Full text of "South African journal of science"

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REPORT

OF THE

SIXTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE

South African Association

FOR THE ADVANCEiMEMT OF SCIENCE.

JOHANNESBURG,
1918.

JULY 8-13-

CAPE TOWN :

PUBLISHED BY THK ASSOCIATION.

1919.

' ■ IBR ARY ■

CONTENTS.-\ '*'•'*' /O

PAG*.

Officers, anh Cooncil i

Tables : Past Annual MfefeTiNos ; —

Places and Dates, Presidents. \ ice-Presidents, and Local

Secretaries ii

Sectional Presidents and Secretaries iV

Evening Discourses viii

JOHANNESBURG MEETING, 1918:—

General Meetings ix

Officers of Local and Sectional Committees x

Proceedings of Sixteenth Annual General Meeting of Members xiv

Report of Council, 1917-18 xviii

General Treasurer's Account. 191 7- 18 xxiii

Eleventh Award of the South Africa ^fedal (Plate i) xxVii

Association Library xxx

Address by the President hf the Association: Dr. C. F. Juritz,

' M.A., F.LC I

Address by the President of Section A : Prof. J. T. Morrison,

- M..A., B.Sc. F.R.S.E 31

Address by the President of Section B : P. .A. Wagner, B.Sc,

Ing.D , ... 45

Address by the President of Section C: C. E. Lecat, B.Sc. ... 70
Address by the President of Section D : Prof. E. T. Goddard, B.A.,

D.Sc ... ... lOb

.\ddress by the President of Section E : Rev. W. A. Norton, B.A..

B.Litt 107

Address by the President of Section F. : Prof. T. M. Forsyth.

M.A., D.Phil 121

List of papers read at the Sectional Meetings .... ... ... 135

The desiccation of Africa : the cause and the remedy : Prof. F. IL L.

ScHWARz, A.R.C.S.. F.G S 130

Uses of Mirahilis jalapa 190

Roval Society of South Africa 190

The medicine man in Natal and Zululand : Hon. Mr. Justice C. G.

Jackson ... ... ... i0i

Safety in winding operations : J. A. VaUghan, M-LCE., M.l.Mech.E. 265

.\tmospheric nitrogen 216

The world's wheat crops 216

Research grants 216

The medicinal springs of South Africa : supplement T : Prof. M. M.

RiNDL, Ing.D 217

Solar bombs 225

A note on the flora of the Great Winterhoek Range: E. P. Phillips.

M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S 226

The natives of Natal in relation to the land : M. S. Evans, C.M.G..

F.Z.S 235

Stellar distances and magnitudes 246

Some results of ostrich investigations: Prof. J. E. Duerden. M.Sc.

Ph.D., A.R.C.S. (Plates 2-5 and four text figures') 247

The electro-magnetic theorv of light 285

Evolution and mankind: Prof. H. B. Fantham. M.A., D.Sc ... 287
The Zulu witch doctor and medicine-man : J. B. McCord, M.R.C.S..

L.R.C.P 306

Botanical survey • 3i|

Electrical conductivity of milk 3i8

Suggestions towards a better provision for. the medical needs of the

natives : C. T. Loram, M.A.. LL.B.. Ph.D 3I§

Epidemic catarrhal fever .• ... 3*4

32476

IV CONTENTS.

PAGF..

On the persistence of arsenite of soda in tlie ?oil : C. W. Mau.v.

M.Sc, F.L.S., F.E.S. ... ,_,„. 3^5

Mova Aquilce 329

The ethical principle of equity: Rev. S. R. Wfxch, B.A„ D.D.. Ph.P. 33^>

CheraicaJ warfare service 23A

Leucocytogregarines. and their occurrence in South Africa: A.vnie

Porter, D.Sc, F.L.S. i Abstract ) ... ... 335

Stellar catastrophes ...... ... 336

Soxne parasitic protozoa found in South .Vfricah fishes and aniplri-
• bians: Prof. H. B. F.s vth.\m. M.A., i.XSc. F.Z.S. {Abstracl) ... 33;

South .\frican Coccida- s^'f'.

Does it pay to educate the native?: Rev. A. E. Le Rov, B..\., P>.1). 330
The determination of phosphoric oxide, particularly in fertilisers.

soil extracts, and the like: B. dk C. M.vkch.nnd, B.A., D.Sc... 3^7

Alligators as food 363

The diagnostic characters of some superlicial tunyi : lvrTii;.i M.

DoiDGE, M.A.. D.Sc. F.L.S 364

Vaccine prophylaxis in intluenza .36S

Behaviour of bacteria towards arsenic: H. H. Green. D.Sc., and

N. H. Kestfili.. B.A 369

Paper from Megass 374

.Some South African snails and the cercariie which attack tlieni :

F. G. C.vwsTo.v. B.A., M.D,. B.C.. M.R.C.S.. L.R.C.P 37.S

"J'he traditional historj- and customs of tlie Alakaranga (Varozwe) :

E. G. HowM.A X 383

Solar physics 393

Ostriches in Arizona 393

The killing of the Divine King in South .Africa : Rev. S. S. Dok.v \y.

M.A., F.G.S. 394

The collapse of kelp potash .Wi

Health problems in countrv districts, Transvaal and (grange P'ree

State: J.^xe B. H. 'Ruthveik. M.D., [..R.C.P., L.R.C.S.E.,

L.R.F.P.'S.. F.R.S.A 400

The origin of novae 406

Walnut bacteriosis : Bacterium iuglandis. Pierce- Kthe!. M. DoinoE.

