LABOUR OF LOVE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 220, 15 August 1927, Page 5

LABOUR OF LOVE.

PROFESSOR DAVID’S BOOK. ON AUSTRALIAN GEOLOGY. LONDON, July 30. “If I receive the last manuscripts from Australia by the middle of October, my book “The Geology of Australia,’ will be ready for the prin&era in December,” said Professor Sir Edgeworth David, a newspaper representative who found him in his house on Parliament Hill immersed in a muss of maps, diagrams, manuscripts and photographs. . Referring to Mr W. M. Morriss’B survey of the New South Wales coalfields, Professor David expresses the opinion that' if the theory that the best coal is actually formed under water in the shallower portions of a vast lake, is proved correct regarding other coalfields, it would entail a considerable reduction in the estimates of the world’s coal resources. STUDENTS’ HELP. “My two years’ work has been a labour of love, which I have immensely enjoyed,” Sir Edgeworth continued. “1 wish to pay the highest tribute to the generous assistance of British and Australian geologists, including a number of my old students, who are contributing chapters on special subjects. Without their help it would have been impossible 'to carry out this compendious work, which is beyond the power of a single-handed effort. That map forms the basis of the whole work,” he added, indicating a big canvas spread on the floor, outlining in diverse colours the geological surface of Australia. “When publishod it will have alongside of it , sections showing the geological strata of the north, south, east and west, and a complete bibliography to enable readers to refer to works of other Australian geologists, Another section tells the story of the evolution of plant and animal life, as far as they can bo traced, in relation to the same problems in other parts of the world.”