FOR THE PEOPLE

FOR EDVCATION

FOR SCIENCE

LIBRARY

OF

THE AMERICAN MUSEUM

OF

NATURAL HISTORY

/V
V

•id 3,
N.H,
920

PAPERS & PROCEEDINGS

()]•' TIIK

ROYAL SOCIETY

TASMANIA,

A)R

1896.

(ISSUKIJ JULY, 1897.)

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Stasmania :

HUNTED IJY DAVIES HUOTMKH.S IJMITED, MACQUARIE STUEET IIOIUKT.

^oCp'^i'

n1 M I' 1/ I if'i /

The responsibility of the Statements and
Opinions given in the following Papers and
Discussions rests with the individual Authors;
the Society as a body merely places them on
record.

ROYAL SOCIETY OF TASMANIA.

»0>«><CM>

f atrou :

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN.
HIS EXCELLENCY VISCOUNT GORMANSTON, K.C.M.G.

THE HON. SIR JAMES WILSON AGNEW, K.C.M.G., M.D.,

M.E.C.
JAMES BARNARD, ESQ.
HIS HONOR SIR WILLIAM LAMBEE.T DOBSON, Knt., C.J.,

M.E.C, F.L.S.
THOMAS STEPHENS, ESQ., M.A., F.G.S.

(lloUttdl :

* HON. Sir J. W. AGNEW, K.C.M.G., M.D., M.E.C.

* COL. W. V. LEGGE, R.A.

* R. M. JOHNSTON, ESQ., F.L.S.

* HON. N. J. BROWN, M.E.C.

T. STEPHENS, ESQ., M.A., F.G.S.

J. B. WALKER, ESQ., F.R.G.S.

J. BARNARD, ESQ.

A. G. WEBSTER, ESQ.

HIS HONOR SIR WILLIAM LAMBERT DOBSON, KnT., C.J.,

M.E.C, F.L.S.
RUSSELL YOUNG, ESQ.
HON. C H. GRANT, M.E.C
BERNARD SHAW, ESQ.

Icutiitor of p:outl)l^ liccountjei:

A. G. WEBSTER, ESQ.

llttbttorsJ of littniral Ictcottntje; :

FRANCIS BUTLER, ESQ.
JOHN MACFARLANE, ESQ.

Hon. ^n^^xixtxi

C J. BARCLAY, ESQ.

J^tcttiAx^ anb librarian :

ALEXANDER MORTON.

* Members who next retire in rotation.

CONTENTS.
A.

Page

Agnew, Sir James Wilson, presiding — May Meeting i

Additions to the Library ... ... ... ... ... ... xxiii

Alvarado, Voyage of, by J. R. McClymont xxi

Antennarius mitchelli {a, new &s\\) ... ... ... ... ... xiv

August Meeting, Sir Lambert Dobson, presiding ... ... x

Election— Messrs. C. W. Butler, F. Lodge, B.A., and J. H.

Sevings ...

B.

Beddome, C. E. (a paper) IX

c.

Chappell Island .. .. VI

Classified list of Tasmanian Minerals (a paper) xiv

Comet Phenomena ... ... ... ... ... ... ... xiv

Conchological Notes on Tasmanian Mollusca (a paper) ix

D,

Dawson's Road... ... ... ... ... ... xili

Death of Baron Ferd. von Mueller xviii

Description of some new and rare fish (a paper) ... ... ... xiv

Discussion on Health of Hobart ... ... ... ... ... xii

Discussion on Dr. Sprott's paper ... ... .. .. ... xii-xiii

His Honor the Chief Justice, Drs. Bright, Harvey, C. C.

Walch, and Mr. A. Mault

Discussion West Coast Tracks, by Mr. E. A. Counsel, Surveyor-
General xv-xvi

Hon. B. S. Bird, Messrs. H. Wright, R. M. Johnston,

Palmer, Hon. H Dobson, and Major Officer
Dobson, Sir Lambert. Reference to the death of Baron Mueller xviii
Douglas, Hon. Adye. Thanks to Vice-President iv

E.

Early Voyoges to Papua .. .. ... ... ... ... XXI

Election — Mrs. Agnes Kenyon, A. H. Clarke, M.R.C.S.E., Drs.
C. Crosby Walch and Gregory Sprott, W. H. Twelvetrees,

F.G.S _ I

Explanation of the Voyage of Alvarado ... ... ... ... xxi

F.

Florentine Valley to the Gordon xiii

Franklin, Sir John ; Magazine of Art xxii

Fungi. A paper by Mr. L. Rodway xx

G.

Gale, Mr. Walter F xiv

Qoydon and Rasselas route, West Coast ... ... ... ... xy

CONTENTS.

H.

Health oE Hobart

Hobart Death Rate

Humboldt Divide, West Coast

Page
I

II
XV

Island of Spices

XXI

J,

June Meeting. Election — Messrs. Cecil Anderson, A. D. Watchorn,
Wilfred Giblin, M.R.C.S.E., and R. Templeman

Kenyon, Mrs. (a paper)

K.

IX

Lampris Luna {a. rare ^sh) ...

Land Routes to the Western districts (a paper)

Linda Track, from Mole Creek

XIV
XIIT
XIII

M.

May Meeting ...

Marlborough and Mt. Arrowsmith to Mt. Lyell . . ,

Medical Section, Formation of a

Memorial Fountain (Sir Robert Hamilton) ...

Microscopical Studies of Tasmanian Rocks, W. H. Twelvetrees

Mount Lyell District. Lantern views by J. W. Beattie .

Mount Field Range ...

Montgomery, Right Rev. Dr., Bishop of Tasmania

Mt. Wedge, v«a Lake Pedder

Mugilidso, J. Douglas Ogilby

Mueller, Baron Ferd. von, Death of

.

I

.

XIII

.

XXII

V

e trees...

III

XXIII

XV

V

XIV

III

XVIII

N.

Night in a Petrel Rookery (a paper)...

Notes on the Effects of the Atmosphere on the Shells of the
Mollusca (a paper)

Notes on the Nidification of the Black Cockatoo (a paper)

November Meeting, Election— E. J. S. Spark, M.D.; J. E. Wolf-
hagen, M.B., CM. ; S. C. Jamieson, M.B, ; H. G. H. Naylor,
L.E.C.S. ; R, G, Scott, M.B., CM. ; and R. Wilmot,
M.R.C.S.,E

IX

XIV

XXII

0.

October Meeting, Sir Lambert Dobson presiding
Ogilby, J. Douglas ; Tasmanian Fish

XVIII

III

Contents.

P.

Page

l*apua, Early Voyages to ... xxi

Picrite from Mt. Horror; W. H. Twelvetrees ... ... .., iv

Q.

Question of Land Koutes, Eastern to Western Tasmania... ... xiv

R.

Rivers Franklin and Denison to the Linda track . ... ... xv

Routes to the West. A paper by Mr, T. Stephens xin

s.

September Meeting, Mr. Bernard Shaw presiding... ... ... xV

Election — R. Sticht, Metallurgist, Dr. E. T. MacGowau,

and Mr. R. FitzArthur Waller, Fellows

Sheffield to Mt. Read xili

Spanish Historians . ... ... ... ... ... ... ... xxi

T.

Tasmanian Minerals, Classified list of ... ... ... ... xiv

Tottenham, Major-General ... ... ... ... .., ... vii

Tuberculosis; a paper by Dr. Sprott ... ... ... ... x

V.

Valuta fusif 01 mis {a. p&iper) IX

Walker, Mr. J. B xii

Ward, W. F., Government Analyst . ... viii

West Coast Tracks ... xv

z.

Zeehan White Rock ... ... iv

CONTENTS.

PAPERS, 1896.

1. Health of Ilobart (Diagrams). By R. M. Johnston, F.L.S. 1

2. Classified List of the Mineral Species known to occur in

Tasmania. By W. F. Petterd 23

3. Description of a small collection of Tasmanian Silurian

Fossils. Presented to the Australian Museum by Mr.
A. Montgomery, M.A., Government Geologist, Tasmania.
(Plate, by R. Etheridge, jun., Curator Australian
Museum, Sydney) ... ... ... ... ... ... 29

4. Tuberculosis — {a) Cause, (6) Mode of Infection, (c) Preven-

tion : (1) By the Individual, (2) By the State. By
Gregory Sprott, M.D., D.P.H , Health Officer for the
City of Hobart 45

5. Some Tasmanian Fishes, By J. Douglas Ogilby 69

6. Voulta Fusiformis, Swainson. Var. Micro papillosa. By

C. E. Beddome 86

7. Some Conchological Notes on Tasmanian Mollusca. By Mrs.

Agnes Kenyou ... ... ... ... ... ... 87

8. Notes on the Eftects of the Atmosphere on the Shells of

Mollusca. By Mrs. Agnes Kenyon 88

9. Microscopical Studies of Tasmanian Rocks (Plates). By W.

H. Twelvetrees, F.G.S 89

10. Anteunarius mitchelli. nov. sp. By Alex. Morton ... 98

11. Lampris luna. New to Tasmania. By Alex. Morton ... 99

12. Notes on the Nidification of the Black Cockatoo. (Ccdyp-

torhynchus xanthonotus. By Alex. Morton 100

13. Tasmanian Fungi (Abstract). By Leonard Rodway ., xix

14. An Explanation of the Voyage of Alvarado (Abstract). By

J. R. McClymont, M.A. ... xx

15. Atmospheric Disturbances (Abstract). By H. C. Kingsmill,

M.A XXII

16. Tertiary Leaf Beds (Abstract). By R. M. Johnston, F.L.S. xxii

OF THE

OF 1

|§ii®t|

THURSDAY, MAY 28, 1896.

The Vice-President (the Hod. Sir James Wilson Agnew, K.C.M.G.
M.D., M.F.C.), in the chair.

The first monthly rasetiog of the Royal Society of Tasmania for the
1896 session was held in one of the art galleries of the Museum.

The Vice-PRESiDENT (Sir James Agnew) expressed his pleasure at
seeing such a large attendance, and thought it augured well for the
support that would be given during the session. Like all other insti-
tutions, the Royal Society had suffered by the financial depression,
but which he hoped and believed was now passing away. He was,
at any rate, glad to say that some who had temporarily left the society
had resumed their allegiance, and it was hoped that, in addition,
a number of new recruits would be secured during the present session.
He felt that many more in the community might, and should, with
advantage, join the society. Much of the hesitation in doing so,
which unfortunately existed, was groundless. There seemed to be an
impresfcion abroad that only subjects in the more severe walks of science
were discussed ; but as all who belonged to the society could testify,
any subject appertaining to the good weal of the community was open
to consideration, and that fact should result in more support being
secured. For instance, that evening the first paper to be read would
have reference to the health of the community. It was a subject
that had been before them on more than one occasion, it being
regarded as one of the very first importance. If itj could be shown,
as he believed Mr. Johnston in his paper would do, that the health of
this metropolis and the salubrity of the colony generally was not to
be surpassed in the world, the establishing of the fact must prove one
of considerable importance financially and otherwise to the colony.
If that be so, if its great salubrity was so established, Hobart might be
chosen as the federal capital of the Australias. If the society, through
Mr. Johnston, as one of its members, spread the truth as to the
healthiness of Hobart, it would deserve well of the public of Tasmania.
They were brought into contact with institutions throughout the
scientific world by the exchange of publications. There were five
new members to be balloted for, namely, Mrs, Agnes Kenyon, of
Melbourne ; Dr. Arthur Clarke ; Mr. W. H. Twelvetrees, F.G.S., of
Launceston, who would prove a most valuable working member ; Dr.
G. Crosby VValch, and Dr. Gregory Sprott, the City Officer of Health.

" THE HEALTH OF HOBAET."
Ey R. M. Johnston, F.L.S.

Mr. R. M. Johnston first explained a number of diagrams placed
on the boards. The first showed the mean death-rate in seven Euro-
pean countries for several years, and of the Australian colonies,
including Tasmania. This showed that all these color its had a lower
death-rate than even the most favoured European ocuntry of SweJea.

11

There was, Mr. Johnston said, a superterrestrial influence in addition
to other influences that affected the death-rate in certain years, and
which interfered with the death-rates independent of such local
influences as sanitation, accidents, war, etc. The next diagram showed
what affected the health and the death-rate, independently of other
matters that pertained to artificial arrangements. This demonstrated
the nef^essity for having death-rate tables prepared which did not
merely show the total death-rate of a city or country. The total
death-rate was in itself an uncertain index of the comparative health,
because, primarily, it concealed the true cause or causes which pro-
duced a high or low total death-rate, mixing up deaths from non-
preventable causes (old age, or the natural termination of a healthy
life) with deaths from preventable causes ; it ignored the influence
of migration, which, introducing a large proportion of young people,
may lower the total death-rate by as much as 3 or 4 per 1,000 persona
living without the slightest alteration in the percentage dying at
each age, or of any cause affecting preventable disease. The normal
natural death-rate varies extremely with age in every place and
country. In young lives under 5 it varied in Australasia in a
favourable year— 1893— between 26*96 and 41*45 per 1,000 living,
with a mean of 37*37 per 1,000 living. The death-rate for ages
between 5 and 65 years ranged from 5*90 to 8*84 per 1,000 living,
with a mean of 6*84 per 1,000 only. On the other hand the death-
rate of lives 65 and over ranged from 69 42 to 80*44; with a
mean of 76 per 1,000 living. It therefore followed that it entirely de-
pended upon the proportions of people living at each age, whether the
total death-rate is high or low, even where the specific rate at each
age-group is the same, and where the health-rate for each specific cause
is equal. A high total death-rate is simply inevitable, therefore, if
the proportion of old ages in any country or town be abnormally
large, even if it were the healthiest country or city in the world. This
is the true reason why Hobart suburbs have invariably a much higher
death rate than the Hobart city, and why the death. rate of Hobarb
and suburbs is a little higher than Sydney, Brisbane, and Wellington,
A diagram was presented showing the typhoid death-rate in Hobart.
It rose in 1887 to an extreme point, due to causes which could
not be explained, whilst during the last three years it had been very
low. Then came the diagram showing the mortality from preventable
diseases, and indicating a great fall in the numbers during the past
10 years. Then came a table showing how there was the same rise and
fill in the number of typhoid cases in the other colonies, proving that
there were other unknown influences at work irrespective of anything
local. Mr. Johnston referred in detail to the typhoid fever epidemic
of 1887. It led to a keen inquiry as to the sanitary condition of the
city, many believing it was due to local causes, such as defective
drainage, but there was something beyond that. During the last three
years, fortunately, the city had been very free from typhoid. Indeed,
the death-rate from preventable causes had never been so low before,
and had had the effect of raising the city into a healthier state than
that of any other period in its history, and had constituted it
pre-eminently as among the healthiest cities in the world. Yet, there
was no doubt the sanitary provisions had had very little to do with
it, for there was a similar decline, correspondingly, in the other
Australian cities. The cause of this decline must be common to all. In
regarding the healthfulness of Hobart they must make clear the
difference between a total death-rate and a health standard, as already
indicated ; as over 20 per cent, of the total death-rate of Hobart is
composed of the numbers of those who die of old age it may be seen
how misleading it would be to compare its health with the other
cities named on the basis of total death-rate from all causes, including

Ill

preventable and non-preventable. Indeed, if there be anything to fear
in our death-rate statistics, it is that anyone who comes to reside in
this city has the chance of one in five that he will prolong his life
to extreme old age. The rate of 12'81 per 1,000 persons living is
a remarkably low death-rate for any city in respect of all preventable
causes of death. It is lower than the average of the preceding 10
years by 26 per cent., and lower than that of the epidemic year by
S3 per cent. Statistics were quoted to show the favourable position
taken by Hobart as contrasted with 65 principal towns in Great Britain
and Australasia, and it was shown that its infantile mortality is by
far the lowest of all, as in all deaths from every preventable cause.
The official statistics quoted conclusi\7ely established the fact that
the present health condition of Hobart has never been so good,
and that it is pre-eminently one of the most healthy cities in the
world. Every care had been taken to make a particular and
thorough contrast of all the principal causes of preventable diseases,
and the results shown are so obvious that even the most ignorant or the
most sceptical who gives the matter any attention cannot fail to be con-
vinced by them, and that figures logically, carefully, and consistently
arranged are most eloqaent agents in support of truth is not in any
way affected by the vulgar platitude that ''figures may be made
to prove anything." The inhabitants of this beautiful city, instead
of unreasoning expressions of discontent with their present local
condition, should be indeed grateful to God that there are few, if
any, cities of the world that enjoy such highly favourable health con-
ditions and so genial a climate. Those who praiseworthily endeavour
to increape and maintain the good health of the city, by care and
improvement of all sanitary provisions, should not mar their good work
by givii g any encouragement to unwarranted alarmist statements re-
garding the good fame and health of the city we live in, and which, at
present, is the most healthy of any city he knew of.

It was agreed to postpone discussion on the paper till next meeting.

Mr. J. Douglas Ogilby, of Sydney, read a paper on "SomeTasma-
Tiian Fifhes." Having had occasion some time ago to compare certain
Tasmanian fishes with their New South Wales representatives, Mr.
Ogilby applied for assistance to Mr. Alex. Morton, curator of the Tas-
manian Museum, who, the writer of the paper said, *' with a com-
mendable promptitude and liberality which, with advantage to Australian
biology, might well be imitated, forwamed unreservedly a number of
the r- quired species," with the suggestion that Mr. Ogilby should
emborty the result of his researches in the form of a paper to the Royal
Society of Tasmania. This paper was the outcome of that suggestion,
and dedlt with several of the more interesting fishes received from Mr.
Morton special attention having been given, as requested, to the
Afugilidos, or mullet family.

MICROSCOPICAL STUDIES OF TASMANIA^

EOCKS.

By Me. W. H. Twelvetrees, F.G.S., Launceston.

The writer referred to the delicate methods of modern microscopical
petrolo y having added greatly lo our knowledge of igneous rocks. The
€fifort^ of the writer in connection with the Launceston Microscopical
Club have been entered upon in the hope of tbro>ving additional light
upon tne genesis and int'mate structure of our eruptive rocks. It is

IV

purposed to continue the descriptions from time to time as materials
and opportunity permit. The paper first dealt with the dolerito
("debase" of authors) of the Cataract Gorge, Launceston, the samples
of rock selected for slicing having been taken from the quarry near
the Cataract Bridge. The essential mineral components are a plagia-
clase felspar, augite, and a little iron oxide. The felspars are mostly
turned out on the albite plan, and belong to the labradorite-anorthite
group. The augite is a group of large, ill-defined crystals moulding
themselves, as it were, upon the felspars. With regard to the genetio
history of the rock, its microscopical structure shows that it cannot in
any sense of the word he described as a lava poared out at the surface
in ancient times and cooled under atmospheric conditions. The
crystallisation indicates its formation below the earth's surface. The
rock agrees thoroughly with what is called the intrusive type, interme-
diate between the plutonic rock masses and volcanic lavas emitted at
the surface. The Zeehan white rock (a vesicular basic lava — melaphyre)
varies in appearance according to the degree of decomposition, and to its
condition as an ancient ash or a tufl" or lava flow. The stone tested
wag obtained from the Silver Queen mine through Mr. W. F. Petterd,
who is quite satisfied that the rock embedded with the schists. The
reader of the paper described how they were led to include the ston*
among the glassy melaphyres. Melaphyre is regarded by English
petrologists as altered basalt, and in this sense the Zeehan stone is the
vesicular form of old basaltic eruptive material altered into vesicular
basalt — vesicular melaphyre. The microscopical characters teash ua
that it is an old lava, and Mr. Petterd has stated that he has been able
to satisfy himself that it is interbedded with the slates ; that in one
of the adits of the Oooah mine it can be distinctly seen lying between
the slates and following their stratification. Picrite from Mount
Horror was the next class of rocks considered. This is a small clas3
composed of the ferro-magnesian silicates, and containing little or no
felspar. These are the ultra-basic rocks. The most important mineral
is augite. The purple colour results from the presence of titanic acid.
Having given a full description of the nature and affinities of Mount
Horror picrite, the writer concluded that its structure is coarser thao
that of a dolerite, and by its constitution it is an augite-olivine felspar
rock. Its relations are evidently with the olvine-dolerites, and con-
nected with the ultra-basic rocks. The paper may serve to direct
attention to this instance of a picrite in Tasmania, and elicit the com-
munication of further occurrences.

Hon. Adye Douglas (the President of the Legislative Council) moved
a vote of thanks to the Vice-President, speaking moat highly of Dr.
Agnew, with whom he had been friendly since 1840.

His Honor the Chief Justice (Sir Lambert Dobson) seconded, and
included the gentlemen who had contributed the three papers. Accord-
ing to Mr. Johnston, Tasmania was the best country in the world for
babies and old men. We had no right to be alarmed at the report of
diphtheria that spread some time ago, and he was satisfied that Mr.
Johnston's paper would do Tasmania a great deal of good, for in Taa-
mania we were too apt to decry what we ought to praise and value —
our climate and situation.

The resolution was passed with acclamation, and the meeting termi-
nated.

MONDAY, JUNE 15, 1896.

The President (Hia Excellency Viscount Gormanston, R.C.M.G.), in
the chair.

There was an unusually large, influential, and representative gather-
ing on Monday at the monthly meeting of the Royal Society of
Tasmania. Frior to tha commencement of the mee'lng a handsome
memorial fountain to the memory of Sir Robert Hamilton, K.C.M.G.,
LL.D., tbe late revered Governor of the colony, erected in the vestibule
of the Museum, was unveiled, the ceremony being performed by His
Excellency Viscount Gormanston, K.C.M.G , the present Governor.

The following gentlemen were elected Fellows :— Messrs. Cecil
Anderson, A. D. Watchorn, Wilfrid Giblin, M.R.C.S., R. Templeman.

Dr. Montgomery, Bishop of Tasmania, read an interesting paper
on "A Night in a Pfetrel iRookery." On February 29 last
an opportunity presented itself of enabling him to observe the
habits of the sooty petrel in its breeding places, and he
availed himself fully of it. Happening to be at Big Dog Island
he walked down to the rookery at 2.30 a.m. under a full moon
to watch the birds till they left their young for the day. A day
or two later he sallied out at 9.30 p.m. and stayed till 2.30 a.m.,
completing, in this way, a night's observation. His experience was
the same as that of residents in the locality. He was convinced that
the petrels came back to their young silently. So silently that it has
a ghost-like effect, in order to give as little notice as possible to their
enemies, the big gulls, and to the crows. Hundreds of thousands of
birds flish up from the sea and disappear into their holes just as it is
becoming dark, without uttering a note The only disagreeable
characteristic of this graceful bird is its hideous cackle. For at
least an hour, up to 10 p.m., the gurglings and hoarse noises
continue. Then silence falls on the rookery. The young birds are
digesting, and the old birds are resting. But the parents are not all
in their holes. A great many come out almost immediately, and walk
about amongst the warm long grass, Finally, a great many sleep
in the open air. He had spent a long time in stepping about among
these sleeping birds as they crouched on the ground. They do not
put their heads under their wings. At times a bird would walk up
to him and stop at his foot, unoonscious of danger, but the slightest
movement made them scuttle away like rabbits, for they were quite
unable to fly off the level ground. It is wonderful how fast they can
run down a track. He had seen a young fellow find it diflBcult to keep
up with them. He saw them dance their ghostly quadrille previous
to their departure seaward in the early morning. The young birds
(numbering many hundred thousand) were hushei in complete silence
underground. At 5.19 a.m. all the birds had disappeared to seaward.
At 5.23 a.m., just 4 minutes after the last petrel had disappeared, he
heard the wailing of a Pacific gull. In 20 minutes more a squadron
of those great creatures, accompanied by as many crows, came reeling
over his head, quaking, wailing, and quartering the ground carefully
to see if any belated petrel could be discovered. If any old bird is
late he makes for a hole, and does not stir out of it all day. Dr.
Montgomery followed with an accurate account of the habits of the
sooty petrel from the day it returns to breed in the Bass Straits to
the time when it flies away, in all probability to Arctic regions.
The sooty petrel returns to breed about September 17, having paired
already. They commence at once to scratch out their holes, the process
lasting off and on for about six weeks. One bird is always seen to be at
work, but whether the work is divided is not known, though in all
probability the labour is shared. They do not stay on the island in

VI

the day time, but coirie and go when it is dark, becau8e they live
in constant dread of the ^ulls and other enemies whilst it is light.
If one is caught by the daylight it retires to its hole and does not stir
till nightfall. The petrels depart about November 1, and are seen only
occasionally till November 20, when they come back in countless thou-
hands to lay their eggs — one for each pair. The earliest period for
the egg that he has heard of is November 18. Big Dog and Little
Green islands are early islands for them. The egg is white and rather
larger than a duck's egg. If the egg is taken the bird does not lay
again. If some young birds are taken the old birds still return ati
night till the first flight for the southern latitudes commence?. The
eggs, if left in the hole more than three days, are not good for eating,
but if secured at once they may be kept for some weeks. If the old
birds, on coming back, discover that their young have been taken,
they disgorge the oil meant for their offspring. During the period of
incubation the parents take it in turns, sitting for a week and then
exchanging. The youag bird appears about June 15 — that is, two
months after the egg has been laid. These petrels do not live on fish
as a rule, but on small sea creatures such as shrimps or the berries
of kelp, also, doubtless, on very young fish. The baby petrel is in
danger for a fortnight or so from snakes, and a certain number are
destroyed. The holes are about 2ft. or 3ft. deep. It was asserted
to him by both white and half-castes that when the feathers of the
young birds are well grown (about the last days of April) and they are
able to fly, their parents wholly desert them, leaving them to find the
water and food themselves. When the young birds have been left for
a week starvation forces them out of their holes. It is also attested by
all that as soon as the young bird emerges from its hole, driven
forth by hunger, it commences to swallow gravel, and it is unanimously
asserted that until the young petrel has ballasted itself with gravel it
can neither swim upright nor fly. A great many young birds fall
victims to their enemies, yet the sea is black with them in May, and it
is computed that out of 300,000 young petrels in a rookery, fully
100,000 escape in safety to join their parents somewhere near the South
Pole. The birds visit our shores only to rear their offspring.

The second part of Dr. Montgomery's paper had reference to
mutton-birding, a unique industry, and only carried on in the Furneaux
Islands as a regular one. It is likely co assume still larger proportions.
The " birding " begins on March 20. Before that date the temporary
huts of the workers have been repaired, and wood and water stored.
An average family attempts to catch and salt about 450 birds a day.
On wet days it is impossible to work, and even in fine weather the
destruction of clothing is great. A new hand finds himself almost
garmentless after a few days of work, which consists of crawling about
among rough bushes and lying extended upon the ground, burrowing
with the arm into deep holes. Whether this industry will ever be
popular on islands where there are snakes is doubtful. Babel Island,
where the birds are most numerous, is virtually unvisited at present,
and swarms with snakes. The regulations of the Government, the
Bishop considers, are adequate for the protection of these birds.
Families on Chappell Island exult in the capture of not more than about
200,000 young birds out of a possible 300,000, leaving a very fair margin.
As a good many islands on the Australian shore hare no water and
no boat harbours, and swarm with birds, there is no prospect of
their destruction. As regards the salted birds, it may be as well to
point out to possible consumers that they are all young, that they have
fed on nothing but oil, and have never left their holes except to die.
The process called "fatting" ought to be discouraged. It is only
resorted to by a few families, and the general sense of the island
community is against them. The "fatter" catches his bird, empties

vu

the oil into a can on the rookery, and brings the carcases down without
any care to the boilers, into which they are thrown, and boiled down
for the fat alone. It means that a family can take 1,000 birds for this
process, whilst the salters can capture only 500. The flesh of these
birds is nutritious, and readily finds a market, and Government has
been wise in regulating it. As time goes on the rules will have to be
made more stringent, but there isjno need to move too fast. The time
is coming when the number of hands birding on Chappell Island will
have to be restricted. The number of families grows as the half-castes
increase, and probably the limit of the workers has already been
reached. This island has always been looked upon as a sort of per-
quisite for the half-castes, and rightly so in his (Dr. Montgomery's)
opinion ; but the number cf half-caste workers must soon be restricted
in their own interests, and he was glad to note that the older men
have this year been suggesting that younger families should go to
Babel Island, on the east coast of Flinders. It is much to be desired
that the old birds should be protected whilst they are feeding their
young. At the present time it is the custom in February and March to
catch the old birds at night for consumption till the breeding season
commences. It is feared that many thousands of these parent birds
are thus caught. Doubtless it would be better to protect all the eggs,
but inasmuch as they are not now permitted to be sold, and as they are
only fit to eat for two or three days after they are laid, and are
supposed to be eaten on the spot, no great amount of harm can be
done. He imagined that the capacity of a half-caste cannot equal
that of the Tasmanian pure aboriginal, one of whom, it is said, was
seen to consume 52 eggs in one day.

Several views, by the aid of a lantern, were then thrown on the
screen, whereby Dr. Montgomery illustrated the islands, the mutton
birds, half-castes, etc., and which proved very interesting.

The discussion on Mr. Johnston's paper on the health of Hobart was
then opened by Mr. Mault, who spoke of ifc as a singularly able paper.
The speaker claimed that the general reduction in the number of cases
of disease was due to the passing of a Health Act in each of the
Australian colonies and its administration. The statistics given by
Mr. Johnston showed that the cases of typhoid fever should be fewer
in such an otherwise extremely healthy city. Sydney was in advance
of Hobart in that respect. He referred to how sanitation had reduced
the number of cases of fever in the old country, and insisted that if
improved results were obtained elsewhere, why not in Hobart? As
regards phthisis, emphasis should be given to the fact of Hobart's
freedom from it. The number of cases stood the lowest in the list of
all the cities instanced in all parts of the world. In respect to all
diseases connected with the lungs Hobart was the lowest of any of
the many towns he had mentioned, and the place should prove a
very fitting one for a sanatorium for consumptive cases.

Major-General Tottenham said it seemed to him that there was
one other matter which required consideration as a factor in the
judgment of healthiness of a place or district, whether as to natural
or artificial conditions. He disclaimed any desire to decry or to fix
the stigma of unhealthiness on Hobart. He came to Hobart 11 years
ago hardly able to walk half a mile at a snail's pace, and his tolerably
known capacity in locomotion now needed no statistics to attribute to
the healthful air of Tasmania. It was a deep debt of gratitude which
bad impelled him to advocate so strenuously and persistently improved
sanitation in Hobart, in order that the health of the city— the
healthiest he had ever seen in the world, and he had seen a good
many— should be rendered still healthier. What he complained of
was the existence in past years of preventable disease unwarranted by

VIU

the exceptional advantages of the site, and due, in his opinion, and not
in his alone, to municipal neglect of sanitary Ij^ws. Mr. Johnston had
placed before them a series of tabular statements, the burden of each
being a death-rate. Those tables showed undoubted stitistical acumen
and patient research. The "mortality of disease" was well set forth,
but he (MajorGeneral Tottenham) had searched in vain for the "pre-
valence of disease,' as indicated by the number of cases of preventable
disease occurring in each city reviewed. The exclusion of only *• old
age and senile decay " from preventable causes classified all other
deaths amongst the possible. That, unintentionally no doubt, gave a
false view as regarded "sanitary state," for diseases were due to
public as well as private responsibility or neglect of such. The
ordinary acceptation of the term •• preventable disease " was disease by
governmental or municipal decree, so to speak. There should be no
municipal or government neglect in this respect. The mere death-rate
of a place could not be regarded as a fully trustworthy test of its
healthfulness. All the fever cases in Hobart were not notified, and the
speaker gave statistics to support his contention. As Mr. Johnston had
indicated, without accurate statistics they could not know, prove, or
compare anything. As a soldier he could not afford to "enthuse"
over statistics, the bases of which were, to say the least, of uncertain
origin.

Mr. W. F. Ward (Government Analyst) considered that Mr. John-
ston's paper could not fail to convince anyone who would take the
trouble to read it carefully that, excluding the deaths of old people,
which formed such a large proportion of the deaths, and the old must
die, Hobart death-rate was lower than that of other Australasian cities.
But even this was not sufficient to attract the attention of visitor^', and
so he suggested that the monthly statements might either be so modi-
fied as to emphasise every time the high rate from old age alone
occurred, or th-it the vital statistics be published at longer intervals,
with full details. The question, however, was not, he thought, so much
one of figures as of the general health reputation of the place, and in
this we had suffered somewhat, owing, in the first place, to a few con-
spicuous cases of diphtheria last summer, and in the second, to perhaps
a greater degree, to a statement repeated again and again that the
town smelt to quite an unusual extent ; that bad odours were in facfc
"frequent and piinfal and free," the cause being the want of rain to
wash the town. Now, the ordinary passerby did not stop to investi-
gate, but classed everything which offended his or her nostrils compre-
hensively as " drains," declaimed accordingly, and anticipated germs,
although it might be no more than the powerful but harmless water in
which a cabbage had been boiled. Yet the good nams of the city
suffered. There was no necessary connection between bad smells and
infectious diseases. Human beings could often, for long periods, eat,
drink, and breathe more or less filth, and be apparently not much the
worse until the specific germs are somehow introduced which then
increase, multiply, alid spread in the congenial soil, so that typhoid
and diphtheria were known as " filth diseases." It followed, therefore,
that though offensive odours might in some cases be practically harm-
less, yet there was no reason why they should be tolerated if they could
by any possibility be got rid of, and if enthusiasts had occasionally
exaggerated their effects as well as the death-rate, yet enthusiasm
carried most reforms, and had in this case great, if not full, justifica-
tion.

Mr. Johnston, in replying on the discussion, said he was glad that
the main object of his paper had been accomplished. It was his endea-
vour to show the distinction between the sanitation of a place and its
healthfulness j that it did not necessarily follow that while the sanitary

IX

conditions were not as complete as they might be, therefore its health
was bad, for during a time being a city might be in a bad state of
health, and yet have the best system of sanitation in the world. lb
seemed to be conceded on all sides that Hobart in the last two or three
years had been in a most satisfactory condition as regards its health,
but there were dififerences of opinion as to the causes. He had studied
the subject for many years, and still believed that whilst sanitation waa
valuable in reducing certain diseases, such as typhoid, the great causes
of such diseases were still beyond man's control. The percentages had
fallen low in some years before any Health Acts were passed, although
he admitted that in England typhoid fever cases had of late years been
greatly reduced. Too little credit seemed to be given to the increased
knowledge of medical men in the treatment of such diseases, and the
improved habits of the people. He agreed with Mr. Mault that sanitary
agencies were powerful ir.fluences in reducing the number of fever
cases, but they were not the only ones, and they did not produce such
good results as one should like to see. As to what Major General
Tottenham had said about the returns supplied to and u?ed by statis-
ticians not being reliable, the objection cut the ground from the
objector's own feet, as he had quoted such statistics himself. He
would, however, be sorry if the effect of his paper would be that
decreased attention would be given in Hobart or anywhere else to the
importance of sanitation.

Mr. C. E. Beddome read a paper on a new variety of a Volufa
fusiformis (Swainson), Var. viic7'o papillosa,, accompanied by drawings
of the shells made by Mr. W. L. May, of Sandford.

Two papers, prepared by Mrs. Kenyon, of Melbourne, were read by
the secretary, one on " Some Conchological Notes on Tasmanian Mol-
lusca," and the other, *' ^iotes on the EfiFects of the Atmosphere on the
Shells of the MoUusca."

The meeting then terminated with the usual vote of thanks.

MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 1896.

The Chief Justice (Sir Lambert Dobson) presided at the monthly
meeting of the Royal Society of Tasmania on Monday evening, August
10th.

