WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5095, 23 July 1877, Page 3

WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

The first general meeting of the Wellington Philosophical Society under the new presidency was held in the lecture hall of the Colonial Museum on Saturday evening, commencing at 8 o’clock. Unfortunately the inclemency of the weather prevented there being so good an attendance as there otherwise would have been. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. .

Mr. Travers, the President for the year, in opening the proceedings, first apologised for the absence of Dr. Buller, who, in consequence of engagements in Napier, was unable to be present at that meeting. He then proceeded to say that in bringing under the notice of the meeting the papers which were to be read that evening, he would make a few remarks as to the progress made by the society during the past year. Having. learned during the early part of the week that Dr. Buller would be unable to attend, he had entertained hopes that he should be able to put together' a few notes of what had been accomplished by the society during that period ; but unfortunately engagements of a professional character prevented him from doing that which he had desired to do, and he had to trust to a few meagre notes of what had been done during the last session, not only by this society but by all the Philosophical Societies in New Zealand. He then entered on the subjects of his address, imprimis referring to the very considerable assistance obtained through the labors of the Geological Department for ascertaining tire mineral resources of the colony, and then alluded to the importance of the discoveries made in reference to the races which had inhabited New Zealand since the time when any record could be obtained of the country. A work on the subject had been recently published, a copy of which would be a valuable addition to the library of the Institute. He next referred to papers contributed by different members of the society on a variety of subjects, and in his concluding remarks said he was glad to observe a growing interest in scientific examinations. He then briefly referred to the papers to be read that evening, which were of a very interesting character. The Hon. Mr. Mantell proposed, and Capt. Edwin seconded, that a vote of thanks be given to Dr. Buller for the able manner in which he bad presided over the meetings of the society as president during the past two years ; and also to Mr. Travers for the address he had just given in opening the meeting.— Carried.

The Hon. Mr. Mantell then read a paper by Mr. J. G. Crawford, F.G.S., on “ Gold found in the rooks of the Tararua and Rimutaka ranges in the province of Wellington.” Mr. Crawford had forwarded a specimen to Melbourne, and Mr. J. Chapman, the assayer to the Bank of Victoria, had reported that the specimen was composed of sulphate of iron and gold at the rate of l'o92ozs. per ton. The Hon. Mr. Mantell said he would like some explanation regarding the presence of sulphate of iron.

Dr. Hector stated that there must have been some mistake, probably iron bi-sulphide was meant. He reminded the society that a great deal had been done in prospecting the country referred to by Mr. Crawford, and that in 1869 he (Dr. Hector) had communicated to the society the results obtained. Eighteen analyses had been made of qurrtz specimens from reefs in the district ; of these only six had proved auriferous, varying from mere traces up to 13dwts. per ton of gold, the richest being from Wainuiomata, the same locality from which Mr. Crawford’s specimen had come. In his former communication he had warned prospectors against the solid quartz reefs which traverse the sandstones and slate, as the gold at Makara and Terawiti appears to occur in jointed sandstones, chiefly as dendritic films. Captain Edwin communicated a notice by Mr. J. F. Marten, of Kussell, Bay of Islands, regarding the occurrence of the tidal wave which took place on 11th of May last. Mr. Travers said he had observed this occurrence in Wellington harbor, and that he believed Dr. Hector had taken observations of the rise and fall. Some years ago a similar wave was observed in New Zealand, after which we had news of an earthquake in America, and no doubt the wave on the 11th of last May was dne to a like cause. Dr. Hector said the tidal disturbance on the 11th of May had been observed on every part of the New Zealand coast, and also in Australia in the same manner ; but not so intensely as the waves of August, 1868. The origin of the waves on that occasion was elearly traced to a great volcanic disturbance near the west coa-t of South America, and in this instance a violent convulsion has also been reported from that quarter as having occurred on the 10th of May. We have not the full particulars yet ; but if this date is correct the wave felt on our coast must have been'due to a still earlier shock, perhaps in some other place, as it was first noticed at 5 a.m. on the 11th, corresponding to 1 p.m. of the 10th on the South American coast. From this date must he subtracted about 17 hours for the time of transmission of the wave across the Pacific Ocean, which would require that the shock should have taken p’ace about 8 p.m. on the 9th. This only tends to confirm the belief that there is a periodicity in earthquakes, and that they occur independently at distant localities at nearly the same time He observed that a writer in the _ last_ received number of Nature notices this coincidence in reporting a sharp earthquake at Corarie, in Scotland, on the 11th of May. At Napier, where the engineer of the harbor works, Mr. Weber, makes exact observations, the tides were disturbed from the 11th to the 19th. The position of Napier renders it peculiarly sensitive to occasional oscillations. Thus, on the Ist of May the highest tide ever experienced in Napier washed over the shingle spit, and damaged the rails in front of the Courthouse. This phenomenon was, however, local, and was attributed only to a long continuance of south-east wind. He called attention to a recent paper by Mr. Kussell, the Government Astronomer at Sydney, which states that the slightest earth shocks felt in Now Zealand are nearly always recorded on the tide guages in Sydney and Newcastle, and are most unaccountably coincident with abnormal readings of one of the thermometers in the Observatory. If we had well-placed tide-gnages on the New Zealand coasts it is probable the most interesting results would be obtained. Every addition to the observed facts hearing on this subject would be valuable. The investigation of earthquakes would bo similar to that of the influence of snn spots recently examined by Professor Balfour Stewart, in so far that the release of prodigious

latent energies might depend oh very obscure and trivial exciting causes. Mr. Oaurdthers said he did not consider it necessary to suppose that seventeen hours must elapse before a tidal wave due to the same' cause as the South American earthquake would reach New Zealand. He did not think the earthquake caused wave, but that both wore due to the same cause. He thought earthquakes were locally intensified exhibitions of a great deep-seated movement of the floor of the ocean, and that if the floor were not in movement an earthquake, however violent, would be unable to propagate a wave for such distances as from America to New Zealand, The intensified action which so often _ shows itself in this part of South America he thought was due largely to the great bend made in the line of elevation of the at this point, which had the effect of converting a deep-seated movement of the earth’s crust into a violent crushing of the surface. Dr. Hector explained that the period of seventeen hours for the transmission of a wave across the Pacific Ocean was derived from observation in 1868, when the commotion of the sea extended not only to New Zealand and Australia, but to Japan, Sandwich Islands, and the Cape of Good Hope. He agreed that earthquakes were wide-spread phenomena locally intensified, but it is the strong local convulsion that originates the oceanic waves. Such waves could not keep pace with a tremor propagated through the solid flow of the ocean, which travels at six times greater speed. The ocean wave once generated would take its own time.

Dr. Newman did not think we had yet sufficient data to decide on the subject. The depth of the ocean should be considered. He could not agree with Mr. Carruthers that earthquakes extended over so large an extent of the ocean bed.

The President said that the works of Darwin, Humboldt, and Mallett on this subject, would be found interesting. He agreed with Dr. Hector that we must look for reasons outside our globe for such disturbances, such as sun spots, influence of the moon, &c. Before the close of the meeting, Dr. Hector drew attention to several exhibits on the table, more especially to an albino of the New Zealand crow (Glaucopis Wilsoni), and to a tui with brown plumage. A fine series of Crustacea from the Californian coast, and a selection of the more interesting fossils obtained during the past year by the Geological Department, were also exhibited.