M.A., D.Sc. F.L.S 407

Paraffin paper dressings in surgery 412

Radioactive colouring of minerals 412

Note on the persistence of the right posterior cardinal vein in Xciio-
.^pus Uevis. and its significance: R. J. ORTi.Eri\ M.A. (with one

text figure) 413

The pandemic in the United States 415

Some engravi'd stones of the Lydcnburg district and North-East

Transvaal : the occurrence of cup-and-ring markings in South

Africa: Dr. C. Pyper (Pis. 6-1 1) 416

The British Association 417

Religious beliefs and supersf ition'i of the Xosas : a study in philology •

J. McL.xrex, M.A '.■. , 418

Radiotelephony 424

Cattle as a factor in the economic development of South Africa:

Rev. J. R. L. Kingon, M.A.. F.R.S.E.. F.L.S 425

Calcium clouds in stellar space 440

Arts and crafts of the Xosas: a study based on philologv : T.

McLaren. . M.A ... . ' ... 44J

Salt water as a preventive of epidemic influenza 449

Some notes on a collecting trip to French Hoek: E. P. Pjiillips,

M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S 450

Some early geographers and explorers of .Africa: Rev. W. A.

Norton, B.A., B.Litt. ; 479

Purpose in Education : H. C. Reeve, ^LA 483

Who buih the Rhodesian ruins? W. H. Tooke 492

CONTENTS. V

PAGE.

Atomic weight of nebulium. . . ... ... ... 499

A' note on the pollination oi Cyamlla cupensis Linn. : E. P. Phillips,

M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S. ... soo

The bacterial blight of beans: Bacterium phaseoli Erw. Sm. : Ethel

M. DoiDGE. M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S'. 50J

Alcohol from Seaweed ... 305

L^nrealised Factors in Native economic development : Rev. ]. R. L.

KiNGON. M.A.. F.R.S.E., F.L.S. ... ... ... 506

The pepper tree (Schiuits iiiolli') in its relation to epidemic hav

fever : Prof. G. Potts, M.Sc, Ph.D 52*5

The engraved stone of Loe, Hechuanaland Protectorate : Mi§,s M.

WiLMAN (Plates 12-15) 531

Radium production 534

Ageing of chemical elements _. ... 534

The pure-line hvpothes's and the inheritance of small variations :

Prof. E. Wakren, D.Sc. (Plate 16) 535

Note on the Equatorial Sundial at the Castle, Capetown : J. Lunt.

D.Sc. F.I.C. (Plate 17) 568

A Jovian prominence 5^9

Liquid hydrocyanic acid for fumigation 560

Additions and corrections to the recorded flora of the Transvaal and

Swaziland : J. Burtt-Davv, F.L.S.. F.R.G.S 570

SIR WILLIAM CROOKES 572

Some experiments used in the rudimentary teaching of botany:

Rev. F. C. KoLBfE. D.D.. D.Litt 575

Economic natural historv. and whv it should be taught in schools :

F. W. FiTzSiMONs.'F.Z.S., F.R.M.S. ... 580

Problems of degeneration as represented by the ostrich : Prof. J. E.

DuEFDEN. M.Sc. Ph.D.. A.R.C.S. (Title only) 587

The pineal bcdv in the ostrich : Prof. T. E. Duerden, M.Sc, Ph.D.,

A.R.C.S. (Title only) _ ... 587

Charts, photographs, and reports of the Rand Mines Sanitation

Department: A. J. Orenstein, M.D.. ALR.C.S., L.R.C.P. (Title

only) 58I7

Intoxication by gastrophilous larvae: G. van de Wall dei Kock,

M.R.C.V.S. (TW^ only) 587

On the eradication of venereal diseases : R. T. A. Innes, F.R.A.S.,

F.R.S.E. (Title only) 587

Some features of the South African Odonata as a fauna: S. G.

Rich, M.A., B.Sc 588

Crossing the North African and South African ostrich: Prof. J. E.

DuERUEN. M.Sc. Ph.D., A.R.C.S. (Title only) 589

The natives in the larger towns : J. S. Marwick 590

Paper yarns 610

Are the Odonata of economic value? S. G. Rich, M.A., B.Sc. ... 611
Drug treatment in Nuttalliosis of equines : G. van de Wall de

KocK. M.R.C.V.S. (Title only) 612

Bovine contagious abortion in South Africa: E. M. Robinson,

M.R.C.V.S. (Title only) ... 612

On certain changes in the external sex-characters of ostriches,

occurring after removal of the reproductive glands: Sir A.

Theiler, K.C.M.G., D.Sc, and D. Kehoe, M.R.C.V.S. (Title

only) 612

Spectrography of seaweed ashes 612

A preliminarv investi.eation into a disease attacking young Cupressus

plants: Miss A. M. Bottomley, B.A. (Plates 18-21) 613

Are the Orthoptera and Neuroptera actual orders or conglomera-
tions? S. G. Rich, M.A., B Sc 618

Rhodesian minerals 621

Epie poetry in French literature : Prof. R. D. Nauta 622

Suggestion for the education of public opinion on Native affairs :

M. S. Evans, C.M.G., F.Z.S. ( Title only) 637

Social conditions of Natives on the Rand : Rev. W. F. Hill, M.A.,

(Title only) 637

vi CONTENTS.

PAGK

Place-names of Africa, No. II: Rev. W. A. Nokton, B.A.. B.Litt.

(Title only) , 637

Note on the occurrence of a peculiar phosphate of aluminiam in a

deposit of Bat guano : B. de C Marchand, B.A., D.Sc 63S

More Sesuto etymologies: Rev. W. A. Norton, B.A.. B.Litt. (Title

only) 639

Reconstitution of the Union Senate: R. T. A. Inne-s, F.R.A.S..