The Secretary (Mr. Alex. Morton) read a letter from Kis Ex-
cellency's Private Secretary, expressing the regret of the Governor at
his inability to preside. Apologies were received from Sir James
Agnew and Mr. James Barnard (Vice-Presidents).

The following were elected Fellows of the Society : — Messrs. C. W,
Butler, F. Lodge, B.A., and J. H. Levings.

Tuberculosis : (a) Cause, (b) Mode of Infection, (c) Prevention ; (1)
bv the Individual, (2) by the SC^te ; by Gregory Sprott, M.D., D.P.H.,
Health Officer for the City cf Hobart.

Dr. Sprott said : — Tuberculosis is a specific infectious disease caused
by the bacillus tuberculosis. It is common to man and the lower
animals. In the human subject it appears in dififerent forms — such as
phthisis pulmonalis, tabes mesenterica tubercular meningitis, scrofula,
lupus, etc., but these are all casually related to the bacillus of Koch.
It has recently been artificially produced in fiah. It may be eaid to be
the most widespread disease we have in domesticated animals, though
somewhat rare in their wild state. There is no longer any doubt about
the bacteriological identity of all these forms of tuberculosis in the
different animals it affects, excep*-, perhaps, in the case of fowls.
Wherever man goes we find tuberculosis, and where human beings are
most crowded together there the mortality is highest. No country is
free from it. In many parts of the vast space of Africa, as in the
upper part of the Nile, it is almost unknown. With its distribution
climate would seem to have very little to do, but some observers hold
it is more severe and rapid in tropical than in temperate regions. All
are agreed, however, that a moist, damp atmosphere is decidedly
favourable to its prevalence. How this acts is not yet determined.
Certain seasons of the year have some influence over the prevalence.
In Australia the maximum occurs at different seasons in the various
colonies. In Tasntiaoia it is October to December. No race of people
are exempt, but the Jews seem to enjoy a relative immuoity. Females
are said to be more subject to tuberculosis than males, but this varies
slightly in different colonies and countries. Tuberculosis is common
among infants, and it is estimated that one-fourth of all children dying
die of abdominal consumption. In England alone 70,000 deaths occur
on an average every year ; 50,000 of these being due to consumption of
lungs, and the other 20,000 from other forms of tuberculosis. In
Australasia for the three years 1890, 1891, and 1892 the total number of
deaths from phthisis alone was 12,243, out of a total number of deaths
of 153,069, being about 8 per cent, of all causes. Queensland and
Victoria contribute about 9 per cent., while Tasmania and Western
Australia contribute only about 6 per cent. With the exception of
Western Australia, Tasmania has the best record of all the colonies.
If you add the other forms of tubercular disease to this 12,000, you
will get a total, say, of 20,000 in three years, which means over 6,000
lost to the colonies every year. What an enormous saving of life it
would be to the colonies, as well as to Britain, if we could only pre-
vent this disease in its many forms ! Tubercular matter taken from
the lungs of persons buried for years has been found virulent on
inoculation. The modes of entrance by which the infecting bacillus
may gain entrance into the body are :— (1) By the respiratory and (2)
alimentary tract ; (3) by inoculation. (4) Another mode of infection —
hereditary transmission— was to be considered. The channel of infec-

XI

tion often determines the seat of the disease. The bacillus, or spords,
that dry up and lie about are otten inhaled into the body. The
sputum of tubercular persons usually furnishes the richest supply of
bacilli and their spores, and is often very virulent. Ransome and
Williams have been able to demonstrate the bacillus from air collected
in the ventilating shaft of the Brompton Consutr.ptive Hospital, and
inoculation experiments from the dust collected on the floor of this
hospital have proved the infection to be present in the form of spores
when the microscope had failed to fhow the bacillus. Klein kept some
guinea pigs on the ventilating shaft, and they contracted the disease
also. Then the spores may be communicated by the breath of the
patient. Infection by the alimentary canal is, perhaps, the second
important mode of infection, and the disease in this way may be com-
municated by means of milk or meat from diseased animals. Doubt
no longer exists about milk from tubercular cows beiog the means of
conveying tuberculosis, particularly to infants and young children.
It is now considered inadvisable for consumptive mothers to suckle
their infants, for although tubercular disease of the mammary gland
is somewhat rare in the human subject, it would seem that the
infecoion may be conveyed without this organ being diseased. The
danger of contracting tuberculosis from meat is not so great as the
taking of milk from tuberculous cows, but it is nevertheless a source of
infection if meat is not properly cooked. When the disease is localised
it ia thought by some that there is little risk of eating the part of the
carcase unaffected, but Professor McCall, of Glasgow, has shown that
the bacilli, although not having their habitat in the blood, have been
found there as well as in the marrow of bones. The authorities in
Glasgow, acting on this, condemn the whole carcase. The parts in
close proximity to the disease may be contaminated, while the parts
at a distance may not. Inoculation is fortunately not a very common
mode of infection. It has followed from a cut on the finger with
a broken spittoon used by a phthisical patient. Medical men doing
post-mortems, butchers, and cooks have been infected in the execution
of their duties in this way. It is said to have resulted in two cases
from tattooing where the saliva of a phthisical patient was used.
The question whether tuberculosis can be transmitted from parent to
child is one which authorities are divided upon. Many observers
hold that the disease cannot be transmitted, but only a predis-
position, and heredity to such as Virchow and Frankel only means
greater predisposition, but to Klein it means the actual transmission of
the disease. It has seldom been found in calves, and rarely in new
born infants. While tuberculosis may be transmitted directly from
parent to child, there is a very strong consensus of opinion that the
form which affects the lungs is never so transmitted. It may then be
taken for granted that ••consumption is not hereditary, but only a
predisposition — what that predisposition is we cannot yet say." Weak-
ness of the constitution sets up a predisposition. Certain conditions,
such as dampness of soil, impurity of atmosphere, are important
factors. Dr. Buchanan and Sir John Simon have long since proved that
•* the drying of soil, which has in most cases accompanied the laying of
main sewers in the improved towns, has led to the diminution, more or
less considerable, of phthisis," and this has been abundantly proved
as the result of town improvements. Dampness of soil and seaboard
towns are favourable predisposing agents of tubercular disease. It
would seem as if the bacilli were there in greatest numbers and
most deadly in effects. Localities with dry soils and uniform tempera-
ture are least affected. Nothing tends to predispose to tuberculosis so
much as a vitiated atmosphere. This is evidenced by the fact that
we have consumption most common in large cities ; not only so, but
in the parts of them where overcrowding and bad ventilation are at a

xii

maximum the mortality is highest. Dr. Russell, of Glasgow, shows not
only the eflfect of overcrowding on the total death rate, but also the
great effect it has on the death rate from consumption. But there
are other impurities which tell on the mortality of phthisis besides
those from organic vapours, namely, those from trades of differenb
kinds, such as of knifegrinders, weavers, etc, AH trades which give
rise to du3t predispose, and particularly where metallic dust is floating
about, CO phthisis. Of other predisposing causes might be mentioned
improper food, in the case of infanta specially, alcohol in excess,
debilitating disease of any kind. In brief, it may be said that what-
ever reduces the vitality or resisting power of the body increases the
susceptibility of the individual to tuberculosis. The lecturer then
showed how prevention was effected, by diminishing the sources of
infection — through the air, milk, and meat — preventing the spread of
the bacilli outside the body, and by increasing the resisting power of
those who are most exposed to danger. Consumptives should only spit
in proper receptacles that have been infected. They should be strongly
warned against spitting on cesspits, floors of workrooms, offices, and
streets. Expectoration from all phthisical patients ought to be burned.
Consumption does not spread through the virulence of its infecting
agCLt, but rather because people are ignorant of its cause and mode of
extension. Should the consumptive patient die, or be removed, the
room and everything in it ought to be disinfected. Curtains, bedding,
and clothing should be boiled, blaniiets steamed, and all other furniture
cleaned and disinfected. Paper on the walls should be stripped off and
burned, and the walls washed with chlorinated lime. Many argue that
it must come under the compulsory notification Disease Act, and be
treated as any other of the infectious diseases. I confess this appeals
very strongly to one, but there are many difficulties in the way of
notification. For instance, we know that many consumptives are
continually changing their residence, and ofttimes, in the hope of
being cured, their medical attendant. Are we then to have a report
from each medical attendant, and will the patients be required to
notify any chasge of residence ? In New York it is subject to
inspection, and inspectors are sent, unless requested by the doctor
attending not to do so, to instruct patients and their fimiiies how to
guard against the spread of the disease, to disinfect all premises either
vacated by removal or by death of patients without any charge to
owner. Boiling milk will get rid of any danger, and it is a good rule
to boil all milk, as it will destroy the germs of other diseases as well
as of tuberculosis. The sale of milk from infected cows should be
rigidly prevented. There should be a rigid inspection of all beasts
sold, under skilled supervision, before and after slaughter. The
lecturer concluded by alluding to how indiscreet marriages perpetuate
the disease ; that special care of iafants affected the physical develop-
ment of youth, and the necessity to do everything that tends to
strengthen the constitution. Choice of profession to those predisposed
to consumption was important ; and exercise in the open air was of
great value, provided it was not carried to excess. Clothing should be
warm and light ; diet plain and nutritious, regular meals ; alcohol
should be avoided as a general rule ; and in the choice of a healthy
site for residence, high elevations above sea level were advantageous.
Tuberculosis (or consumption) was not only a preventable but a curable
disease, and the agents which prevent go far towards curing. He
was hopeful that a specific serum would yet be found, and that instead
of tuberculosis exterminating the human race, the human race would
exterminate it.

Dr. Bright characterised the paper as a most able one. He agreed
with almost everything Dr. Sprott had said, and did not know he had
ever heard a paper calculated to be of better service to the community

XUl

read at this society's rooms. He (the speaker) had been of opinion
for 25 years that consumption was infectious. He had seen husbands
taking it from wives, and wives from husbands, and he had always
advised that a consumptive patient should occupy a separate room.
Boiling the milk was most important. Dr. F. Swarbeck Hall strongly
advised it in this city years ago. Much could be done by the efficient
inspection of dairies and dairy cows. They had seen last summer
what great dangers the health of the city was exposed to through bad
and unwholesome milk being sold. The spread of infection by the
sputum of diseased persons was a most serious thing. He believed very
strongly that the disease was hereditary ; that predisposition was not
all that was communicated from parent to child. Tuberculosis was
most common in aged milch cows. He moved a vote of thanks to Dr.
Sprott, and hoped that the people would boil their milk, also that
expectoration about the streets would be suppressed.

Dr. Harvey seconded, and congratulated Dr. Sprott on the able way
in which he had handled the subject. Another means of prevention
was undoubtedly to be found in a reform in the manner of burying the
dead. Spores of disease were often brought up by the earthworm.

Dr. Crosby Walch believed that the disease was not hereditary, but
predisposition only was communicated from mother to child.

Mr. Mault intimated that the Central Board of Health was seeking
to obtain legislative power to inspect all dairies in the country sending
milk into the city.

The Chief Justice thought, that if it be true that there was no
tuberculosis in Tasmanian cattle, as Dr. Sprott had indicated, the
colony must have a great advantage, and with the use of the tubercu-
line test in examining all stock brought to the colony for slaughter it
might be kept out of our cattle and our meat.

The vote of thanks was passed with acclamation.

Dr. Sprott, in replying, said it was generally conceded that consump-
tion of the lungs was not hereditary, but tuberculosis \^as hereditary.
So long as a person kept strong and in good health, the bacilli of
tuberculosis need not be feared. As to tuberculosis in stock in Tas-
mania, he had stated that he had not, so far, been able to find any.

EOUTES TO THE WEST.

Mr. J. B. Walker, F.R.G.S., read a paper, prepared by Mr.
T. Stephens, M.^., F.G.S., upon "Land Routes to the Western
Districts, " illustrated by an enlarged map. The svriter first
dwelt on the natural obstacles, notwithstanding that there were
no savages or man - eating tigers to be encountered. Having
referred to past surveys and proposed railway route?, he de-
scribed the land routes along which tracks saould be made. He
first referred to the Linda track from Mole Creek. Another
was from Sheffield to Mount Read, a distance of only 50 miles, one
half of which is already covered with tracks fit for horse or foot
traffic. The Marlborough and Mount Atrowsmith to Mount Lyell
route was next referred to, and which it was claimed should be kept
open. Then there was the route known as "Dawson's road." It was
now evident that a more direct route to the Gordon was obtainable
south of Mount Field. Two other routes were noticed, one passing
the head of the Florentine Valley and striking out to Mount Lyell,
and the other going from the head of the Florentine Valley to the
Gordon. He thought a much easier way could be found south of

XIV

Mount Wedge and via Lake Pedder, but in the interests of mining
exploration that would not be advisable. He commended very strongly
the preliminary work of exploiting tracks, but the whole area should
be well explored before there was any proposal for a railway,
Discussion on the paper was postponed.

OTHEE PAPERS.

The Question of Land Routes from Eastern to Western Tasmania, by
Thos. Stephens, M.A., F.G.S. Notes on the Nidification of the Black
Cockatoo, and Description of some New and Rare Fish, Lampris luna
and Antennarius mitchelli, by Alex. Morton. Classified list of the
Tasmanian Minerals, by W. F. Petterd, F.Z.S.

COMET PHENOMENA.

Mr. Water F. Gale, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society of
London, on a visit to the colony, with the aid of a lantern manipulated
by Mr. Nat Oldham, gave a most interesting description of some
comet phenomena, and was accorded a vote of thanks, after which the
proceedings terminated.

XV

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1896.

Mr. Bernard Shaw presided at the monthly meeting of the Royal
Society of Tasmania on Monday, September 21st, and there was a good
attendance. The subject for discussion was the West Coast routes,
introduced at the previous meeting by Mr. T. Stephens.

NEW MEMBERS AND VISITORS.

Mr. Robert Sticht, metallurgist, Mount Lyell ; Dr. E. T. MacGowan
and Mr. R. Fitzarthur Waller were elected. Also Major C. M. OflBcer,
F.G.S. (London), and Mr. W. H. Palmer, C.E., two visitors.

WEST COAST TRACKS.

The discussion on this subject was resumed.

Mr. T. Stephens said : As the report of the second party despatched
to explore the country lying to the west of the Mount Field Range had
now been received he might, by way of postscript, add a few words to
the paper read at the last meeting. The work of the recent expedi-
tion, which was undertaken under conditions of exceptional hardship
and difficulty, had not done much towards the exploration of the par-
ticular tract of country to which he had directed attention ; but it
had shown that there are obstacles to a route along the River Gordon,
which, though they should not be regarded as insurniountable, would
necessitate a considerable expenditure of time and money before a
practicable track could be opened in that direction. He had, therefore,
indicated upon the chart an alternative route. Taking the Humboldt
Divide and the country about Mount Lyell as the two extreme points,
this route should be carried westerly to some point between the
junction of the Serpentine on the south and the Denison on the north
side of the Gordon, where a convenient croesing place can be found
on the last-named river. There a depot should be provided. An
opportunity would thus be given for examining both banks of the
Gordon towards Macquarie Harbour, but the main object should be
to push through the unexplored country between the Rivers Franklin
and Denison to the Linda track, and thus make accessible that large
area which is still described on our latest maps as ** unexplored,"

Mr. E. A. Counsel (Sarveyor-Geueral) said Mr, Stephens had dealb
very fully with the country being opened up from Glenora, and he (Mr.
Counsel) would deal with the subject under three headings, namely,
(1) the results following track cutting into unexplored country,
showing how districts had been opened up on the lines of those in
various parts of Tasmania ; (2) the conditions under which the work
might be undertaken ; (3) future exploration. Under the first heading
the speaker made out a forcible argument for continuing the making of
these tracks in the unexplored parts of the West Coast. As to the
Mole Creek route spoken of by Mr. Stephens, with branches, they
must be fairly tested before a definite course as to them was taken.
They would no doubt serve very important districts, but the danger was
of their being at too high a level for winter traffic. Strange to say,
the Gordon and Rasselas route was still undetermined, notwithstand-
ing the fact that the country intended to thereby so open up (as well
as to provide communication to the West Coast) was almost accessible
by a main-road (Dawson's road) as far back as 1860; and notwith-
standing the fact that actual surveys and settlements were made as far
west as the base of Frenchman's Cap in 1853. At that date a block was
actually leased at the base of Frenchman's Cap. The Rasselas Valley
route would no doubt be improved as the examination of the country
progressed. As to the Tyenna route, explored by Mr. Innes wlio

XVI

reported that a route between Mount Humboldt and the navigable part
of the Gordon was impracticable, that applied to the south side of the
river, the connection being blocked by the Franklin and Wilmot ranges,
which attained a maximum height of 3,245ft. above sea level ; but
Mr. Innes believed it was possible to obtain a passable track by keeping
to the south of Mount Wedge, passing through the Huon plains, and
round the south end of the Franklin range, bearing thence to the
lower Gordon. This route was not looked upon with favour generally,
though it would have its advantages. Much of the criticism on Mr,
lanes' action had been made without due consideration of the difficulties
he had to encounter. The Government had undertaken to explore
both the Gordon and Rasselas routes during the summer, as far as
tracks were concerned, and that should afford satisfaction to those
interested. It was an interesting question whether the track south of
Mount Wedge, suggested by Mr. Innes, should be made open to traffic,
and so bring the Huon district in connection with the West Coast.
The cutting of tracks in the manner indicated would not cost very
much, and was exceedingly desirable. He next referred to routes
north of the Gordon and Gould's explorations and routes, which
went through mineral country.

Hon. B S. Bird approved of the suggestion made that the country
unexplored should be opened by tracks of some kind not for trade only,
but what was even more important, for prospectors to traverse, for
after them would come trade. He expected to see Port Davey yet
made the main port of the West Coast. It would be a grand natural
harbour with railway communication between the metropolis and the
West Coast.

Mr. Howard Wright thought that one wise course would be to
open up the upper Dawson's- road from the Florentine, which would
take prospectors to the Gordon Bend. There was no reason why traffic
should not be facilitated to pass that way in a month or two, and with
stores at Huntley. He thought it would be better than wasting money
over a track from Tyenna to the head waters of the Gordon.

Mr. R. M. Johnston explained his reasons for favouring a Huon route.
He agreed with Mr. Wright that bases of operations would have to be
established. He believed there was a great area of country yet un-
explored which was highly auriferous.

Mr. Palmer, C.E. (Victoria), who had recently come through to
Hobart from Lyell by the Linda route, strongly recommended the
establishment of depots along a route as it was being cut. As to a
railway, there were no serious ecgineering difficulties. There would
be no extreme grades. The greatest difficulty was to get through the
timber. The greater engineering difficulties could easily be got over by
an electric railway. Grades inaccessible by ordinary locomotives were
easily surmounted by electric trains with very considerable power.
This had been amply proved on the Canadian Pacific Railway where it
crossed the Rocky Mountaine. There the locomotive train was left, and
an electrical train substituted for 34 miles. The greatest engineering
difficulty would be at a point near West Mount Field, where there was
a very steep gradient. The country possessed any quantity of water
power. That was one great advantage in the whole region. If a
million horse power were required it could be got.

Hon. Henry Dobson dwelt on the importance of providing the West
Coast routes to Hobart in a thoroughly practical but inexpensive
manner. He did not quite agree with Mr. Biid that a route via Huon-
ville was the best. It must go north of Huonville. Every pound
spent in this way, so far, had been justified by enormous developments.
He advocated the formation of a Council of Mines to act independently
of party.

XVll

Major Officer spoke of the enormous value the cutting of tracks
had been in Victoria, It was the duty of the Government, and the
duty of the people to urg3 the Government to cut tracks wherever
found desirable. He spoke of the extent to which the trade of the
West Coast, which should come to Hobart, was going to Victoria, and
that could only be diverted by a railway.

The reading of Mr. Rodway's paper on fungi was postponed, owing
to the lateness of the hour at which the above discussion closed.

The meeting then terminated with votes of thanks to Mr. Stephens,
Mr. Counsel, and the chairman.

XVlll

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1896.

The Chief Justice (Sir Lambert Dobson) presided at the monthly
meeting of the Royal Society of Tasmania.

The Secretary (Mr. Alex. Morton) read letters of apology from Sir
James Agnew, Hon. C H. Grant, Messrs. J. Barnard, J. B. Walker,
and R. M. Johnston.

DEATH OF BAEON FEED. VON MUELLEE.

In taking the chair, Sir Lambert Uobson said : In the last few hours
death had claimed one whose name had stood amongst the foremost of
the scientific botanists of the world. Baron Ferdinand Von Mueller
had passed away, and it was fitting that on this first occasion of the
meeting of the Society they should give expression to the deep regret
the members felt at the loss that the scientific world, and Australia
especially, had sustained in that sad event ; and also to give expression
to the high esteem and admiration in which they held the Baron. He
was one who commenced life as a practical botanist. He took part in
various explorations in Australia, and very rapidly gained for himself
a name, and one which, with advancing years, became better known
and more respected in the scientific world, till towards the end it
might be questioned whether any living botanist stood hieher than the
learned Baron. This Society owed him a very deep debt of gratitude
for all he had done for it. From his earliest days in Victoria — the
fifties— he constantly supplied contributions to this society, and
whenever they had been at a loss on any botanical question or subject,
he was ever ready to give them the advantage of his great knowledge,
and that, too, in an unselfish and ungrudging spirit. Baron Von
Mueller was one of those scientists who looked upon what he knew as
not his own, but obtained for others. The humblest student of botany
had but to apply to him to find that the great fountain of knowledge
he possessed was ever ready to be poured forth for the benefit of anyone
seeking to taste of the springs of botanical knowledge. As early as
May, 1858, his eminent services in the science of botany in Australia
were very greatly appreciated, and in consequence of the aid he afforded
to the Tasmanian Royal Society, it was proposed to make him a corres-
ponding member, and he was accordingly elected unanimously. The
meeting of the Council at which he was proposed was attended by
eight members. Of those all but our venerable Vice-President, Sir
James Agnew, had passed away. He would mention their names —
Messrs. Joseph Hone (vice-president), in the chair ; Hon. W. Henty,
Hon. J. Walker, Alderman Lipscomb, Thos. Giblin, J. W. Agnew
(now Sir James W. Agnew), James Sprent, Morton Allport, and Dr.
J. Milligan. On September 5, 1882, this Society elected him as an
hon. member. They missed the name of two or three of the members
of the Council of even that time. Messrs. Jno. Swan, C. T. iJelstead,
H. J, Buckland, and Justin Browne had gone before him. Fortunately
the Baron's work did not expire with him. He had contributed no less
than some 20 volumes of botanical scientific information, many of them
were illustrated books, and all prepared with the greatest care and
diligence. He (Sir Lambert) believed the Society possessed copies of all
those works. They afforded a foundation of solid information for any
botanist of Australasia to work upon, and he believed the eminent
author had assisted Mr. Bentham in his work on Australian flora, and
in his great work upon our trees and plants. All this work the Baron
had done. He was nominally the botanist of Victoria, but he really
had been the botanist of all Australasia. The information he had
furnished was valuable alike to all the colonies ; he drew no lines, he
knew no distinction — from wherever information was sought he was

; ^'^ 4 .^iiae^&i

>* ;.. 'miuK-»ii&ti^ itrirWihii

BARON FERDINAND VON MUELLER.

XIX

ready to give it. His name was as familiar as a household word,
within the walls of the Society's rooms, and they would long miss
him as an authority unquestioned and unquestionable, to whom any
botanical matter could be referred. How Baron von Mueller would be
replaced it was impossible to say. Good men generally appeared when
called for. There was no doubt — and probably through the Baron's
example — the science of botany throughout the colonies had taken great
strides of late years. The Baron was not only a scientific botanist,
but tie also brought his knowledge to bear on botany for economic
purposes, having introduced for these colonies a large number of plants
and fruits of economic value, and others that he had, at any rate proved,
were not of economic value. The Baron had now gone, and he (Sir
Lambert) was satisfied that throughout the colonies his loss would be
recognised and deeply regretted, and his many admirable qualities
would be often alluded to in future years. Now the silver cord was
broken and the Baron rested in peace.

FUNGI.

Mr. L. RoDWAY read a paper on fungi in [his usual interesting and
instructive style. He said that whilst all other branches of plant life
had ample attention paid to them the fungi were neglected because of
vast numbers and variety, evanescence, and obscurity, which necessi-
tated a painted copy and microscopical examination. As to the utility
of the study, the work done by fungi in breaking down dead tissue was
very interesting and instructive. He next dwelt on the destructiveness
of various forms of parasitic life on plants, such as rust on wheat and
black spot on apples. The study of fungi was, therefore, useful in
considering plant diseases and to learn how to cope with the same.
The estimated loss from rust in wheat alone in Australia was between
two and three millions sterling. In the United States it was 67 million
dollars. In India the loss from all fungoid diseases was 10 million
pounds per annum, as stated in the Agricultural Ledger, published in
Calcutta last year. In England alone, while there are about 1,760
flowering plants, there are 4,895 fungi. Tasmania had about 1,000
varieties of flowering plants, and there was little doubt that the fungi
in this colony exceeded 1,500. As neither of these countries can be
considered peculiarly rich in fungi, and as the number of flowering
plants of the world might be roughly estimated at 100,000, some idea
of the number and necessary variety of fungi might be conceived.
Fungi formed almost a kingdom of themselves. They fed like an
animal, but fruited like a plant. They had a very slight link of affinity
attaching them to the other plants, whilst through one section, namely,
the Mycetozoa, as the name implied, the approach to animals was very
marked. The edible qualities of many fungi were not of great im-
portance to the botanist, nor in Tasmania of much consequence to the
utilitarian ; but in many countries fungi constituted the luxury of the
rich, and a staple article of food for the poor. In Tasmania there were
many wholesome forms besides the common mushroom. At the same
time there were many fungi which were most violently poisonous. _He
concluded with a graphic description of the luminosity of fungi in
Tasmania, and the phenomena of their growth.

Hearty applause greeted the reader of the paper upon resuming his
seat.

Mr. T. Stephens, in the course of some comments on the paper,
said they oould not but regard Mr. Rodway as facile prineepa— the

X7L

botanist of Tasmania. He congratulated the Society upon that evening
returning to consider such subjects as formed the raison d'Stre of its
existence. He had observed that rust in wheat was more liable to be
present in soils which were deficient in silica.

YOYAaE OF ALYAEADO.

Mr. J. R. McClymont, M.A., read a very interesting paper entitled
*' An Explanation of the Voyage of Alvarado, as narrated by Galvano."
The author said that when Uortes had accomplished the conquest, and,
what was called euphemistically, the pacification of Mexico, he re-
solved to despatch an expedition to the Moluccas by a course near to
the Equator. Galvano states that Cortes undertook this task in order
that the new Viceroy, Mendoza, should not rob him of his honour.
When we remember that Cortes had solicited the position of Viceroy in
vain, the motive ascribed to Cortes will not appear wholly improbable,
although his career, the writer said, was rather that of a man actuated
by love of achievement than by mere ordinary ambition. Whatever
the motive may have been, it appears certain that immediately after
the arrival of Mendoza in Mexico Cortes equipped two ship?. The
account of this expedition, Mr. McClymont said, were strangely
divergent, and could only be made intelligible by supposing that the
Spanish historians had followed the fortunes of the ship commanded by
Hernendo de Grjgalva, whilst the Portuguese historian, Galvano,
follows the fortunes of the other ship commanded by one Alvarado,
a hidalgo. There can be no doubt, the writer of the paper says, of
the authenticity of Galvano's narrative, for he was actually Governor
of the Moluccas when Alvarado arrived there, and his veracity and
fairness are recorded as celebrated throughout the Portuguese dominions.
The writer said it was not necessary to follow the course taken by the
ship of Grigalva, because he had recently done so in a paper read
before the Society, entitled " Early Voyages to Papua." It was shown
that the first destination of the two ships was San Miguel de Tan-
garaga, in Peru, they having been sent there with reinforcements of
Fizarro, in compliance with the request of that general. San Miguel
does not appear, the writer said, on modern maps, but it was not
far from Payta, in about 6deg. S. lat. Both of these places, it was
pointed out, were mentioned as the port of departure of the ships for
their great voyage. Galvano makes it San Miguel. Mr. McClymont
said there was a discrepancy as to the [instructions given to the com-
manders. Spanish writers say they were to search for certain rich
islands supposed to lie to the west, not the Moluccas, for these would,
no doubt, have been mentioned by name, or under the name of the
*• Islands of Spices," had they been intended. This was pointed out
what Grigalva understood he had to do. But Alvarado thought he had
to sail to the Moluccas, keeping near the Equator. The writer said
possibly the jealousy between Cortes and Mendoza explains this
difference in the designs of the two commanders. Mendoza, being dis-
appointed that the instructions for the commanders had been taken
out of his hands by Cortes, may have persuaded Grigalva to deviate
from his instructions, and he may have consented to do so in the hope
that he would thereby not only curry favour with the Viceroy, but also
gain greater renown and wealth than the mere discovery of a new route
to the Moluccas would bring to him. His share, Mr. McClymont said,
of tke expedition ended in total disaster. Galvano does not, the
writer states, give the exact date of 'departure from Peru. Spanish

XXI

writers say April, 1537. It need not surprise us, said Mr. McCly-
mont, if, in this first voyage across the Pacific from a South American
port, the distances and the latitudes are uncertain and irreconcilable.
There is one matter we may be thankful for, and that is, the attempt
to render the names of the islands visited in the vernacular of these
islands. This, Mr. McClymont said, was much more satisfactory than
dealing with European names of doubtful appropriateness, which give
no clue to the modern investigator. It was pointed out that these ver-
nacular names, with one single exception, were not written as we write
them now. The writer dealt with several of the Pacific Islands visited
by Alvarado. The paper, from a geographical point of view, was a
most interesting one, and threw much light on the work done in the
l5th and 16th centuries by the early navigators.

DEATH OF SIR JOHN FEANKLIN.

Mr* F. Lodge called attention to a reference in the Magazine of Art
to an Austrian painter having painted an imaginary scene of the death
of Sir John Franklin. He mentioned it in order that inquiry might
be made to know if it was possible to obtain prints of the picture.

The Secretary said he would make inquiries.

The proceedings then terminated with a vote of thanks to the readers
of the papera.

,it;;.ff3T

XIU

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1896.

The last mouthly evening meeting of the session of the Royal Society
of Tasmania was held on Monday evening, when Mr. James Barnard
presided, and there was a large attendance. Apologies were read from His
Excellency the Governor and Sir James Aguew.

A BATCH OF MEDICOS.

The following medical gentlemen were balloted for and elected members
of the Society :—E. J. S. Spark, M.B. ; J. E. Wolfhagen, M.B., CM.;
S. C. Jamieson, M.B.; H. G. H. Naylor, L.R.C.S.; R. G. Scott, M.B.,
CM.; and R. Wilmot, M.R.CS., E.

A MEDICAL SECTION.

The Secretary (Mr. Alex. Morton) announced that a medical section of
the Royal Society had been formed, and Dr. Bright, the first president of
the section, would have some remarks to offer upon the subject.

Dr. Bright, on behalf of the medical secticn just formed, moved a vote
of thanks to the Society for the kind and generous manner in which the
Society had treated them, giving them every encouragement-. The use of
the Society's rooms had been promised them for meetings, and like a kind
parent, had voted them pocket money as well in the shape of £12 witb
which to purchase certain standard medical works. The section had
started under very favourable auspices with 18 members, some of whom
had been elected that evening, and there would be others to follow.

Dr. Sprott seconded the motion, mentioning that they were alto deeply
indebted to Mr. Morton, the secretary, for the assistance he was also
giving the new medical section. He felt certain that the new section
would prove a material advantage, both to the medical men of Hobart and
the public.

The Chairman, on behalf of the memlocrs of the Royal Soeiety generally,
reciprocated the sentiments expressed in suitable terms.

The Secretary mentioned that whilst Dr. Bright had been chosen the
first acting. president of the new section, Sir James Agnew was the first
honorary president.

visitors.

The Chairman welcomed Mr. Percy Douglas and Mr. W. H, Trewenack,
two Sydney gentlemen.

ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES.

Mr. KiNGSMiLL read a paper on atmospheric disturbances and weather
forecasting during the year 1895, carrying forward the information which
Mr. Wragge imparted some time ago ia a lecture before the Society. He
analysed the forecasts sent by Mr. Wragge, showing how successfully they
had worked out. He illustrated his remarks by means of maps thrown on
the screen by the aid of Mr. Russell Young's lantern. He also read
Admiral Fitzroy's commendation of the forecasts, and showed the neces-
sity of these observations in Tasmania.

TERTIARY LEAF BEDS.

Mr. R. M. Johnston gave an interesting account of the discovery of
tertiary leaf beds with tin drift in Thureau's deep lead, St. Helen's.
Through the kindness of Mr. A. J. Brown, of St. Helen's, Mr. Johnston

XXlll

Btated that he had been put in possession of a very interesting collection
of specimens, all of which are replete with more or less perfect im-
pressions of leaves, twigs, etc. The prevailing forms, though fragmentary,
are very clearly impressed, and having made a careful examination of
their specific character he was now satisfied that two of the forms could
be referred to as species already described in similar deposits in New
South Wales and Tasmania now assigned to the eocene tertiary age. He
then minutely described them with illustrations thrown on the screen,
making the subject verjr* interesting.

MOUNT LYBLL DISTRICT.

The greatest treat of the evening followed, when Mr. J. W. Beattie,
who has just returned from a photographic tour to the West Coast,
exhibited a large number of lantern slides illustrating the whole district
of Mount Lyell, Penghana, Queenstown, and the magnificent scenery of
the King River and Gorge, eliciting frequent applause. The grandeur of
the scenery, alternately partaking of Alpine heights and Californian gorges,
excited great interest in the audience. In addition to following up the
Mount Lyell railway to the company's works, showing the many steep
gradients, and the trains climbing the hills on the Abt system, Mr.
Beattie presented views of the works themselves, the quarries, and mines.
He also seemed to have obtained a very good notion of the various processes
which the ore goes through from the mine to the converter ; and what
with these explanations and various photographic pictures of the interior
of the works, he waa able to impart much very instructive information.

Mr. R, M. Johnston remarked that Mr. Beattie had done another piece
of good service for Taamania by the production of such magnificent
photographs. The speaker then had thrown on the screen some statistical
tables showing how the mining interest was advancing in the colony. For
the year 1895-6 the output of mineral wealth was £745,996.

votes of thanks.

The meeting then terminated with the usual votes of thanks, the
Chairman remarking that much of the success of the session now closing
had been due to the zeal and energy of their indefatigable secretary —
Mr. Morton. In moving a vote of thanks to the Chairman, the Hon.
Adye Douglas, M.L.C., referred in complimentary terms to the good
service Mr. James Barnard had rendered the Society since his election as
far back as 1841.

XXIV

List of additions to the Library of the
Royal Society of Ta8mania :

Bound Volumes.

