WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5107, 6 August 1877, Page 2

WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

A meeting of the above society was. held in the lecture hall, Colonial Museum, on Saturday evening, Mr. W. T. L. Travers, E.L.S., M.H.E., President, in the chair. There was a very good attendance, a number of ladies being present.

The minutes of the previous meeting having been confirmed, the following gentlemen were announced as having been elected members : Mr. Joseph Joseph and Mr. Gordon Saxby.

Dr. Hectoe drew attention to several interesting additions to the Museum, which were arranged on the table. Among the most important were a handsome bird from New Guinea, the Goura Victories ; a collection of valuable old etchings presented by Mr. William Swainson; apetition to the Queen, dated 1810, about which the Hon. Mr. Mantell gave some interesting information ; a collection of New Zealand plants from the Forest Department, which Mr. Kirk described ; iron stones and fire clays from Miranda Eedoubt, remarked upon by Mr. S. H. Cox; a specimen of patent building stone, two live kakapos from Preservation Inlet, and some splendid specimens of copper ore, discovered by Mr. Docherty in Dusky Bay, which Dr. Hector spoke very highly of as a form of copper ore that frequently contained nickel. Mr. Kibk also called attention to a log of black maire, a species of olive, sent by Mr. Elliotte, of the Pakuratahi, which, on account of its great hardness, is much used as blocks and cogs in machinery; which fact was borne out by several present. One gentleman (Mr. Nicholl) stating that he had used it in Nelson instead of brass in constructing water-wheels. The Hon. Mr. Mantell stated that Mr. J. Kebbell had pronounced it superior, for turning purposes, to boxwood ; he had himself in the old days engraved a heading for the New Zealand Spectator out of this wood. Mr. Travers read a letter from a friend in Peru, which confii-med Dr. Hector’s estimate of the time given at last meeting when the earthquake occurred at that place, in connection with the tidal wave which was observed in New Zealand on the 11th May last. Dr. Hector read an interesting letter from Dr. Berggren, of Lund, regarding his description of certain New Zealand plants, and giving a short account of his discoveries relative to the development of the Azolla rubra; which, Mr. Travers remarked, grew so abundantly,

and was a troublesome plant in watercourses throughout the colony." _ vr. Captain Edwin read a letter from Mr. Rawson on “The Reciprocity of Mr. Carruthers thought that even Zealand the seasons did not Hector said it would he necessary to fc upon the one place for comparison, m m"*™ E t not uniform, a moist season on the -Last Coast being frequently a dry .season on ttie West Coast. Dr. Newman ooMKlered that the seasons were affected all over 7 then read a paper on gold found in the Mackenzie district of Canterbury ; on which subject Dr. Hector added some interesting information regarding the occurrence of gold generally in that district and pointing out that Mr. McKay’s observation, that the gold and associated quartz were found only m the last formed moraines and alluviums, confirmed his theory that the retirement of the glaciers was chiefly due to the erosion of the mountains. , T The President, in the absence of Mr. J. u. Crawford, read extracts of a paper by that gentleman on the introduction of the prickly comfrey into New Zealand as a forage plant. Dr. Hector said that Mr. Ludlam, from Inquiries in England, had thought it desirable to send out fruit cuttings of this plant, which were on their way. . . , , Mr. T. Kibk read a description of three specimens of matai collected by Mr. Seymour, M.H.R., which went to show that he did not consider there was yet evidence to prove more than one kind of this tree. Although different in appearance, they were the same. Mr. Seymour still thought there must be two kinds of this timber, on account of difference in value, and he would endeavor to obtain further evidence to prove this. He did not think that age alone could cause the difference, as supposed by Mr. Kirk. A long discussion ensued —in which Mr. Carruthers, Mr. Higginson, and Sir. Coleman Phillips took part—on the relative of the white and yellow pine, most of the speakers bearing testimony to the superiority of the yellow over the white ; Mr. Kirk, however, believing that they were only different forms of the same tree, there being no botanical difference by which they could be sepaDr. Hector hoped that they should soon have Mr. Kirk’s promised paper on these pines, and remarked that this discussion only showed how necessary it was to abandon all popular names in favor of scientific terms founded on the observed characters of.these trees.