F.R.S.E. (Title only) 639

Decimal coinage: Prof W. A. Macfadyen, M.A., LL.D. (Title only) 639
Vicarious parenthood: a war suggestion: Mrs. F. McLaren (Title

onlv) 639

War and the value of money: Prof. R. Leslie, M.A., F.S.S. (Title

only) ...... ... 639

Some experiments on the fate of arsenic in the animal body: H. H.

Green. D.Sc, and C. D. Dyk.man, M.A 64O

National Chemical Service 651

Some preliminary observations on unseasonable veld-burning; and

its possible relation to some stock diseases : A. (). D. Mogg,

B.A. (Abstract) 653

The philologv of the Native languages ( Zulu and Xosa) : Rev.

S. G. G.'AiTCHisoN, M.A., D.D. (Title only) 653

Wasted South African resources ; coal and its bye-products : A.

Kloot, B.A., A.LC. (Abstract) ... 654

The evolution of a Native administration: Rev. T. R. L. Kingon,

^]. A.. F.R.S.E.. F.L.S. (Title only) " 655

Notes on the morphology and life history of Uromyces Aloes Cooke :

V. A. PuTTERiLL, B.A. (Plates 22, 23, and six text Agures) ... 656

Scientific labour union 662

The Kap-tent wagon : J. Y. Gibson (Plate 24) 663

The geophone 669

Notes on the genus Balansia: Miss A. M. King, B.A. (Plate 25 and

four text figures) 670

Paper from sugar cane leaves 67s

Smoke screens ... ... ... ... ... ... ... • • • • • • 073

Native child life: Rev. S. G. G. Aitchison, M.A., D.D 674

Concrete sleepers 679

Discontinuous distribution in a few mammalian groups: T. F.

Dreyer, B.A., Ph.D 680

Central African Folk-lore tales: Rev J. R. L. Kingon, M.A.,

F.R.S.E., F.L.S. (Title only) 689

A new type of accurate sundial or solar clock: J. Moir, M.A., D.Sc,

F.LC. (Plate 26.) ... 690

Some photographic illustrations of South African vegetation: LB.

Pole- Evans, M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S. (Title only) 693

Synthesis of sugars 693

Native customs in relation to small-pox amongst the Ba-Ronga :

Rev. H. A. JuNOD 694

Infantile paralysis ... , 702

Nitrogenous products . . . 702

A philological method of exhibiting classical declensions and conju-
gations : Rev. W. A- Norton. P. A.. I' 703

On the heterocerous fauna of Southern Rhodesia : A. J. T. Janse,

FES 708

Bacteriological production of acetone 711

.\ survey of aboriginal place-names: Rev. J. R. L. Kingon, M.A..

F.R.S.E., F.L.S 712

Helium foi dirigibles ... 779

A rapid approximate method of calculating the occultation of stars

bv the moon (for the Central Transvaal) : J. Moir, M.A., D.Sc,

F.I.C 780

Officers and Council, 1918-19 i

List of Members Hi

Index xxxvii

CONTENTS.

Vll

Plat
No.
I.

3.
4-

5-
6.

10.

II.

12.

13-

14.

15.
16.

17-

18.

19.
20.
21.
22.

^3-

24.

:25.
26.

JST L)F PLATES.

The South Africa Medal

Some results of ostrich investigations
Some results of ostrich investigations
Some results of ostrich investigations
Some results of ostrich investigations
Engraved stones of the Lydenburg District
Engraved stones of the Li'denburg District
Engraved stones of the Lydenburg District
Engraved stones of the Lydenburg District
Engraved stones of the Lydenburg District
Engraved stones of the Lydenburg District

The engraved rock of Loe

The pure line hypothesis

An equatorial sundial

A disease of young Cuprcssits plants
A disease of young Cuj^ressiis plants
A disease of young Cii/''i'i'ssits plants
A disease of j'ouiig Cithrrssiis |)lants

Lh'omyces Aloes t^ooke

Vromyces Aloes Cooke

The Kap-tent wagon

The genus Balansia

A new type of sundial

To face
Page
xxvii
247
246
270
271
416
416
416
416
416

417
531

532

563
568

6x2

613

614
616

658

660

663
670
69O

ERRATA.

Page 191,
Pag-e 192,

Page 193,
Page 194,

Pai^c 202. 1

J 'age J03. 1
Page 322,
Page 376,

line

last

line

iiK-

line

ine

iiie

line

10. — For " heart "' read " art."
30. — For " therefore '' read " therefor."
line. — For " practice " read " practise."
23.— For " practice " read " practise"

1.— Delete " it."
29. — For '■ practice " read " practise."
28. — For " Aiiiakiihiilo " read " Ainakubalo."
35.— For
41. — For

5. — For
J 1 . — For
24. — For
44. — F'or

.~l liii.ii\ IK ' II ic ituu ^ 1 limn iiuiiiL' .

fsiiuliycndiya " read " Isindiyandiya.''
sparkling " read " .sprinkling."
liabiyc " read " habuja."
aiiiasttiut " read " aiiiasimu."
■ particuar " read " particular."
44. — ±ui poisonus " read " poisonous."
9 from bottom. — After "unless this" insert "is

prevented b}- law."
3^ — For " Schistosome becattse of " read " Schis-

losoiHiiin b\. '
22. — For ■■ cercaria attacks " read " cercaria-

•attack."
2 from bottom. — For " mixacidiitm " read " inira-
cidiuni."

VllI -ERRATA.