Annual Report of the American Historical
Association, 1894, containing report of pro-
ceedings of lObh annual meeting in Washing-
ton, D.C., December 26, 1828, by H. B.
Adams, secretary. The Tendency of His-
tory, by Henry Adams, president of the
Association. Rise of Imperial Federalism
(abstract), by Professor G. P. Adams. The
Historical work of Professor H. Tuttle.
Turning Points in the Civil War, by Dr. R.
Johnson. Tributes to Hamilton Fish, flons.
J. Hay, R. G. Winthorp, and others, by
General James Grant Wilson. The Tejas :
Their habits, government, and superstitions,
by Mrs. L. C. Harby. Why Coronado went
to New Mexico in 1540, by P. G. Winship.
The Casade Contratacion of Seville, by
Professor B, Moses. Some European Modi-
fication of the Jury System, by D. W. B.
Scaife. The Regulators of North Carolina
(1765-1771), by Professor J. S. Bassett. A
Chapter in the Life of Charles Robinson, the
First Governor of Kansas, by Professor F,
W. Blackman. The Continental Congress,
by Dr. H. Friedenwald. The Labour Move-
ment in English Politics, by E. Porritt. The
Organisation of the First Committee of
Public Safety, by Professor H. E. Bowne.
The Quebec Act and the American Revolu-
tion, by V. Coffin. The Historical Archives
of the States Department, by A. H. Allen.
Appeals from Colonial Courts to the King-
in-Council, with special reference to Rhode
Island, by H. H. Hazeltine. Rhode Island,
and the Impost of 1781, by T. G. Bates.
The Constitutional Controversy in Rhode
Island in 1841, by A. M. Mowry. Party
Struggles over the Pennsylvannia Constitu-
tion, by S. B. Harding. Evolution of
Township Government in Ohio, by J. A.
Wilgus. The Western Posts and the
British Debts, by Professor A. C. McLaugh-
lin. Existing Autographs of Christopher
Columbus, by W. E. Curtis. Mountains
and History, by Professor E. K. Alden.
Causes and Consequences of the Party
Revolution of 1800, by Professor J. H.
Robinson. What the United States Govern-
ment has done for History? by A. Howard
Clark. Bibliography of the Colonial His-
tory of South Carolina, by E. L. Whitney,
Washington, 1895. From the Society.

Bureau of Ethnology, thirteenth annual
report of the Smithsonian Institution,
1891-2. By J. W. Powell, director,
Washington, 1896. From the Department,

Catalogue of books in the Pedagogical
Section of the University Library (revised
edition). Addresses at the Inauguration of
Martin Kellogg, LL. D., as President of the
University of California. Berkeley, March
23, 1893, From the Department.

Determinacao das Posicoes Geographicas
de Rodeio, Entre-rio3 Juiz de Fora, Joao
Gomese Barbacena. Le Cliniat de Rio do
Janeiro. By L. Cruls, Director de Observa-
torio de Rio de Janeiro. From the Depart-
ment,

Guide to the Literature of ^Esthetics, By
Charles Mills Gayley, Professor of the
English Language and Literature in the
University of California, and F. Newton
Scott. Ph.D., Assistant Professor of English
in the University of Michigan. Berkeley,
1890. From the Department.

Missouri Geological Survey, Vol. IV., V.
Pcilcentology of Missouri. Parts 1 and 2.
By C. R. Keyes, A.M., Ph.D., State
Geologist. Vols. "VI., VII. Lead and Zinc
Deposits. Sections I. and II. By A.
Winslow, assisted by J. D. Robertson.
From the Department.

Observatoire de Rio de Janeiro Methode
Graphique, pour la determination des heures
approchees des eclipses da aoleil et de«
occultations par. L. Cruls, Director de
I'Observatoire^ Rio de Janeiro, 1894. From
the Department.

Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Insti-
tute, Vol. XXVII., 1895-96, London, 1896.
From the Institute.

Rainfall in India, third year, 1894,
Calcutta, 1895. From the Meteorological
Department.

Report on the Scientific Results of the
Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the
years 1873-6, Vols. 1 to 50, London, 1885.
From tne British Government.

Smithsonian Report of the U.S. National
Museum under the direct»ion of the Smith-
sonian Institute for the year ending June
30, 1893. Washington, 1895. Proceedings of
the United States National Museum, Vol.
XVIL, 1894. From the Smithaoniaa In-
stitution.

Transactions of the Institution of En-
gineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland, Vol,
XXXVIII., 1894-95. Glasgow, 1895, From
the Institution.

United States Geological Surrey, J.W.
Powell, Director. Mollusca and Crustacea
of the Miocene Formations of New Jersey,
by R. Parr Whitfield. Geology of the
Green Mountains in Massachusetts, by B,
Pumpelly, J. E. Wolff, and T, Nelson Dale.
Fourteenth Annual Report, 1892-93, Part

XXV

I,, Report of Director. Part II., Accompany-
ing Papers. From the Department.

U.6. Department of Agriculture Weather
Bureau. Report of the Weather Bureau,
1893-94. From the Department.

University of California. Biennial Report
of the President of the University on behalf
of the Board of Regents to His Excellency
the Governor of the State, 1894. Sacra-
mento, 1895. From the Department.

PAMPHLETS.

Account of the Smithsonian Institution :
its origin, history, objects, and achieve-
ments. From the Smithsonian Institution.

Addresses at the Inauguration of W. T.
Reid as President of the University of Cali-
fornia, and the dedication of the Bacon Art
and Library Building, Berkeley, August 23,
1881. Sacramento, 1881. From the De-
partment.

Addresses at the inauguration of Horace
Davis as President of the University of
California. Berkeley, March 23, 1888. Sac-
ramento. From the Department.

Agricultural Experiment Station, Univer-
sity of California. 1. The Canaigre or
Tanners' dock. 2. Australian Salt-bush of
Alkali soils. Berkeley, California, 1894.
From the Department.

Amblychila, the species of. By J. J,
Rivers. From the Society.

Annals and Magazines of Natural History
(current numbera). From the Society.

Anales de la Oficina Meteorologica Argen-
tina por su. Director G. G. Davis. Tomo
X. Buenos Aires, 1896. From the Depart-
ment.

Analele Institutuli Meteorologic Roma-
niei. By Stefan C, Hepites. Tomul IX.
Anul, 1893. From the Department.

Authentic Letters of Columbns. By W.
E. Curtis, tlon. Curator Department of
Columbus Memorial Chicago. May, 1895.
Vol. 1, No. 2. From the Trustees Field
Columbian Museum.

Annales de la Soci^t^ Royale, Mala-
cologique de Belgique, Tome XXVII, Annee,
1892, Bruxelles. From the Society.

Annuario publicado pelo Observatorio de
Rio de Janeiro for 1895-6. From the
Department.

Archaeological Report 1894-5. By D.
Boyle. Appendix to the report of the
Minister of Education Ontario, Toronto,
1806. From the Department.

Athen»am, Journal of English and Foreign
Literature, Science, Fine Arts, Music, and
the Drama. Current numbers.

Berichte der Naturforschenden zu Frei-
burg, J.B., June and September, 1894.
From the Society.

Boletim Sociedade de Geogriphia de
Lisboa, current numbers, 1895 From the
Society.

Brief account of the Lick Observatory o
the University of California. Prepared by

E. S. Holden, Sacramento, 1895. From the
Department,

Bulletin de la Soci4'^ Imperiale des
Naturalistes de Moscow, Moscow, 1896.
From the Society.

Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative
Zoology at Harvard College, Vol. XXIX.,
No. 1. Reports on the dredging operations
ott" the West Coast of Central America to
the Galapagos, to the West Coast of
Mexico, and in the Gulf of California, in
charge of Alexander Agassiz, carried on by
U.S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross
during 1891. Lieut. Commander Z L.
Tanner, U.S.N. , commanding. XX. The For-
amanifera, by Axel Goes, Cambridge, Mass.
1896. No. 3. The anatomy and histology of
Caudina arenata Gould, by J. H Geroald.
No. 5. The development of the wing scales
and their pigment in butterflies and mothSj
by A. G. Mayer; No 6. Report on the
Turbellaria, collected by the Michigan
iState Fish Commission during the summers
of 1893-94, by W. McM. Wood worth. From
A. Agassiz.

Bulletin de la Societe, Royal de Botanique.
Tome XXXIV. Bruxelles, 1895. From the
Society.

Bulletin of the American Museum of
Natural History. Vol. VIL, 1895. From
the Trustees,

Bulletin of the Chicago Academy of
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F. C. Baker. Thirty-eighth annual report
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Contributions to the Larval History of
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Sacramento, 1886.

Contributions to the Flora of Yucatan.
By C. S. Millspaugh, Curator, Department
of Botany. Vol. I., No. 1, from the Trustees
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Department of the Interior. Bulletin of
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Eldridge, No. 120. The Devonian system of
Eastern Pennsylvania and New York,
Proaser, No. 121. A Bibliography of North

XXVI

American Paloeontolojj;y, 1888-1892, Keyes,
No. 122. R"HiiltHof Primary Trianynlation,
Gannett. From the Department.

Dcparttnout of Agriculture, Victoria.
Systematic arriingenicnt of Auntralian Kuu^i,
together with host of index and list of works
on thj subject. By 1). McAIpino. From
the Department.

Directory of the grapo-f^rowors, wine*
makers, and diHtillern of (California, and of
the priucipal urupi'-growora and wine-
makers of the Kjisteru SCiites. Sacramento,
1891. From the department.

Field Culutnbian Museum, publication 5,
zoological serie;', Vol. 1, No. 1, "On the
structure and development of the vertebral
column of Amia," by O. P. Hay, Ph. D,
Report series Vol. 1, No. 1. Annual report
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Flora of British India. Part XXI,, 1896.
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General index to volumes XXX. to LII.,
of the monthly notices of the Royal
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Geographical Journal (current numbers).
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Geological Magazine, or Monthly Journal
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Myriapods and Arachnids, by S. S. Scudder,
Ottawa, 1895. From the Department.

Geological Notes on the Coolgardie Gold-
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author.

Handbook and Catalogue of the Meteorite
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Vol. I. No. 1, Geological Series. From the
Trustees, Field Columbian Museum.

Ibis, The, a quarterly journal of Ornith-
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Indexes to the jjiboratures of Cerium and
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Index to the Literature of Didymium,
1842-1893, by A. C. Langmuir, Ph.D.
From the Smithsoniun Institution, Iowa
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report 1894, with accompanying papers.
From the TruHtees.

Journal of the Linnean Society of London
Zoology, Vol. XXV., Nos. 162-3, Botany.
Vol. XXXI., Nob. 212 to 217, 18156. List
of the Llnneau Society of London, 1895 6,
From the Society.

Journal of the Royal Society of Anti-
quaries of Ireland. Current numbers.
From the Society.

Journal of the Royal Statistical Society.
Vols. LXVIIL, Part 1, March 1895; Part
4, Dec. 1895. Vols. LIX., Part 1, March
1896; Part 2, June 1896. From the Society.

Journal of the Royal Microscopical
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the Society.

Journal and Proceedings of the Royal
Society of New South Wales. Vol XXIX.,
1895. From the Society.

Kansas University, Quarterly. Vol. IV.,
January 1896, No. 3. From the University.

Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative
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No. 1. The Cyprinodonts, by S. Garman,
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Memoirs of the Royal Astronomical
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Memoirs of the Boston Society of Natural
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2. Notes on the dissection and brain of the
Chimpanzee "Gumbo," by T. Dwight.
From the Society.

Monthly Noticesof the Royal .Astronomical
Society. Current numbers. From the
Society.

Nature, a weekly illustrated journal of
science. Current numbers.

Oaks of Berkeley, and some of their insect
inhabitants. By J. J. Rivers, Sacramento,
1887.

On the densities of Oxygen and Hydrogen,
and on the ratio of their atomic weights,
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Proceedings of the American Philosophical
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1895. From the Society.

I

XXVll

Proceedings of the American Philosophical
ISooiety, held at Philadelphia, for promoting
useful knowledge, Vol, XXXIV., July,

1895, No. 148. •' The Theory of the State,"
by G. H. Smith, of Los Angelos, Ca!. The
crowned essay for which the prize of 500dol.
was awarded on May 17, 1895, fronri the
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the committee of judges appointed by the
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Proceedings of the Californian Academy
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2. From the Academy.

Proceediogs of the Boston Society of
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Proceedings of the Portland Society of
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Proceeding? of the Academy of Natural
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1896. From the Trustees,

Proceedings of the American Academy of
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whole series XXX. From May 1894, to
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Boston, From the Ttusteep.

Proceedings of the Royal Society of
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Proceedings of the General Meetings for
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of London for the year 1895, Parts 1 to 14,
January to December ; 1896, Parts 1 to 2,
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Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy
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Proceeding? of the Linnean Society of
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Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New
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Proceedings and Transactions of the
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Proceedings of the Philosophical Society
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Proceedings of the Royal Society of
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Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society
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Vol. LII., Nos. 205 to 207. Geological
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Records of the Geological Survey of India
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Register of the University of California,
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Royal Geographical Society of Austral-
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Report of the Surgeon-General of the
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Report on the work of the Horn Scientific
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Report of the Viticultural work, during
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Report, First Annual, of the Chief
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Report of the Board of State Horticultural
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Scientific Transactions of the Royal
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basaltic andesite of Glasdrumman Port, Co.
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Calderwood. X. The papillary ridgea on

XXVlll

the hands and feet of monkeys and men, by
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Soci^t^ Royale Malacologique de Belgique,
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Sylloge, Algarum, by Doct. J. B, de
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Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy,
Vol. XXX., part XVIII. Scalar invariants
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Transactions of the Academy of Science
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mineralogy of Missouri, 1895, by H. A.-
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Treatise on wine production and special
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U.S. Department of Agriculture Division
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Society.

I

THE HEALTH OF HOBART.

BY

R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

(Read 28tli May, 1896.)

DuRiNCx the years 1887, 1888, 1889, and 1891, the City of
Hobart, in common with the principal cities of Australia, was
visited by a most severe and extraordinary epidemic wave of
typhoid fever. Although, locally^ the G^eneral death-rate from
all causes, and for all ages, was not materially increased above
the years preceding the epidemic, still the mortality of persons
in the prime of life, especially males between the ages of 20
and 35 years, was unusually large. The alarm caused by this
severe visitation very naturally raised a keen enquiry into the
sanitary condition of the city ; and many intelligent persons,
believing that the epidemic was mainly or solely due to local
causes, and particularly to defective drainage and other
imperfect sanitary provisions, have since made vigorous and
continuous demands for a drastic reform of our sanitary
system. To aid in this praiseworthy endeavour, statistical
comparisons with other Australian cities are by such persons
frequently placed before the people with the object of showing
that, but for our defective system of sanitation, the typhoid
epidemic would not have appeared, or that its intensity, at
least, would have been very much reduced. During the last
three years, fortunately, the city has been free from typhoid in
the epidemic form, and the death-rate from this and all other
preventible causes have never been so low. Whatever may be
the cause or combination of causes which, during the last
three years, have raised the City of Hobart into a healthier
state than that of any other period of its history, and have
constituted it pre-eminently as among the healthiest cities of
the world, it is obvious that local, artificial, or sanitary
provisions have had very little to do with it, for a similar fall
in preventible causes of death, if not so great, is distinctly
traceable throughout Australia and Tasmania, generally during
the same period, as shown in the following table : —

THE HEALTH OF HOBART.

O

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^

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S. 3

Enthusiasts for reform or improvement of our local sanitary
system, unfortunately, like all enthusiasts, are over prone to
exaggeration, and many of them still continue to speak of the
local sanitary condition and health as unexceptionally bad, and
in both respects inferior to other Australian cities. These in-
correct and unguarded statements have produced much alarm
locallv among: the naturallv timid, and have done much harm
to the reputation of the city as a health resort by scaring away
visitors from other Colonies.

The protest from our Premier, Sir Edward Braddon, against
these inaccurate alarmist statements will, it is hoped, help to
repress them, and draw attention to the fact already stated —
viz., that during the last three years the city has never been
in such a healthy condition, and that it now stands pre-
eminently one of the healthiest cities in the world.

HEALTH STATISTICS.

Although it is difficult to account for it, it is not the less
true, that mistrust of statistics is very general. On all hands
one hears the remark " You can prove anything by figures."
'' Figures can be made to lie." But a similar retort can more
justly be made to apply to all worded statements or arguments.
The true an4 sufficient reply to this taunt is, " Without accurate
statistics or measures, you can know, compare, or prove
nothing."

*
It is true that statistics are likely to be misinterpreted or
mishandled by persons who lack the necessary knowledge of
the subject to which they relate, or who lack training in
statistical science. Almost everyone, however, thinks that he
can understand figures, and easily read their true meaning.
But the mere mathematical or arithmetical side of statistics,
paradoxical as it may appear, plays a minor part in the
statistical investigation of any subject. As Longstaff, the
eminent statistician, well observes, " The primary requisite is a
logical mind and a sound logical training ; the second (and not
less important) is a good general knowledge of the subject to
which the figures under consideration relate. Only a chemist
is likely to derive information from a new chemical experiment ;
in like manner the statistician must be now a banker, now a
farmer, now a merchant, now a doctor, according as he is

4 THE HEALTH OF HORAl^T.

miinipulating fiojures relating to currency, crops, tariffs, or
causes of death." Even then, in comparisons between different
countries, he must he in possession of a ^ood up-to-date
library of statistical reference, and be able by experience to
determine readily good from bad authority, and have a wide
knowledge of the best sources of information. The knowledge
and exact sijrnification of the current statistical terms are all
essential ; for not a little confusion and conflicting opinion
arise from misinterpretation of the true significance of terms
in common use among statisticians. As the demonstration and
acceptation of the truth of the statements made by me re-
garding the present healthy condition of Hobart largely
depend upon clearly understanding the difference between a
" Total Death Rate" and a " Health Standard Rate " ; in dis-
cerning and separating preventible causes of death from the
non-preventible ; and in marking the difference, proportion,
and effect which in age and sex determine a General Death
Rate — quite apart from any consideration of health, — it is
necessary at the outset that such preliminary remarks as
have been made should be carefully weighed, and that a few
simple illustrations should be given to enable the uninitiated
to comprehend the difficulties of statistical comparison between
different periods and different places, without which a true
estimate cannot be formed of the comparative healthiness of
diflferent cities. No two cities, or two periods in the same
place exactly, agree in the age or sex combination of their
respective populations ; but, such is the remarkable influence ot
these factors in the actual determination of a general death-
rate that, unless such differences are strictly determined and
allowed for, it is as likely as not that the healthiest period or
the healthier place would be placed erroneously in the worst
position, while the least healthy period or the least healthy city
might appear erroneously in the best.

The following illustration of the disturbing effect of great
disproportion of nutnbers at different ages is taken from the
two divisions of the Registration District of Hobart for the
year 1894 :—

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

Year 1894.

Per cent, proportion of persons living :

0-5 years

5-65 years

65 years and over

Per cent. pro2)ortion of deaths :

0-5 years

5-65 years

65 years and ovsr

Deaths per 1000 persons living at each
age group :

0-5 years

5-65 years

65 years and over

Hobai't
City.

12-83

82-87
4 -.30

Hob art

Subui'bs.

12-92

78-06

9-02

28-87
45-95
25-18

11-27
25-98
62-75

36-79 I 19-59

9-07 7-46

95-70 156-10

Total Death Rate for all ages without
allowing correction for disproportion
in age groups .'.....

f Death Rate for all ages corrected

for age disproportion

«j fl ^ Death Rate for ages under 65

^^ { years corrected for age dis-

L proportion

16-36 I 22-44

17-10 1 16-63

21-79 9-19

Both.

12-85

81-64
5-51

23-23
39-55
37-22

32-38

8-67

120-95

17-91

17-11

11-90

The preceding table affords one of the best illustrations of
the misleading effect of taking the Total Death Rate for All
Ages as a Comparative Health Standard between places or
times when there is any material difference in the proportion
of people living at the principal age groups whose normal
death-rates differ so w^idely. In "The Tasmanian Official
Record, 1892," pp. 208*220 it has been clearly demonstrated
" that the ordinary reference of the proportion of total deaths
to the number of persons living is not iu itself in any sense a
Comparative Health Standard as popularly understood ; and
that all comparative methods which ignore proportional age-
groups living, and make no allowance for the value of
longevity, are utterly misleading in mo>^t cases when un-
guardedly used as comparative standards of health." In a
communication to the Royal Society of Tasmania in the year

6 " THE HEALTH OF H013AHT. "

1887, a simple method was iutrodiiccd by me for correcting
the misleading total death-rate for all ap^es where livings at;e-
groups in ditierent places or times differ in proportion with
each other respectively. This method has the effect of con-
verting the ordinary death-rate into a most effective Com-
parative Health Standard, and has received the commendation
of our leading' authorities in vital statistics, and has since been
widely adopted.

The method referred to divides the ages living into three
principal groups — 0-5, 5-65, 65 and over; and as it has
been ascertained bv reference to the average numbers living- in
different countries that these groups constantly bear the pro-
portion to each other of 3, 18, 1, nearly, these simple
numbers were selected as the best and most convenient for
converting the ordinary misleading death-rate for All Ages into
a most effective and truthful Health Standard.

The method for effecting this correction as used in the pre-
ceding table of comparison was illustrated as follows : —

Let A = Proportion of ages living 0 — 5 years = 3
B = „ „ 5 — 65 „ =18

C = ,, „ 65 and over = 1

R* == Death-rate actually yielded by ages living 0 — 5
R" = „ „ „ 5 — 65

R*= = „ „ „ 65 and over

D = Relative or Comparative Health Standard for
all ages.

A R» + B Rb 4- C R^
Then A-f B + C = ^

By this method the superior health condition of Hobarl
Suburbs is revealed in comparison with the City. Notwith-
standing (owing to the abnormal proportion of ages 65 and
over in the former), the total death-rate of the Suburbs was
22*44 per 1000 living, while the City only showed 16*36 per
1000 living ; the correction for age disproportion having the
effect of reducing the former to 16*63 per 1000 living, and
increasing the latter to 17*10 per 1000 living. The limitation
to deaths under 65 years of age is also most significant in con-
firming the accuracy of the Health Standard as a true measure
of Relative Health.

Ordinary Total Death-rate disregards Longevity.

But the fundamental objection to all unqualified Total
Death-rate indices, when used as Comparative Health

BY K. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S. 7

Standards, is, that a life terminating one hundred years after
birth is reckoned only to be of the same health value as a life
terminating one hour after birth ; and that the death of an
octogenarian caused by *' old age " or " senile decay " — a non-
preventible cause — adds as ranch to the rate as the death of a
child or youth from |3reventible causes, such as smallpox,
diphtheria, or typhoid fever.

It is clear, therefore, before a true comparison can be made
between the health of different places, or between different
periods in any one place, the non-preventible deaths due to
'^old age," or the natural termination of a healthy life, should
be eliminated, and the comparison strictly confined to pre-
ventible causes, or, otherwise, the healthiest place in the world
might seem the worst, and the most unhealthy the best.

In the comparisons between the present and the past of
Hobart and between the death-rates of different cities, this
plan has been carefully carried out in the following tabular
comparisons.

The adoption of this course is all the more necessary when
we come to consider the remarkable longevity of the inhabitants
of Hobart as compared with other places, as indicated in the
following table : —

Proportion of Persons who die of '^Senility" or "Old
Age " in various Cities to Total Deaths from all causes.

Hobart Suburbs .. 1 in every 3 persons who die.

Hobart and Suburbs 1 „ 5 ,,

Hobart, City only 1 „ 7*65 „

Adelaide 1 „ 14 ,,

Average of eight principal

Cities of Scotland 1 „ 31 „

London 1 ,, 35 „

Melbourne 1 „ 39 „

Sydney 1 „ 40 „

As over 20 per cent, of the total death-rate of Hobart is
composed of the numbers of those who die of "old age," it will
be seen how misleading it would be to compare its health with
the other cities named on the basis of the total death-rate from
all causes, including preventible and non-preventible.

Indeed, if there be anything to fear in our Death-rate
statistics, it is, that anyone who comes to reside in this City
has the chance of 1 in 5 that he will prolong his life to extreme
old age.

8

THE HEALTH OF HOBART.

PAST AND PRESENT HEALTH OF HOBART
COMPARED.

The following table contrasts the proportions of deaths from
preventible causes under the great classes of Disease for the
years 1894-5 with the average proportion I'rom corresponding
causes in the preceding ten years, and also with the abnormal
epidemic year 1887.

Deaths per 100,000 persons living.

Average of

Epidemic
Year
1887.

Years 1894-0,

above + or

below — .

Years
1894-5.

10 Years
1884-93.

Average
Decade,
1884-93.

1887.

Zymotic Diseases

170

266

416

— 96

— 246

All other Preventible causes —
Parasitic Diseases

5

6

249

37

657

70

87

8

22

275

48
852

74
197

16

46
282

62
767

98
216

— 3-11

Dietic Diseases

— 16

— 26

— 11

— 195

— 4

— 40

Constitutional Diseases

Developmental Diseases ...
Local Diseases

— 33

— 25
— 110

Violence

_ 28

Ill-defined Diseases

_ 110!— 109

Total other Preventible
Diseases

1111

1476

1587

— 365

— 476

All Preventible Diseases.

1261

1742

1903

— 461

— 622

The rate of 12*81 per 1000 persons livinoj is a remarkably
low death-rate for any city in respect of all preventible causes
of death. It is lower than the average of the preceding ten
years by 33 per cent., and lower than that of the epidemic
year by 33 per cent.

Confining our attention to Zymotic diseases alone, which
include nearly all the principal infectious and contagious
diseases, and therefore coming well within the scope of
sanitary concerns, we find that the death-rate — 1 '70 per 1000 —
from ail such forms of disease during years 1894-5 was 37
per cent, below the average of the preceding ten years, and as
much as 59 per cent, below the epidemic year 1887.

There can be no doubt, therefore, that Hobart has been in a
most healthy condition during the last two or three years, and
compares most favourably with any former period in hei'
historv.

fiY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

9

The following table shows

more particularly the principal
specific causes of death from preventible diseases for the same
periods, shown in the order of their importance : —

Deaths per 100,000 persons living.

From

Non-preventible cause —
Senile Decay, " Old Age".

Preventible causes —

Heart Diseases, various ..

Phthisis

Atrophy and Debihty

Cancer

Diarrhoea and Dysentery..

Pneumonia

Typhoid, &c

Bronchitis

Apoplexy

Convulsions

Premature Birth

Drowning

Diphtheria

Fractures, Contusions

Dentition ,

Paralysis

All others

Average of

Years

1894-5.

326

All Preventible Diseases

130
129
80
61
53
52
50
48
33
29
27
27
21
15
11
3
512

Ten
Years
1884-93.

462

1281

163
147
179

77
102
79
81
88
62
65
42
20
26
16
17
33
554

Epidemic
Year
1887.

538

Years 1894-5,

above -j- or

below — .

Mean of

Ten
Years

1884-93.

— 136

1742

193
171

193
75

170
82

200
36
59
69
53
23
26
23
26
26

478

1903

— 33

— 18

— 99

— 16

— 49

— 27

— 31

— 40

— 29

— 36

— 15
+ 7

— 5

— 1

— 6

— 30

— 42

Epidemic
Year

1887.

212

461

— 63

— 42

— 113

— 14

— 117

— 30

— 150

+ 12

— 26

— 40

— 26
+ 4

— 5

— 8

— 15

— 23
+ 34

— 622

From the preceding table it is seen that the decline in the
death-rate from all preventible causes in the last two years is
traceable in every one of the principal specilic causes of death,
with the exception of a slight increase in deaths fi'om Drowning,
Bronchitis, and all other minor specific causes relative to 1887.
The most marked fall is to be found under Atrophy and
Debility, Diarrhcea and Dysentery, Typhoid, Pneumonia,
and Convulsions. The ligures, as a whole, are eminently
satisfactory, and confirm the statement already made, that
Hobart during the hist two and even three years has never
been in a healthier condition. That it compares also most
favourably among the healthiest cities of the world will be
demonstrated in the tables and facts which follow.

10

The health of hobart.

HOBART COMPARED WITH OTHER ToWNS AND ClTIES.

The following table compares the death-rate from preventible
diseases in Hobart with corresponding death-rate in other
cities of Australia and Great Britain : —

Deaths from Preventible Causes only in various

Cities and Towns.

( Death-rate per \0^0 persons living.)

Hobart

Hobart, mean

Sydney, mean ...
Melbourne, mean

Adelaide'

Hobart, mean

Coatbridge

Aberdeen

Sydney, mean

Leith

Edinburgh

Melbourne, mean

Average of 100 English towns,

mean

Govan and Partick

London ,

Greenock

Paisley

Perth (Scotland)

Adelaide, mean

Dundee

Glasgow

Kilmarnock

Period.

1895
1894-5
1894-5
1894-5
1894-5
1884-93

1893

1893
1884-93

1893

1893
1884-93

1884-93

1893

1893

1893

1893

1893
1891-93

1893

1893

1893

All Pre-
ventible
Causes.

Zymotic
Diseases.

11

84

12

26

13

22

15

28

15

70

17

42

17

52

17

57

17

92

18

72

19

25

19

30

19

40

20

09

20

20

20

33

20

48

20

99

21

50

21

69

22

63

23

67

1-70

3-53
2-07
3-06

3-48
2-85
2-26

•11
•71
•47
•77
•65
•65
•50
•49
•22

The figures for eliminating "old age," and so confining
comparisons to Preventible Causes only, are not available in
respect of many other cities and towns of Great Britain and
Australia with which Hobart compares most favourably.
Among the 117 cities and towns where this elimination was
rendered possible, Hobart, by a long lead, takes the first
position as a city of health. Sydney takes the second. The
worst in order being the town of Kilmarnock, in Scotland.

The superiority of Hobart and Sydney as healthy cities is
further confirmed by a comparison of the principal specific
causes, as in the following table, whose figures, as in other
tables, are taken directly from the Blue Books of the several
Registrars-General. The figures for Great Britain and
Australia refer to the year 1893; those for Hobart to the
mean of the two years 1894-5.

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S.

11

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12

THE HEALTH OF IlnBAHT.

INFANTILE MORTALITY.

There is another very sensitive index to the comparative
health of different times and places, viz., deaths under one
year compared in proportion with births. The following table
shows the infantile mortality in the principal towns and cities
of Great Britain and Australia, based, when not otherwise
stated, on the average of the years 1877 to 1886: —

Infantile Mortality in Towns of Great Britain and
Australasia.

(Deaths under 1 year to 1000 Births.)

Preston 218

Dundee (1893) 218

Leicester 201

Blackburn 187

Liverpool 183

Salford 178

Bolton 177

Nottingham 175

Manchester 174

Brisbane (1883 to 1887) ... 174

Norwich 173

Adelaide (1884 to 1887 ... 172

Leeds 172

Cardiff 169

Huddersfield 169

Oldham 169

Melbourne (1878 to 1888). 169

Sydney (1878 to 1888) ... 168

Birmingham 164

London (1893) 164

Sheffield 163

Bradford 162

Hull 161

Here, again, the favourable
contrasted with 65 principal

Twenty-eight English

Towns 161

Newcastle 160

Wolverhampton 159

Halifax 159

Sunderland 157

Plymouth 157

Kilmarnock (1893) 157

Govan (1893) 157

Leith (1893) , 156

Brighton 148

Edinburgh (1893) 148

Glasgow (1893) 146

Bristol 145

Derby 143

Paisley (1893) 142

Wellington (1883 to 1887). 142

Portsniouth 138

Birkenhead 137

Perth (1893) 135

Greenock (1893) 134

Aberdeen (1893) 125

S (1895) 125

■^1894) 108

position taken by Hobart as

towns in Great Britain and

Hobart

Australasia is shown in that its infantile mortality is by far the
lowest of all, as in all deaths from every preventible cause.

CONCLUSION.

Particular climates and latitudes favour the development of
certain diseases, to which they are in some cases peculiarly
restricted ; and in widely distributed diseases, such as the
Zymotic, particular climates and latitudes, independently of
sanitary conditions, have a direct influence in favouring or

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S. 13

lowering the intensity of any attack. Of course altitude and
other local circumstances may powerfully counteract the
c:eneral influences in some places ; but, nevertheless, speakinis:
in a broad way, it is apparent that the attacks of Typhoid
diminish in intensity in cither hemisphere in passini»' from the
equatorial to polar latitudes ; and just the reverse of this
happens in other diseases, such as Bronchitis.

Therefore, the hygiene or healthiness as a whole of any one
locality cannot be properly estimated in contrast with any
other by a restricted reference to the intensity or otherwise of
any one particular form of disease. In making contrasts of
this kind between place and place, conclusions based npon any
single form of disease would to a certainty be very misleading
and unsatisfactory : the general effect of all forms of preven-
tible diseases is alone satisfactory and conclusive.

In the three preceding tabular comparisons, which con-
clusively establish the fact that the present health condition of
Hobart has never been so good, and that it is preeminently one
of the most healthy cities in the world, every care has been
taken to make a particular and thorough contrast of all the
principal causes of preventible disease, and the results shown
are so obvious that even the most ignorant or the most sceptical
who gives the matter any attention cannot fail to be convinced
by them ; and that figures logically, carefully, and consistently
arrayed are most eloquent agents in support of truth, are not
in any way affected by the vulgar platitude that " figures may
be made to prove anything." But even figures cannot make
the false appear true unless they are mishandled.

In this connection a curious ethical consideration presents
itself. Why is it that people who are specially noted for the
readiness with whicli they accept palpably crude and foolish
statements and opinions, without the slightest effort exerted to
test their truth, should also be the people who are most ready
to express the greatest mistrust of figures, and to strain at or
resist carefully reasoned conclusions if distasteful, even though
supported by the very best authority ? I do not, however,
anticipate that it can possibly be distasteful to anyone to
accept the conclusions regarding the healthful condition of
Hobart established in the preceding statements and tabular
comparisons.

The inhabitants of this beautiful city, instead of using un-
reasoning expressions of discontent with their present local
condition, should indeed be grateful to God that there are few,
if any, cities of the world that enjoy such highly favourable
health conditions, and so genial a climate. Those who praise-
worthily endeavour to increase and maintain the good health of

14

THE HEALTH OF HOBART.

the city by care and improvement of all sanitary provisions,
should not mar their good work by giving any encouragement
to unwarranted alarmist statements regarding the general good
fame and health of the city we live in, and which, at the
present time, is the most healthy of any city known to me.

Death Rate per 100,000 persons under each of the great
divisions of diseases in four Metropolitan Cities during 1894.

Melbourne.

Sydney.

Adelaide.

Hobart.

I. Specific Febrile or

Zymotic Diseases

II. Parasitic Diseases

IXI Dietic Diseases

162

.5

19

328

111

782

81

07

232

5

14

236

106

653

74

92

218

3

20

383

150

683

45

90

189ft.

180

14

3

281

382

751

90

90

1895.

182
6
8

IV. Constitutional Diseases..

V. Developmental Diseases.

VI. Local Diseases

248
336
661

VII Violence

72

VIII. Ill-defined, &c

90

All Causes

1555

48

1412
45

1592
123

1791
346

1608

Less "Old Age"

306

All Preventible Causes ..

1507

1367

1469

1445

1297

Deaths under 1 Year per 1000 Births, 1894.

MELBOURNE. SYDNEY. ADELAIDE.

122 133 119

Percbntaqe of Deaths from "Old Age" to All Deaths, 1894.

MELBOURNE. SYDNEY. ADELAIDE. HOBART.

3-06 319 7-70 19-32 19-09*

Actual Number.
210 190 49 123 111*

Per 100,000 mean Population.
47-5 45-0 122-6 346 306*

* Year 1895.

Deaths of Persons 65 Years and over.

MELBOURNE.

1894.
• 1359

19-78

808

237

Actual Number.
SYDNEY. ADELAIDE.

1894. 189ft.

731 160

Per cent, to Total Deaths.
11-27 20-56 37-21

Per 100,000 mean Population.
17^ 400 666

HOBART.
189ft. 1895.

