PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 16, 18 July 1918, Page 3

PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

ADDRESSES ON GEOLOGICAL FORMATION.

There was a fair gathering of the members of the geological section of the Wellington Philosophical Society last night, when addresses were delivered by Dr. J. Allan Thomson, M.A., F.G.S., and Mr. P. G. Morgan. Mr. W. R. Holmes (of the Public Works Department) pre- | sided. The main point of Dr. Thorn son's address on the origin of the Amuri limestone and flint beds was tha.t the limestone, which is a chalk-like rock, was not formed solely from the skeletons of marine organisms, as was generally supposed, but that thej; were in large part deposited chemically from sea water, and presumably bacteria, were responsible for the chemical solution which created the deposits. A similar origin was ascribed to the flint beds. Mr. Morgan then read a paper dealing ■with the permo-carboniferous rocks of the east side of the South Island, which consisted mainly of extracts from the writings of the late Mr. Alexander Mackay. A second paper on the geology of Stephen an d'Urville Islands was read by Dr. Thomson, in wllich he reviewed what little was already known about them, and exhibited specimens of chrome from d'Urville Island and Maori rock implements taken from an old quarry on that island, and specimens of rock from Stephen Island. The latter vas similar to the triassic rock of the Wairoa Gorge, Nelson, and that found in the vicinity of Wellington. A short discussion followed the addresses, and the speakers were accorded hearty votes of thanks.