A LITERARY CORNER

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 7847, 8 July 1911, Page 12

A LITERARY CORNER

1 BOOK OF TUB BAY I CTSY "LIVER") "Pebbles.” Uy U. J. Dana, F.G.S., Director "1 the Geolog.cal Survey of Australia. Melbourne: George Robertson and Co. Proprietary, Ltd. lTl>" interesting and valuable book r/aich bears Mr Dunn’s name mi the title page is the result of research work which the author has been enabled to conduct by aid of the fund allotted to him with the Murchison .Medal by the Council of the Geological Society of London in 190 a. There is in branch of scientific knowledge which lends itself better to popular study than geology, ami all the world over pebble collector) are numerous and enthusiastic, lu a sea-girt country such ns New Zealand the hobby of pebble collecting and pebble study can bo carried on under peculiarly favourable circumstances. but, as will be seen by the most casual reference to Air Dunn’s interesting work, it need not: be confined to the sea shore. Air Dmm commences by giving n.s some useful definitions. Roughly speaking, there is, ho says, a general idea, that above a certain size the term pebble is no longer applicable. Anything less than six inches in its longest diameter may be safely called a pebble, and applied to anything larger the term might bo open to objection. The smallest mass included under the form pebble has also been left indeterminate, but the size of a pea might bo taken as tho lowest limit. Some Pebble Sources. Pobblo formation is always going ou, and the process of formation is the aamo fl.s it was ages upon ages Among tho most ancient of tho stratified rocka pebbles arc found, often distorted, llat-

SOME CURIOUS PEBBLES

Plata 22, Tig. I.—The Egg of Hacinatopus piligrinosns (sooty oyster-catcher): an Crumple of protective mimicry. Phis bird is found alooug the coasts of Australia, and lavs its eggs on the bench. bitch birds lav fgsts that, resemble tho objects around them, and which theve(oib are likely to escape notice. Tho next figure is of -i pebble which this egge resembles. Prom Australian ecash Kindlv supplied by Mr Dudley Lu Soeuf, Melbourne. . - (See Review on Pebbles. )

tencd, sheared, or impressed, or drawn out to abnormal lengths, but stil^ clearly pebbles. The process of pebblo forming is in active progress all Uio world over, and the very same processes are at won: shaping them by chemical action, by percussion, by abrasion, by wedging nunn.o particles Irom them, and by slowly etchmg them away, that shaped them in the dim past. Mr Dunn toys: Everywhere tho work 'is ceaselessly proceeding, in the river bed, on. tho desert surface, on the ocean bench, in the throats of volcanoes, in tho crevices of tho river, rocks. Stones frozen into the glacier and in the iceberg, or rolled in the maws of animals and birds, aro constantly .being manufactured into pebbles. So long as the processes of change continue on this globe pebbles will be formed. A pebble broken out from a conglomerate that was originally aggregated in the infancy of the earth may havo just recently reached a river bed, as pebbles sometimes rest for long periods; still ths time comes when these are again set in motion, • and they are once more shaped, the Toughness smoothed, the distortion .rectified, and they aro generally renewed, and in the process ore still further reduced in. size. A pebble, therefore, fresh from a river bed, and one that looks newly ground, may have been contemporaneous with tho .earliest rocks exposed at tho surface of the earth. Of two pebbles from the bed of a stream having precisely the same appearance, the One may bo but a few years or months old, while the other of the same material may date from the remote past.

Plate 2"-, FiR. 2.—Pebble of Hornblende rock. Some birds’ eggs closely resemble such pebbles. (ScO Review on ‘'Pebble®.”)

Uses of Pebbles to Man. In (successive chapters Mr Dunn discourses learnedly upon the forms, material, formation, varieties, and transport of pebbles. Ms final chapter, and the one of chief interest to the general reader, dcnlinß with the "Uses of Pebbles to Man.” Under this heading Mr Dunn has collected a vast amount of curious, interesting, and often out of the way information. Pebbles were used by primitive man both as missiles and tools. Mr Dunn considers it probable that the first man that ventured on the bench uses! a pebble to open the .shellfish on the shore, so that it is very likely that pebbles were first used as haiiiiners. Our remotest forefathers carried lobbies just os to-day the average man carries a. ■ poeketknife. Next came the pebble as a chopping instillment. The very first form of nn axe was made by selecting a suitably shaped pebble, one end of which fitted the hand, and tho other end was chopped on one side, so

as to produce a cutting edg"; in thin manner an effective chop per was made. Air Dunn reminds us that by means of pebbles. either with or -without a cord attached -o them, the Maoris are said to bam-hunted the mOa until it was nterminated. Pebble.-, were used in the lloii.nu balista. and, later, covered with lend, as cannon balls, flat pebbles were u=od for "rinding grain and seed. In Australia tho blacks carry small stones with them ou which li> grind grass

