RIDDLE OF A ROCK.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2338, 6 October 1921, Page 1

RIDDLE OF A ROCK.

A GEOLOGICAL PROBLEM,

A piece oi' granite weighing 111 b. arrived at the French Natural History Museum at Paris recently. It was taken over by Professor Lacroix, of the French Academy of Science, who will determine its geological composition. This piece of granite comes from the islet of Rockall, which stands out as a speck on the ocean some 150 miles from the Hebrides, and access to which has long been deemed almost impossible. Indeed, an attempt to secure a chip off the granite rock of Rockall was made as early as 1810, and proved unsuccessful.

Scientists waited for another chance. It came in 1800, when a party of sailors were able to make a landing on the rock and return hastily to the boat, but this time with a fragment of the rock weighing about seven ounces.

This year Dr. Charcot, the French explorer, brought his Arctic ship Pourcjuoi Pas off the islet of Rockall, and fine weather allowed a landing party, armed with pickaxes, to wrest an 111 b. fragment off the rock. It is of great value to the geological world, says Professor Lacroix, who will shortly make public the result of his geological examination.