PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 125, 2 July 1914, Page 4

PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE.

AN INTERESTING EVENING. Some interesting papers Were read at last night's meeting of the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury; which was held at Canterbury College. ' 1 Some ftew Coccidav'' was the subject of a paper by Mr Guy Brittin, and Mr E. Speight read a paper on "The Intermontaine Basins of Canterbury." Mr P. S. Nelson took for his subject "The Influence of Pressure on the Solubilityl of Calcium Phosphate in Carbon Dioxide Solutions. '' Dr W. P. Evans, in an opening l address, said that a question that was interesting the council of the institute was the report by Dr Cockayne on the Tongariro National Park and the question of the adoption of proper boundaries. On behalf of the institute the speaker congratulated Mr D. Speight, who had been elected curator of the Canterbury Museum, which it was hoped locally would remain far and away the best in the Dominion. He further congratulated Mr Speight on his appointment as lecturer on geology. The college, too, was to be congratulated on getting- the services of such a capable lecturer. Mr Guy Brittin spoke of the large work which lay ahead in ' the proper j classificatioiv of the coccidte of New Zealand and the new genera and speeies recently established in the Dominion. Some of these had been found underground on grass roots, in speargrass, and one had been discovered on oranges imported from Australia. Dr Chilton congratulated Mr Brittin on the thoroughness of his work. It was a source of congratulation to find s, member taking up this work which bad been begun by a member of the institute in years past. The group was particularly interesting in its economic aspect for the reason that many of its members formed the most destructive blight 011 fruit trees. It was pleasing to see a new member putting in such

a paper as Mr Brittin's. He stressed the hard work whieh the member had put into it. Mr Nelson's paper on the solubility of calcium phosphate was. highly technical, but it was characterised by Dr Hilgendorf as being most practical. The solvent, carbon dioxide, was the very solvent which had to be worked with when phosphates were used for the betterment of the soil. It was a wellknown fact that many thousands of tons of phosphate fertilisers were imported into New Zealand, and the more known r.bout their chemical reactions the better.

Before Mr Speight read his paper he thanked the institute for its help and congratulations. He could safely say that if it had not been for the institute he would never have received the positions he had been given. Mr Speight discussed the intermontaine basius and their origin. He dwelt at length on the theories of Hutton, Cox, and Professor Park in this connection. The origin of the tertiary beds of limestones and coal measures had been the subject of much speculation, and at Castle Hill the explanation could perhaps be found. Apparently at one time the whole of these basins had been invaded by the sea, and the tertiary deposits had thus been left. Such dei posits were as a rule only found in such [positions that they were protected from ; subsequent, erosion. This erosion would carry off the tertiary sands, etc., from the higher sloping levels, but in the basins the .limestones and coal measures would rt-main and could not be washed away. At the bottom of the coal measures in Castle Hill and Mount Somers were

found evidences that distinctly suggested the presence of a shore line from the presence of conglomerate. The fact that there was coal near the base of the series argued either that there had been enormous accumulations of driftwoGd or else there had been land in the vicinity above sea-level. The land, whatever it was, was probably a land of low relief and the beaches could not have been effected by strong currents. The size of the pebbles forming the conglomerate supported this theory. The j pebbles were of rock of such uniform character that it was difficult to determine their place of origin. In all probability a good quantity of these pebbles came from the east. There too, sands very full of mica, and there was no granite or mica sehist : within sixty miles. At 'the Chathams, however, there were schists that would give just such miea deposits. The Antarctic element in the New Zealand flora also suggested that there must have been land that survived sthis submergence when the tertiary beds were laid down.

Dr Hilgendorf said that he had been enabled to further his observations with regard to the level of water in local artesian wells. He would ask any members of the institute who had wells not being used or used only for driving a ram to communicate with him, when he would fix the gauges. He would only require these to be read once a'month and the reading would only mean the temporary stoppage of the ramVfor a few minutes. The speaker also showed a curiosity in the shape of a section of silver poplar which, . when chopped

down, had come apart in its annual lings in an extraordinary manner. This was probably due to the faet that the winter growths had rotted first and left the stronger summer ring intact. Mr L. Birks gave a most interesting explanation of a series of lantern slides showing the progress made at the Lake Coleridge electrical power station. -