189

82-48

521

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S,

15

HOBART AND SUBURBS.

Population, Deaths, and Death-rate, under Principal
Specific Causes, for the Year 1895.

Estimated Mean Population —

u-5 j'ears

5-G5 years

65 and over

All Ages

Deaths—

0-5 years

5-65 year3

65 and over

/'Preventible

Total < Noii-Preventible . .

(Both

Death-rate per 1000 persons
living—

0-5 years

5-65 years

Under 65 years

65 and over

Ditto, Preventible only . . .

AH Ages I 2jon-preventlble . . . .

Total ,

Health Standard —
Deaths from all preventible
causes, corrected for age dis-
proportion

Deaths from all causes, corrected
for age disproportion

Principal Specific Causes—
Non-preventible Causes-
Old Age

Preventible Causes-
Heart Disease, various

Phthisis

Atrophy and Debility

Pneumonia

Typhoid

Diarrhoea and Dysentery ....

Cancer

Bronchitis.,,..

Apoplexy

Premature Birth

Drov/ning

Convulsions ,

Diphtheria

Fractures

Dentition

Paralysis. , , . . .

All Preventible Causes

Actual.

City.*

3467

22.390

1161

27,018

123

1.51
82

356

Suburbs

35

24
27
21
18
14
21
17
9

331

1199

7246

837

9282

29

56

100

109
76

185

109

Both.*

4666

29,636

1998

36,300

152
207

182

430
111

541

111

38

36

30

25

20

24

19

10

10

9

5

7

6

4

4

3

Ptelative.

Citv.

12-83

82-87
4-30

100-00

34-55
42-42
23-03

90-17
9-83

100-00

35-48
6-74

10-60

70-63
48-23

11-88
1-30

13-18

12-54
13-56

Suburbs

12-92

78-06

9-02

100-00

15-68
30-27
54-05

58-93
41-07

100-00

24-19
7-73

10-07

119-47

26-29

11-74
8-19

19-93

10-81
15-05

Both.

12-85

81-64

5-51

100-00

28-09
38-27
33-64

79-48

20-52

100 -00

32-58
6-99

10-47

91-10
39-03

11-84
3-06

14-90

11-94
14-30

Per 100,000 persons
living.

130

89
100
78
67
68
78
63
33
30
26

18

18

7

15

430

1188

819

151
97
97
75
65
32
22
11
22
22
54
22
11
22

32

1174

306

105
99
83
69
55
66
52
27
27
26
14
19
16
11
11
8

1184

• Hospital Dgatljs, &c. referred to the District in which the cause of death originated.

16 THE HEALTH OF HOBABT.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. Mault (Eno'ineerinnj Inspector of the Central Board
of Health), in openiiip^ the discussion, said that Mr. Johnston
in his very able paper liad so conjpletely proved that Hobart
was one of the healthiest cities in the world, and that the
only true method of usefully comparing the health conditions
of towns was, not by considering their respective " Total
Death Rates," but by regarding their '' Health Standard
Rates," as to leave the main purpose of the paper beyond
discussion. But, while fully agreeing with this main purpose,
there were several portions of the paper he could not agi-ee
with. For instance, Mr. Johnston in his opening sentences,
after referring to the very low death-rates from preventible
diseases during the last three years in Hobart, says : —
"Whatever may be the cause or combination of causes which,
during the last three years, have raised the City of Hobart
into a healthier state' than that of any other period of its
history, and have constituted it pre-eminently as among the
healthiest cities of the world, it is obvious that local, artificial,
or sanitary provisions have had very little to do with it, for a
similar fall in preventible causes of death, if not so great,
is distinctly traceable throughout Australia and Tasmania
generally during the same period, as shown in " — a table which
he gives. That was a very astonishing statement, especially
as the table that is said to ])rove it proves nothing of the kind,
but only shows that there has been going on for some time a
coincident diminution of death-rates in the various AustraUan
Colonies. The cause of this coincidence was surely not far to
seek, especially as the cause of a similar diminution in the
home countries was well known to be better sanitary adminis-
tration.

From the passing of the Registration Act of 1838 in
England till the year 1875, in which the present Public Health
Act was passed, *the rate of mortality, though varying greatly
from year to year — the differences being sometimes more than
4 to the 1000 — continued to average for the whole period
22-55 to the thousand living. But on the passing of the Act
improved sanitation began immediately to tell on the death
rate : for the first five years, that is 1875-1879, the mean rate
was 21-2 to the 1000 ; for the next five years it was reduced to
19*6 to the 1000 ; and during the next five years it was fiirther
reduced to 18-6 to the 1000. And the rate was not only
lowered, but it was steadied. Once, three years after the passing
of the Act, the rate rose about 0*6 to the 1000, but since then
it has never risen more than 0'4 to the 1000. With regard to
the reduction effected, it is a remarkable fact that the jnaximuni

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S. 17

death-rate since the year 1880 has never attained the height of
tl)e minimum death-rate of all antecedent time in England.

Now, to compare English and Australian experience by the
aid of the information given in Mr. Johnston's table. The
table as it stands is not satisfactorily arranged, as it compares
the experience of ten years with that of two. But, if divided,
as has been done with the English tables, into three equal
periods, a fair comparison can be made, especially as Mr.
Johnston's table begins at about the period of the passing
of most of the Australian Health Acts. The effect of the
passing of these Acts is thus shown in the death-rates of the
chief cities of the Colonies in the order given by Mr.
Johnston —

Death-rates in the periods
1884-1887. 1888-1891. 1892-1895.

Hobart 23-65 21-14 18-27

Sydney 2M5 17-35 14-11

Melbourne 20-59 20-64 16-14

Adelaide 25-12 22-93 19-99

— the rates beino; to the thousand livino:. To attribute this
diminution to anything but the coinciding adminstration of the
Health Acts in all the colonies shows an ignorance of the scope
of these Acts and of t^e manner in which they are carried out,
especially in connexion with infectious diseases, which are the
most amenable to adminstrative action, and are the chief causes
of periodical variations in death-rates. Every such disease
has to be notified to the Central Board, and immediately upon
such notification the local sanitary authority has to inspect
the premises where tlie case has occurred, and report thp
measures that have been taken to remove the cause and prevent
the spread of the disease. These measures alone have had a
great effect upon the death-rate ; but apart from them, the
routine work of the Inspectors of the local boards, especially
in the larger towns, has also had the result of preventing much
disease. And still further, in some of the colonies, in addition
to the general provisions of the Health Acts with respect to
milk and food, special legislation provides for dairy and
slaughter-house inspection. How all these sufficient causes for
the amelioration of life conditions in these colonies — paralleled
as they are by the action of similar causes elsewhere — can be
overlooked or set aside, and their results attributed to such
cosmic influences as periodicities in the revolution of Jupiter
or of the prevalence of sun-spots, passes comprehension.

That some cosmic influences affect the irregular ebb and flow
of mortalitv rates is not denied. A diagram of the mortal it v

18 THE HEALTH OF HOBART.

in England from 1848 to the present time shows a very
irregular but very marked tidal action ; but it also shows —
and this is the most imj)ortant fact it does show — that up till
1875 there was no controlling influence over this tidal action,
but that since that date an influence, growing more and more
potent as sanitary administration grows more and more efficient,
is so controlling the tide as to now almost obliterate all traces
of periodical rise and fall.

If, instead of taking the general death-rate, the death-rate of
one of the infectious diseases that are the most amenable to sani-
tary eftbrt be taken, this controlling influence is yet more clearly
seen. Take typhoid fever, for instance. In Mr. Johnston's table
of deaths from the principal specific causes the line for typhoid
fever deaths is singularly treated. For the British towns the
deaths from this fever are recorded for one year ; for Hobart
the mean rate for the last two years is given ; for Sydney and
Melliourne the mean of 17 years is taken ; and the rate for
Adelaide is not given at all. With such divergence of data no
real comparison can be made. But if the rate for the three
Australian towns for 1894 be taken, the real condition of the
towns mentioned will be, for each 100,000 people : —

London 17

Average of principal Scotch towns 25

Sydney ? 29

Adelaide 35

Hobart 50

Mr. Johnston says : — " In making contrasts of this kind
between place and place, conclusions based upon any single
form of disease would to a certainty be very misleading and
unsatisfactory : the general effect of all forms of preveniible
diseases is alone satisfactory and conclusive." This may be
true from a statistician's point of view when regarding general
healthiness or unhealthiness, but from a sanitarian point of
view the real value of statistics is to point out where and how
sanitary work is most needed and can best be done. As
already mentioned, typhoid is one of the diseases most
amenable to the influence of sanitary work, especially drainage,
and the figures just given point out that Hobart, though a very
healthy place, may be made yet more healthy by the prevention
of typhoid. Before the passing of the Health Act in England
the average death-rate from typhoid fever was 89 in 100,000,
as compared with 21 now. At Sydney it was 102 in 1885,
and is 29 now. At Adelaide there has been a corresponding
reduction. Why should not similar work be done here ?

There is a point in connection with the healthiness of Hobart
that should be more widely known — its comparative freedon^

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S. 19

from consumption. This is probably due to the unusual
dryness of the air as shown by tlie great divergence between
the readings of dry and wet bulb thermometei's. This is not
one of the least of the claims of Hobart to be the sanitoriuni
of Australasia.

In conclusion, all experience shows that whatever cosmic
influences may be at work, the healthiness or unhealthiness of
a place depends greatly on human work. It may be still
impossible to " bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose
the bands of Oriou," but it is possible to safeguard the purity
of our air and the healthiness of our city, and take away the
reproach of our past negligence.

Major-General Tottenham said it seemed to him that
there was one other matter which required consideration as a
factor in the judgment of healthiness of a place or district,
whether as to natural or artificial conditions. He disclaimed
any desire to decry or fix the stigma of unhealthiness on
Hobart. He came to Hobart 11 years ago hardly able to
walk half a mile at a snail's pace, and his tolerably known
capacit}^ in locomotion now needed no statistics to attribute to
the healthful air of Tasmania. It was a deep debt of grati-
tude which had impelled him to advocate so strenuously and
persistently improved sanitation in Hobart, in order that the
health of the city — the healthiest he had ever seen in the
world, and he Iiad seen a good many — should be rendered
still healthier. (Applause.) What he complained of was the
existence in past years of preventible disease unwarranted by
the exceptional advantages of the site, and due, in his opinion,
and not in his alone, to municipal neglect of sanitary laws.
(Warm applause.) Mr. Johnston had }daced before them a
series of tabular statements, the burden of each being a death
rate. Those tables showed undoubted statistical acumen and
patient research. The *' mortality of disease " was well set
forth, but he (Major- General Tottenham) had searched in vain
for the *' prevalence of disease," as indicated by the number
of cases of preventible disease occurring in each city reviewed.
The exclusion of only ^'old age and senile decay" from
preventible causes classified all other deaths amongst the
possible. That, unintentionally no doubt, gave a false view as
regarded " sanitary state " for diseases were due to public as
well as private responsibility or neglect of such. The ordinaiy
acceptation of the term '■' preventible disease" was disease by
governmental or municipal decree, so to speak. There should
be no municipal or government neglect in this respect.
(Applause.) The mere death-rate of a place could not be

20 THE HEALTH OF HOBART.

repfarded as a fully trustwortliy test of its liealtlifiilness. All
the i'vver oases in Ho])art Avere not notified, and the speaker
p^ave statistics to support liis contention. As Mr. Johnston
had indicated, without accurate statistics they couhl not know,
prove, or compare anything. As a soldier he could not ufFord
to "enthuse" over statistics the bases of which were, to say
the least, of uncertain origin. (Applause.)

Mr. W. F. Ward (Government Analyst) considered that
Mr. Johnston's paper could not fail to convince anyone who
Avould take the trouble to read it carefully, that excluding the
deaths of old people, which formed such a large proportion of
the deaths, and the old must die, Hobart death-rate was lower
than that of other Australasian cities. But even this was not
sufficient to attract the attention of visitors, and so he sug-
gested that the monthly statements might either be so modified
as to emphasise every time the high rate from old age alone
occurred, or that the vital statistics be published at longer
intervals, with full details. The question, however, was not,
he thought, so much one of figures as of the general health
reputation of the place, and in this we had suffered somewhat,
owing, iu the first place, to a few conspicuous cases of diph-
theria last summer, and in the second, to perhaps a greater
degree, to a statement repeated again and again that the town
smelt to quite an unusual extent ; that bad odours were, in
fact, "frequent and painful and free," the cause being the want
of rain to wash the town. Now, the ordinary passer-by did
not stop to investigate, but classed everything which offended
his 01' her nostrils comprehensively as '* drains," declaimed
a(;cordingly, and anticipated germs, although it might be no
more than the powerful but harmless water in which a cabbage
had been boiled. (Laughter and applause.) Yet the good
name of the city suffered. (Hear, hear.) There was no
necessary connection between bad smells and infectious diseases.
Human beings could often, for long periods, eat, drink, and
breathe more or less filth, and be apparently not much the
worse until the specific germs are somehow introduced wdiich
then increase, multiply, and spead in the congenial soil, so that
typhoid and diphtheria were known as "filth diseases." It
followed, therefore, that though offensive odours might in some
cases be practically harmless, yet there was no reason wdiy
they should be tolerated if they could by any possibility be got
rid of, and if enthusiasts had occasionally exaggerated their
effects as well as the death-rate, yet enthusiasm carried most
reforms, and had in this case great, if not full, justification.
(Applause.)

BY R. M. JOHNSTON, F.L.S. 21

Mr. Johnston, in replying on the discussion, said he was
glad that the main object of his paper had been accomplished.
It was his endeavour to show the distinction between the
sanitation of a place and its healthfulness ; that it did not
necessarily follow that while the sanitary conditions were not
as complete as they might be, rherefbre its health was bad, for
during a time being a city might be in a bad state of health,
and yet have the best system of sanitation in the world. It
seemed to be conceded on all sides that Hobart in the last two
or three years had been in a most satisfactory condition as
regards its health, but there were differences of opinion as to
the causes. He had studied the subject for many years, and
still believed that whilst sanitation was valuable in reducins:
certain diseases, such as typhoid, the great causes of such
diseases were still beyond man's control. The percentages
had fallen low in some years before any Health Acts were
passed, although he admitted that in England typhoid fever
cases had of late years been greatly reduced. Too little credit
seemed to be given to the increased knowledge of medical
men in the treatment of such diseases, and the improved habits
of the people. He agreed with Mr. Mault that sanitary
agencies were powerful influences in reducing the number of
fever cases, but they were not the only ones, and they did not
produce such good results as one should like to see. As to
what Major-General Tottenham had said about the returns
supplied to and used by statisticians not being reliable, the
objection cut the ground from the objector's own feet, as he
had quoted such statistics himself. (Laughter.) He would,
however, be sorry if the effect of his paper would be that
decreased attention M'ould be given in Hobart or anywhere
else to the importance of sanitation. (Applause.)

DEA TH RATE PERIODICITY or VARIOUS COUNTRIES COMPARED

YEAR 1840 1 8 SO 1 8 CO 1870 1880 1830

s

^

V

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^

V

;i=^

^^f

^

'^^^

^'y

>;i ^

^

^

^

^

^

^

^

k

<

K

III

^ V^

/Ifiirrt ^'>l

■ \

/'•A,- /

'/. tCSOfS

Li

vt'ir.

J

1

i
1

/«r

^>

i,f

l:

,*

^V/-

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Iff,

f-^41

w /

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23

A CLASSIFIED LIST OF THE MINERAL SPECIES

■^1

23

A CLASSIFIED LIST OF THE MINERAL SPECIES
KNOWN TO OCCUR IN TASMANIA.

(By W. F. Petterd.)

SYNOPSIS,

I. Native Elements.

II. Sulphides, Tellurides, Selenides, Arsenides, Anti-

MONIDES, BiSMUTHIDES.

III. Compounds of Chlorine, Bromine, Iodine.

IV. Fluorine Compounds.

V. Oxygen Compounds.

/. Oxides, or Binary Oxygen Compounds.

Oxides of Elements of Gold Iron, and Tin Groups
i. Oxides of Elements of Arsenic and Sulphur Groups,
ii. Oxides of Elements of Carbon-Silicon Group.

//. Ternary Oxvgen Compounds.

1. Silicates.

A. Anhydrous Silicates,
i. Bisilicates.
ii. Unisilicates.
iii. Subsilicates.

B. Hydrous SiHcates.
i. General Hydrous Silicates,
ii. Zeolites,
iii. Margarophyllite Section.

2. Tantalates, Columbates.

3. Phosphates, Arsenates, Antimonates, Nitrates.

A. Phosphates, Arsenates, Antimonates.
i. Anhydrous,
ii. Hydrous.

B. Nitrates.

4. Borates.

5. Tungstates, Molybdates, Vanadates.

6. Sulphates, Chromates, Tellurates.
i. Anhydrous.
ii. Hydrous.

7. Carbonates,
i. Anhydrous,
ii. Hydrous.

8. Oxalates.

24

\'I. Hydrocarbon Compounds.

Native Elements.

Antimony

Graphite

Osmiridium

Arsenic

Gold

Platinum (?)

Bismuth

Iron

Silver

Copper

Lead

Sulphur

Diamond

Mercury (?)

II. Sulphides, Arsenides.

(Tell-urides, Selenides, Antimonides, and Bismuthides are not

known to occur.)

Argentite

Bournonite

Bismuthenite

Berthierite

Boulangerite

Bormte

Chalcopyrite

Cinnabar (?)

Covellite

Chalcocite

Dufrenosite

Sulphides,

Greenockite

Galenite

Heazlewoodite

Huascolite

Jamiesonite

Marcasite

Molybdite

Maratite

Millerite

Plagionite

Przibramite

Pentlandite

Pyrites

Pyrrhotite

Stromeyerite

Stannite

Sternbergite

Sphalerite

Stephanite

Stibnite

Tetrahedrite

Tennantite

Sulph'A rsenides,

Arsenopyrite
Cobaltine
Glancodi-te
Proustite

Arsenides.

Leucopyrite

Niccolite

Smaltine

III. Compounds of Chlorine, Bromide, and Iodine.

Atacamite
Cerargyrite

Embolite
Halite

lodyrite
Matlockite

IV. Fluorine Compounds.
Chlorophane Fluorite Yttro-cerite

25

V. Oxygen Compounds.

/. Oxides, or Binary Oxygen Compounds.

Oxides of Elements of Gold, Iron, and Tin Groups.

Chromite iMinium

Diaspore

Asbolite
Anatase
Beauxite (?)
Brookite
Brucite
Cuprite
Corundum
vars.

Sapphire

Franklinite

Goethite

Hematite

IJmonite

Massicot

Magnetite

Melaconite

Pyrolusite

Psilomelane

Pleonaste (spinel)

Periclasite

Rutile

Stilphnosiderite

Wad

Zincite

Oriental Topaz Menaccanite

ii. Oxides of Elements of Arsenic and Sulphur Group.

Arsenolite Kermesite Valentinite

Bismite Molybdine Wolframine

Cervantite Senermontite

iii. Oxides of Elements of Carbon -Silican Group.
Quartz.

A. Vitreous vars

Rock crystal
Smoky.

B. Crypto-crystalline vars.

Basanite, Chalcedony, Cornelian, Prase, Sinter,
Chert, Jasper, and others.

C. Other vars.

Common Opal, Resin, Wood and Semi-opal, Hydro-
phane, Cacholong, Menilite, Hyalite, Geyserite,
and Infusorial Earth.

Arfvedsonite

Actinolite

Augite

Asbestos

Beryl

//. Ternary Oxygen Compounds.

1. Silicates.

A. Anhydrous Silicates.

i. Bisilicates.

Enstatite
Hypersthene

Hornblende
Hidenbergite

Pyroxene
Schiller-spar
Tremolite
Wollastonite

26

ii. Unisilicates.

Adularia
Axinite
Anorthite
Biotite

Chrysolite (Olivine)
Epidcte
Eulytine
Garnet
vars.

Almandite

Grossularite

Aplome
Idocrase
Ilvarite

Andalusite

Collyrite

Euclase

iii. Subsilicates.

Kyanite
Pycnite

Sillimanite (?)

lolite

Lepidomelane

Labradorite

Lithomarge

Lepidolite

Muscovite

Orthoclase

Obsidian

Oligoclase

Porcellanite

Pitchstone

Smithsonite

Zircon

Titanite (Sphene)

Tourmaline

Topaz

B. Hydrous Silicates,
i. General Section of Hydrous Silicates,
Allophane Chrysocolla

ii. Zeolite Section.

Chabazite Natrolite

Laumontite Phillipsite

Mesolite Phacolite

iii. Margarophyllite Section.

Scolescite

Stilbite

Thompsonite

Chlorite

Cimolite

Fahlunite

Geothite

Halloysite

Kaolinite

Kammererite

Miloschite

Noutronite

Chrome-ochre

Pholerite

Pyrophyllite

Pimelite

Rhodochrome

Serpentine
vars.

Chrysotite

Marmolite

Picrolite

Picrosmine

Retinalite

Steatite

Sericite

Talc

2. Tantalates and Columbates.
Fergusonite.

3. Phosphates, Arsenates, Antimanates, and Nitrates.

A. Phosphates, Arsenate*, Antimonates.

i. Anhydrous.

Alipite

Apatite

Mimetite

Monazite

Pharmacosiderite

Pyramorphite

ii. Hydrous.

Plumbogummite
Scorodite

Annatergite
Bindheimite
Evan site

Erythrite

Pitticite

Vivianite

B. Nitrates.
(Not known to occur.)

Wavellite
Leucochalcite (?)

4. Borates.
(Not known to occur.)

5. Tungstates, Molybdates, and Vanadates.
Scheelite Wolframite

Vanadanite

Wulfenite

6. Sulphates, Chromates, and Tellurates.

Anglesite

Barite

Crocoisite

i. Anhydrous.

Glauberite
Leadhillite
Melanochroite

Susannite
Vauquelinite

Alumogen

Copiapite

Epsomite

ii. Hydrous.

Goslerite Melanterite

Gypsum (Selenite) Morenosite
Halotrichite

28

7. Carbonates.

i. Anhydrous.

Ankerite

Arragonite

Cromfordite

Calcite

Calamine

Cerussite

Dolomite

Magnesite

Plumbicalcite

Pennite

ii. Hydrous.

Rhodochrosite
Siderite
Spherosiderite
Strontianite

Azurite

Bismutite

Cyanosite

Dundasite
Hydromagnesite

8. Oxalates.
(Not known to occur.)

Malachite
Zaratite

VI.

Hydrocarbon Compounds.

Asphaltum

Coal

Lignite

Copalite

Pelionite

Retinite

Shale
Tasmanite

> ♦ ♦

•29

DESCRIPTION OF A SMALL COLLECTION
OF TASMANIAN SILURIAN FOSSILS PRE-
SENTED TO THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM
BY MR. A. MONTGOMERY, M.A., GOVERN-
MENT GEOLOGIST, TASMANIA,

BY

R. ETHERIDGE, JUN«,

Curator^ Australian Museum^ Sydney.
Plate.

(Reprinted from the Secretary for Mines' Report.)

1.— INTRODUCTION.

80:*.:^ time ago, Mr. A. Montgomery, M.A., Govern-
ment Geologist of Tasmania, presented to the Australian
Museum a small collection of Silurian fossils from Zeehan
and Heazlewood.

As so little is at present known of the organic remains
occurring in the sedimentary rocks of these important
mineral fields, a few notes on their affinities may not be
out of place, notwithstanding the very poor state of pre-
servation of the fossils. However, any facts that may be
evolved from their elaboration will perhaps be of use to
future investigators who may have the good fortune to
take up the subject hereafter.

'^Fhe occurrence of organic remains at the above localities
does not appear to have come under the notice of Mr. R.
M. Johnston at the time he wrote his valuable work,
" The Systematic Account of the Geology of Tasmania;"^
perhaps even they had not been discovered, and all that
I know on the subject is gleaned from the official Reports
of Messrs. Thureau and Montgomery.

• Quarto, Hobart, 1888, (By Authority.)

30

2.— GEOLOGY.

Mr. G. Thurean informs us^ tliat tlie rocks eontaininj^
the silver-lead ores at Zeehan belong to the Sikiriaii series,
and consist of very murli contorted dark blue shales and
grey sandstones. The fossils he noticed were " Trilobites,
Polyzoa, Corallites, Crinoids, and Brachiopoda." Of the
Zeehan deposits, Mr. Montgomery says" the country rock
consists of Silurian grits, sandstones, and slates, in many
places ranch bent, contorted, and twisted. The central
portion of the Heazlewood District, he remarks,^ is com-
posed of Silurian sandstones and limestones, &;c.

Mount Zeehan is situated in the County of Montagu, on
the west coast of Tasmania, to the east of Trial Bay, some
distance north of Macquarie Harbour, and between the
Badger Kiver and the coast. Heazlewood is still further
north, north-east of the town of Corinna, m County of
Bussell, as shown on " Sketch Map — General Geological
Features of Tasmania," in Johnston's work.

3.— LIST OF THE FOSSILS BY LOCALITIES.

Heazlewood. —

Favosites grandipora, Eth. jil.
Hausmannia meridianus, Eth. fil. and Mit.

Zeehan. — (Despatch Limestone.)
Asaph us, sp. ind.

Hausmannia meridianus, Eth. fil. and Mit.
Hausmannia, sp. ind.
Illsenus Johnstoni, Eth. Jil.
Ampliion? brevispinus, ^^A.^/.
Leptodomus.^ nuciformis, Eth. Jil.
Eunema Montgomerii, Eth. Jil.
Orthoceras, sp. ind.

Heazlewood. ^ — (Blue-grey schistose rock.)
Cornulites tasmanicus, Eth. Jil.
Cromus Murchisoni, De Kon.
Rhynchonella decimphcata, J. de C. Shy.
Rhynchonella capax, Conrad.
Tentaculites, sp. ind.

' Mount Zeehan Silver-Lead Lodes and other Deposits, 1888, p. 1.
■^ Report on the State of the Mining Industry on the West Coast, 1890,
p. 7.

^ Ibid, p. 15.

31

Zeehan. — -(Blue-grey schistose rock.)
Cornulites tasmanicus, Et/i. fil.
Cromus IVlurchisoni, ^e iCow. i'
Rhynclioiiella borealis, Schlotheim ?
Rhynchoiiella cuneata, Dalman.
Strophodonta, sp. hid.
Tentaciilites, sp. ind.

Zeehan.-— (White quartzite.)
Lophospira? sp. ind.
Murchisonia, sp. ind.
Kaphistonia, sp. ind.

The Collection also contains other forms too indefinite
for determination.

4._]S[0TES Ox\ THE SPECIES.
Corals.

Favosites grandipora, Eth. fil. ?

F. grandipora, Eth. ^/.—-Records Australian Museum, 1890, I., No.

3, p. 61, t. 8, f-6-9.

Ohs. — Certain specimens of a Favosite in highly decom-
posed limestone recall the typical features of this species,
the corallites highly thickened internally, and the walls
copiously perforated by very large uniserial pores close
together. The whole of the tabulas have been dissolved,
leaving no trace of their presence. Beyond an extra
amount of thickening of the corallite walls, the present
specimens do not add to our knowledge of the structure
of F. grandipora. It is naturally somewhat difficult to
speak with certainty of the species when dealing with such
highly decomposed species, but I believe this to be identical
with the coral I described under the above name from
the Lilydale Limestone of Victoria.

Loc. — Heazlewood, in limestone.

Genus Pleurodictyum, Goldfuss.
(Petref. Gerraaniae, 1829, I., p. 113.)
PI., Fig. 1.
Obs.' — The impression of ten or more corallites is, I
believe, referable to tliis genus. The outhne of each indi-
vidual coralhte is polygonal, the spaces formerly occupied
by the walls being represented by partial grooves ; here and
there small connecting processes represent the mural pores.

32

The size of the corallites would favour the view here
advanced, rather than a reference to Fnvosites.
Loc. — Zeehan, in a light coloured schistose rock.

Trilobites.

Genus Hausmannia, Hall Sf Clarke.

(Pal. New York, 1888, VIL, pp. xxix. and xxxi.)

Hausmannia meridianus, Etli. fil. ^" Mitchell.

PI., Figs. 4 & G.

H. meridianus, Eth. fil. & Mitchell, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., 1895,

X (2), p. 504.

Ohs. — A fragmentary pygidium of a large Hausmannia
occurs amongst the Heazlewood specimens. It corresponds
in all particulars, — large size, wide and very long axis,
and the greatly increased number of segments in the
latter, — to the N. S. Wales examples that Mr. John
Mitchell and the writer have distinguished by the name
of jneridianus. The tail apex is not preserved, so that the
peculiarities of this portion visible in Bowning specimens
need not be referred to.

The size of the specimen is one and a quarter inches
long by one and three-quarters broad, and there are eleven
or twelve pleural segments more or less exposed to view.
The increase in the number of axial segments in the pygi-
dium over and above the normal of the typical Hausmannia
caudatus, Brlin., is not peculiar to the present form.
According to Salter^ the pygidium axis of Ti. caudatus
should possess 11-12 segments, but the late M. Barrande
mentions'-^ as many as 18-19 in H. Hausmamii. Numerous
instances of more than twelve could be cited ; for example,
the American Devonian H. ohioensis has seventeen axial
segments and a terminal appendage.

Loc. — Heazlewood ; and Zeehan, in the Despatch Lime-
stone.

Hausmannia, sp. ind.

PI., Fig. 5.

Ohs. — Several specimens of a possible second form exist

as portions of pygidia, having the same general characters

as the preceding species. In the best preserved example,

howevei", there are but nine axial segments visible, all of

' Mon. Brit. Trilobites, 1864. Pt. l,p. 49.
^Syst. Sil. Boheme, 1852, I.J p. 538.

33

which show traces of a tuberculation that has never been
seen on any of the N.S. Wales or Victorian specimens of
Hausmannia. The hmb in decorticated individuals is
exceedingly wide and slightly concave. The pleural seg-
ments also bore tubercles, and, from the presence of this
form of ornament, I am led to expect that the present
examples are distinct from those before referred to under
the name of H. meridianus.

A similar tuberculated pygidium, as well as cephalic-
sliield exists in H. verrucosus, Hall,^ of the Niagara Group
of Indiana, U.S.A.

Loc. — Zeehan, in the Despatch Limestone.

* Genus Asaphus, Brongniart,

(Crust. Foss., 1822, p. I7.)
Asaphus, sp. ind.
PI, Fig 2.

Obs. — A single small pygidium, seen from the concave
interior, is, I think, referable to Asaphus. It is three-
quarters of an inch long, by nearly the same wide. The
pygidium appears to have been gently arched, with a
flattened border, a narrrow long axis extending to the limb
at the apex, and very faint traces of short coalesced pleural
segments. The specimen is sufficiently preserved to show
the presence of the genus in these rocks, and no more. As
compared with the pygidia in the Caroline Creek beds, it
is in the first place longer (i.e.. from before backwards)
than Asaphus, sp. a.-, but shorter than in sp. b., but is less
oval, and more angular in the centre of the posterior border
than either of them. Of the two, it is more nearly alhed
to sp. «., but I do not think identical with either.

Loc. — Zeehan, in the Despatch Limestone.

Genus Ill^nus, Dalmari.

(Kongl. Vet. Acad. Handl., 1826, p. 248.)

Illaenus Johnstoni, sp. nov.

PL, Fig. 3.

Obs. — Two specimens are in the collection, both shghtly

pressed out of shape ; one is unquestionably a glabella, the

other is more indefinite, and it is difficult to say whether

» Indiana Geol. Survey Report, 1881 [1882], XI., p.n45, t.35, f. 7, 14-17.
3 Etheridge, Junr., Proc. R. Soc. Tas. for 1881 [1882], t. 1, 1. 6.

34

it is a glabella or pygidium. The glabella measures one
inch long, the transverse measurement being the greater —
viz., one and a quarter inches. There is every reason to
believe that this glabella was fairly convex or gibbous, par-
ticularly about the centre. The axial grooves are wide
and deep (in the decorticated state), and wide apart, curving
slightly outwards, but not sufficiently to form a lobe as is
sometimes the case in this genus, such, for instance, as in
/. tauricornis, Kut.^ ; these grooves are also rather short,
extending but little beyond what would be the position of
the eyes were the latter preserved. The glabella narrows
towards the front, which is steep or highly inclined ; pos-
teriorly it slopes off gradually to the neck-furrow, and does
not overhang the latter as in some forms. The precise
course of the facial suture cannot be followed, from the
amount of lateral pressure the specimen has undergone,
and the same fact will no doubt to some extent affect the
degree of convexity of the glabella. On the side least
affected in this way, the facial suture seems to be fairly
straight and but little curved.

The neck furrow, from glimpses of it that can be obtained
seems to have been very fine and narrow, and the neck-
lobe similarly so. In a few species of Illcenus^ such for
instance as /. revalensis, Holm,^ the glabella possesses
three oval depressions on each side, representing the gla-
bella furrows, but these have left no trace on our specimen.
The surface (i.e. decorticated) is devoid of sculpture, except
along the anterior margin, where a few parallel and semi-
anastomosing grooves are visible.

I have never before had the good fortune to see an
Illcenus either from Australian or Tasmanian rocks, nor,
so far as I am aware, has the genus been described from
those of the latter Colony ; but De Koninck has recorded^
the presence of /. WaJilenhergii from the Upper Silurian
of New South Wales, but without giving a figure. At the
same time there is a strong resemblance, in /. Johnstoni,
to this species, notwithstanding that the cephalic shield of
our fossil is imperfect, showing neither the eyes nor the
free cheeks. Under these circumstances the measurements
previously given can only be accepted provisionally. On

» Holm, Mem. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Petersbourg, 1886, XXXIIL, No. 8,
t. 6, f. 10, & 11a.

^ Loc. lit. t. 2,f. 4 a &c b, 6 a Sc h.

3 Foss. Pal. Nouv.-Galles du Sud, 1876, Pt. 1, p. 46.

35

the other hand, the axial grooves of/. Wahlenbergii, Barr.,^
are considerably longer than those of our form, and more
or less circumscribe the glabella, and with these facts before
me, I think it better to distinguish the latter by a separate
name.

Loc. — Zeehan, in the Despatch Limestone.

Genus Cromus, Barrande.
(Syst. Sil. Boheme, 1852, I., p. 821.)

Cromus Murchisoni, De Koninck.

PI., Figs. 7 & 8.

C. Murchisoni, De Koninck, Foss. Pal. Nouv.-Galles dii Sud, 1876,
Pt. 1, p. 54, t. 1, f. 8.

Ohs. The larger portion of a cephalic shield and four
pygidia, all with the test removed.

De Koninck has complicated the discrimination of this
and allied species by erroneous references to his figures.
For instance, he describes the head and tail of Encrinurus
Barrandei, De Kon., but refers to the figure (his Fig. 8,
PI. 1) only. He likewise describes the cephalic shield of
Cromus Murchisoni, and refers to the figures of both
cephalic shield and pygidium (his Figs. 9-9Z>, PI. I), at
the same time stating that both the thorax and pygidium
were unknown to him. In other words. Prof. De Koninck
reversed the numbers of the figures on his first plate. Fig.
8 should be Cromus Murchisoni, and Figs. 9-9^ should be
referred to Encrinurus Barrandei. That such is the case
is evident by bearing in mind the generic differences of the
cephalic shield of the two forms in question.