Page 413, line x8 of text. — For '* precaval " read "postcaval."
Page 414. line i. — For " Postcardial " read " Postcardinal.'"
Page 414. text-tigure. — For " Sel." read " Scl."
Page 415, line 19. — For " aiiiphibious " read "amphibians."
Page 426, line 8 from bottom.— .\fter " of " delete " the."
Page 428, line 4. — For " 1485 '" read " i486."
Page 431, line 24. — For "east" read "last."
Page 433, line 5. — For " counsellors " read " councillors."
line 19. — After " contact and " insert " conflict."
Page 437, line 28. — For "Machiavellian" read "gigantic."
Page 438, line 25. — For " ignominous " read " ignominious."
Page 43Q. line ti. — Before "the mainspring" insert "it will be

seen that."
Page n/o. line 6. — For ■" addition " read " additions."
line 15.— For " Staff " read " Stapf."
line 32— For " Staff " read " Stapf."
line 34. — Insert full sto]) after '' Dur."
line 35. — For " Staff " read " Stapf."
line s^. — For " Cragrostis " read " Eragkostis," and

for " Staff " read " Stapf."
line 38. — Fur " lickloiis" read " EckJoiiis."
Page 571, line i. — For " .hincics uxycarpns" read " JuNCUs

OXYCARPUS."

line 4. — For " Hook-fil." read ' Hook, fil."

line 6.— For " 17 " read " 17384."

line 9. — Delete full stop after " Zeyh."

line 12- — For '' scuber" read " scaber."

line 24.— Delete full stops after " FIelichrysum '

and " cephalojdeum/' and for " Dc '

read " n.c."
line ^ti. — Insert full stop after " Port."
line 2 from bottom. — For " Galp'mu" read " Galpinii
last line. — For " naflensis '\ read " nataiensis."

OFFICERS AND COUNCIL, 1917-1918.

HONORARY PRESIDENT.
HIS MAJESTY THE KING.

PRESIDENT.
C. F. JURITZ, M.A., D.Sc, F.I.C.

EX-PRESIDENT.
Professor J. ORR, B.Sc, M.I.C.E., M.I.Mech.E.

VICE-PRESIDENTS.
W. Ingham, M.I.C.E., M.I.M.E. i Prof. \V. N. Roseveahe. M.A.

A. H. Reid, F.R.I.B.A., F.R.San.I.

II. E. Wood, M.Sc, F.R.Mct.S.

HON. GENERAL SECRETARIES,

Rev. W. Flint, D.D., Library of Par-
liament, Capetown.

J. A. FooTE, F.G.S., F.E.I.S., Commer-
cial High School, Plein Street, Jo-
hannesburg.

HON. GENERAL TREASURER.
A. Walsh, P.O. Box 39, Cape Town.

ASSISTANT GENERAL SECRETARY.

H. Tucker, Cape of Good Hope Savings Bank Buildings, St. George's Street, Cap«
Town. P.O. Box 1497. (Telegraphic Address: " Scientific.")

ORDINARY MEMBERS OF COUNCIL.

I. CAPE PROVINCE.
Cape Peninsula.
Prof. A. Brown, M.A., B.Sc, F.R.S.E.

M.D., M.R.C.S.,

Prof. L. Crawford, M.A., D.Sc,

F.R.S.E.
Prof. R. Leslie. K.A.. F.S.S.
C. W. Mally, M.Sc, F.E.S., F.L.S.
R. W. Menmuir, A.M.I.C.E.

Kimberlcy.
Miss ^T. Wilman.

Kingwilliamstozvn.
3. Leighton, F.R.n.S.

Middelburg.
A. Stead, B.Sc, F.C.S.

Port Elisabeth.

Rev. T. R. L. Kingon, M.A., F.R.S E.,
F.L.S.

Stellenbosch.

Prof. J. T. Morrison, M.A., B.Sc,

F.R.S.E.
Prof. B. de St. J. van der Riet, M.A.,

Ph.D.

II. TRANSVAAL.

Witwatersrand.

I. Burtt-Davy, F.L.S., F.R.G.S.

W. A. Caldecott, B.A., D.Sc, F.C.S.

P. Cazalet.

Lt.-Col. J. H. DoBSON, D.S.O., M.Sc,

M.I.Mech.E., M.l'.E.E., A.M.I.C.E.
Prof. H. B. Fantham, M.A., D.Sc,

A.R.C.S., F.Z.S.
F. Flowers. C.E., F.R.G.S., F.R.A.S.
Jas. Gray, F.I.C.

R. T. A. Innes, F.R.A.S., F.R.S.E.
J. W. Kirkland, M.Am.I.E.E.
J. Mitchell.
Prof. C. E. IMoss, M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S.,

F.R.G.S.

A. T. Orenstein,

L.R.C.P,
Prof. G. H. Stanley, A.R.S.M.,

M.I.M.E., M.I.M.M., F.I.C.
H. A. Trubshaw.
J. van Niekerk. alb., cm.
W. Watkins - Pitchford, M.D.,

F.R.C.S., D.P.H.
Prof. J. A. Wilkinson, M.A., F.C.S.

Pretoria.

1. B. Pole Evans. M.A., B.Sc, F.L.S.
Prof. W. A. Macfadyen, M.A., LL.D.
Prof. D. F. DU Toit Malherbe, M.A..

Ph.D.
Prof. H. A. Wager, A.R.C.S.

Pctchefstrooin.
E. Holmes Smith, B.Sc.

III. ORANGE FREE STATE.
Bloemfontein.

T. F. Dreyer. B.A., Ph.D.
Prof. M. I\r. Rindl, Ing.D.

I\'. NATAL.
Durban.