Plato Fig. 1. represents a, perforated pebble of felspar. A belommte probably replaced by ealespar has been weathered out. Fossils are frequently (he cause of perforations in pebbles. These pebble* were used by the ancient Britons and sometimes placed in graves: a, similar custom existed m Belgium. Kven todav fiicli stones are used m SomerseHnro for attaching to keys, etc. From Maiazion B:ach, Cornwall. Review on “Pebbles/ )

reeds, and those lower mill stones made from a fiat pebble arc to bo found throughout tho continent, Thev were used as sinkers tor nets and fishinglines, a-s arrow-heads, and missiles of all kinds. Jn South Africa, New Caledonia, in New Zealand, and even in ancient Egypt, the pebble played an small part an a religious emblem. Both tho Mexicans and Peruvians' carved pebbles into the shape of grotesque human forms, many examples of which are to ho seen in tho British Museum, and in Carthago pebbles were carved into tho grotesque resemblance of a man's face, arid were used us idols. The Greeks called such a pebble C'aetvlus or "stone with a, soul. In Egypt pebbles were similarly used, and these were no doubt the predecessors

Plato ,2b. Pig. 2.—Perforated Pebble of soft sandstone. The bole was' bored by a Pholas. and the pebble has been rounded iinee. From Wendtrho-lm’, Waiwera, North Island, New Zealand. (bee Review on "Pebbles.”)

;f the Maori Hei Tiki. In South Africa tho witch doctors'frequently include pebbles of some ' unusual kind among their miscellaneous collection of baboon fingers,, bones of Ihe otter, crocodiles’ teeth, etc., with winch they work (heir charms. The first largo diamond found in South Africa', and known as “The Star of . Soui-a Africa.” .was part of Iho stock-in-trade of a Hottentot .witch-doctor. It-was a pebble picked‘up on tho bank of tni Vaal river and sold to Mr tan Niekerk for a waggon and oxen and a. Hock ii sheep. Later it. was sold to Lilienfcld Bros., of Capetown, for .£II,OOO. 11m Gippsland blacks used pebbles of quartz crystals in their ceremonies.

Plale 1(3, Vig. L—Pebble of Schist, showing, a tortuous felspar vein. This vein, was apparently originally a bed that has been high'}' contorted. The original ■■material ha? been replaced by felspar. Eecfpin. South Island, Now Zealand. .Six inches long.. (See Keview on “Pebbles.”)

Tho Plates. A special and most valuable feature of Mr Dunn's book is tho series of seventy-six' pages of plates, containing figures (most of natural size) of over 250 different varieties of pebbles. Each illustration is numbered and has an accompanying scientific description. In addition to this Descriptive List there is a general index and an index of illustrations. The whole work is one which deserves the attention of amateur scientists, teachers, and all who are interested in a very fascinating branch of geological study.

Fisher Unwin publishes a shilling reprint of Olive Schreiner's "Dreams.” Tho CountessTle Bremont’s new “Memoir of Oscar Wilde” tells little that is new concerning Wilde: indeed, her account of his last days in Paris is lamentably slipshod and inaccurate, that is if Andre Gide's account is correct. But she gives an intimate and sympathetic portrait of Lady Wilde, a brilliant hilt most eccentric woman. A. C. Denson's new book. "Huskin': A Study iu Portraiture” (Smith Elder, 7s fid), is teallv a collection of lectures. Concerning Buskin's parentage Benson says 1 "Raskin wiis three parts Scotch, and. what is more, Lowland Scotch. It cannot be mere chance that so many of our forcible taler writers, such as Carlyle. Waller Scott, and Stevenson, have been seated of the sumo tribe. T believe myself that tho temperament of the Lowland Scotch is At once fiery and retrained. that it is naturally eloquent and emotional and religious, .not sentimentally, but with a certain up-lifted solemnity of heart.”