In the Tasmanian specimens the larger portion of the
glabella, the neck segment and portions of the fixed cheeks,
are preserved. The positions of the glabella furrows are
distinctly marked by the large five primary tubercles on
each side, the furrows in the cast being short and some-
what wide. Between each of these points the surface is
occupied by four or five secondary tubercles ranged in a
line, whilst on the anterior part of the glabella smaller
tubercles of a tertiary order become numerous. The neck
segment is strong and wide. Neither of the pygidiums
are wholly preserved. There are twenty-six cr)alesced
segments at least in the axis, which tapers to a very fine
apex. The central line is devoid of segmentation, and

' Syst. Sil. Boheme, 1852, 1., p. 684,

there appear to be only four strong tubercles along* it.
The coalesced pleurae are very niucli less in number.

Another Australian 1'rilobite of this group has been
described^ by Mr. A. F. Foerste as Encrinurus Mitchelli,
but whether I am correct or not in my determination of
the Tasmanian forms, I think Foerste's species is identical
with them.

Loc. — Heazlewood, in a blue-grey schistose rock ;
? Zeehan, in the same matrix.

Genus Amphion, Pander.

(Beitiiige Geog. Russich. Reiches, 1830, p. 139.)

Amphion? brevispinus, sp. nov.

PL, Fig. 9.

Ohs. — Tw^o small pygidiums, disassociated from other
parts, are referred to under this name. In the number of
the coalesced segments, backward direction of the pleurae,
embracing as they do the termination of the axis, and
spinose free ends, these fossils seem to agree with the
pygidium characters of the genus Amphion.

There are five axial segments, and a terminal appendage,
and five pleurae, the whole of the component parts being
rather widely separated from one another by deep grooves,
whilst the outward terminations of the axial segments are
slightly nodular. The pleurae are a good deal arched
downward, and the two last on each side quite posteriorly
directed. The terminal appendages are large relatively to
the size of the pygidiums, but this is not uncommon in
the genus. The free ends of the pleurae do not project far
beyond the margins, and are more perceptible in a portion
of one of the specimens, as a bluntly-toothed edge.

The brevity of the pleural spines causes a resemblance
to the pygidium o^ Amphion Fischeri, Eichwald, as figured
by HofFraann,2 but not only is the terminal appendage in
A.? brevispinus longer, and generally larger, but the whole
pygidium of the latter is shorter and wider than that of the
E-uropean tail.

A.? brevispinus is probably nearest to A. pseudoarticu-
latus, Portlock,'' resembling this British species both in
the number of its segments and shortness of its spines.

JLoc. — Zeehan, in the Despatch Limestone.

' Bull. Sci. Lat. Denison Univ., 1888, III., t. 13, f. 2, 3, 20.
' Verhandl. Russ-K. Min. Gesellsch. St. Petersb., Jahr. 1857-68 [1858],
p. 34, t. 3,f. 4.
' Report Geol. Londonderry, &c,, 1843, t. 3, f. 5 c.

37

Annelida.

Genus Cornulites, Schlotheim.
(Petrefaktenkunde, 1820, p. 378.)
Cornulites tasmanicus, sjj. nov.
PI., Fig. 10 & 11.

Obs. — Several decorticated casts of this interesting sup-
posed Tubicolar Annelid occur at both localities. The
longest example is one and a half inches, and in that
space portions of at least thirteen or fourteen rings or
annulations are visible. In a small fragment preserved in
the round, the greatest diameter is three-eighths of an inch.
The inverted conical annulations are broad, measuring fully
one-eighth of an inch in the direction of their growth,
and with the semi-imbricating appearance common to the
genus.

As the specimens are but casts of the interior, it cannot
be expected that any trace of the fine longitudinal micro-
scopic striae that ornament the exterior of these organisms
would be preserved, but one impression, apparently of an
outer surface, exhibits a concentric wrinkling that may
possibly represent the irregular outer surface of a Cornu-
lites. A similar irregularity of surface is excellently shown
in Prof. Hall's figure of C. proprius^ from the Niagara
Group of Indiana State. The internal annulated casts are
very like those of the characteristic C. serpularius of the
European Wenlock beds, but the annulations are longer
{i.e., longitudinally V The sharp and distinctly annulated
form of the segments in these tubes also finds a counter-
part in C. armoricanus.CEhlert,^ from the French Devonian
rocks. Again, a striking resemblance exists in the strongly
imbricate and subindibuHform condition of the segments
in our casts to Prof. Hall's figures of C. chrysalis,^ a species
of the Lower Helderberg Group of N. America. Many
other comparisons might be made, but these are sufficient
to indicate the relations of our form.

Loc. — Heazlewood, in a blue-grey schistose rock ;
Zeehan, in a white to grey schistose rock.

1 Indiana Geol. Survey Report, 1881 [1882], XI., p. 327, t. 22, f. 4;
28th Ann. Report N. York State Mus. Nat. Hist., 1879, t. 31.

2 Bull. Soc. Etudes Sci. Angers, 1887, t. 10, f. 5, 5 a 8c b.

3 Pal. N. York, 1888, VII. t. 116, f. 26-28.

38

Brachiopoda.

Genus Rhynchonella, Fischer.

(Notice Foss. Gouv. Moscou, 1809, p. 35).

Rhynchonella decimplicata, J. de C. Sby.

Wiyndionclla decimplicata (J. de C. Sby.), Davidson, Mon. Brit. Sil.
Brachiopoda, 1869, III., Pt. 7, No. 3, p. 177, t. 23, f. 20-24.

Bhynchonella decimplicata^ M'Coy, Prod. Pal. Vict., Dec. V., 1877,

p. 26, t. 47, f. 3-6.

Ohs. — A number of crushed examples of this species are
associated with the remains of Cromus 3Iurchisoni, but are
sufficiently well preserved to exhibit the distinctive features
of the species. JR. decimplicata has already been met with
in the Upper Silurian of Victoria by M'Coy, and although
figured by Mr. R. M. Johnston in his '' Geology of Tas-
mania," is not, I think, from Tasmanian rocks.

Log. — Heazlewood, in a grey-blue schistoze rock. •

Rhynchonella cuneata, Dalman.

PL, Fig. 16.

Bhynchonella cuneata (Dalman), Davidson, Mon. Brit. Sil. Brachio-
poda, 1867, Pt. 7, No. 2, p. 164, t. 21, f. 7-11.

Tthjnchonella cuneata^ Johnston, Syst. T^cc. Geol. Tas., 1888, t. 7, f. 9.

Ohs. — An impression of a single ventral valve possessing
the general cliaracters of this species tends to confirm Mr.
Johnston's recognition of it as a Tasmanian fossil, but the
number of costse seem to separate it as a variety. In R.
cuneata^ Dalm., the costae are from ten to fourteen, of
which four or five occur on the fold of the dorsal v^alve,
and three or four in the ?inus of the ventral. On the
impression from Zeehan there are ten costae, but only one
of these occurs in the sinus. The shell evidently possessed
the same cuneate form and elevated umbo. There is,
however, no trace on this cast of a punctate surface siuiilar
to that of the American shell. Prof. James Hall has
referred to this species, and erected it into a separate
genus under the name of Rhynchotreta ; ^ neither did Dr.
T. Davidson recognise this structure in European examples
of Ji. cuneata.

Johnston's figure, from the shading, I take to be a dorsal
valve, with three costae on the fold.

Loc' — Zeehan, in a blue-grey schistose rock.

1 28th Ann. Report N. York State Cab. Nat. Hist., 1879, p. 1G6.

39

Rhynchonella capax, Conrad^ sp.

PL, Fig. 17 & 18.

Rhynchonella capax (Conrad, sp.) , Meek, Keport Geol. Survey Ohio,
1873, I., Pt. 2, p. 123, t. 11, f. 6«/

Ohs. — A number of very beautiful external impressions,
often of the united valves, seem to me to be referable to
this species. They represent a rounded sub-globose form,
with close rather inrolled beaks, a well-marked fold and
and sinus, and numerous sub-angular costse, sometimes
very iine, crossed by innumerable decussating laminae.
The costae do not exceed twenty in number, but vary from
sixteen to twenty, seven to eight on the flanks, one to
three on the dorsal fold, seldom three, however, and only
one or two in the ventral sinus. The convexity of the
valves is about equal, and the fold relatively wider than
the sinus. The zigzag laminae increase rapidly in width
and prominence towards the front.

In general habit, casts taken from these impressions are
very like Rhynchonella capax^ of the Hudson River Group
of iVorth America, and equally so of R. Lewisii, David-
son,^ from the Wenlock limestone of England, for indeed
the latter shells differ but little from one another.

In R. capax the lateral costae are from four or five to
seven, on the dorsal fold four, and in the ventral sinus
three. In i?. Lewisii there are from two to five costae in
the fold, and one to four in the sinus.

The Tasmanian impressions are certainly after the type
of these closely allied species, but apparently closer to R.
capax, in fact separated chiefly by the relative number of
costae. I therefore propose for our shell the varietal name
of meridionalis, and would write it in full as R. capax,
var. 7neridionalls, Eth. fil.

Rhynchonella anticostiensis, Bilhngs," is also a close ally,
in fact Meek regards it as a synonym of R. capax. It
possesses four ribs on the fold and three in the sinus.

In addition to the number of costae, the Tasmanian
shells differ only in being relatively smaller and less globose
than the American.

Loc, — Heazlewood, in a blue-grey schistose rock.

' Mon. Sil. Brachiopoda, 1869, Pt. 7, No. 3. p. 180, t. 23, f. 25-28.
2 Pal. ¥o&s. Canada, 1862, I., Pt. 3, p. 142, f. 119a-c.

40

Rhynchonella borealis, Schlotheim ?

PI., Fig. 19 & 20.

Rhynchonella borealis (Sclil.), Davidson, Mon. Brit. Sil. Brachio-

poda, 1869, Pt. 7, No. 3, p. 174, t. 21, f. 14-20.

Obs. — Numerous examples of a crushed Rhynchonella
have yielded characters that place it very near to the
above species, particularly one variety figured by Davidson
(.swhis. t. 21,f. 18, 18a.)

I believe the fossils are the remains of a subtrigonal
shell, with the fold of the dorsal valve abruptly raised, with
wide smooth sides, and the crown of the fold longitudinally
and narrowly sulcate, the single rib or costa thus formed
on each side being sharp and well defined. The flanking
costae, from three to four in number, are also prominent
and sharp. The sinus of the ventral valve is wide and
deep, with two insignificant costee at the bottom close
together. There are four costse on each flank, and the
intercostal spaces or valleys on both valves are deep. The
whole surface of the valves is crossed by wery strong con-
centric frills.

Our fossils are not only closely allied to the form of R.
borealis, already indicated, but also to its variety diodonta,
Dalman, and they have some characters in common with
R. bidentata, Hisinger,^ and R. altiplicata, Hall,^ of the
Lower Helderberg Group of North America, but, as re-
gards the former of these, not possessing so high a dorsal
fold, and more costae.

Loc. — Zeehan, in a greyish-white schist.

Genus Strophomena, Rafinesque.

Strophomena ? sp. ind.
PL, Fig. 12.

Obs. — An impression of a very peculiar Strophomenoid
shell that is worth figuring to draw attention to it, although
of doubtful generic identity. There is evidence of a large
sinus, thereby indicating a ventral valve. The sinus is too
pronounced for the specimen to be a species of Orthis^
except such species as O. biforata, Schlotheim, of the
Middle and Upper Silurian, but it is unlike the latter in
outline. So far as mere shape is concerned it approaches
Tropidoleptus, Hall, or Enteletes, Fisher.

Loc. — Zeehan.

1 Davidson, loc. cit., 1883, V., Pt. 2, p. 150, t. 10, f. 3, a $• b.

2 Pal. N. York, 1852, II., p. 231, Atlas, t. 33, f. 2 a-n.

41

Genus Strophodonta, Hall.

(Pal. New York, 1852, II., p. 6,3.)

Strophodonta, sp. ind.

PI., Figs. 13-1.5.

Ohs. — Crashed and fragmentary examples of a Stro-
phomenoid shell are numerous in the rock from the Silver
King Mine, bearing many delicate, curved, radiating costae.
The chief point of interest is the presence of a crenulated
hinge-line, the impressions of numerous transverse denticles.
This character indicates the genus Strophodonta rather
than Strophomena. The crenulations extend from one end
of the hinge-line to the otlier, on each side the fissure.
The shell was semi-oval, and provided with a large
number of fine costae, simply radiating on the centre of the
valves, but gradually curving outwards on the flanks.

Loc. — Zeehan, in a greyish-white schistose rock,

Pelecypoda.

Genus Leptodomus, M'Coy.

(Brit. Pal. Foss., 1852, Fascic. 2, p. 277.)

Leptodomus? nuciformis, sp. nov.

PL, Fig. 28.

Obs. — A small shell that it is difficult to refer positively
to any genus, but having the general appearance of Lep-
todomus, M'Coy. It has an oblong-oval convex valve,
with a straight posterior hinge-line, a rather high umbo,
a faint indication of a cincture, and numerous well-marked
fine concentric rugae that unite towards the ventral margin
into groups or bundles representing growth stages. The
anterior margin is obliquely rounded, whilst the posterior
margin is, although generally rounded, somewhat semi-
truncate also.

Although no absolute proof exists that this is a true
Leptodomus, still, from its general resemblance to that
genus, I have provisionally placed it therein, with the
trivial name nuciformis, from its rounded and compact
nut-shaped outline. It is quite sufficiently distinct for
future recognition.

Loc — Zeehan, in the Despatch Limestone,

42

Gasteropoda.

Genus Lophospira, Whitfield.

(Bull. Am. Mas. Nat. Hist, 1886, I., No. 8, p. 312.)
PI., Fig. 24.

Obs. — It is with some hesitation that 1 refer tlie impres-
sion of a fragmentary univalve to this genus, characteristic
of the Trenton Limestone of North America, and the
Wenlock Limestone of the Island of Gotland. By taking
a cast of the impression we see the remains of a turreted
shell, with sharply carinated whorls, and generally pre-
senting a bold and somewhat rugged appearance. There
are portions of four whorls, each divided almost in the
centre by a strong and sharp carina, the surface of each
whorl above it being more or less concave, and below
nearly straight walled. Our cast corresponds better with
Lindstrcim's figure of Z. hicincta. Hall, sp.\ than it does
with Whitfield's types. Whatever may be t\\% ultimate
resting-place of the former, I think the Tasmanian cast
will be found congeneric, although sufficient of the body
whorl is not preserved to show the second or lower keel.
All trace of sculpture has been removed.

There is no more evidence in our specimen than there
is in Lindstrom's figure of the ultimate uncoihng of the
whorls described by Whitfield as typical of his genus, and
it is just possible therefore that the Gotland shells called
L, bicincta, Hall, sp., by Lindstrom, may not be that
species.

Loc. — Zeehan, in a white quartzite.

Genus Murchisonia, D\irchiac and De Verneuil.

(Bull. Soc. Geol. France, 1841, XII., p. 154.)

PL, Fig. 23.

Obs. — This genus is represented by the elongated cast
of a turreted-pyramidal shell, slowly increasing in size.
There are five whorls (as preserved), almost straight sided,
and swollen near the sutures, caused by a slight projection
of the wide and apparently flat band, which on the upper
whorls is situated at that point, but on the body whorl
forms its periphery.

* Pleurotomaria. Sil. Gastropoda and Pteropoda of Gotland, 1884, p. 104,
t. 8, f. 15-35.

43

Although only a fragment, this is a well marked shell.
It belongs to that group of Murchisonife to some extent
represented by M. cingulata, IW^.^hwt differs in possessing
straight-walled whorls and a more rapidly attenuating
spire. The sculpture is unpreserved.

Loc. — Zeehan, in a white quartzite.

Genus Eunema, Salter.

(Canadian Organic Remains, 1859, Dec, I., p. 24.)

Eunema Montgomerii, sp. nov.

PL, Fig. 21 & 22.

Sp. char. — Shell conical, turreted, of four non-oblique
whorls, and a nucleus, encircled by prominent sharp carinas,
the first three whorls each bearing two, one immediately
around the suture, the other near the middle ; below this the
sides of each whorl are straight-walled; body whorl with
four keels, the three upper as already described, whilst the
fourth is much more anterior in position — practically quite
anterior — and somewhat oblique ; the sides of each whorl
between the first and second carinte are concave, whilst the
second carina is always the more prominent ; the sutm'es
are flat or very slightly concave ; surface ornamented vv^ith
microscopic thread-like lines of growth, varying slightly in
direction between the encircling carinas. Height of the
largest specimen three-quarters of an inch.

Obs. — A very well marked shell, allied to E. strigilla-
tum, Salter,^ of the Trenton Epoch of North America, but
broader in relation to its height, and differently directed
carinae. It affords me much pleasure to associate with
this the name of Mr. A. Montgomery, Government Geo-
logist of Tasmania. Johnston's Trochonema Etlieridgei^
is perhaps an allied, although distinct shell.

Loc. — Zeehan, in the Despatch Limestone.

Genus Raphistoma, Hall.

(Pal. N. York, 1847, I., p. 28.)

Raphistoma ? sp. ind.

PL, Figs. 25 and 26.

Ohs. — In the white sandstone from Zeehan several very
poor casts of a low-crowned shell occur, difficult of deter-
mination, but having the appearance of this genus, and in

* Canadian Organic Remains, Dec, I., 1859, p. 29, t. 6, f. 4,
2 Syst. Acc. GeoL Tas., 1888, t. 5, f. 13 and 14.

44

some respects resembling the form I have lately described
as R. Broivnii,^ but lower in the spire, and therefore
probably distinct. It is very desirable that additional
examples of this fossil should be obtained, with the view of
determining its systematic position with greater accuracy,
Loc. — Zeehan, in a white quartzite.

Pteropoda.

Genus Tentaculites, Schlotheim.

(Petrefactenkunde, 1820, p. 377.)

Tentaculites, sp. ind.

PL, Fig. 27.

Ohs. — This elegant genus is represented by a very large
number of external impressions. Casts taken from the
latter display a remarkably elongate and delicate form,
extending to a fine needle-point, but without any trace of
the bulbiform embryonic shell. The characteristic annu-
lations are about one-fourth or one-fifth millimetre apart,
or four to five in number in the space of one millimetre.
The interannular spaces are delicately transversely striated
as usual in the genus. The annulations were very sharp,
and apparently came to a fine edge.

Specific identification from the condition of the specimens
is impossible, but it is a smaller form than that figured ^
by myself from the Siluro-Devonian rocks of the neigh-
bourhood of WelHngton, N. S. Wales.

Loc. — Heazlewood and Zeehan, in a blue-grey schistose
rock.

5.— AGE.

The species detailed in the foregoing pages present both
a Lower and an Upper Silurian facies, but with a pre-
ponderating tendency towards the latter. I think it not
impossible that they represent a series of beds homotaxially
equivalent to the lower portion of the Upper Silurian.

» S. Australian Pari. Papers, 1891, No. 158, p. 9, PI., f. 1-3.
8 Journ. R. Soc. N. S. Wales, 1880, XIV., p. 253, pi., f. 10.

45

DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES.

Fig. 1 . Pleurodictyum ? sp. ind. — The impression of por-
tions of ten corallites. The walls have entirely
disappeared, leaving traces of the mural pores as
small connecting- shafts between the corallites.
Zeehan.

2. Asaphus, sp. ind. — Small pygidium consisting of

the test seen from the inside. Zeehan.

3. Jllcsniis Johnstoni, Eth. fil. The cephalon or

cephalic shield, with well marked axial grooves.
Zeehan.

4. Hausmannia meridianus, Eth. fil. and Mitchell. —

Pygidium showing the largely increased number
of segments: cast from an impression. Heazle-
wood.

5. Hausmannia, sp. ind. — A smaller pygidium, pro-

bably of a distinct species, with the axis tubercu-
late. Zeehan.

6. Hausmannia meridiajius, Eth. fil. and Mitchell. —

The right coalesced pleurae showing the wide
limb. Zeehan.

7. Cromus Murchisoni, De Koninck. — The glabella

and portion of the fixed cheeks — x 2. Heazle-
wood.

8. The same. — Pygidium, with the apex wanting —

X 2. Heazlewood.

9. Amphion? hrevispinus, Eth. fil. — Small pygidium,

decorticated at the apex, but showing traces of
the pleural spines — x 2. Zeehan.

10. Cornulites tasmanicus, Eth. fil. — Internal cast of

the tube. Heazlewood.

11. The same. — A smaller tube in the same condition.

Heazlewood.

12. Strophomena. — Impression of a ventral valve?

Zeehan.

13. Strophodonta, sp. ind. — Imperfect cast. Zeehan.

14. The same, — Hinge-hne of Fig. 15 to show denti-

culations — x 3. Zeehan,

15. The same. — Partially preserved cast. Zeehan,

46

Fig. 16. Rhynclionella cuneato, Dalman. — Impression of
the ventral (?) yalve. Zeehan.

17. RIn/nchonel/a capa.r, Conrad. — Cast taken from

the impression of two valves in juxta-position —
X 2. Heazlewood.

18. The same. — A ventral valve — x 2. Heazlewood.

19. Rhynclionella borealis, Schlotheim ? — Cast of the

ventral valve taken from an impression — x H.
Zeehan.

20. The same. — Zeehan.

21. Eunema Montgomeri% Eth. fil. — Showing general

characters. Zeehan.

22. The same. — A smaller example. Zeehan.

23. Murchisonia, sp. ind. — Cast taken from an im-

pression. Zeehan.

24. Lophospira? sp. ind. — Cast taken from an im-

pression. Zeehan.

25. RapJmtoma? sp. ind. — Intei'nal cast, apical vievr.

Zeehan.

26. The same. — Side view showing the keeled whorls.

Zeehan.

27. Tentaculites, sp. ind.- — Cast taken from an im-

pression— X 6 (about). Heazlewood.

28. Leplodomus? nuciformis, Eth. fil. — Left valve —

x3. Zeehan.

45

TUBEECULOSIS.

(a) Cause. (b) Mode of Infection. (c) Prevention.

(1) By the Individual. (2) By the State.

(Read August 10th, 1896.)

By Gregory Sprott, M.D., D.P.H., Health Officer for the

City of Hobart.

*' In matters of prevention knowledge is power."— Dr. Burdon Sanderson,
Harceran oration.

The subject I propose to deal with to-night is one of
interest, not only to the medical and veterinary professions,
but to every member of the community. Tuberculosis is one
of the most "widespread diseases we bave to deal with, and
causes more suffering to humanity than any otlier known
disease at the present time. Its ravages are only equalled
by those of small pox in the last century.

Preventive medicine bas of late years done much towards
the diminution of what we generally look upon as the
infectious diseases, but has it been employed against the
spread of tuberculosis in the same meritorious way ? I am
bound to tell you it has not, and yet there is no disease that
the science of State medicine could be more profitably
employed against than that of tuberculosis. It is indeed
appalling to see so many of our young men and women cut
oif in the prime of man or womanhood. The choicest speci-
mens of our race are frequently the first to go, and those who
are not doomed to a speedy death are frecjuently chronic
invalids, incapacitated for work.

No apology is therefore necessary for bringing before you
a subject which is not only important to the individual, but
to the whole of the nations which are so heavily burdened
by it.

Tuberculosis is a specific infectious disease caused by the
bacillus tuberculosis of Koch. It is common to man and the
lower animals. In the human subject it appears in different
foruis — such as phthisis pulmonalis, tabes mesenteric, tuber-
cular meningitis, scrofula, lupus, etc., but these are all
causally related to the bacillus of Koch.

In the lower animals it is common to rabbits, guinea^
pigs, monkeys, fowls, etc. In the bo vines it is known as
*' Perlsucht," or " Grapes."

Dr. Crisp stated he had met with it in more than one
hundred species of animals, including quadrupeds, birds, and
reptiles. Neither the goat nor the donkey are very subject

46

to it, and in the case of the donkey it is mostly recoverable.
It has recently been artificially produced in fish. It may be
said to be the most widespread disease we have in domesti-
cated animals, though somewhat rare in their wild state.

There is no longer any doubt about the bacteriological
identity of all these forms of tuberculosis in the different
animals. It was at one time thought that the bacillus in tuber-
cular fowls differed from that found in animals, but it is now
generally believed that any slight difference that may exist
can be accounted for by the different soil on which the bacillus
is reared.

Wherever man goes we find tuberculosis, and where human
beings are most crowded together, there the mortality is
highest, No country is free from it, but the Faroe Islands,
Iceland, Hebrides of Scotland, and the Highlands of Switzer-
land enjoy a marked relative immunity.

In many parts of the vast space of Africa, as in the Upper
pai't of the Nile, it is almost unknown. In Algeria the tree
Arabs are not affected, while those in captivity readily con-
tract the disease. It is prevalent in those who live in the
heat of India or Australasia, as well as amongst those who
are subjected to the colds of Canada and many parts of
America, where it is said to be on the increase.

It is not therefore confined to any particular country, but,
speaking generally, it is most prevalent in countries within
the temperate zone, and especially amongst the most densely
populated parts of these countries.

With its distribution climate would seem to have very
little to do, but some observers hold it is more severe and
rapid in tropical (India, China, and Japan) than in temperate
regions.

All are agreed, however, that a moist, damp atmosphere is
decidedly favourable to its prevalence. How this acts is not
yet determined. It may have a direct action on the life his-
tory of the bacillus, or an indirect action by a relaxing effect
upon the mucous membranes.

Certain seasons of the year have some influence over the
prevalence. In Britain the maximum of phthisis is in March,
April, and May, with a minimum in August, September, and
October. The maximum of tabes mesenteric is, however, in
July and August. It has a distinct relationship to the tem-
perature, being most prevalent during the diarrhoea season.
The minimum is in December, January, and February.

In Australasia the maximum occurs at different seasons in
the various colonies.

No race of people are exempt, but the Jews seem to enjoy a
comparative immunity.

47

Many of the races, such as the negroes, on changing their
primitive mode of life and migrating to temperate climes, are
peculiarly susceptible to the tubercular virus.

A very large percentage of the Maoris die of consump-
tion, and in Queensland the death rate of phthisis is much
swollen by the Kanakas.

Females are said to be more subject to tuberculosis than
males, but this varies slightly in different colonies and
countries, Tuberculosis is common among infants, and it is
estimated that one-fourth of all children dying die of
abdominal consumption.

Phthisis pulmonalis is commonest between the ages of 25
to 30 years. Rausome estimated that one-half of all deaths
at marriageable ages are due to phthisis.

In 1891 one male died out of every 913 persons living, and
one female out of every 1,190 in the Australasian group, ex-
cluding Western Australia.

I need not enter into the statistical part of this subject.
Xet me tell you it is the greatest single cause of death in the
United Kingdom as well as in Australasia.

In England alone 70,000 deaths occur on an average every
year, 60,000 of these being due to consumption of lungs ;
while the other 20,000 from other forms of tuberculosis.

In Australasia, for the three years 1890, 1891, and 1892,
the total number of deaths from phthisis alone was 12,243,
out of a total number of deaths of 153,069, being about 8 per
cent, of all causes.

The following table * shows the death rate from phthisis
per 100 deaths from all causes from years 1890, 1891, and
1892 :— England, 11 ; Queensland, 8-9 ; Victoria, 8*9 ; New
Zealand, 8'L ; South Australia, 78 : New South Wales, 6*9 ;
Tasmania, 6'2 ; Western Australia, 5'9.

If we take the death rate per 100,000 persons living, and
this is the more accurate method, for the same period as
above the order is slightly different.

Deaths from phthisis per 100,000 persons living : — Eng-
land, 164 ; Victoria, 136 ; Queensland, 116 ; South Aus-
tralia, 97 ; Western Australia, 96 ; New South Wales, 90 ;
Tasmania, 90 ; New Zealand, 81.

With the exception of New Zealand, our own colony has the
best record.

If to the 4,081 that die annually from phthisis we add the
number of deaths from other forms of tubercular diseases,
we will have a total of at least of 6,000 lives lost to these
colonies every year.

*See Dr. MuUin's paper in the Australian Medical Gazette, August 20, 1895.

48

You can readily see what an enormous saving of life it
would be to the colonies, as well as to Britain, if we could
only prevent this disease in its many forms.

When we consider the prevalence of this disease in man
and animals, is it to be wondered at that so many have looked
for the cause ?

Galen, Morgagni, with Budd, were amongst those who
from an early time considered it to be an infectious disease.

Klenche and Villenin were the first to show that sputum
or tissue from dead tubercular subjects inoculated into
rabbits produced tuberculosis. Cohuheim, an ardent worker
on this subject, confirmed these experiments. He inoculated
tubercular material into the eyes of rabbits, and was thus able
to set up a local tuberculosis which gradually but surely be-
came general.

The result of these experiments suggested that the disease
was probably due to a micro-organism, and many looked for
it but failed to find it, until Koch by his classical experiments
and new methods of staining was able to demonstrate to the
Physiological Society at Berlin, in 1882, the bacillus which
he argued was the vera causa of tuberculosis.

Cohnheim now knew, as he had long suspected, that tuber-
culosis was a specific disease, and he greeted the new dis-
covery with these words : —

'* I have seldom in all my life felt greater pleasure than at
the reception of this news." Koch's arguments were so con-
clusive at that meeting that no one ever tried to combat his
statement, and he concluded that memorable communication
thus : — " We can with good reason say that the tubercle
bacillus is not simply one cause of tuberculosis, but its sole
cause, and that without tubercle bacilli you would have no
tuberculosis."

Since Koch's discovery the bacillus has been cultivated
outside the body, injected into rabbits and guinea pigs, pro-
ducing the disease, and there discorerable in the animals so
inoculated, conclusive proof that bacillus is the vera causa of
tuberculosis, as Koch said.

Wherever these bacilli are found, no matter what animal
they occur in, there the disease tuberculosis is present. They
may differ a little in the different animals, but they are prac-
tically the same, though the bovine is more virulent than the
human.

They are very minute organisms, about -goVo ^^ laooo ^^ ^^
inch in length, consisting of a delicate sheath with numerous
ovoid granules. These are the spores which do not take up
the staining matter, hence we get the spore bearing bacillus
presenting a beaded appearance. For the most part they are

49

sliglitly bent or even curved. They niay occur singly or in
pairs, or even in close-packed masses. They are recognised
easily by their size under the microscope, and also by their
behaviour with certain staining re-agents. They are not
discolourised by a 25% solution of sulphuric acid after
staining with fuchsiti. They multiply by fission as well as
by spores, are non-motile, and found in greatest numbers just
where the disease is spreading.

Besides being found in the tissues, they are abundant in
the sputum of consumptive patients, as well as in the blood
and urine.

They can be cultivated outside the body either on blood
serum or glycerine agar — agar jelly at a temperature between
95° F. to 105° F. They form little colonies in 10 to 14 days,
differing greatly in this resj^ect from the bacillus of diphtheria,
which will grow almost in as many hours.

A high or a low temperature will stop their growth, but the
bacillus as well as the spores are very resistant against com-
plete destruction. Though a certain amount of moisture is
necessary for their growth, they can be dried without losing
the power of infection.

Tubercular matter taken from the lungs of persons buried
for years has been found virulent on inoculation. Cold does
not seem to kill the bacillus, but growth ceases at a temper-
ature of 82° F.

Heat at 250° F. destroys them, so will a temperature of
107*5° F. continued for several weeks.

The spores retain their virulence under conditions which
are inimical to the bacillus, and the chief source of infection
is by the spores floating about in the atmosphere.

What are then the modes of entrance by which the infecting
bacillus may gain entrance into the body ?

(1.) By the respiratory and (2) alimentary tract. (3.) By
inoculation. (4.) Another mode of infection — hereditary
transmission — will be considered as we go on. The channel
of infection often determines the seat of the disease.

(1.) Aerial Infection through the Respiratory Tract.
— In our ordinary surroundings of life the conditions necessary
for the multiplication of the bacillus are never present, and
we could only have tuberculosis by infection from one
individual to another were it not for the fact already men-
tioned that the bacilli and their spores retain their vitality
and virulence for a long time outside the body. In order
that the virus may enter the lungs by the inspired air, the
medium on which the micro-organisms develop must dry up
and disintegrate into powder or dust. If it be remembered
that the sputum of tubercular persons usually furnish the

50

richest supply of bacilli and their spores, and if it be borne
in mind how carelessly this dangerous matter is treated, how
it is scattered about the streets, the workrooms, the office
floors, aye, and even the bedrooms, a source of infection will
be found so great that none other need hardly be looked
for.

One gets an idea of the virulence of this expectoration
when we know that it retained its infective power six weeks^
although kept moist and putrefaction had set in.

If the sputum was dried, on the other hand, it was found
virulent by experiments on guinea pigs six months after
being coughed up when kept from the action of the air.

Intermittent freezing and melting does not interfere with
the power of trausmittiug the disease. It must not be sup-
posed, however, that these tubercle bacilli are scattered about
us without any choice or difference, but rather ths^t they are
principally found in narrow circumscribed regions, the centre
of which is a tubercular person.

Ransome and Williams have been able to demonstrate the
bacillus from air collected in the ventilating shaft of the
Brompton Consumption Hospital, and inoculation experi-
ments from the dust collected on the floor of this hospital
have proved the infection to be present in the form of spores
when the microscope had failed to show the bacillus.

Klein kept some guinea pigs in the ventilating shaft of th&
same hospital and they contracted the disease also.

Dr. George Cornet, in G-ermany, has found the bacillus in
the dust of the street, but he points out a further source of
infection from the handkerchief used by the consumptive.
Here the sputum gets dried after repeated usage, and he has
been able to get the bacilli from the bedclothes on which the
handkerchief had lain during the night.

Strange to say, that although the walls in hospital wards
where consumptives are kept have been found to be infected,
other patients who may be suffering from some acute affection
of lungs are still accommodated in many hospitals in the
same wards as the consumptives.

Not only through the sputum may the air become infected,
but also by the breath of the patient. When bacilli are
given off by the breath they gradually sink, being heavier
than the air, and as the temperature of the air is rarely suffi-
ciently high to maintain their vitality active infection is not
carried far in this way. There is nevertheless a great risk in
the immediate inhaling of the breath of a consumptive, as
might occur to anyone sleeping with an invalid.

(2.) Infection by the Alimentary Canal is perhaps the
second most important mode of infection, and the disease in

51

this way may be communicated by means of milk or meat
from diseased animals.

(a) Milk. — Doubt no longer exists about milk from tuber-
cular cows being the means of conveying tuberculosis, par-
ticularly to infants and young children. Tubercular disease
of the intestines and glands is almost peculiar to children,
though we sometimes get it in adults as a secondary infection
from swallowing their own sputum.

In such cases as these the gastric juice is weak and the
bacilli are then particularly active. Infection may begin at
the glands of the neck, or it may be a general infection or
extend only into the glands of the abdomen.

Woodhead estimates that 79 per cent, of children dying of
tubercular disease contract it in the mesenteric glands.
Further, that it is most prevalent amongst children when
milk forms the principal article of their diet.

Gerlach and Chauveau were the first 1o show that animals
fed on the milk from tuberculous cows contracted the disease,
Authorities are agreed that where there is a generalised
tuberculosis, or where the udder is affected, the milk is
highly infective, but they are not agreed as to whether the
milk may be infective in cases of local tubercular disease
where the udder is healthy.

Bang, Bollinger, and Hirschberger believe that the disease
may be communicated by milk from tubercular cows even if
the udder is not affected. These observers have been able to
produce the disease by inoculation and by feeding experi-
ments with milk from a tubercular cow with a healthy udder,
and Woodhead and McFadjean were also able to produce
positive results in a very small percentage of cases ; but
while the negative results are the rule, nearly every observer
has been able to get some positive evidence.