M. S. EvAKS, C.M.G., F.Z.S.

C. T. LoRAM, M.A., LL.B., Ph.D.

M aritsburg.

J. S. Henkel.

Prof. E. Warren, D.Sc.

V. RHODESIA.
Bulawayo.
Rev. S. S. DoRNAN, M.A. F.G.S.

M. MOZAMBIQUE.

S. Seruya.

Endowment Fund.

I W. Jagger, F.S.S. , M.L.A.
W. RuNciMAN, M.L.A.
Principal J. C. Beattie,
F.R.S.E.

TRUSTEES.

S.A. Medal Fund.

W. E. Gurney.
C. Murray, M.A.
D Sc W Thomson, M.A., B.Sc,

F.R.S.E.

LL.D.,

PLACES AND DATES OF PAST MEETINGS, ETC.

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PRESIDENTS AND SECRETARIES OF THE SECTIONS.

Presidents and Secretaries of the Sections of the Association.

Date and Place.

Presidents.

Secretaries-

SECTION A.— ASTRONOMY, CHEMISTRY, MATHEMATICS,
METEOROLOGY AND PHYSICS.

1903. Cape Town . .

1904. Johannesburg*

1906- Kimberley

1907. Natalf . . . .

1908. Grahamstown

Prof. P. D. Hahn, M.A., i Prof. L. Crawford.

Ph.D.
J. R. Williams, M.I.M.M., W. Cullen, R. T. A. Innes.
M.Amer.I.M.E.

W. Gasson, A. H. J. Bourne.
D. P. Reid, G. S. Bishop.

J. R. Sutton, M.A.

E. N. Neville, F.R.S.,

F.R.A.S., F.C.S.
A. W. Roberts, D.Sc,

F.R.A.S., F.R.S.E.

D. Williams, G. S. Bishop.

ASTRONOMY, MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS. METEOROLOGY,
GEODESY, SURVEYING, ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURE AND

GEOGRAPHY.

ic>09. Bloemfontein
1910- Cape Town$
191 1. Bulawayo

igi2. Port Elizabeth

19 1 3. LourenQO

Marques

1914. Kimberley

1915. Pretoria

1916. Maritzburg . .

1917. Stellenbosch . .

1918. Johannesburg

Prof. W. A. D. Rudge,

M.A.
Prof. J. C. Beattie, D.Sc,

F.R.S.E.
Rev. E. Goetz, S.J.,

M.A., F.R.A.S.
H. J. Holder, M.I.E.E.
J. H. von Hafe.

Prof. A. Ogg, M.A., B.Sc,

Ph.D.
F. E. Kanthack, M.I.C.E.,

M.I.M.E.
Prof. J. Orr, B.Sc.

M.I.C.E.
Prof. W. N. Roseveare.

M.A.
Prof. J. T. Morrison,
M.A., B.Sc, F.R.S.E.

H. B. Austin, F. Masey.

A. H. Reid, F. Flowers.

A. H. Reid, Rev. S. S. Dor-
nan.
A. H. Reid.
Prof. J. Orr, J. Vaz Gomes.

Prof. A. Brown. A. E. H. Din-

ham-Peren.
Prof. A. Brown, J. L. Sout-

ter.
Prof. A. Brown, P. Mesham.

Prof. A. Brown, L. Simons.

Prof. A. Brown, Prof. J. P.
Dalton.

SECTION B— ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY, BACTERIOLOGY,
BOTANY, GEOGRAPHY, GEOLOGY, MINERALOGY AND ZOOLOGY.

1903. Cape Town .

1904. Johannesburg

1906. Kimberley

R. Marloth, M.A., Ph.D. Prof. A. Dendy.

G. S. Corstorphinc B.Sc, Dr. W. C. C. Pakes, W. H.,

Ph.D., F.G.S.
Thos. Quentrall,

M.I.Mech.E., F.G.S.

Jollyman.
C. E. Addams, H. Simpson.

* Metallurgy added in 1904.

t Geography and Geodesy transferred to Section A and Chemistry and
Metallurgy to Section B, in 1907.

t Irrigation added in 1910 and Geography transferred to Section B.

PRESIDENTS AND SECRETARIES OF THE SECTIONS.

Date and Place-

Presidents.

Secretaries.

CHEMISTRY, METALLURGY, MLNERALOGY, ENGINEERING,
MINING AND ARCHITECTURE.

1907. Natal

1908. Grahamstown

C. W. Methven. M.I.C.E.,
F.R.S.E., F.R.I.B.A.

Prof. E. H. L. Schwarz,
A.R.C.S., F.G.S.

R. G. Kirkby, W. Paton.

Prof. G. E. Cory, R. W.
Newman, J. Muller.

CHEMISTRY. BACTERIOLOGY, GEOLOGY, BOTANY, MINERALOGY,
ZOOLOGY, AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, SANITARY SCIENCE.

1909. Bloemfontein C. F. Juritz, M.A., D.Sc, , Dr. G. Potts, A. Stead.

I F.I.C.

CHEMISTRY, GEOLOGY, METALLURGY, MINERALOGY AND

1910. Cape Town . .

191 1. Bulawayo

1912. Port Elizabeth

1913. Lourenqo

Marques

1914. Kimberley

1915. Pretoria

1916. Maritzburg. . .

1917. Stellenbosch . .

1918. Johannesburg

GEOGRAPHY.

