the National Park a portion was marked off as the deer park. In this the imported deer were flourishing ; they were fenced in and not allowed to interfere with the indigenous fauna. Thus they did no harm, for the two could not inhabit the same lands.

New Zealand.

In New Zealand, there were three special reserves for the preservation of
the fauna and flora : —

(1.) Little Barrier Island.
(2.) Kapiti Island.
(3.) Resolution Island.
These islands were mountains, rising to 5,000 feet on the last-named, and were in parts well timbered. In addition, there were on the mainland numerous State forests and the National Park, a huge block of land containing several volcanoes on an elevated plateau.

The address of Colonel C. S. Ryan, President of the Australian Ornithologists’ Union, on the protection of native birds, referrer [sic] to The Protective Legislation of the civilised world, from Great Britain to Japan.

Colonel Ryan stated that Australia and New Zealand could not afford to be behind, and that the first object to be attained was to get the Acts in the various States strictly observed. It was notorious, continued Mr. Woodward, that some of the game laws were more observed in the breach than in the fulfilment, especially in the country districts. Take, for instance, Sunday shooting. It was an offence against the Victorian police statutes ; if the law were strictly carried out it would give an additional close season in favour of the birds. Could the Western Australian Police Act be amended in this direction? Mr. Milligan reported that the Cannington district was overrun on Sundays by larrikins with guns, who fired indiscriminately at all birds. Mr. Gale informed the lecturer that the 64th Victorian, No. 33, an Act for the protection of kangaroos, allowing them to be killed for food, but not for sale or barter, was absolutely useless, for a smart lawyer proved to the Court that no conviction could be obtained under it. Only a few years ago an Eastern hunter cleared off 80,000 kangaroos in the North- West and North, not for the benefit of the State, but only for his own pocket. The netting of wild birds should be forbidden. Only a few weeks ago they had heard of many thousands of ducks being captured and slaughtered at Wagin. A swivel or punt gun was illegal, and so should nets be.

In conclusion, attention was called to the valuable Report by Mr. Shortridge
of the British Museum, published in the “West Australian” of the 18th June
last. It gave an account of his zoological work in Western Australia, and
discoveries during the past two years and a-half, and offered very
valuable suggestions as to the best means to hinder the rapid
extermination of the many unique forms of animal life still to be found in
Western Australia. He deplored the total destruction of the two species of
Potorous :—P. gilberti (Gld.), Gilbert’s rat kangaroo, P. Platyops (Gld.),
the broad-faced rat kangaroo, both common in 1840, when Gilbert was
collecting for Gould, and he might have added Choeropus Castanotis (Gray),
the pig-footed bandicoot, which had apparently died out both in South
Australia and in this State. On Bernier and Dorre Islands, off Carnarvon,
were still to be found Lagorchestes hirsutus (Gld.), the rufous hare
wallaby, and L. fasciatus (P. and L.) the banded wallaby, but in rapidly
diminishing numbers, and Mr. Shortridge advised that those islands be
declared reserves.

Still more important from the zoologist’s point of view was the question of Reserving Barrow Island, on which occurred at least five species peculiar to that locality, M. isabellinus (Gld.), the Isabelline kangaroo, the Spectacled Hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes conspicillatus, the Barrow bandicoot, P. barrowensis (Thos.), a peculiar rodent, M. ferculinus (Thos.), and the King’s wren M. edouardi (Milligan). None of these five was to be found elsewhere in the world. There had been some talk of making use of Barrow Island as a hospital for the aborigines, but as it was 45 miles from the coast, and nearly double that distance by boat, and was inaccessible at certain seasons of the year, it did not seem to be a feasible scheme. It would certainly cause the extermination of the fauna.

Mondrain Island, thirty miles from Esperance, was the hatitat [sic] of Hackett’s wallaby, Petrogale hacketti. The Reserve in the Darling Ranges (Murray, 2,461), was selected by Mr. Woodward in 1893, the Premier of the day, Sir John Forrest, having asked him to suggest an area. He, at his own charge, examined the Crown lands between the Canning, Beverley, Bannister, Pinjarrah, and the Williams, and marked on a map three areas high in the ranges and quite unsuitable for agricultural purposes. Land so rugged and so covered with York-road, narrow leaf, and box poisons that the Poison Land Syndicate would not take them up at fivepence per acre, payable over twenty years, at the time they secured the 1,200,000 acres surrounding these three areas. He marked the one between the Bannister and Pinjarrah No. 1 as the best of the three for the purpose, as great grey kangaroos and emus abounded. The country was very picturesque, consisting of gneissic hills covered on one slope with ironstone conglomerate. From the summit of Wourhaming Hill, an immense outcrop of diorite, 1,900 feet high, the view was magnificent, all the higher peaks in the Williams district in the south, Mount Darkan in the north, and Mount Brown near York, being conspicuous. There were many sandy blackboy flats, and some permanent waterholes. The timber was chiefly scrub jarrah, with wandoo in the flats, a few sheoaks on the hills, very few banksias, and on the western edge a little fine jarrah and red-gum.

Areas Nos. 2 and 3 were neither so accessible nor as large ; they lay near
the Darkan and towards the Sand Springs respectively. On these there were
some clay swamps, a larger proportion of sheoaks, but scarcely any fine
timber.

The lecturer concluded with the exhibition of a photograph of a great grey
kangaroo, in the attitude assumed when at bay, and over it inscribed the
legend of the Dying Gladiator (slightly modified) “Moriturus vos
salutant.” The audience did not turn down their thumbs, but seemed
unanimously in favour of protection being accorded.

Dr. Hackett, at the conclusion of Mr. Woodward’s lecture, thanked him for
bringing up the subject in such an interesting and emphatic way. He urged
the great importance of the protection of such animals peculiar to
Australia as Mr. Woodward had mentioned and illustrated by lantern slide.
Many of these animals were already extinct, and they should do all in
their power to prevent such an extinction through the want of suitable
protection in the way of national reserves. Speaking more particularly in
reference to the Museum lectures, he thanked all the gentlemen who had
assisted during the series ; and he eulogised the work of Mr. Woodward,
upon whose shoulders had fallen practically the responsibility of
arranging the lectures during the past three years, and he hoped that it
would be possible for the next series of lectures to be delivered in a
more suitable lecture hall, instead of the present room which was so badly
adapted for that purpose.