Klern * states " the feeding of calves with milk derived
from an udder containing tubercular deposits produced tuber-
culosis in these calves, but milk coming from a healthy udder
(though the cow had tubercles in the lungs) fails to produce
tubercles."

The experimental researches for the recent Eoyal Commis-
sion seem to show that udder disease must be present before
the milk is infective. Milk given or inoculated into rabbits and
guinea pigs did not produce the disease when the udder was
not affected, though the cow had advanced tuberculosis. Still,
in view of the positive results obtained by different observers
by the feeding of animals with milk from tubercular cows in
which there was no udder disease, it would be much better

* Pathology of Infectious Diseases.

52

not to allow the milk of tubercular cows to be consumed, as
there is an element of danger.

The presence or absence of the bacillus does not help us to
say whether the milk is infective or not. Hirschberger has
been able to produce the disease by introperitoneal injection
when no bacilli were present in the milk, and from this he
infers the infection was present in the form of spores.

Woodhead. and McFadjean examined 600 cows in Edin-
burgh and found 37 of them tubercular, but got the
bacillus in the milk of only six of them.

And the experiments made for the recent Royal Commis-
sion show that in tubercular affections of the udder the
bacillus was invariably present, and animals fed or inoculated
with the milk contracted tuberculosis.

Dr. Sydney Martin's report is as follows : — " Five tuber-
culous cows with udder disease found ])ost mortem to be of
tuberculous nature ; bacilli were found in milk of three.
Fifteen (15) test animals fed and thirteen (13) inoculated
with the milk of these three cows all acquired the disease.
Of the other two cows the milk (in which no bacilli were
found) from one produced tuberculosis in four out of ten
test animals fed on it, and when inoculated in six other
animals produced tuberculosis in all. The milk of the fifth
cow did not j)roduce tuberculosis in two animals to which it
was given as food, but did produce tuberculosis in two other
animals when it was inoculated."

If bacilli cannot be found in the milk then the only test is
inoculation, and this means the employment of a skilled in-
spector.

(5.) Meat. — The danger of contracting tuberculosis from
meat is not so great as the taking of milk from tuberculous
cows, but it is nevertheless a source of infection if meat is
not properly cooked.

When the disease is localised it is thought by some that
there is little risk of eating the part of the carcase unaffected,
but Professor McCall, of Glasgow, has shown that the bacilli,
although not having their habitat in the blood, have been
found there as well as in the marrow of bones. The authori-
ties in Grlasgow, acting on this, condemn the whole carcase.
The Congress in Paris affirmed the necessity of these stringent
measures, and many cities followed the example of Glasgow.

Klein is also of opinion that, inasmuch as the tubercular
virus gets disseminated through the blood, any organ may at
any time become infected with the virus — which is in transit.
The organ need not contain any discernible tubercular
deposit.

53

Woodhead was able to produce the disease in two rabbits
by inoculating the raw juice from the rib muscles of a diseased
■cow where the tuberculous pleura had been stripped off by
the butcher, but when he used the juice from the thigh
muscles of the same cow he was not able to produce tuber-
culosis. He, therefore, shows that the parts in close
proximity to the disease may be contaminated while the
parts at a distance may not.

Bollinger aod others found the juice expressed from the
muscular tissue non-infective in 51 out of 58 carcases ex-
amined, and in these cases the lesions present were very
extensive.

Dr. Martin's experiments show that in generalised tubercu-
losis the meat is dangerous, and in local tuberculosis the meat
may be contaminated by the butcher's knife.

Still the Commissioners " are prepared to believe that if
sufficient discrimination and care were exercised in taking
meat from tuberculus cattle, a great deal of meat from them
might without danger be consumed by the community." This
recommendation is more in touch with the general belief that
now exists — that the measures adopted by the Glasgow and
Paris authorities are altogether too stringent.

In Germany it is not usual to condemn meat where there
is only one organ affected if the animal is not emaciated, but
if the animal is emaciated the flesh is held to be injurious.

3. Inocijlation. — This is fortunately not a very common
mode of infection. It has followed from a cut on the finger
with a broken spittoon used by a phthisical patient. Medical
men doing ^osi ?}iorfe??is, butchers, and cooks have been in-
fected, in the execution of their duties, in this way. It is
said to have resulted in two cases from tatooing where the
saliva of a phthisical patient was used. ^ It has occurred in
Jews after the rite of circumcision being performed by an
infected priest. In these inoculations there is generally
nothing but a local tuberculosis set up, which ends in a
suppuration, no permanent bad result following. Although
rare in man, it is the general method of infection in experi-
menting with the lower animals,

4. Heredity. — The question whether tuberculosis can be
transmitted from parent to child is one which authorities are
divided upon. Many observers hold that the disease cannot
be transmitted but only a predisposition, and heredity to
such as Yirchow and Frankel only means greater predis-
position, but to others it means the actual transmission of
the disease. It is, however, a fact that amongst some of the

* British Medical Journal, June 1st, 1895.

54

lower animals, as rabV)its and guinea jHgs, the disease may be
transmitted, as was shown by the experiments of Berheimand
others, and laid before the second Congress on Tuberculosis
in Paris, 1891. It has seldom been found in calves, and
rarely in new born infants.

While tuberculosis in some forms may be transmitted
directly from parent to child, there is a very strong consensus
of opinion that the form which affects the lungs is never so
transmitted. But even in these cases, those who believe
strongly in heredity will tell you that the germ has been in
the system in a latent condition, while the tissues have been
active, only asserting itself when the tissues have become
more matured. But is the prevalence of consumption at this
time not more likely to be due to the result of taking one's
place in the world and being exposed to additional risks in
the workroom, the office, etc. i^ It may then be taken for
granted that "ConsumjDtion" is not hereditary, but only a pre-
disposition ; what that predisposition is we cannot yet say.
Dr. Springthorpe, who has devoted a very large amount of
study to this subject, speaking at the Medical Congress in
Dunedin this year, defined it as " a bacterio-chemical question,
affecting the strength of cells and serum in the struggle for
existence with the invading microbe."

One thing seems certain, without this constitutional want
of resistance the microbe is unable to invade and thrive in
the tissues. This inherited tendency may be intensified, or
it may be removed, but it will not, however intense in itself,
cause the disease ; the germ must be present. In the re-
moving of this tendency lies the opportunity of preventive
medicine, for there is usually ample time to correct this in-
herited t-endency by careful attention to developmental
requirements before " consumption " sets in.

Admitting then that heredity stands in rare cases as a
channel of infection in some forms of tuberculosis, but in
the majority of instances as only a predisposing cause, we
now pass on to consider other circumstances which act as
purely predisposing causes.

Predisposing Causes. — Certain conditions such as damp-
ness of soil, impurity of atmosphere, are important factors in
the aetiology of tuberculosis.

1. Dampness op Soil. — Dr. Buchanan and Sir John Simon
have long since proved that " the drying of soil which has in
most cases accompanied the laying of main sewers in the
improved towns has led to the diminution more or less con-
siderable of phthisis. They go on to quote certain cities
where such improvements have been made and with what
effect on the mortality of phthisis. They take 13 cities in

55

all, and the percentage of reduction from previous rates
ranges from 49 in Salisbury to 47 in Ely, 43 in Eugby,
17 Croydon and Cardiff, to 11 in Merthyr, the lowest of the 13.

" It will be seen that the reduction of phthisis mortality
where certain works have been executed is far too large and
far too general to be regarded as an accidental coincidence.
And the fact that in some of these cases the diminished
fatality of phthisis is by far the largest amendment, if not
the only one, which has taken place in the local health be-
comes extremely interesting and significant when tlie circum-
stances are remembered, that works of sewerage, by which
the drying of the soil is effected, must always of necessity
precede the accomplishment of other objects (house drainage,
abolition of cesspits, etc.) on which the cessation of various
other diseases is dependent."

Dr. Bowditch, working independently and without any
knowledge of Dr. Buchanan's experiments, arrived at the
same conclusions as regards the mortality in America.

The remarkable freedom from consumption in some of the
drier countries, such as Egypt, Cape of Good Hope, as com-
pared with moist Britain, leads one to the same conclusion.

Dr. Andrews, of Chicago, inquiring into the mortality of con-
sumption, came to the conclusion that it is the greatest
nearest the sea board, and diminishes as we pass inland. He
found that in Massachusetts 25 per cent, of all deaths were
due to phthisis; in New York, 20 per cent.; in Kansas, 8 per
cent.; in Utah, 6 per cent.; in California, 14 per cent.; but
here we are again nearing the Pacific.

Taken from North to South, the same observer found that
in Michigan the death rate was 16 per cent.; in Indiana, 14
per cent.; in Tennessee, 12 per cent.; in Alabama, 6 per cent.
We may therefore consider that dampness of soil and sea-
board towns are favourable predisposing agents of tubercular
disease. It would seem as if the bacilli were there in greatest
numbers, and most deadly in effects. Localities with dry
soils and uniform temperature are least affected.

2. Pollution of Atmosphere. — Nothing tends to predis-
pose to tuberculosis so much as vitiated atmosphere. This is
evidenced by the fact that we have consumption most com-
mon in large cities ; not only so, but in the parts of them
where overcrowding and bad ventilation is at a maximum
the mortality is highest. If you compare the death rate in
the army now with what it was 50 years ago you will see the
effect of good and bad ventilation. From 1830 to 1846 the
mean annual mortality from phthisis per 1,000 troops on home
service was 7*86. It was greatest in the Foot Guards, 11*9;
and lowest in the Household Cavalry, 6*28 ; and the only

56

reason that could be given for this great difference was that
the barracks of the Foot Guards were badly ventilated.
From 1858 to 1884 the average annual death rate (for 26
years) was 2*5 per 1,000 strength, and in the year 1888 it
was 1*20, a great reduction from 7*86.

In Partes' Hygiene we are told that in the third ventilated
prison at Leopoldstadt, in Vienna, during the years 1843 to
18i7, no fewer than 51 per 1,000 deaths were due to phthisis,
while in the well- ventilated House of Correction in the same
city, for vears 1850 to 1854, the deaths from phthisis were
8 per l,00a

Dr. E-ussell, of Glasgow, shows not only the effect of over-
crowding on the total death rate, but also the great effect it
has on the death rate from consumption. He divided the
city into nine districts ; in two districts there was an average
of one and a half persons to each room, and in these districts
the death rate was 16*7 per 1,000. In seven districts there
was an average of two and a half persons to each room, and
here the death rate was 30' 7 per 1,000. Coming to lung
disease, and principally phthisis, he shows the death rate in
the first two districts to be 5*10 ; in the remaining 7 districts
it was 11*38 (or more than double) per 1,000 living.

Wherever, then, we have overcrowding and bad ventilation,
whether in our dwellings, workrooms, or office, we expect to
find the future victims of consumption.

I have been speaking to you principally of foul atmosphere,
arising from defective ventilation, due chiefly to the accumula-
tion in the air of the air products of respiration, of exhalation
from the human body, as well as the pollution of the atmos-
phere from the accumulations of filth, refuse, and other
putrefying waste, but there are other impurities which tell on
the mortality of phthisis besides these from organic vapours,
namely, those from trades of different kinds. Just as there
are many kinds of impurities, so we recognise many kinds of
consumptions. We have the " knife grinder's " phthisis in
Sheffield and Birmingham, then we have the " stonemason's "
consumption, "weaver's" consumption, etc.

All trades which give rise to dust predispjose, and j)ar-
ticularly where metallic dust is floating about, to phthisis.
Knife grinders, file makers, cutlers, and stonecutters are at
the top of the list, while fishermen, agriculturists, and
coal miners are the most exempt.

The inhaled dust in these cases simply acts in a mechanical
manner by injuring the mucous membrane of the lungs, and
thus favours the conditions for the growth of the bacillus
should it be inhaled.

57

It need not be wondered at then tliat tliose wlio work at
trades where the air is loaded with dust containing metallic
particles should be more lialjle to phthisis than those who
work in rooms where animal or vegetable dust is present.

3. Other Predisposing Causes. — Of other predisposing
causes I need only mention improper food, in the case of
infants especially, alcohol in excess, debilitating disease of
any kind. In brief, it may be said that whatever reduces the
vitality or resisting power of the body increases the suscepti-
bility of the individual to tuberculosis.

Prevention of Tuberculosis.— How do we hope to pre-
vent it r

1. By diminishing the sources of infection — through
the air, milk, and meat — preventing the spread of
the bacilli outside the body.

2. By increasing the resisting power of those who are

most exposed to danger.

In carrying out the first our attention must be directed to
sputum, because in this ^e have the most fruitful source of
danger. The consumptive should be instructed not to spit
anywhere except in a spittoon, in which there is a quantity of
disinfectant, say a 10 per cent, carbolic acid solution. They
should be strongly warned against spitting on carpets, floors
of workrooms, offices, and streets.

Patients who do not care to carry a flask-shaped spittoon
with them ought to use pieces of linen instead of handker-
chiefs, which could be burned as soon as finished with.

Expectoration from all j^hthisical patients ought to be
burned. Many people will tell you that the sputum in the
street does not harm because the sunlight destroys the bacilli.
I grant you the sun is one of the best natural disinfectants
we possess, but the spores of the tubercular bacilli are very
resistent, and they are not always exposed to the sun. Apart
from the habit of expectorating on the streets being a filthy
one, it is the greatest source of infection. What is required
is that consumptives should be told of the danger they may
be to others if they are careless in this matter.

Consumption does not spread through the virulence of its
infecting agent, but rather because people are ignorant of its
cause and mode of extension.

Hidden dangers are most to be dreaded, and it seems to
me absolutely necessary that the people should be taught
and able to appreciate the risk of this mode of infection.

From the workmg of Cornet the G-ermans have come to the
conclusion that cleanliness is what is needed, and they have

58

adopted a system of public spittoons, and patients are re-
quested not to spit anywhere else except in these receptacles.

The New York Board of Health has also a system of
spittoons in their public buildings, railway stations, and other
public institutions.

These spittoons are made of porcelain, and can be washed
in boiling water and disinfected. Others are made portable
of porcelain or glass and carried about by patients.

So much for the destroying of the expectoration.

But the respired air of the patient may also be dangerous
by its immediate inhalation. We should avoid being too
closely shut in with consumptives, hence it follows no one
should sleep in the same room. Consumptives' rooms should
always be well ventilated — such patients are not only more
comfortable but their health is much better.

Should the patients die or be removed the room and every-
thing in it ought to be disinfected. While cleaning opera-
tions are going on the floors and walls should be kept moist
so as to prevent dust from flying about and with it the
bacteria.

Curtains, bedding, and clothing should be boiled, blankets
steamed, and all other furniture cleaned and disinfected.

Paper on the walls should be stripped off and burned and
the walls washed with chlorhstated lime, the onlv disinfec-
tant E-ansome and Delepine have found to be effective.
Ordinary fumigations by chlorine, euchlorine, and sul-
phurous acid are useless even in the hands of experienced
t'umigators.

In intestinal and other forms of tuberculosis all excretions
ought to be disinfected with 10 per cent, carbolic acid solu-
tion, which is more effective for this purpose, according to
Fischer, than corrosive sublimate solution (1 in 500) equal
parts.

These are all minute details, but a strict adherence to *
them has reduced the mortality in the Grand Duchy of
Baden by no less than '28 per 1,000 living. In 1882 the
death rate there was 3*08. In 1887, it was after these pre-
cautions had been taken, 2*80 per 1,000 living. This seem-
ingl}^ small reduction, if applied to the United Kingdom,
would mean an annual saving of life from consumption of
10,000 people.

At San Remo — a favourite residence for consumptives — all
these precautions are carried out, and at the end of the
season all public rooms and sleeping apartments are cleaned
and disinfected.

*Sims Wooclhead : Bacteria and their Products, p. 221.

59

It seems to be the time is fast approaching when tubercu-
losis will have to come under the notice of public health
authorities.

Many argue that it must come under the Compulsory
Notification Diseases Act and be treated as any other of the
infectious diseases.

I confess this appeals very strongly to one, but there are
many difficulties in the way of notification. For instance,
we know that many consumptives are continually changing
their residence, and often, in the hope of being cured,
their medical attendant. Are we then to have a report
from each medical attendant, and will the patients be re-
quired to notify any change of residence ?

In New York the Board of Health has formed certain
regulations for its prevention. They sent a circular to all
medical men stating that the Board had resolved —

1. To register all subjects suffering from tuberculosis
so far as they could gather from the physicians in
attendance.

2. To send inspectors, unless requested by the doctor

attending not to do so, to instruct patients and
their families how to guard against the spread of
the disease.

3. To disinfect alJ premises either vacated by removal

or by death of patients without any charge to
owner.

4. To make bacteriological examinations for physicians

and to report to i^hysicians sending specimens
free of charge.

5. To require authorities of public institutions to re-
2)ort all cases within seven days.

I am not aware that any other country has taken up this
matter so strongly as the New York Board of Health, but in
Victoria the xlustralian Health Society, at the instigation of
Dr. Springthorpe, has issued printed slips, entitled " How to
prevent the spread of consumption," to all medical men for
distribution amongst their patients.

The recent Medical Congress at Dunedin passed a resolu-
tion recommending for the use of medical men in their
routine treatment of phthisical patients the " Table of
Advice " originally drawn up by the Australian Health
Society. I have in a report to our Government advised that
the Central Board of Health might get this Table of Advice
printed and distribute it.

While I believe sanitary authorities could do much in the
way of disinfecting houses and rooms where consumptives

60

die, I feel our best efforts will be of little avail unless we can
get the assistance not only of the medical profession, but of
the individual members of the community, and we can only
hope for this aid by educating the people as to the cause and
nature of this disease, and the measures which will prevent
it. Let it be known further that it is not only preventable
but a curable disease, and I feel confident that with increased
knowledge of the nature of tuberculosis we will have a^
greater effort made by the community which will doubtless
diminish its prevalence to a great extent.

Milk and Meat Infection. — It has been stated that
about 5 per cent, of all milch eows are affected with tubercu-
losis, and it is further estimated that about 16 per cent, of
all cattle slaughtered in England and G-ermany are tuber-
cular. It is stated to be as prevalent in Australia as in
England. I am glad to say that it does not exist in Tas-
mania, or if it does it is very rare.

It follows from what I have already told you that milk
from tubercular cows must never be used, because there is
risk even if the udder is not affected that the milk may be
tainted. No tubercular cow should be allowed to remain in
the dairy, because if the udder is not already affected it may
become so at any time, and the extreme difficulty of recognis-
ing it in the earlier stages warrants the removal of the cow at
once.

Boiling will get rid of any danger, and it is a good rule to
boil cill milk, as it will destroy the germs of other diseases as
well as of tuberculosis.

But we must go further and prevent, if possible, the supply
of such milk, and, of course, this means that all dairies must
be registered and be inspected at regular intervals by a com-
petent inspector.

The recommendations of the Royal Coniiuission went
further ; the Commissioners advise " wherever any udder
disease the cow must be isolated at once, tlie milk being con-
sidered highly dangerous, until the inspector has proved the
presence or absence of tuberculosis."

Meat is not such a dangerous mode of infection as con-
taminated milk. Nevertheless it is, as I have explained
already, a source of danger, and calls for a rigid inspection of
all meat before and after killing.

Dr. Martin's recommendations to the Royal Commission
were that the '* slaughtering and dressing of all animals
ought to be done under skilled supervision, with the object of
securing the removal and destruction of every part of the
carcase that contained any tubercle whatever, and also the
destruction of the whole carcase where the animal is found

61

to have advanced or general tuberculosis. He sees no objec-
tion to the sale of meat-substances from carcases which have
shown only localised tuberculosis, and from which everj
particle of tubercle had been skilfully removed, provided
always that in every subsequent process of preparing the
meat for sale, due care be taken to guard the saleable portions
from contamination by tuberculous matter."

" Total seizure," you see, is not advised as adopted in
Glasgow and some other towns in the old country. The
French Government, since the Congress, have decreed against
it, Germany, and many other countries have considered it
altogether too heroic a measure. Thut the bacilli may be
found in the muscle and muscle juice, as well as in the blood
of animals dying of a generalised tuhercidosis, is proved by
McCall, Bollinger, and others, but are they found in these
structures in animals where there is only a localised hibercu-
losis ? Those who oppose " total seizure " say no, and further
tell us that we must not forget that it is not tubercular
material we are eating, but cooked meat, which has all the
appearances of being healthy, derived from an animal which
had merely a localised tuberculosis.

To sum up this : in all cases where the disease is general,
or more than one organ affected, the whole carcase should be
condemned ; where the tuberculosis is local, confined to one
organ and the animal in good condition, the meat may be
*' passed," provided the organs are carefully removed and that
the meat is not contaminated by the butcher's knife in dress-
ing the animal.

All this goes to show the necessity of a proper inspection
of animals before and after killing, and to do this we must
insist upon all animals being slaughtered at public abattoirs.
Any doubtful ones can be set aside to be tested with the
tuberculin. The Intercolonial Medical Congress of 1896, in
Bunedin, adopted the following resolution after a wide dis-
cussion on the subject of tuberculosis : — *' That, recognising
the serious extent to which tubercular disease prevails
throughout Australasia, the fact that the disease is an in-
fectious one, spreading through the medium of infected milk,
meat, and air, this Congress begs respectfully to bring under
the notice of the Governments of the different colonies the
necessity which exists for the continuous and skilled inspec-
tion, veterinary as well as medical, of cattle and dairy stock,
dairies, milk shops, abattoirs ; and for the proper disinfection
of public spittoons, conveyances, buildings, etc., known or
suspected to have become infected. The Congress also
strongly urges the general use of tuberculin as a test for the
presence of tubercular disease in dairy and other stock."

These measures will require to be aided by the thorough

^2

cooking' of all meat. Tt has been shown by Wooclhead that
boiling is the most efl:ectual way of destroying germs in meat,
next baking in the oven, and the least effectual way is roast-

While we thus prevent its transmission from animals
to man through onr milk and meat supply, we must not
forget that if we would get rid of this disease altogether we
must go farther and see if we cannot exterminate it in cattle.
Many believe that with the assistance of the State — and it is
purely a matter for the State to deal with — that we can.
How is it to be done ? By the compulsory testing with
tuberculin and slaughtering of every animal affected with
tuberculosis, with or without compensation to the owners, as
the State may think fit.

Tuberculin. —You remember a few years ago great excite-
ment prevailed over what was supposed to be a cure for
consumption, and how that excitement gave place to bitter
disappointment.

It consisted in injecting a small quantity of a glycerine
extract of pure cultivation of tubercular bacilli which Koch
called tuberculin.

Now although tuberculin has not proved to be a curative
agent, it is one of the most valuable diagnostic tests we
have.

Any animal — whether in the dairy, abattoir, or amongst
the herd — suspected can be injected, and if you get a cha-
racteristic fibrile reaction, you may consider tuberculosis is
present in that animal's system. It has been claimed by Dr.
Springthorpe that he has been able to diagnose tuberculosis
in the human subject in this way before there were any con-
clusive physical signs or before there was any sputum.

Veterinarians are now agreed that 97 per cent, of cases
which give a reaction with tuberculin will on post mortem
examination prove to be tubercular.

This, then, is the first step — power of diagnosis in cattle —
in this great undertaking. The Government of Denmark
has set aside .£25,000 to be used by Professor Bang for the
purpose of exterminating tuberculosis, if possible, in the
cattle of that country. Whether he will be able to do so or
not remains to be seen, but his efforts will be watched with
more than ordinary interest by all interested in this subject.

In Canada and Germany the cattle are subjected to this
test, and the German Government has voted jB10,000 to assist
in compensating owners.

The Central Board of Health, Sydney, has also instituted
an examination on similar lines, and pays 30s. compensation
to all owners for every tubercular animal slaughtered.

63

In New Zealand the Acting Government Veterinary
Surgeon was in the early part of this year using it freely,
and so satisfied was Mr. Park with the results that he stated
at the Congress in Dunedin " that he was perfectly satisfied
that with the tuberculin test he would eradicate tuberculosis
from all dairies."

During the early part of the present year the French
Minister of Agriculture proposed to bring up a Bill for the
compulsory testing and slaughtering of all tubercular animals
and for the i)artial compensation for all animals killed. It
was estimated that this would cost =£200,000 the first year.
In Tasmania it is doubtful if we have any tubercular cattle,
and it is the duty of the authorities to see that none are in-
troduced. Stock imported for breeding purposes should
therefore be carefully examined and tested with tuberculin.
Compared with the other colonies, our death rate from
phthisis is very low, in fact the second lowest on the list.
Might not this very low death rate be attributed to the fact
that our cattle are free from tubercular disease ?

We must now direct our attention to the second measure by
which we hope to prevent tuberculosis, namely, hy increasing
the resisting power of the constitution, avoiding everything that
tends to reduce the vitality and increase the susceptibility of
the individual.

This must be partly undertaken by the individual and
partly by the State,

What is then the Duty op the Individual ?—1 must
be brief, because the care and upbringing of those who are
predisposed to this disease is a subject altogether too large
for a paper such as this.

What I have to say applies not only to those who may be
predisposed by inheritance, but also to those who may acquire
it.

The question of marriage concerns us here. It is one of
the most important questions affecting our social state, and
yet few questions are less frequently entertained profession-
ally. It would be a wise rule that no person with active
consumption should marry, but the sacrifice is, perhaps, too
great to be expected, nevertheless they should be warned of
the risk they run of leaving children behind them which will
be depending, it may be, on the charity of friends either for
their care or support.

Infancy. — No mother should nurse her infant if she is
suffering from tuberculosis, as she may convey the infection
directly or indirectly by kissing or through the breath. '* It
has been shown that tubercle bacilli may be present in the

64

inotlier's milk," * and the large number of cases of tubercu-
losis in the alimentary tract and glands in infants would seem
to confirm this evidence.

The further nursing of the infants, the rules to be carried
out in the management of the uursery, the food of the child,
the exercise, the amount of mental work and the general
hygiene of the youth are all matters to be attended to by the
parents, acting under the advice and counsel of the family
physician.

But for the young adult who goes out to the world to fight
his own battle and accept fresh responsibilities to which he is
yet unaccustomed, a few words of warning may not be out
of place.

The choosing of a profession, trade, or other occupation is
one of the most important as well as his first duty.

Certain occupations predispose more readily than others.
I have already mentioned that fishermen and others employed
in outdoor avocations are most free, while those who work in
close atmospheres with dusty occupation are mostly attacked
with it.

It is, therefore, of the greatest importance to see that the
occupation is suited to the health of the individual, and it
may be stated as a general rule that outdoor employment is
better than office or sedentary indoor work, and that a
country life is better than the close atmosphere of town.

It is impossible that everyone of us can either live in the
country or have outdoor employment. Many are a good deal
confined during oflSce hours, but there are few who could not
have outdoor exercise during some part of the day. What
that exercise will be depends very much upon individual
taste, but for perfect health it is necessary that every organ
should have a share of activity. 'Nothing must be indulged
in that interferes with the expansion of the lungs ; the very
common exercise of bicycling is no doubt good, but the one
great objection is the stooping position, which constricts the
chest.

Walking, rowing, riding, outdoor games of different kinds
are all very good, provided they are never carried to excess.
It must never be carried to the point of fatigue, and taken
when the weather permits. In the warm weather early
morning or late afternoon are the best times, but during
winter in the middle of the day we enjoy the sun most.

Clothing should be warm and light, equally distributed
over the body ; woollen material is therefore the best for

'" J. E. Squire* M.D.: The Hygienic Prevention of Consumption, p. 59.

65

underclothing. It should fit loosely and in no way interfere
with the free movements of limbs or chest. Sudden change
of temperature must be guarded against.

Diet should be plain and nutritious, with a large quantity
of milk and fatty food if possible. The meals should be
taken at regular intervals.

Alcohol should be avoided as a general rule, in fact it
ought not to be taken unless under the direction of the
physician. It must always be remembered that intemperance
increases the predisposition by lowering the disease resisting
power of the constitution.

Where possible, it is well to choose a healthy site for one's
residence. Those who are predisposed should especially be
careful that the house is built on a porous soil or is well
drained. Damp clay, retentive soils are risky unless well
drained.

The air round about should be pure and have free move-
ment. It is also important that there should be plenty of
sunlight, but how many people try in every possible way
to block out the sun by verandahs overhung with creepers,
trees, etc.?

The height above the sea level is of great importance.
Not only do we get purer air the higher we get up, but the
respirations become deeper in the high altitudes. Height
above sea level has a marked effect upon the disease phthisis,
as by the following death rates in Baden and Switzerland* : —

Per 10,000 Deaths.
Feet over Sea. Baden. Switzerland. Medium.

Less than 1,600 1,040

1,600 to 2,700 830

2,700 to 3,200 750

Over 3,200 860

As already pointed out, a moist, damp atmosphere is a pre-
disposing agent, and most seaboard towns are unsuitable.
The Medical Congress, already mentioned, adopted the follow-
ing resolution, which bears out this statement : — ** That this
Congress expresses the opinion that it is unwise and cruel to
recommend advanced cases of phthisis to seek Australasia as
a health resort ; that, whilst there are many places in the
different colonies of great climatic value in the earlier and
curable stages, the coastal regions generally are to be regarded
as unsuitable for almost all stages.

A dry air, with pbnty of sunshine, even if the tempera-
ture is low, seems most suited provided always the diurnal
range of temperature is not too great.

* Mulhall Dictionary of .Statistics.

860

950

730

780

390

570

500

680

66

Prevention by the State. — Although the individual may
do much to prevent consumption, the results of our efforts
depend very largely upon the sanitary conditions of our
neighbours. It is, therefore, the duty of the State to see that
no one is allowed to suffer from disregard of hygienic rules
of those around him.

I have already pointed to the danger of dampness of soil,
and what effect the laying of sewers and consequent draining
of the subsoil water had upon the mortality of phthisis. It
should be made absolutely compulsory to drain before a permit
is given by any Health Board to build a dwelling.

The dwelling itself should receive the greatest attention.
Although it may be too late to get existing houses remedied,
precautions ought to be taken to prevent all new houses
being constructed the plans of which are not first approved
of by the Board of Health, who should see that all pre-
cautions are taken against dampness, that sufficient sunlight
and ventilation are provided for by means of window space,
height of ceilings, etc.

Dr. Ransome has shown in his paper on " Tubercular
Infective Areas " in certain streets and courts, consisting of
back to back houses, unfurnished with thorough ventilation,
tubercular disease was much more common than in other parts
of the town.

Overcrowding of houses, without proper space between, the
regulating of the height of houses as well as the widths of
streets, are matters which must be attended to by the public
health bodies of the State. We want not only a plentiful
supply of air, but also a pure supply ; cleanliness then must
be insisted upon, everything that pollutes the atmosphere
must be removed.

Overcrowding of inmates in our lodging houses, our shops,
workrooms, or factories must be prevented. There is
nothing so inimical to the life of bacteria as sunlight, and no
disinfectant so cheap. There should therefore be plenty of
sunlight and good ventilation.. Every workroom ought to be
licensed to hold a certain number of workers, the number
being determined by the space as well as by the means of
ventilation. Under the Women and Children Employment
Act we have power of inspection, but no provision is made to
fix a minimum amount of cubic space for each person.

Such, then, are a few matters that might well be attended
to with good effect. While the health authorities may do
much, the individual must assist if we would overco^ie this
deadly enemy.

67

I feel confident that once the danger of consumption being
infectious is fully appreciated by the people we will have
greater efforts made to prevent it.

In conclusion, it may seem to some of you that I have
painted a very black picture of tuberculosis and its dangers.
Let me say if I have increased your knowledge I have not
increased the danger, and all I would ask of you is to make
use of your greater knowledge. For, let me tell you, by way
of comfort, that tuberculosis is not only a preventable but a
curable disease, and the agents which prevent go far towards
curing. In the light of recent discoveries in serotherapeutics,
I am hopeful that some specific serum will yet be found, and
that instead of tuberculosis exterminating the human race
the human race will exterminate it. But it was not of the
cure of tuberculosis that I came to speak, but rather its pre-
vention, and might I not conclude in this, as in many other
instances,

" Prevention is Better Than Cure."

3DISCXJSSIODSr =

Dr. Bright characterised the paper as a most able one.
He agreed with almost everything Dr. Sprott had said, and
did not know he had ever heard a paper calculated to be of
better service to the community read at this society's rooms.
He (the speaker) had been of opinion for 25 years that con-
sumption was infectious. He had seen husbands taking it
from wives, and wives from husbands, and he had always
advised that a consumptive patient should occupy a separate
room. Boiling the milk was most important. Dr. F. Swarbeck
Hall strongly advised it in this city years ago. Much could
be done by the efl&cient inspection of dairies and dairy cows.
They had seen last summer what great dangers the health of
the city was exposed to through bad and unwholesome milk
being sold. The spread of infection by the sputum of
diseased persons was a most serious thing. He believed very
strongly that the disease was hereditary ; that predisposition
was not all that was communicated from parent to child.
Tuberculosis was most common in aged milch cows. He
moved a vote of thanks to Dr. Sprott, and hoped that the
people would boil their milk, also that expectoration about
the streets would be suppressed.

C8

Dr. Harvet seconded, and congratnlated Dr. Sprott on the
able way in which he had handled the subject. Another
means of prevention was undoubtedly to be found in a reform
in the manner of burying the dead. Spores of disease were
often brought up by the earthworm, ^

Dr. Crosby Walch believed that the disease was not
hereditary, but predisposition only was communicated from
mother to child.

Mr. Mault intimated that the Central Board of Health
was seeking to obtain legislative powerto inspect all dairies
in the country sending milk into the city.

The Chief Justice thought that if it be true that there
was no tuberculosis in Tasmanian cattle, as Dr. Sprott had
indicated, the colony must have a great advantage, and with
the use of the tuberculine test in examining all stock brought
to the colony for slaughter it might be kept out of our cattle
and our meat.

The vote of thanks was passed with acclamation.

Dr. Sprott, in replying, said it was generally conceded that
consumption of the lungs was not hereditary, but tuberculosis
was hereditary. So long as a person kept strong and in good
health the bacilli of tuberculosis need not be feared. As to
tuberculosis in stock in Tasmania, he had stated that he had
not, so far, been able to find anv.

69

SOME TASMANIA N FISHES.
By J. Douglas Ogilby.
(Communicated bj Alexander Morton, Esq.)
Bead May 2Sth, 1896.

Having occasion some time ago to compare certain Tas-
manian fislies with their New South Wales representatives, I
applied for assistance to Mr. Alexander Morton, Curator of
the Tasmanian Museum, Hobart, who, with a commendable
promptitude and liberality which, with advantage to Aus-
tralian biology, might be well imitated, forwarded unre-
servedly a number of the required species, with the
suggestion that I should embody the result of my researches
in the form of a paper to the Royal Society.

The following remarks, the outcome of that suggestion,
deal with a few of the more interesting fishes received from
Mr. Morton, special attention having been given, as requested,,
to the AiiigilidcB.

The earliest record of the occurrence of this family in
Tasmanian waters is to be found in Sir John Richardson's
second notice of the fishes collected at Port Arthur, and
sent to England by Commissary-General F. J. Lempriere.
In this paper, which appeared in 1840, a gray mullet is
mentioned under the name Dajaus* diemensis, but without
detailed description ; in the following year, however, a very
full and accurate diagnosis of the species appeared in the
Transactions of the Zoological Society of London, and some
years later both the Tasmanian and New Zealand species
were figured by the same author in the Voyage of the
Erebus and Terror as distinct fishes. Modern writers,,
with the exception of Castelnau and Macleay who follow
him, are satisfied as to the identity of the two forms, and so
we find Dr. Giinther, in 1861, writing of them under the name
of Agonosioma forsteriy he having quite unnecessarily changed
the construction of Bennett's generic name, though, as re-
marked by Dr. Gill, he has retained this orthography in the
fifth volume of his Catalogue of Fishes in the analogous
names Plecostomus, Chaitostomus, etc.