A. W. Rogers, M.A.,

Sc.D., F.G.S.
A. J. C. Molyneux,

F.G.S., F.R.G.S.
Prof. B. de St. J. van der

Riet, M.A., PhD.
Prof. R. B. Young, M.A.,

D.Sc, F.R.S.E., F.G.S.
Prof. G. H. Stanley,

A.R.S.M., M.I.M.E.,

M.I.M.M., F.I.C.
H. Kynaston, M.A.,

F C S
Prof", j'. A. Wilkinson, M.A.

F.C.S.
Prof. M.'m. Rindl, Ing.D.

P. A. Wagner. Ing.D..
B.Sc.

J. G. Rose, G. F. Ayers.

J. G. Rose, G. N. Blackshaw.

J. G. Rose, J. E. Devlin.

Prof. G. H. Stanley, Capt. A.

Graqa.
J. G. Rose, J. Parry.

Dr. H. C. J. Tietz, Prof. D.

F. du Toit Malherbe.
Dr. H.C.J. Tietz, Prof. J. W.

Bews.
Dr. H. C. J. Tietz, Prof. B. de

St. J. van der Riet.
Dr. H. C. J. Tietz, Dr. J.
Moir.

SECTION C— AGRICULTURE, ARCHITECTURE, ENGINEERING,
GEODESY, SURVEYING, AND SANITARY SCIENCE.

1903. Cape Town . . Sir Chas. Metcalfe, Bart., A. H. Reid.

M.I.C.E.
1904- Johannesburg * , Lieut.-Colonel Sir Percy G. S. Burt Andrews, E. J.

Girouard, K.C.M.G., Laschinger.

D.S.O.

1906. Kimberley

S. J. Jennings. C.E., D. W. Greatbatch, W. New-

M.Amer.I.M.E., M.I.M.E. 1 digate.

* Forestry added in 1904.

PRESIDENTS AND SECRETARIES OF THE SECTIONS.

BACTERIOLOGY, BOTANY, ZOOLOGY,
FORESTRY, PHYSIOLOGY,

1907- Natal

1908- Grahamstown

1910. Cape Town *

1911. Bulawayo

1912. Port Elizabeth

1913. LouretiQO

Marques

1914. Kimberley

1915. Pretoria

1916. Maritzburg. . .

1917. Stellenbosch . .

Lieut.-Colonel H. Watkins
Pitchford, F.R.C.V.S.

Prof. S. Schonland, M.A.,
Ph.D., F.L.S., C.M.Z.S.

Prof. H. H. W. Pearson,

M.A., Sc.D., F.L.S.
F. Eyles, F.L.S., M.L.C.
F. W. FitzSimons. F.Z.S.,
F.R.M.S.
A. L. M. Bonn, C.E.

Prof. G. Potts, M.Sc,

Ph.D.
C. P. Lounsbury, B.Sc,

F.E.S.
I. b'. Pole-Evans, M.A.,

B.Sc, F.L.S.
J. Burtt-Davy, F.L.S.,
F.R.G.S.

AGRICULTURE AND
HYGIENE.

W. A. Squire, A. M. Neilson,

Dr. J. E. Duerden.
Dr. J. Bruce Bays, W.

Robertson, C. W. Mally,

Dr. L. H. Gough.
W. D. Severn, Dr. J. W. B.

Gunning.
W. T. Saxton, H. G. Mundy.
W. T. Saxton, I. L. Drege.

F. Flowers, Lieut. J. B.

Botelho.
C. W. Mally. W. J. Calder.

C. VV. Mally, A. K. Haagner.

C W. Mally, Prof. E. Warren.

C. W. Mally, C. S. Grobbelaar.

BOTANY, BACTERIOLOGY. AGRICULTURE, AND FORESTRY.

1918. Johannesburg C. E. Legat, B.Sc.

Dr. E. P. Phillips. J. Burtt-
Davv.

SECTION D.— ZOOLOGY, PHYSIOLOGY, HYGIENE, AND
- SANITARY SCIENCE.

1918. Johannesburg ! Prof. E. J. Goddard, B.A., 1 C. W. Mally. R. T. Ortlepp.

D.Sc. '

SECTION E.— ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY. ECONOMICS.
SOCIOLOGY, AND STATISTICS.

1908. Grahamstown W. Hammond Tooke. I Prof. A. S. Kidd.

ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY, NATIVE EDUCATION,
PHILOLOGY, AND NATIVE SOCIOLOGY.

1917. Stellenbosch . . Rev. N. Roberts.

1918. Johannesburg ' Rev. W. A. Norton, B.A.

B.Litt.

* Sanitary Science added in 1910.

Rev. E. W. H. Musselwhite.

Prof. J. J. Smith.
Rev. E. W. H. Musselwhite.

Rev. G. Evans.

PRESIDENTS AXD SECRETARIES OF THE SECTIONS.

Vll

Date and Place.

Presidents.

Secretaries.

SECTION F.— ARCHEOLOGY, EDUCATION, MENTAL SCIENCE,
PHILOLOGY, POLITICAL ECONOMY, SOCIOLOGY AND STATISTICS-

1903. Cape Town .

1904. Johannesburg

1906. Kimberley

Thos. Muir, C.M.G., M.A., i Prof. H. E. S. Fremantle.

LL.D., F.R.S., F.R.S.E.
(Sir Percy Fitzpatrick, | Howard Pim, J. Robinson.
M.L.A.), E. B. Sargant, |

M.A. (Acting).

A. H. Watkins, M.D.,
M.R.C.S.

E. C. Lardner-Burke, E. W.
Mowbray.

ANTHROPOLOGY, ARCHEOLOGY, ECONOMICS. EDUCATION
ETHNOLOGY. HISTORY, PSYCHOLOGY, PHILOLOGY,
SOCIOLOGY, AND STATISTICS.