In 1842 the occurrence of the species on the Australian
coast was noted for the first time by the Rev. Leonard
Jenyns from a dried specimen collected at King George's
Sound by Darwin during the Voyage of the Beagle,,
subsequent to which no record of it is to be met with, until
in 1872 Count Castelnau records it as abundant on the coast
of Victoria, reverting, as before mentioned, to Richardson's

* Dajaus, Cvvier and Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss. xi. p. 164, 1636 ; type,.
Mugil inonticola, Hsmcvoit — Agonostomus monticola.

70

name, and stating that the Tasmanian fish is distinct from
the New Zealand one, but giving no reason for this opinion ;
not content with this, he further subdivides the Australian
form by separating from diemensis the common mullet of the
Oippsland Lakes under the name of Agonostoma lacustris.

In Sir William Macleay's paper on the " Mugilidce of
Australia,"t this is the only species of mullet recorded from
Tasmania, from whence it is catalogued as Agonostoma
diemensis J that author not only considering that its identity
with the New Zealand fish had not been satisfactorily estab-
lished, but also that Castelnau's Agonostoma lacustris from
the Gippsland Lakes was worthy of specific recognition.
With neither of these conclusions can I agree, for though
the only New Zealand specimens which I have had an
opportunity of examining were brought over in ice, scaled
and cleaned for sale in Sydney, there is no doubt in my mind
as to the correctness of Dr. Giinther's judgment in referring
Richardson's fish back to Forster's alhula, while the two
continental examples of Agonostomus which have passed
through my hands, and which agree perfectly with Castelnau's
lacustriSf cannot be specifically separated from the Tasmanian
fish.

Three years subsequent to the appearance of Sir William
Macleay's catalogue, Mr. Eobert M. Johnston published a
^* Catalogue of the Fishes of Tasmania," J which included all
the species of fishes at that time known to occur within the
limits of the Tasmanian fauna. This list was chiefly based
on Dr. Griinther's well known British Museum Catalogue of
Fishes and Macleay's recently published Australian Catalogue,
largely supplemented by its author's close study of the fishes
of the colony during a period of six years. Mr. Johnston
had also the advantage of being in a position to consult Mr.
Morton Allport's MS. list, but, like myself, he does not
appear to have seen, or even known of. Dr. Bleeker's paper
on the " Fishes of Van Diemen's Land."

In Mr. Johnston's catalogue we find the first published§
announcement of the occurrence of a second Mugilid, the
two species being recorded (pp. 122, 123) as follows : —

83. Mugil cephalotus, Cuv. and Val. Sand mullet.

84. Agonostoma forsteri, Bl. Sea mullet.

A short account, under the above names, of the distribu-
tion, habits, mode of capture, etc., of both species will be
found on pp. 86 and 87 of the same paper in the chapter
devoted to the marine food fishes.

+ Published May, 1880.

X Proc. Roy. Soc. Tas. 1882, pp. 63-144.

§Allport had previously included the species, but I am unable to say under
what name.

n

At p. 57, however, ia the chapter headed " Market Fish
and Fisheries," section ii., " Middle Q-round " Fisheries, Mr.
Johnston gives to what is certainly intended for the same
fish its correct name of Mugil dohulay and as no explanation
of the subsequent change of name to cephalotus is given, I
am somewhat at a loss to know whether or not he considers
Giinther's dobula to be inseparable from ForskaFs oeur^t or
whether the former name is merely due to a lapsus calami ;
the two species are quite distinct.

In 1891 a revised list* by the same author appeared, in
which these two species — Mugil cephalotus and Agonostoma
forsteri — again figure as the sole representatives of the
Tasmanian Mugilidce, but with the substitution in the latter
of " Estuary Mullet " as a trivial name in place of " Sea
Mullet ; the amended name is much the more suitable, as the
fish, on our coasts at any rate, is principally an inhabitant of
brackish water.

Mr. R. Sherrin, however, in his " Han«lbook of New
Zealand Fishes," p. 66, quoting Dr. Hector, writes in refer-
ence to the confusion in the popular mind between this fish
and the herring. "It is easily recognised from the true
herring by having two fins on the back, the first of which
has only four rays. I particularly mention this, as in some
years what is supposed to be this fish visits the coasts in
enormous shoalsjf like the herring of the British seas." I
give this quotation because the habit here alluded to is
totally opposed to all that we know of its life history in
Tasmanian and Australian waters, and indeed of the habits
of the other members of the genus, which are without
•exception denizens of fresh or brackish waters, and, if correct,
must be taken into consideration as a factor of some import-
ance as regarding the claims to specific separation put
forward by some writers on behalf of the Tasmanian fish.
It is probable, however, that this alleged difference in habit
is traceable to the confusion between the mullets and
herrings, the words "visits the coasts in enormous shoals"
being as indisputably true of the latter as it is probably
incorrect of the former fish. This solution of the difficulty
appears to have commended itself to Dr. Hector as well as
to myself, else he would hardly have penned the words
" what is supposed to be this fish."

Continuing the same quotation, Mr. Sherrin writes : —
** The Picton Herring, a dried fish commonly known through-

^ Mu()Ulour,Forsk.'DescY. Anim. p. U,l775=Mugil cephalotus, Cuv. and VaU
H. N. Poiss. xi. p. 110, 1836.

* Proc. Roy. Soc. Tas. 1890, pp. 26-34.

t The italics are mine.

72

out tlie colony, is the * aua/ J preserved by smoking." On p.
72, however, Mr. Sherrin, alluding to the Australian Pilchard,
writes; — " In the beginning of April thej appear in Queen
Charlotte's Sound, and are caught in large numbers, and
converted by salting and smoking into the higbly esteemed
Picton Herring."

Taken together the two paragraj^hs quoted are directly
contradictory of one another, or at the least so worded as to
be liable to cause confusion in the minds of those who are
not in a position to make a personal investigation ; neverthe-
less I can affirm that both paragraphs are to some extent
true, for having purchased in the Sydney market smoked
*' Picton Bloaters " and fresh ** New Zealand Herrings," I
found the former to be Clujpea sagax and the latter Agonos-
tomus forsteri.

The following epitome of the three'[[ mugiloid genera so far
recorded from Tasmania should make the task of distinguish-
ing them easy, since up to the present time only one species
of each genus has been recognised, though doubtless a more
thorough investigation of the estuary fauna, especially in the
northern and eastern districts, will reveal the presence of
others.

Adipose eyelid present ; an elongate scale in the axil

of the pectoral ; snout scaly.
Both jaws toothless ; anal fin with eight soft rays

Mugil, p.
No adipose eyelid ; no elongate scale in the axil of the

pectoral ; snout naked.
Teeth in the upper jaw only, in a single series ;

anal fin with nine soft rays. Myxus, p.
Teeth in both jaws, in several series ; anal fin with

twelve soft rays. Agonostomus, p.
In this and all subsequent papers the following rules for
taking the comparative measurements will be strictly adhered
to, unless special mention to the contrary shall be made : —
The total length is the distance between the extremity of the
jaws and the base of the caudal fin ; the length of the head
is the distance between the tip of the snout and the free
margin of the bony opercle, or, if present, the tip of the
opercular spine ; the diameter of the eye is measured along
its horizontal axis ; the width of the interorbital region is
the narrowest point of the cranium between the eyes ; the
base of a fin is the distance between its origin and the

J Aua and Makawhiti are names by wliicli Agonostomus forsteri are known to the
Maoris.

^ Since this was written Mr. Morton has sent me a specimen of Lisa peronii
from Tasmania ; this ^enus may be distinguished from Mugil by the absence of an
adipose eyelid, from Myxus and Agonostomus by the absence of teeth. It differs
from all our other mullets in the great depth of the caudal peduncle.

73

insertion of the last ray ; the depth of the caudal peduncle
is taken at its shallowest portion, and its length is the inter-
space between the dorsal and caudal fins. In giving the
total length to which a fish attains the caudal fin is, as a
matter of course, included.

Appended is a full generic and specific description of each
of the Tasmanian Gray Mullets taken, in the case of Myxus
and Agonostomus, entirely from specimens forwarded by Mr.
Morton, while that of Mugil dohiila was of necessity drawn
up from Port Jackson examples, both the Tasmanian speci-
mens received having been unfortunately destroyed, not,
however, before they had been carefully examined and
compared with our common Now South Wales Sea Mullet.
One of the Tasmanian examples was in the adult, the other
in the half-grown or "hardgut" stage.

Mugil.

Muqil, Artedi, Gen. Pise. p. 32, 1738.

Body oblong, somewhat compressed ; head moderate, the
snout short and broad, not depressed ; mouth moderate and
transverse, the lips thin ; premaxillaries narrow, protractile ;
maxillary not bent downwards posteriorly, concealed except
at the extreme tip beneath the preorbital, the lower border of
which does not overlap it, without supplemental bone ; lower
lip included, the dentary bones of thelower jaw obtusangular
in front, separated at the symphysis by a shallow notch.
Adipose eyelid present ; preorbital minutely denticulated,
its lower border without notch ; opercular bones entire ; gill-
rakers short, slender ; six branchiostegals ; pseudobranchiae
present ; jaws toothless, fringed with minute cilia ; vomer,
palatines, and tongue without, pterygoids with a small group
of minute teeth ; two dorsal fins with iv. i 8 rays, the origin
of the first about midway between the base of the caudal
and the extremity of the snout ; anal fin originating slightly
in advance of and not more developed than the soft dorsal, with
iii 8 rays ; ventrals moderate, rounded, with a rather feeble
spine ; pectorals rather small, pointed, with 16 rays, the
upper ones the longest, the second undivided and not stronger
than the third ; caudal emarginate, with the lobes acute.
Scales moderate, cycloid ; snout and preorbital scaly ; an
enlarged scde in the axil of the pectoral ; a scaly process
between the ventral fins.

Deriv. — Mugil ; the Latin name for a Mediterranean species,
from mulgeo, to suck, in allusion to their method of procur-
ing food.

Type. — Mugil cephalus, Linnaeus,

74

Mtjgil DOBULA. '

Mugil dobula, Gnth. Catai. Fish, iii. p, 420, 1861 and
Fisch. Sudsee, p. 214, pi. cxx. f. A. 1876 ; Casteln. Proc.
Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, 1878, iii. p. 387 ; Macl. Proc. Linn.
Soc. N.S. Wales, 1880, iv. p. 415 ; Ogilby, Edi. Fish. N.S.
Wales, p. 118, pi. xxxi. 1893. Mugil waigiensis (not Quoy
Gaimard) Casteln. Proc. Zool. Soc. Vict. 1872, i.
p. 140. Mugil grandis, Casteln. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.
Wales, 1878, 'iii. p. 386; Macl. I.e. p. 412. Mugil cephalotus
(not Cuv. Val.) Johnston, Proc. Eoj. Soc. Tas. 1882,
p. 122.

D. iv. i 8. A. iii 8. Sc. 40—42/14—15.

Length of head 3-3% to 4^^, depth of body 3f to 3^
in the total length ; width of head If to If, of the
interorbital region, which is almost flat 2 to 2f, diameter
of eye 3f to 4^ in the length of the head ; snout
very broad and obtuse, as long as to one fourth of a
diameter longer than the eye ; maxillary longer than the
diameter of the eye, reaching to or nearly to the vertical
from its anterior margin ; preorbital narrow, its distal end
rounded and about half as wide as the pupil, entire or
minutely serrated on the posterior portion of the lower and
the hinder margins \ 68 to 74 gill-rakers on the lower branch
of the anterior arch ; body rather stout, not much com-
pressed, the dorsal profile but little convex, much less so than
the ventral. The origin of the spinous dorsal is midway
between the base of the caudal and the extremity of the
snout ; the spines are rather weak, the first slightly curved^
as long as or a little longer than the second, its length If
to 2 in that of the head ; the third spine is considerably
shorter than the second, while the fourth is from 2 to 2|^
in the length of the first ; the space between the origins of
the dorsal fins is as long as or a little longer than the head j
the anterior soft rays are as long as or shorter than the first
spine, and the outer border of the second dorsal is moderately
emarginate, the last ray being considerably produced ; the
anal fin originates slightly in advance of and does not extend
quite so far back as the second dorsal, its base being If to
1^ in its distance from the caudal ; the anterior soft rays
are as long as those of the dorsal, and when laid back do
not extend to the extremity of the last ray, which is more or
less produced ; the outer border of the fin is slightly
emarginate ; ventral inserted beneath the last third or fourth
of the pectoral, its length 1^ to If in that of the head»
and 2f to 2| in the distance between its origin and the
anal ; the outer ray a little longer than the second ; third, or
third and fourth pectoral rays the longest, not extending to
beneath the origin of the spinous dorsal, IJ to If in

75

the length of the head ; caudal deeply emarginate ; caudal
peduncle rather short and stout, its least depth 2:^ to
2f in the depth of the bodj, and IJ to If in its
length. The axillary scales of the pectoral and ventral
largely developed, and about as long as those of the first
dorsal, which extend half way along the terminal membrane ;
a series of small scales between the anterior dorsal and anal
rays. Steel blue above, the sides and lower surfaces silvery ;
a small black spot in the axil of the pectoral, and a golden
spot on the upper angle of the opercle ; dorsal and pectoral
fins dark blue-grey, the latter with a large silvery iridescent
blotch covering the lower two thirds of its base ; caudal and
anal fins yellowish-green.

This fine mullet has a much wider range than the majority
of our Australian species, for, in addition to its Tasmanian
distribution, which, according to Messrs. Johnston and
Morton, comprehends the northern and eastern coasts, it is
in all probability an inhabitant of the entire sea-board of
the continent. Owing to the want of local catalogues of the
fishes occurring along our southern, western, and northern
shores, we have to be satisfied with such meagre records as
are to be found in isolated papers, and in most cases, there-
fore, the exact limit of the range of a species cannot be
definitely ascertained ; in the case of this mullet, however,
we have precise records of its abundance along the whole of
our eastern and south-eastern coasts; westward of Victoria
a hiatus occurs until Perth is reached, from whence Dr.
Giinther, the author of the species, found examples in the
British Museum collection. As Macleay obtained specimens
at Port Darwin, it is safe to conclude that it is found at all
intermediate stations between that locality and Perth on the
one hand and Cape York on the other, and it would even
appear to extend north-westwards right through the Malay-
sian seas to the coasts of China, if Professor Kner is correct
in attributing to this species two mullets collected at Hong-
kong during the voyage of the " Novara." Both these
examples were, however, very young, the largest being only
five centimeters, and it scarcely seems advisable to me to
claim so great an extension of distribution on so slender a
foundation as the differences between this and any closely
allied species (such as oeur, which is a common Chinese fish)
at so early a stage of growth. To the north-east there is,
however, more definite information as to its range. Dr.
Giinther having recorded it both from the New Hebrides and
the Sandwich Islands.

This species is ]jar excellence the mullet of our eastern
and south-eastern coasts, and to it assuredly should be limited
the name " Sea Mullet," as typifjing its habit of gathering

76

in enormous slioals off our coasts during the latter end of
the summer, preparatory to seeking its spawning beds in the
shallower parts of our hays and estuaries. In its adult state
this is the name applied to it by the residents of New South
Wales and Queensland, the immature fish, prior to its first
visit to the open sea, being known in the southern colony by
the name of " Hardgut Mullet," in the northern by the
appropriate one of " Mangrove Mullet " ; in Victoria and
Tas'nania it has somehow contracted the name of " Sand
Mullet," a title which is by no means suitable, as during the
short time when it is engaged in spawning it shows a decided
preference for mud banks at the mouths of rivers over the
more open sandy beaches, and the remainder of its life is
passed out at sea. This fine species attains to a length of
650 millimeters, and a weight of ten pounds or even more.

As this mullet has been confused by Mr. Johnston and
others with Mugil oeur, the following differences between the
two fishes may appropriately be mentioned here. In dohula
the head is proportionately smaller, the body deeper, the eye
larger, the jaws are without trace of teeth, and the scales are
cycloid. The two last characters serve by themselves to
distinguish the two species, as in oe?/r the teeth are " distinct
in both jaws " (Day, Fishes of India), and the " scales of the
trunk are more regularly ctenoid " (Kner, Voyage " Novara").

The mistake has no doubt been partly caused by Macleay's
assertion that Prof. Kner " announces it," i.e., cephaloius, " as
a Port Jackson fish." This is quite incorrect ; that author
records specimens obtained by the collectors of the " Novara '*
from Java, Manilla, and New Holland, the latter term being
used throughout the whole work as synonymous with Aus-
tralia.

The most southerly latitude to which I can with any
certainty refer oenr is that of the Mary Eiver, Queensland,
where it was obtained by the naturalists of the " Challenger."
From the ctenoid character of the lepidosis and the presence
of teeth I should judge that Mucjil oeur was more habitually
a denizen of fresh and brackish waters than Muqil dohula.

Myxus.

Myxus, Glinther, Catal. Fish. iii. p. 466, 1861.

Body oblong, compressed ; head moderate, the snout
pointed and somewhat depressed ; mouth small and trans-
verse, the lips thin ; premaxillaries narrow, protractile ;
maxillary not bent downwards posteriorly, almost entirely
hidden beneath the preorbital, which considerably overlaps it
posteriorly, without supplemental bone ; lower lip included,
the dentary bones of the lower jaw obtusangular in front.

77

not separated by a notch at tlie symphysis. Adipose eyelid
rudimentary ; preorbital denticulated, its lower border with-
out conspicuous notch ; opercular bones entire ; gill-rakers
moderate, slender ; six brauchiostegals ; pseudobranchise
present ; upper jaw with a single series of small club-shaped
or crenulated teeth ; lower jaw with fine cilia ; vomer,
palatines, pterygoids, and tongue with patches of minute
teeth ; two dorsal fins, with iv. i 8 rays, the origin of the
first nearer to the base of the caudal than to the extremity
of the snout ; anal fin originating well in advance of and
more developed than the second dorsal, with iii 9 rays ;
ventrals moderate and rounded, with a rather feeble spine ;
pectorals small, obtusely pointed, with 16 rays, the upper
ones the longest, the second undivided and somewhat
stronger than the third ; caudal emarginate, with the lobes
acute ; scales moderate, mostly cycloid ; snout naked :
preorbital scaly ; no enlarged scale in the axil of the
pectoral ; a scaly process between the ventral fins.

Deriv. — /.w^dv or /xv^os, a kind of fish, from fxO^a, slime.

Type. — Myxus elongatus, Giinther.

Myxtjs elongatus.

Myxus elongatus, Gnth. Catal. Fish iii. ^. 466, 1861 ;
Kner, Vov. JSTovara, Fisch. p. 230, 1869 ; Macl. Proc.
Linn. Soc.'KS. Wales. 1879, iv. p. 426 ; Ogilby, Rep. Lord
Howe Isl. Fish, p 63, 1889, and Edib. Fish N.S. Wales, p.
128, pi. xxxiii. 1893.

D. iv. i 8. A. iii 9. Sc. 42-46/14-15.

Length of head 3|- to 4/^ depth of body S^V to 4 in
the total length ; width of head 1^-^ to 1^-^, of the
slightly convex interorbital region 2f to 2|, diameter of
eye 4 to 4f in the length of the head ; snout obtuse,
from one fifth to two fifths of a diameter longer than the
eye ; maxillary about as long as the diameter of the eye and
not reaching to the vertical from its anterior margin ; distal
end of the preorbital obliquely truncated, rarely rounded,
as wide or nearly as wide as the pupil, the posterior half of
the lower and the hinder borders strongly denticulated ; 60
to 64 gill-rakers on the lower branch of the anterior arch ;
body moderately stout and deep, the dorsal profile slightly
and evenly convex, less so than the ventral. The origin of
the spinous dorsal is a little nearer to the base of the caudal
than to the extremity of the snout ; the spines are rather
weak, the first straight or nearly straight, very little longer
than the second, its length 2 to "2\ in that of the head ;

78

the third si)inc is considerably shorter than the second and
the fourth, which is curved and feeble, is 2 to 2^ in the
length of the first ; the space between the origins of the
dorsal fins is as long as or a little shorter than the head ;
the anterior soft rays are as long as or a little longer than the
first spine, and the outer border of the second dorsal is but
little emarginate, the last ray not being appreciably pro-
duced ; the anal fin originates well in advance of and does
not extend quite so far back as the second dorsal, its base
being 1^ to If in its distaoce from the caudal ; the
anterior soft rays are longer than those of the dorsal, and
when laid back extend to, or nearly to, the extremity of the
last ray, which is but little produced ; the outer border of
the fin is moderately emarginate ; ventral inserted beneath
the last fourth of the pectoral, its length 1^- to If in
that of the head, and 2J to 2f in the distance between
its origin and the anal ; the outer ray not longer than the
second ; third pectoral ray the longest, not nearly extending
to beneath the origin of the S})inous dorsal, If to If in
the length of the head ; caudal deeply emarginate ; caudal
peduncle long and rather slender, its least depth 2J to 2J
in the depth of the body and much less than its length.
Scales of the cheeks, preorbitals, and ventral surface finely
ciliated ; the elongated scale in the axil of the ventral is
much smaller than that at the base of the first dorsal, which
reaches almost to the end of the membrane ; a series of
small scales between the soft dorsal and anal rays. Light
reddish brown or dark green above, silver below, the sides
pink ; a small black spot in the axil of the pectoral ; a
golden spot on the opercle ; soft dorsal generally with a
median dusky band ; extremity of the caudal fin blackish.

The aboriginal name of this fish in the Sydney district is
Tallegalane, but it is more commonly sold by dealers as Sand
Mullet, a name well in accordance with its habits. Its range
extends from Southern Queensland to the coast of Victoria,
whence Giinther received one of his types. In that colony,
however, it has either been overlooked or is a mere straggler,
as it has not been recorded since ; the fact that none of the
Tasmanian authorities have ever noticed it, but that at the
same time Mr. Morton was able to forward five examples,
induces me to incline to the former theory. Its range on the
coast of the island colony is not known, but probably concurs
with that of Mugil dobula. The Tallegalane* attains a size
of 400 millimeters, though those which come to market more
ordinarily average less than twelve inches.

* Where the native name of an animal or plant is known it is, I think, always
best to use it in preference to such names as " Sand Mullet," •' Sea Mullet," etc.,
which are almost sure to be bandied about from one species to another in different
localities.

79

Agonostomus.

Agonostomus, Bennett, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1830, p. 166 ;
Agonostoma, Giinther, Catal. Fish, iii. p. 461, 1861, et auctt.

Body elongate-oblong, strongly compressed ; head moderate,
the snout somewhat pointed and depressed ; mouth moderate
and sublateral, the lips thin ; premaxillaries narrow, pro-
tractile ; maxillary straight, not bent downwards posteriorly,
extending beyond the lower margin of the preorbital and
entirely hidden beneath it and the anterior bones of the sub-
orbital ring, without supplemental bDne ; lower lip included ;
dentary bones of the lower jaw rounded in front, with an
indistinct notch at the symphysis ; adipose eyelid rudi-
mentary ; preorbital denticulated, its lower border without
conspicuous notch ; opercular bones entire ; gill-rakers
moderate, rather stout ; six branchiostegals ; pseudobranchiae
present ; both jaws with a narrow band of small curved
teeth, the lower with a series of fine cilia in addition to the
teeth ; teeth on the vomer, palatines, pterygoids, and tongue.
Two separate dorsal fins, with iv. i 9 rays, the origin of the
first midway between the base of the caudal and the extremity
of the snout ; anal fin originating well in advance of and
much more developed than the second dorsal, with iii 12
rays ; ventrals small and rounded, with a feeble spine j
pectorals moderate, pointed with 17 rays, the upper ones the
longest, the second undivided and but little stronger than the
third ; caudal deeply emarginate, with the lobes acute.
Scales small, feebly ciliated ; snout naked ; preorbital scaly j
no enlarged scale in the axil of the pectoral ; a scaly process
between the ventral fins. Vertebrae 24 (11 + 13).

Deriv. — a priv., yQvos, an angle, crrofia, mouth ; in allusion
to the rounded shape of the lower jaw.

Type.—^Agonostomus telfairii, Bennett.

Agonostomus foksteri.

Mugil albula forsterif Bloch and Schn. Syst. Ichth. p. 120,
1801. Mugil for steri, Cuv. and Yal. Hist. Nat. Poiss. xi. p.
141, 1836 ; Eichards Yoy. Erebus and Terror, Fish, p. 77,
pi. xliv. fE. 20-26, 1846. Dajaus diemensis, Richards.
Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1840, p. 25 and Trans. Zool. Soc.
Lond. iii. p. 123, 1841, and Voy. Erebus and Terror,
Fish. p. 37, pi. xxvi. if. 1-4, 1846 ; Jenyns, Zool. Beagle»
Fish. p. 82, 1842. Mugil alhula, Forster, Descr. Anim. ed.
Licht. p. 145, 1844. Agonostoma forsteri, Gnth. Catal.
Fish. iii. p. 465, 1861 ; Hutton, Fish. N. ZeaL p. 37, 1872 ;
Hector, Edib. Fish. N. Zeal, p 114, pi. vi. f. 58 ; Johnston,
Proc. Roy. Soc. Tasmania, 1882, pp. 86, 123 ; Sherrin,
Handb. N.Z. Fish, p. 65, 1886 ; Agonostoma diemensis.

80

Casteln. Proc. Zool. Soc. Vict. 1872, i. p. 141 and 1873, ii.
p 13d ; Macl. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, 1879, iv. p. 425.
Agonostoma lacnstris, Casteln. I.e. i. p. 142 ; Macl. I.e.
Agonostomus forsteri, Gill, Mem. Acad. Washingt. vi. pp. ,
18i'4.

D. iv, iP. A. iii 12. Sc. 60-64/17-18.

Length of head 4 to 4f- ; depth of body 4 to 4^ in
the total length ; width oi: head If to 2 of the convex
interorbital region 3f to 3f ; diameter of eye 3/y to
4 in the length of the head ; snout obtuse, as long
as or a little longer than the eye ; maxillary as loug as
or a little shorter than the diameter of the eye, reaching to
or nearly to the vertical from its anterior margin ; distal end
of the preorbital rounded and oblique, not so wide as the
pupil ; posterior half of the lower and the hinder borders
denticulated ; 27 to 29 gill-rakers on the lower branch of
the anterior arch ; body ralher elongated, the dorsal and
ventral profiles equally and slightly convex. The origin of
the spinous dorsal is midway, or a little in advance of
midway, between the base of the caudal and the extremity of
the snout ; the spines are feeble, the first straight and but
little longer than the second, its length If to 2 in that
of the head ; the third spine is intermediate in length
between the second and the fourth, which is 2 to 2^ in
the length of the first ; the space between the origins of the
dorsal fins is as long as or a little longer than the head ; the
anterior rays are as long as the first spine, and the outer
border of the soft dorsal is moderately emargiuate, the last
ray being slightly produced ; the anal originates well in
advance of and does not extend quite so far back as the
second dorsal, its base being as long as or a little shorter than
its distance from the caudal ; the anterior rays are slightly
longer than those of the dorsal, and when laid back extend to
or a little beyond the base of the last ray, which is moderately
produced, the outer border of the fin being deeply emarginate ;
ventral inserted beneath or a little behind the middle of the
pectoral, its length If to l^ in that of the head, and
2i to 2f in the distance between its origin and the anal;
the middle ray the longest ; third and fourth pectoral rays
the longest, not extending to beneath the origin of the
spinous dorsal, 1^ to IJ in the length of the head ;
caudal peduncle long and slender, its least depth 2f to
2f in the depth of the body, and If to 2 in its length.
The elongated scale in the axil of the ventral is small ; no
pointed scale at the base of the spinous dorsal ; some small
scales between the anterior rays of the anal fin.

Either " Estuary Mullet," as given by Mr. Johnston in his
amended catalogue, or "Lake Mullet," as applied to his

81

Agonostoma lacusiris by Count Castelnau, is a suitable name
for this fisli. At Perth, where, according to the latter
authority, it is '• very common," it is known as the '^ Pilchard,"
though the Count thinks that in this there " must be some
mistake " ; however, considering the remarkably herring-
like appearance of the fish it is quite possible that among an
ignorant population some such name would be applied to
this or any similar species, as indeed is the case among the
fishermen of New Zealand. The Estuary Mullet attains a
length of 400 millimeters, but is usually much smaller.

Early in February I received from the same source a
number of young examples of Emmelichthys nitilus with the
following note on the subject of their capture : — *'0n Satur-
day, while one of our ' well ' fishing boats was fishing for
Barracouta, they got among a shoal chasing some small fish,
the result being that the small fry made a rush for the boat,
getting in at the holes and nearly filling the well." As the
adult fish is seldom taken on the Tasmanian coast this sudden
appearance of the fry in such numbers off the coast is very
interesting, especially as nothing whatever was previously
known about its breeding habits, though in a genus so closely
allied to Arripis it was safe to conjecture that the method of
propagation is somewhat similar in the two species. When
their life history is better known it will probably be found
that the members of both these genera shed their spawn
near the surface, avoiding while so employed the proximity
of the land.

As both Sir William Macleay and Mr. Johnston have
followed Dr. G-iinther in using the generic name ErythricMhys
for this fish I give here the synonymy of the genus, a glance
at which will show that not only is that name inadmissable.
having been previously made use of for a genus of
Characinoid fishes, but that Richardson's name has priority
of publication over Schlegers, as also have Guichenot's and
Bleeker's names.

Emmelichthys.

Emmelichthys, Richardson, Voy. Erebus and Terror, Fish,
p. 47, 1346.

Boxaodon, Guichenot, Rev. Zool. p. 333, 1847.

Dipterygonotus, Bleeker, Journ. Ind. Arch. iii. 1849t.

Erythrichthys (not Bonaparte, Saggio, 1831), Temminck and
Schlegel, Faun. Japon. Poiss. p. 117, 1850.

Two fine examples of the fish commonly known to Aus-
tralian scientists as Holoxenus cutaneus were included in the
collection which was destroyed by an accident as previously

t Perhaps separable from Emmelichthys

82

mentioned ; fortunately, however, I had embraced the
opportunity of making a diagnosis of these specimens before
the catastrophe took place, and am, therefore, enabled to give
a more detailed description than that provided in the cata-
logues of Sir William Macleay and Mr. Johnston.

Owing to the loss of the specimens I am, however, debarred
from giving a corrected generic diagnosis, from adding some
characters to the specific description which would have made
it more complete, and from noting the coloration. In the
comparative measurements of the total length the caudal
fin is included for the same reason.

Appended is the full synonymy, both generic and specific,
so far as I know it.

GrNATHANACANTHTJS.

Gnathanacanthus, Bleeker, Fish. Van. Diemen's Land, p.
21, 1855 J. Holoxenus, Giinther, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist.
(4) 1876, xvii. p. 393. Beridia, Castelnau, Proc. Linn. Soc.
N.S. Wales, 1877, ii. p. 229.

Gnathanacanthus goetzi.
Gnathanacanthus goetzi^ Bleek. Fish. Van. Diem. Land,
p. 21, pi. — , f. 1, 1855 ; Gill, Proc. U.S. Nat. Mus. xiv.
p. 701, c. fig. Holoxenus cutaneus, Gnth. Ann. and Mag.
Nat. Hist. (4) 1876, xvii. p. 393 ; Macleay, Proc. Linn. Soc.
N.S. Wales, 1880, v. p. 438, and 1884, ix. p. 19 ; Johnston,
Proc. Eoy. Soc. Tas. 1882, p. 114 and 1890, p. 31. Beridia
flava, Casteln. Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, 1878, ii. p. 229,
pi. ii ; Macleay, I.e. v. p. 592. Holoxenus guntheri, Johnston,
11. cc ; Macleay, I.e. ix. p. 19.

Velvet Fish.
D. xii-xiii 9-10. A. iii 8-9.

Length of head 3 to 3^^, depth of body 3J to 3f
in the total length ; depth of head below the first dorsal
spine 1^ to Ij, width of head 2f to 2|- in its length ;
eye rather small, situated entirely within the antero-superior
fourth of the head, its diameter 4f to 4f in the length
of the head ; snout obtuse, one tenth to one fifth of a
diameter longer than the eye ; interorbital space strongly
convex, its width If to If in the diameter of the eye ;
profile of head in front of the dorsal fin slightly concave ;
jaws subequal, the chin a little prominent ; cleft of mouth
oblique, the maxilla extending to beneath the anterior margin
of the eye ; opercle with two concealed spines ; the dorsal

} I have not seen this paper.

83

fin commences above the eye ; the spines are rather weak, the
third the longest, If to ly^^ in the length of the head ;
the eighth and ninth are short and sometimes quite concealed
heneath the loose skin§ ; the length of the last spine is If
to 1^ in that of the third and IJ to If in the first ray ;
all the fin rays have free tips, and the third and fourth
are the longest, 1|- to IJ in the length of the head ; the
anal spines are rather stronger than those of the dorsal,
the last the longest, 2i to 2f in the length of the head
and 1| to 2| in the longest rays ; ventral spine strong
and acute, If to 2 in the length of the longest ray ; the
margin of the fin is either rounded or subacuminate owing
to the prolongation of the two outer rays, and extends almost
to the vent or beyond the origin of the anal ; pectoral
rounded, reaching to or beyond the vertical from the first
anal ray, 1^% to 1-g- in the length of the head ; caudal
rounded, subequal in length to the pectoral, its length 3|-
to 3| in the total length ; the least depth of the caudal
peduncle is about as long as the diameter of the eye.

The specimens were in fair condition and measured respec-
tively 270 and 280 millimeters.

Among the other fishes forwarded by Mr. Morton was a
Macrurid from the estuary of the Derwent ; though closely
allied to CoelorJiynchus australis (Ledidoleprus australisy
Eichardson, Proc, Zool. Soc. Lond. 1839; Macrurus australis,
Giinther, Catal. Fish. iv. p. 391, and Voy. Challenger,
Zool. xxii. p. 127), this example differed to such an extent
that I think it better to describe it at length, naming it
provisionally as belowU.

C(ELORHYNCHTJS MOETONI, Sp. UOV.

D. 13, 68. A. 71. V. 7. P. 15. C. 6. Sc. 883^.
Length of head 4 J, depth of body 5i in the total length ;
eye very large, its diameter 3^ in the length of the
head ; snout obtusely angulated, extending considerably
beyond the mouth, a little longer than the eye ; interorbital
region flat, its width six sevenths of the diameter of the
•eye ; upper surface of the snout with a median and two
lateral ridges ; infraorbital ridge prominent, not reaching
back as far as the angle of the preopercle, in front of which
it terminates in an elongated, acute point, formed by its
coalescence with an arcuate ridge which traverses the anterior
border of the preopercle ; barbel subequal in length to the

§ In one specimen these two spines are not visible, but can be plainly felt.

^ I submitted the above description to Dr. Boulenger, who, llowe^•er, merely
writes in answer :— " From your description I think the Ccelorhynchus must' be very
<;losely allied to Macrurus australis." Through an unfortunate accident the
specimen has been lost to science.

84

Tertical diameter of the eye ; the maxillary reaches to a little
Leyond the vertical from the middle of the orbit ; the band
of teeth in the lower jaw is composed of three irregular
series and is but a little broader in front than behind ;
second ray of the first dorsal fin smooth, not extending when
laid back to the origin of the second dorsal, its length equal
to hall of the head ; it is inserted immediately behind the
base of the pectoral ; second dorsal rays very low ; anal well
developed, originating a little in advance of the second dorsal,
the longest ravs anterior to the middle of the fin and one
third of the length of the head ; ventral inserted entirely
behind the base of the pectoral, its outer ray slightly pro-
duced, extending to the vent, Avhich is situated beneath the
dorsal interspace ; pectoral pointed, reaching as far back as
the ventral, rather longer than the postorbital portion of the
head. Scales of the body with from 18 to 23 parallel keels,
each of which is composed of a series of strong, acute, com-
pressed, overlapjnng spines, the last one passing beyond the
free border of the scale ; scales of the head smaller and very
rough, covered with radiating striae, each of which is armed
•with short branched spines ; scales on the opercles, the series
above the infraorbital ridge, and two rows on each side of
the occiput more regularly striated. Dark brown above,
light brown below ; all the darker scales with a whitish
oblong spot at their base.

The example measures 520 millimeters.

Among the more pronounced points of difference between
the sj^ecies under consideration and Coelorhynchus australis*
the following characters may be specially noticed ; the figures
within brackets pertain to the latter species : — The much
greater size of the head, the comparative measurements
being 4| and (nearly 5) in the total length ; the much smaller
number of rays in the second dorsal, 68 (88), and anal 71
(87-96) fins ; the much larger scales, 88 and (ca. 130) ; and
the different pattern and strength of the scale armature, for
while the number of keels present on each body scale in
C. mortoni is from 18 to 23, and these are arranged in
parallel series and terminate each in a strong, free spine,
which conjointly form the j^osterior border of the scale, in
C. australis there are only 12 to 18 rows of keels and the
border of the scale is more or less scalloped in appearance.

As Coelorhynchus australis is more abundant on the New
Zealand coast than elsewhere I must leave to the scientists of
that colony the task of determining whether the differences
pointed out above represent only such as are likely to be

* C. australis was originally described by Sir John Richardson from an example
taken at Port Arthur, Tasmania ; it is also a native of the New Zealand seas.

85

found in what may be termed the polar forms of a variable
species (in which case intermediate forms should be easily-
obtainable), or whether two distinct but closely allied species
have hitherto been confounded under the name australis.

A specimen of eel forwarded for identification belongs to
the restricted genus Ophisurus, but is in such bad condition
that the species cannot be determined. It may, however, be
included provisionally in the Tasmanian catalogue as 0.
^erpena.

86

VOLUTA FUSIFORMIS. Swainson.

Var. Micro-papiUosa.

By C. E. Beddome.

Bead May 28th, 1896.

Shell fusiform ovately-elongate, somewliat solid, contracted,
and distinctly emarginate at the base ; spire very short, only
about one-fourth the length of body whorl ; somewhat accu-
minate and minutely papillary at the apex ; whorls uniformly
gently rounded or swollen, smooth, minutely decussately
striated under the lens : columella with three very oblique
moderately conspicuous plaits ; aperture rather narrowly
elliptical ; lip markedly thickened and sub-reflexed, very
much compressed over very narrowly receding posterior
canal ; colour brownish white, reticulated with light chestnut
triangularly configured lines as in V. fusiformis, columella
and interior of the aperture uniformly orange-carnelia.

This shell, taken from the Derwent by Mr. Frank Rush,
fisherman, forms an interesting link between V. fusiformis,
Sw., and V. jpapillaris, Sw., although it is scarcely separable
from the former species, of which it may be regarded as an
extremely aberrant variety. It approaches close to F. papiU
laris, Sw., in the extremely short spire, in solidity, and in the
thickened lip and compressed posterior margin. In all other
characters it agrees exactly with Voluta fusiformis, Sw.

Length of spire, liin.; length of body whorl, 4i|^in.; total
length, 5^in. Greatest breadth, 2Jin. The following rela-
tive measurements of the three allied forms give a more
definite idea of the respective proportions of spire, body
whorl, and breadth, in relation to length, regarded in each
case as 100 : —

V. fusiformis.

V. fusiformis
var. micro papillosa.

V. papill

Spire

35

21

28

Body whorl

65

79

72

Greatest breadth . .

41

44

45

Total length

100

100

100

The type s^jecies is in C. E. Beddome' s collection. The
beautiful drawings of the shell have been made for me by
W. L. May, Esq., of Sandford, Tasmania.

87

SOME CONCHOLOGICAL NOTES ON TASMANIAN

MOLLUSC A.

By Mrs. Agnes Kenyon.

Bead May 2Sth, 1896.

Tasmanian concholopjists must feel proud of such a noble
addition to their marine gasteropoda as Valuta roadknigJitiy a,
broken specimen, which must have been of trulj magnificent
proportions, 8in. in length by 6in. round, having been found
in the neighbourhood of Swansea, East Coast, in 1894, but was
not recognised by the finder ; but Mrs. C. J. Irvine, of Laun-
ceston, having visited Swansea in April it was given to her.
During my late visit to Tasmania I was not lucky enouf^h
to make any find of importance, but having found a
Corbicula hrunneus at Sandy Bay, if an appendix to E.. M.
Johnston's, F.L.S., list is ever published the afiix of " doubt-
ful " could be omitted. I also found at Sandy Bay Austina
augasi (a different locality is given), and at Eaglehawk Neck
a Venus, I think not previously described, but will have this
verified. But I should wish now to correct a few errors
which, in the hurried perusal of Mr. Johnston's list of
mollusca, I have noticed Venus conularis, V. aphrodinoides ;
these are two distinct shells. V. lamellata and F. scalarina
are two quite distinct shells, and not synonyms as assumed
by Mr. Johnston. V. fumigata is not, as stated, a doubtful
species ; this I can vouch, as I possess specimens, although
not perfect. It is found in only one locality in Victoria, and
I am trying to procure some ; if successful [ shall send one
over. The difference in appearance between V. lavigata and
V. fumigata is very apparent^ umbones prominent, inclining
over the lunule, the valves are much more dilated, the
posterior grooving, as mentioned by Tenison Woods, being
either present or absent in different specimens, one peculiarity
which has not been noticed, or at all events on which suffi-
cient stress has not been laid. All the specimens I possess,
even one of the normal shape of V. lavigata, have thin
streaks or "fumes" longitudinally ascending towards the
umbones. . I have had quite large specimens of V. lavigata,
but they are quite a different shell, being flattened and the
umbones wanting in prominence. I also found Venerupis
exotica as well as Carditoides, Dosinia ponderosa, and Ihsinia
sculpta. The latter I have found both in Tasmania and
Victoria, though I believe it has hitherto only been credited
as found in New South Wales.

88

J^OTES ON THE EFFECTS OF THE ATMOSPHERE
ON THE SHELLS OF MOLLUSCA.

By Mrs. Agnes Kenton.
Bead May 2Sth, 1896.

I think it is well for the benefit of conchologists to put
down some observations on this point. I have frequently
noticed the fading of colour so observable in some specimens.
I have some Cyprea which some years ago were found alive at
Portland, Yic, crawling over the rocks there, at one time so
abundant. Such specimens as I still have are now of a light
grey colour, which when first procured were so dark as to be
almost black. This I had attributed, along with most others
with whom I had any conversation on the subject, to the
effects of the sunlight ; however, this in my experience has
proved to be an error, as it is the results are evidently due to
the atmosphere and not the light, as heretofore supposed.
While on a visit to Tasmania I had the opportunity of visit-
ing a collection on which the near vicinity of the sea had the
effect of partially destroying the enamel of the dorsal
surface, by streaks or clouds of a whitish or lime-like sub-
stance, the saline particles held in solution in the atmosphere
evidently exerting a corroding effect in this instance ; though
on my return from my four weeks' stay in Tasmania I had
an unexpected instance of a still stranger effect brought
under my notice. I have had in my possession for the last
six or seven years a matchless specimen of a young Orange
Cowrie {Cy. aurantium) of a lovely deep orange red colour ;
unfortunately before leaving home I had happened to remove
it to the lowest drawer in a cabinet placed next the outer
wall of the dining-room. The cabinet had a plinth about
2in. high, having a wooden bottom, and the drawer had also
a wooden bottom lined with domestic cotton. The shell,
being a young shell and very thin, was for greater security
placed in a glass-topped box, and the doors of the cabinet
were not unlocked during my absence, yet on my return,
owing to some excessive rains having engendered dampness,
the beautiful red colour (so rare) had all faded out, leaving
only a small patch in the centre of the dorsal surface. The
polished enamel is still perfect, and is in all other respects
the same but the fading of the colour.

89

MIOEOSCOPICAL STUDIES OF TASMANIA^

EOCKS.

By W. H. Twelveteees, F.G.S.

Bead May 28th, 1896.

The delicate methods of modern microscopical petrology-
have added greatly to our knowledge of igneous rocks. Very
little work of this description has hitherto been attempted in
Tasmania, but the present studies, undertaken in connection
with the Launceston Microscopical Club, have been entered
upon in the hope of throwing additional light upon the
genesis and intimate structure of our eruptive rocks. It is
proposed to continue the descriptions from time to time as
materials and opportunity permit, and as they must at first
necessarily partake of the nature of preliminary work, re-
marks upon their classification will be withheld till sufficient
progress has been made to justify generalisations. A glance
at the current literature of our science suffices to show that
the microscope in petrology is each year enlarging the
boundaries of its conquests, and it is hoped that the present
contributions will prove helpful to the stratigraphical
geologists of this island.

I. The Dolerite [= Diabase of Authors] of the
Cataract Gorge, Launceston.

The samples of rock selected for slicing were taken from
the quarry near the Cataract Bridge. Microscopically, the
stone is dark, granular, doleritic-looking, studded with
glistening needles of felspar, and black or dark-green spots
representing a ferro-magnesian mineral. Its specific gravity,
as determined by the use of a Walker's balance, ranges from
2*9 to 3, showing that we are dealing with a basic rock.

From a microscopical examination of their sections, we
learn that the essential mineral components are a plagioclase
felspar, augite, and a little iron oxide. I have not found any
olivine in my sections, but further examples will have to be
examined with respect to this point.

FELSPAR.

The sections presented are lath-shaped, columnar, with a
few tabular forms. They are tolerably even in size ; at all
events, there is not that disproportion of size which would
suggest two generations. Though there are a few Carlsbad
twins, the felspars are mostly twinned on the albite plan, and
by choosing sections out of the zone perpendicular to the
brachypinacoid (010), we can obtain the extinction angle
proper to the species represented. With this method of
determination not many visible sections are useful, as it is

90

essential that they be cut perpendicular to the twin lamellae.
The maximum angle ascertained is the one to be taken, and
this in the present instance is 42°. The felspar therefore
belongs to the labradorite-anorthite group. The individuals
polarise in the neutral tints of the first order of Newton's
scale. At their terminations they are frequently turbid, and
this turbidity makes it difficult to say whether there is or
is not any small occurrence of glassy base between the ends
of some of the prisms. There are reds of apatite in a few
of the crystals, and inclusions — sometimes fluid cavities — are
numerous.

ATJGITE.

This is in groups of large ill-defined crystals or plates
with irregular boundaries, moulding themselves, as it were,
upon the felspars, and at times enclosing them, after the type
known as ophitic. This structure is prevalent in gabbros,
so-called diabases, and dolerites, and indicates that the augite
crystallised out later than the felspar, which it wraps round
and sometimes wholly encloses.

The ordinary order of crystallisation is now understood to
be (1) iron ores, etc., (2) the ferro-magnesian crystals
(olivine, augite, hornblende, iDiotite), (3) felspars, (4) quartz.
But in these ophitic rocks the felspars precede the augite ;
accordingly they have the most perfect symmetry of form,
having been free to crystallise without interference from
adjacent crystals. The large masses of augite, on this
assumption, are not analogous to lava phenocrysts brought up
to the surface ready made, often corroded, dislocated, and
senile. Some of them measure ^^in. in length, and though
their component crystals are far from being idiomorphic, a
few, out of the prism zone, are twinned, and have the modifica-
tion of zonal structure known as the hour-glass form. The
augite is monoclinic and non-pleochroic, colourless to light
brown. Extinction angle 41° to 50°. On the whole they are
not fresh, decomposition processes having commenced, and in
some plates schillerisation has set in.

Iron oxide (magnetite) occurs in scattered grains, but is
not abundant, the iron having apparently been used up in the
augite, which from the marginal colouring we may infer to be
highly ferriferous.

Yiridite or chlorite exists as a greenish, radiately fibrous
decomposition product, derived probably from disintegration
of the augite. Its strong pleochroism helps to discriminate
it from serpentinous matter. It evidently belongs to the
chloritic group, and gives rise to the name greenstone.

There is no base actually determinable as such. The
felspar crystals abut closely upon each other, as can be
clearly seen by employing a quarter-inch objective.

91

With regard to the genetic history of this rock, its micro-
scopical structure shows that it cannot in any sense of the
word be described as a lava poured out at the surface in
ancient times and cooled under atmospheric conditions. We
do not find the glass which results from rapid surface chill
imparted to flowing lava streams, and the crystallisation
indicates its formation below the earth's surface.

Again, in most lavas, besides the large crystals brought up
from intra-telluric reservoirs, there is a generation of smaller
ones (generally felspars) springing into existence in the
moving vitreous magma at the moment of eruption. But in
our rock these two generations do not exist. There never
was a surface phase in its history, and though it happens to
be at the surface now, it is so only as the result of extensive
denudation. Moreover, the incipient traces of schiller
enclosures in the bisilicate tell us that we are dealing with no
superficial rock, for these signs of hydration only characterise
rocks which have formed under pressure at considerable
depths.

The rock therefore agrees thoroughly with what is called
the intrusive type — intermediate between the plutonic rock
masses and volcanic lavas emitted at surface. To define the
conditions under which it has come to occupy its present
position belongs to the province of the field geologist.

The German petrographers postulate geological age as a
classificatory principle for igneous rocks. This is not
admitted in England, and is responsible for considerable
confusion in the references to authors' descriptions. Thus in
Germany the same rocks would be called diabase and dolerite,
porphyrite and andesite, melaphyr and basalt, according to
the age of each pair. Within a limited area this plan is to
some extent applicable, but when we attempt to apply it
universally we find that it fails. Gabbros, dolerites, and
basalts may be found to shade into one another, presenting a
continuous sei'ies of one and the same basic rock substance
with textural modifications, ranging from the coarse granite
structure of the gabbros to the glass of basalt lavas.
Dolerite is on this theory a holocrystalline plagioclase-augite
rock intermediate in texture between the gabbros and basalts,
and the only use left for the term diabase is in designat-
ing those dolerites in which extensive chloritic and other
alterations have supervened.

II. The Zeehan White Eock, a Vesicular Basic
Lava = Melaphyre.

This rock varies in appearance according to the degree of
decomposition and to its condition as an ancient ash or a
tuff or a lava flow. The pieces prepared for examination

9^

were from a hard greenish-grey stone with conchoidal
fracture, emitting sparks under the chisel, dotted with black
spots (filled vesicles) from the size of a pin's head upwards.
The specific gravity was 2-8. The stone was obtained from
the Silver Queen Mine through Mr. W. F. Petterd, who
informs me that he is now quite satisfied that it is inter-
bedded with the slates. Mr. Alex. Montgomery, M.A.,
Government G-eologist, has shown me looser descriptions, on©
of which looked like an agglomerate or brecciated tuff, but
my remarks will have reference to the compact variety.

The slides prepared show a glassy ground mass devitrified
by globulites and felspar microliths, many of the latter with
curved, abortive, and ragged forms. A few of the larger
crystals show simple, rarely multiple twinning. The micro-
liths are crowded with inclusions which give them a corroded
appearance. The structure is what Eosenbuscli calls hyalo-
pilitic, a felted mass of felspar microliths with interstitial
glass.

I have applied Levy's method of determining the nature
of the small felspars, viz., obtaining the extinction angle as
from the longitudinal axis of the microlith. I find this to go
as high as 30°, though quite a group collects round 24° and
26°. This indicates labradorite of average composition, the
most common type of felspars of the ground mass in basaltic
rocks.

The most striking feature in the sections consists of
the numerous steam pores or cavities originally of gas
bubbles, irregular in size and shape, but often elon-
gated in the direction of flow, filled sometimes entirely
with a chloritic substance, sometimes with calcite or with
calcite bordered by chlorite, and sometimes containing
carbonate of iron and a little quartz. The calcite effervesces
on the application of acid and polarises brilliantly, contrast-
ing strongly with the border of feebly refracting chlorite.
This chloritic substance occurs as spherular aggregates filling
the vesicles. Where the section is sufficiently thick its colour
is a yellowish green, between crossed nicols it is steel blue
and shows faint interference crosses. The characters of
delessite approach those of the other chlorites so nearly as to
render its absolute determination difficult, but the indications
are those of this mineral, e.g., the colour is from colourless
to greenish yellow, according to the thickness of the slice ;,
the arrangement of the fibres is radial from the centre with
concentric interruption lines, through which they pass occa-
sionally without a break, and its occurrence in vesicles is
eminently characteristic of delessite. It is sometimes faintly
dichroic. "Where the section is thin the delessite filled vesicles
are thoroughly colourless, and single-refracting. Calcite
veins traverse the rock, presumably after consolidation. Thft

93

crystalline calcite of the vesicles, showing characteristic twin
structure and intersecting cleavage lines, appears to have
crystallised out synchronously with the delessite, judging
from its optical continuity notwithstanding interruptions by
delessite.

Grains of iron ore, probably the carbonate, white in re-
flected light, are plentifully scattered through the base, and
often tend to collect round the outlines of the cavities.
There is an admixture of iron oxide, and some quadrate
forms are presented by small cubes of pyrites, distinguish-
able by their brassy lustre. The granular substance of the
siderite is discernible with a high power (|") .

I can find no augite, and the chloritoid mineral is not
pseudomorphic after augite, but that mineral cannot have
been far off. We thus see that this reck has as its essential
constituents : — Glass with crystallites in the form of globu-
lites ; felspar crystals of the base, labradorite ; iron oxide,
probably magnetite. And as secondary and accessory con-
stituents : — Crystalline calcite occupying vesicles and veins ;
delessite in the vesicles ; quartz in vesicles ; carbonate of
iron in the base and also in the vesicles. This is evidently
an alteration product from the oxide.

From the triclinic nature of the felspar and the sj^ecific
gravity (2 8) we infer that the rock belongs to the basic
division. Its light colour seems to be due chiefly to the
calcite and carbonate of iron, and masks its basic relations.

We are thus led to include it among the glassy melaphyres.
Melaphyre is regarded by English petrologists as altered
basalt, and in this sense the Zeehan stone is the vesicular
form of old basaltic eruj^tive material = altered vesicular basalt
= vesicular melaphyre. Its microscopical characters there-
fore teach us that it is an old lava, and Mr. W. F. Petterd
says that in one of the adits of the Oonah Mine it can be
distinctly seen lying between the silurian slates and following
their stratification. Its European equivalent is the vesicular
spilite of Nassau, the so-called lime diabase.

Since the preparation of this paper, Mr. Petterd has had
some slices cut from the more solid rock met with at a
greater depth, viz., from the 120ft. level of No. 3 shaft in the
Silver Queen Mine. These show only a few vesicles, but
have pale green chloritic materal diffused abundantly through
the base. The felspars are larger than in the surface variety,
but the same curved and distorted forms prevail. There is
carbonate ©f iron scattered over the field in grains, as well as
what I take to be titaniferous iron bordered by its white
alteration product leucoxene, sometimes in wedge-shaped
crystals, or pseudomorphic after felspar (and apatite ?) and
apparently so after olivine. The latter is the nearest ap-
proach which I can find to any porphyritic constituent.

94

My attention has been drawn to a paper on tlie geology of
the Zeehan and Duudas silverfield, read Nov. 20, 1895, before
the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy at the Jermyn-
street Museum in London, by Mr. W. F. Thomao, who has, I
notice, correctly diagnosed this white rock as a mela-
phyre, and refers to its occuireuce as favourably affecting the
richness of the silver-lead lodes near Zeehan.

III. PicRiTic Basalt from Mount Horror.

There is a small class of rocks composed of the ferro-mag-
nesian silicates and containing little or no felspar. These are
the ultra-basic rocks, the specific gravity of which is higher
than 3, and as high as 3*2, 3 "3. By the addition of a
felspathic constituent and its increase the specific gravity is
reduced. Olivine no longer occupies an exclusive place, but
augite and hornblende come in and eventually become the
dominant ferro-magnesian silicates. When this happens the
rock becomes a picrite, augite, or hornblende-picrite, as the
case may be, and the picrite itself is liable to go on vaiying
in the same direction until the augite-picrite may finally
merge into olivine dolerite, or even into olivine basalt.

In Tschermak's original type rock picrite (1869) olivine
constituted one-half of the rock, the remaining constituents
being diallage, hornblende, and biotite. Griimbel described
a few years later a palaeopicrite from the Fichtelgebirge, an
olivine-augite rock. In 1880 Dr. (now Sir A.) Geikie
described augite-picrites from Scotland, in Inchcolm and at
Blackburn, the latter with glass and abundant felspar, being
a plagioclase-augite-olivine rock. Prof Judd, in 1885, pub-
lished observations on picrites from the island of Eum and
the Shiant islands. We need not here concern ourselves
with the extension of the name to the hornblende-picrites by
Prof. Bonney, but restrict our remarks to the augite division
of the group as represented by a rock from Mt. Horror in
Tasmania.

The rock is a dark looking, almost black, crystalline stone,
with large crystals of augite porphyritically set in the matrix,
with smaller grains of olivine visible with a hand magnifier.
Its weathered surface is rusty brown, with numerous pro-
truding augite crystals. It is excessively tough, and its
weight when taken in the hand prepares one for its high
specific gravity. Determinations by Walker's specific gravity
balance gave' for different samples 3-11, 3-14, 3'16, 3163,
3-169. To the last specimen I applied the liquid process,
using Klein's tungsto-borate of cadmium solution of 3*28
density. Floating the fragments upon this dense fluid and
diluting it until they remained suspended in any given

95

position, their specific gravity was found to be 3*18.
Tscliermak's and Giimbers picrites are 2-93 to 2*96*.

The Inchcolm picrite = 281. The sp. gr. of the non.-
felspathic picrites of Eum is stated by Juddf as about 3*20.
The hornblende-picrite from Anglesey, described by Prof.
Bonney,J has a sp. gr. of 2 88. Accordingly the sp. gr. of
the Mt. Horror rock is high enough for a picrite containing
some felspar.

The most important mineral is the augite, and not the
mono- silicate olivine as in the more basic peridotites. It is
present in large sections more or less oblique to the vertical
axis. Its tint in plain light is light purplish, deepening to ar
dark mauve shade at the edges. A feeble pleochroism is
perceptible where the purple shade is most pronounced. The
purple colour (according to Knop) results from the presence
of titanic acid ; this colouration is well seen by transmitted
light and a hand lens in thin section of the rock. In some
of the crystals traces of the cleavage cracks parallel to the
prismatic surfaces are visible. Zonal lines are very marked
and frequent. The low extinction angle indicates that the
pyroxene is not very ferriferous. There are inclusions of
colourless grains of olivine after the manner which gives rise
to lustre-mottling or poicilitic appearances. In gabbros and
diabases we find felspars included in the bisilicate in this
way ; the characteristic inclusion in ultra-basic rocivs is the
mineral olivine.

The augite is repeated in the ground mass in the form of
small crystals, often with defective ends ; many of these
crystals show sections out of the prismatic zone. There is a
tendency to grouping, and then a somewhat granular con-
dition of augite prevails. Tliis augite of the ground mass is
of the same colour as the large phenocrysts, slightly pleo-
chroic when deeply tinted. The extinction angles of vertical
sections vary from 28° to 40°.

The next constituent is olivine in grains and defective
crystals with rounded corners, at once distinguishable in the
sections by its freedom from colour. Its fissures are filled
with yellow serpentine, sometimes showing minute honeycomb
structure. It is filled with enclosures containing bubbles and
opaque grains (chromite ?) ; besides these, there are large
glass cavities with inclusions.

The felspars are narrow, long, lath-shaped, and by their
extinction angles may be referred to the labradorite-anorthite
group. They are tolerably fresh and altogether play a minor
role in the constitution of the rock.

* Teall, British Petrography, p. 103.
i Q. J. Geol. Soc, 1885, p. 392.
J Q. J. Geol. Soc, 1883, p. 256.

96

Rods of apatite witli transverse jointing are numerous, and
there are one or two narrow laths of a dichroic mineral which
I suspect may be hornblende.

The presence of glass in some of the picrites, their por-
phyritic character and their varying quantities of felspar, all
tend to show that their present classification is not final.
Manifestly the holocrystalliue gabbroid varieties ought not to
be ranked with porphyritic ones. This difference is accom-
panied by a difference in their geological occurrence, the one
division being phitonic, the other a lava. The occurrence at
Mt. Horror is probably a basic segregation in the Tertiary
basalt there.

I do not detect much vitreous base, but there is a consider-
able quantity of a clear substance containing, besides apatite
and glassy belonites, minute colourless needles of what is
usually considered to be secondary hornblende (grammatite,
tremolite). This substance permeates the sections in all
directions, and gives in bladed aggregates the feeble re-action
on polarised light characteristic of hydrous silica. It clearly
has no original place in an ultra-basic rock. I cannot
establish for it a pseudomorphous character ; the impression
conveyed is that it veins the rock generally. It may be seen
too in some of the hand specimens as white veins. I suggest
that it is the hydrous ferro-magnesian silicate, serpentine,
formed by the hydration of the olivine, which, upon this
assumption, formed once a larger proportion of the rock.

It is worthy of note that needles of tremolite have been
observed in the olivine pseudomorphs and serpentinous
substance of English picrites*, and Rosenbusch regards
similar cases of their occurrence as associated with the
alteration of olivine. I do not see any traces of the mutual
intersection of belonites in the serpentine, regarded by
Bonney as suggestive of enstatitef.

From the above description the nature and affinities of the
Mt. Horror rock may be approximately gleaned. Its
texture is coarser than that of a dolerite, and by its constitu-
tion it is an augite-olivine-felspar rock. Its relations are
evidently with the olivine-basalts, while it is connected with
the ultra-basic rocks by its high sp. gr., indicating a low
Si O2 %, and by its excess of ferro-magnesian silicates. These
remarks may serve to direct attention to this instance of a
very basic kind of basalt in Tasmania and elicit the com-
munication of further occurrences.

* Teall, Brit. Petrogr., p. 86.
i Q. J. Geol. Soc, 1883. p. 255.

Note,— In plate for picrite and ausjite picritie rwud picritic basalt.

PICRITE FROM Mt. HORROR.

W. H. TWELVETREES, Photo-micro,

EXPLANATION OF FIGURE.

AUGITE-PICRITE from Mt. Horror, x 45. Transmitted
light. At the bottom of figure is part of a large
augite crystal with lines of inclusions marking
zonal growth. The large rounded white crystals
are olivine. The narrow laths are the felspars.
The rest of the field comprises the smaller augites
and serpentinous substance.

&7

EXPLAXATIOy OF PLATE.

Fig. 1. Vesicular melaphyre from Silver Queen Mine, Zeehan. x 75.
Crossed nicols. The large vesicle to the right is filled with a crystalline
calcite aggregate, showing twin lamellae. Near the bottom of the vesicle,
and included in it, is an amygdule of delessite. The vesicle to the left is
also occupied by twinned calcite, and contains a subordinate cavity filled
with calcite and fringed, like the main vesicle, with delessite. The latter
mineral is represented in the figure by a white border. The black grains
in the field are the iron ores. The white patch at the top of the field is
part of a resetted delessite amygdule.

Fig. 2. Same as No. 1. x 75. Crossed nicols. The centre of the field
is occupied by a large cavity filled with calcite and Eringed with feebly re-
fracting delessite (white in the figure). The twinning lines of the calcite
are intersected diagonally by the cleavage planes. The half dozen white
apots in the calcite represent delessite amygdules in the interior.

Fig. 3. Same as Xos. 1 and 2. x 75. Crossed nicols. The cavity to
the left, with its delessite border, contains twinned calcite, and in the
centre of the latter is a small delessite amygdule. The orientation of the
calcite is not disturbed by the small amjgdule. This shows that the
crystallisation of the calcite and delessite was synchronous. The white
amygdule to the right is a delessite rosette, containing some carbonate of
iron.

Fig. 4. Melaphyre from Silver Queen Mine, Zeehan, 120ft. lerel. x 100.
Ordinary transmitted light. This shows the felspar laths with iron ore
pseudomorphs as black strings and microliths.

Fig. 5. Dolerite from Cataract Quarry, Launceston. x 75. Crossed
nicols. Half of the figure is occupied by a large compound plate of augite
with a border of magnetite grains. The rest of the field shows crystals of
triclinic felspar.

Fig. 6. Dolerite from same locality, x 75. Crossed nicols. Augite
crystal lying tranavertely in centre of figure ; felspara occupying re-
mainder of field.

98

GENCJS ANTENNARIUS, Commers.

Head very large, high, compressed ; cleft of the mouth
nearly vertical ; jaws and palate armed with cardiform teeth.
Body naked, or covered with minute spines. The spinous
dorsal fin is composed of three insolated spines, the first
modified into a tentacle placed above the snout. The soft
dorsal of moderate length, longer than the anal. No cleft
behind the fourth gill ; only half of the anterior branchial
arch provided with lamellae. No pseudobranchiae. Stomach
very wide ; no pyloric appendages on air bladder.

ANTENNAEIUS MITCHELLII. Sp. nov.

By Alex. Morton.

Bead August 10th, 1896.

D. iii, 14. A. 8. V. 5. P. 11. C. 9.

Depth of body If in its length. Mouth subvertical, the
width of the lower jaw equal to its length. Eyes high up in
the side of the head, three diameters from the tip of the
snout. Jaws with two series of curved, cardiform, unequal-
sized teeth, those of the lower jaw much the stronger and
numerous ; vomerine teeth in two patches ; palatines with a
short biserial band ; pterygoids with two large patches ;
tongue with lateral bands anteriorly. First dorsal spine as
long as the second, terminating in a small, bifid tentacle, and
having a spiny tentacle ending in a hair-like filament on its
anterior edge a short distance above its base ; second spine
much stronger, terminating in a flap, the whole being densely
clothed with spinules ; the third short as broad as long,
spinulose ; the six posterior rays of the soft dorsal con-
nected by membrane, and extending, when laid back, beyond
the base of the caudal, the others free ; anal commencing
beneath the middle of the connected dorsal rays and extend-
ing as far backwards, the rays longer than the base of the
fin ; ventral and pectoral rays simple ; caudal rounder, with
the rays branched. Skin densely clothed with spines, each of
which has a broad base, and terminates in two long slender
divergent bristles ; all the fins, except a portion of the
ventrals and pectorals spinulose. No lateral line.

Pale yellow, the head, back, and pectoral regions densely
blotched.

Locality : — East Coast, Tasmaniai

99

LAMPEIS.

By Alex. Morton.

Bead August lOthj 1896.

Lampris, Retzius in Nya Handl., 1799. pt. iii., p. 91 ;

Cuv. Regne Anim., vol. x., p. 200. Chrjsotosus, Lacep.

iv., p. 586.

Bodj compressed and elevated, covered with very small
deciduous scales ; cleft of the mouth narrow. A single
dorsal fin without a spinous portion ; no distinct anal spines j
ventrals composed of many rays ; teeth, none ; branchio-
stegals six ; air bladder large, posteriorly bifurcate. Pyloric
appendages in very great number.

Northern parts of the Atlantic ; Mediterranean.

Lampris Luna.— This very interesting specimen, the first
on record of having been captured in Australia, was for-
warded to the Museum by Mr. Alfred Lovett on December
18th, 1895. Mr. Lovett states that it was found washed up
on the beach near Port Arthur, and weighed ISOlbs. Un-
fortunately the crows had picked and destroyed one side.
The fins, when fresh, were of a bright scarlet, but faded
shortly after death. The bright silvery spots all over the
side also faded from a bright silvery to a dull white. On
measuring, the following was found to be the dimensions : —
Total length to centre of caudal, 3ft. 7iu.; height, taken
from the base of the dorsal to base of anal, 2ft. 3^in.; head,
1ft. lin.; diameter of eye, 2^in.; pectoral fin, 12in.; greater
depth of dorsal, 9|in.; depth of ventral, llin.; caudal, 1ft.
4in.; greatest length of silver spot on the side, IJin.; length
withoui caudal, 3ft. 4in. The silvery spots on the side varied
in size from the size of buck-shot to IJin. Upper parts,
greyish brown ; lower parts, silvery ; no teeth ; tongue large ;
branchiostegals 6, no sign of a seventh ; the fl.esh not unlike
the meat of the dolphin.

Specimen measuring 3ft. 6in. was found on the beach near
the Manawatu River in December, 1882, and presented to
the Wellington Museum by Mr. Jas. Jones, of Foxton. (See
Transactions N.Z. Inst., vol. xvi., p. 322.)

Art. XXV. — Notes on New Zealand Ichthyology. By De,

Hectok.

(Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society 13th

February, 1884.)

Lampris lunay Risso. Gunth. ii., 415.

A specimen measuring 3ft, 6in. in length of this superb
fish was cast on the beach near Manawatu River in December,

100

1882, and presented to the Museum by Mr. James Jones, of
Foxton. Unfortunately it had been partly eviscerted, so that
the chief characters which are relied on by Rev. Mr. Lowe
(Fishes of Madeira, p. 27) for his species L. lanta could not
be observed, viz., the absence of lingurl teeth, having six
instead of seven branchiostegal rays.

Thyrsites prometheus, Webb and Berthel. Vel. T. prome-
theoides, Bleeker, Gunth. ii., 351.

NOTES ON THE NIDIFICATION OF THE BLACK

COCKATOO (jOalyptorhynchus xanthonotus) .

By Alex. Morton.

Read August 10th, 1896.

Through the courtesy of Mr. M. W. Harrison, I have
been permitted to examine the egg of the Black Cockatoo
(CalyptorhyncJius xanthonotus), amd the following interesting
data has been kindly supplied to me by that gentleman. The
bird was seen by Mr. Leslie Burbury on several occasions to
fly from a hole in a gum tree, also by a shepherd in Mr.
Burbury' s employ. Both saw the bird leave the nest on the
occasion of taking the eggs. The shepherd, Mr. Harrison
states, was the first to discover the nesting place. On the
23rd January two eggs slightly incubated, one rather more
than the other, were taken by Mr. Leslie Burbury. The
height of the hole in which the eggs were deposited from
the ground was about 40ft., the depth of the hole from the
mouth was about 2ft. 6in. Mr. Burbury states that the nest
was a slight hollow in the decayed wood, a few dried
gum leaves, but this, Mr. Burbury says, may have been
accidental. The finding of the egg of the Black Cockatoo
in Tasmania is an extremely rare occurrence. I only know
of one other specimen having been recorded in the colony, an
egg taken by Mr. Wilson, of the Steppes, near the Oreat
Lake, from the bird. This specimen unfortunately was
broken, and is in the possession of Mr. C. E. Beddome, of
Brown's Eiver Eoad. Mr. A. L. Butler, of Hobart, has
succeeded in taking an excellent photo, of the egg in the
possession of Mr. Harrison. I have to thank both these
gentlemen for kindly supplying me with information and
also for the photographs.

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