1907. Natal R. D. Clark, M.A.

R. A. Gowthorpe, A. S.
Langley, E. A. Belcher,

ARCHEOLOGY. EDUCATION, HISTORY, PSYCHOLOGY. AND
PHILOLOGY.

1908- Grahamstown E. G. Gane, M.A.

I Prof. W. A. Macfadyen, W.
I D. Neilson.

ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY, EDUCATION, HISTORY, MENTAL
SCIENCE, PHILOLOGY^ POLITICAL ECONOMY, SOCIOLOGY
AND STATISTICS.

1909. Bloenifontein I Hugh Gunn, M.A.

1910. Cape Town .. 1 Rev. W. Flint, D.D.

191 1. Bulawayo .. ; G. Duthie, M.A., F.R.S.E

1912. Port Elizabeth | W. A.^Way, MA

1913. LourenQO ' ' — '- -
Marques

1914. Kimberley

1915. Pretoria

1916. Marilzburg

J. A. Foote, F.G.S.
Prof. W. Ritchie, M.A.
J. E. Adamson, M.A.
M.S. Evans, C.M.G.,F.Z.S.

C. G. Grant, Rev. W. A.

Norton.
G. B. Kipps, W. E. C. Clarke-
G. B. Kipps, W. J. Shepherd
G. B. KioDs, E. G. Brvant.
H. Pim.'j. Elvas.

Prof. R. D. Nauta, A. H. J.

Bourne.
Prof. R. D. Nauta, R. G. L.

Austin.
Prof.^ R. D. Nauta, Prof. O.

Waterhouse.

EDUCATION. HISTORY, MENTAL SCIENCE, POLITICAL ECO-
NOMY. GENERAL SOCIOLOGY, AND STATISTICS.

1917. Stellenbosch .

1918. Johannesburg

Rev. B. P. J. Marchand.

B.A.
Prof. T. M. Forsvth, M.A.

D.Phil.

Prof. R. D. Nauta, Dr.

Bertha Stoneman.
Prof. R. D. Nauta, J. Mitchell

Vlll

EVENING DISCOURSES.

Date and Place-

Lecturer.

Subject of Discourse-

1903. Cape Town .

1904- Johannesburg
1906. Kimberley

1907. Maritzburg .
Durban.

1908. Grahamstown

1909. Bloemfontein

Maseru

1910. Cape Town
1911- Bulawayo

1912. Port Elizabeth

1913. LourenQO

Marques

1914. Kimberley

1915. Pretoria

1916. Alaritzburg .
Durban . . . .

1917. Stellenbosch . .

1918. Johannesburg

Prof. W. S. Logeman,
B.A., L.H.C.

H. S. Hele-Shaw, LL.D.,

F.R.S., M.I.C.E.
Prof. R. A. Lehfeldt, B.A.,

D.Sc.
W. C. C. Pakes, L.R.C.P.,

M.R.C.S., D.P.H., F.I.C.

R. T. A. Innes, F.R.A.S.,

F.R.S.E.

Prof. R. B. Young, M.A.,

B.Sc, F.R.S.E.. F.G.S.

Prof. G. E. Cory, M.A.

A Theiler, C.M.G.

C. F. Juritz, M.A., D.Sc,

F.I.C.
W. Cullen.

R. T. A. Innes, F.R.A.S.,
F R S F
Prof. H. Bohle, M.LE.E.
J. Brown, M.D., CM.,

F.R.C.S., L.R.C.S.E.
W. H. Logeman, M.A.
A. W. Roberts, D.Sc,

F.R.A.S., F.R.S.E.
Prof. E. J. Goddard, B.A..
D.Sc
S. Seruya.

Prof. E. H. L. Schwarz,
A.R.C.S., F.G.S.

E. T. Mellor, D.Sc,

F.G.S., M.I.M.M.
C. W. Mally, M.Sc,

F.E.S., F.L.S.
C. P. Lounsburj', B.Sc,

FES
R. f. A.' Innes, F.R.A.S.,

F.R.S.E.
H. E. Wood, M.Sc.

F.R.Met.S.
Prof. J. D. F. Gilchrist,
M.A.. D.Sc. Ph.D.,
F.L.S.. C.M.Z.S.
Prof. H. B. Fantham,
M.A., D.Sc. A.R.C.S..
F.Z.S.
Prof. J. E. Duerden, M.Sc.
Ph.D.. A.R.C.S.

The Ruins of Persepolis and
how the Inscriptions were
read.

Road Locomotion — Present
and Future.

The Electrical Aspect of
Chemistry.

The Immunisation against
Disease of Micro- organic
Origin.

Some Recent Problems in
Astronomy

The Heroic Age of South
African Geology.

The History of the Eastern
Province.

Tropical and .Sub-tropical
Diseases of South Africa :
their Causes and Propaga-
tion.

Celestial Chemistry.

Explosives: their Manufac-
ture and' Use.
Astronomy.

The Conquest of the Air.
Electoral Reform — Propor-
tional Representation.
The Gyroscope.
Imperial Astronomy.

Antarctica.

The history of Portuguese
conquest and discovery.

The Kimberley Mines, their
discovery, and their rela-
tion to other volcanic vents
in South Africa.

The gold bearing conglomer-
ates of the Witwatersrand.

The House fly under South
African conditions.

Scale Insects and their travels.

Astronomy.

Some imsolved problems of

Astronomy.
Some marine animals of
South Africa.

Evolution and Mankind.

Ostriches.

GENERAL MEETINGS AT JOHANNESBURG.

On Monday, July ^, at 2.30 p.m., the Association was offi-
cially welcomed by His Worship the Mayor of Johannesburg
(Councillor T. F. Allen) in the Assembly Hall of the South
African School of Mines and Technology.

At 3.30 p.m.. Members of the Association proceeded on a
motor drive round Johannesburg and suburbs.

At 8.15 p.m.. in the Selborne Hall. Dr. C. F. Juritz, M.A.,
D.Sc, F.LC., took the chair as President, and delivered an
address, for which see page i.

The President subsequentlv presented the South Africa
Medal to Mr. R. T. A. Innes, F.R.S.E., F.R.A.S. For the pro-
ceedings see page xxvii.

On Tuesday, July 9, at 2 p.m., Members of the Association
visited the Crown Mines, and the Johannesburg Municipal Under-
takings, Power Station and Abattoirs.

At 8.15 p.m., in the Assembly Hall of the South African
School of Mines and Technology, Prof. H. B. Fantham, M.A.,
D.Sc, A.R.C.S., F.Z.S., delivered a discourse on " Evolution
and Mankind," the President of the Association presiding.

On Wednesday, July 10. at 2 p.m., ^Members of the Asso-
ciation visited the New Modderfontein Gold Mine and Dunswart
Iron and Steel Works.

At 2.30 p.m., Members visited the Johannesburg Trades
School and the South African Institute of Medical Research.

At 8.15 p.m., Members attended a reception held by His
Worship the Mayor of Johannesburg, in the Town Hall.

On Thursday, July 11, at 11.30 a.m., the Sixteenth Annual
General Meeting was held in the Assembly Hall of the South
African School of Mines and Technology, for Minutes of which
see page xiv.

At 2 p.m., Members of the Association visited the New
Transvaal Chemical Works, Delmorc, and the Rosherville Power
Station of the Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Co., Ltd.

At 8.15 p.m., Members attended a reception held by the
Local and Reception Committees at the Union Observatory.

On Friday, July 12, at 8 a.m., Members of the Association
proceeded on an excursion to Vereeninging, and there visited the
Union Steel Corporation Works, the Vereeniging Power Station
of the Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Co., and the site of
the Rand Water Board Barrage on the Vaal River.

At 8.15 p.m., in the Assembly Hall of the South African
School of Mines and Technology, Prof. J. E. Duerden, M.Sc,
Ph.D., A.R.C.S., delivered a discourse on " Ostriches," the Presi.
dent of the Association presiding.

On the morning of Saturday, July 13, members of the Asso-
ciation inspected the underground working's of the Crown Mines.

OFFICERS OF LOCAL AND SECTIONAL
COMMITTEES, JOHANNESBURG, 1918.

LOCAL COMMITTEE.

Chairman, H. E. Wood, M.Sc. F.R.Met.S. ; J. Burtt-Davy.
F.L.S., F.R.G.S., W. A. Caldecott. B.A.. D.Sc, F.C.S., P. Oazalet,
Lieutenant-Colonel J. H. Dobson. D.S.O., M.Sc, M.I.Medi.E..
M.I.E.E., A.M.I.C.E., Prof. H. B. Fantlham, M.A.,
D.Sc, A.R.C.S., F.Z.S., F. Flowers, C.E., F.R.A.S., F.R.G.S.,
J. Gray, F,I.C.. W. Ing-ham, M.I.C.E.. M.I.M.E., R. T. A. Innes.
F.R.A.S.. F.R.S.E.. J. W. Kirkland, M.Am.F.E.E., T- Mitchell,
Prof. C. E. Moss, M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S.. F.R.G.S., A. T- Orenstein.
M.D.. M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., Prof. [. Orr, B.Sc. M.I.C.E.,
M.I.Mech.E., Prof. (i. H. Stanley, A.R.S.M.. M.I.M.E.,
M.I.M.M., F.I.C., H. A. Trubshaw, J. Van Niekerk, M.B., CM..
W. Watkins-Pitchford, M.D., F.R.C.S., D.P.H., and Prof. J. A.
Wilkinson, M.A., F.C.S. Local Sccrciar\\ ]. A. Foote, F.G.S.,
F.E.I.S.

RECEPTION COMMITTEE.

Chairman, His Worsihip itihe Mayor of Johannesburg (T. F.
Allen) ; Vice-Chairman, the Deputy AJiayor of Johannesburg
(D. Anderson) ; Chairman and Members of tthe Local Com-
mittee : Councillors B. Alexander, G. B. Steer, M.P.C., J. A.
Moffat, S. Scott, M.P.C., S. A. Smit, and C. V. Becker;' His
Worship tllie Mayor of Benoni (I. Kuper). His Worship the
]\Iayor of Boksburg (A. Ruffels), His Worship the Mayor of
Germdston (Dr. R. Straohan). His Worship the Mayor of
Krugersdorp (J. Hoatson), His Worship the Mayor of Roode-
poort (G. W. Arthur). His Worship the Mayor of Springs (E.
Stanton Corke). President, Chamber of Mines (E. A. W^allers),
President, Chamber of Commerce (F. C. Sturrock), President,
Association of Mine Managers ( E. H. Bulmain), President. S.A.
Institution of Engineers (C. D. Leslie). President, S.xA. Institute
of Electrical Engineers (Prof. J. H. Dobson, D.S.O.), President,
Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of S.A. (H. A.
W'hite, Vice-President), President, S.A. Society of Civil En-
gineers (Mansergh Robinson). President, S.A. Society of Analy-
tical Chemists (Prof. J. A. Wilkinson. Vice-Pres.) President.
Geological Society of S.xA. (Dr. E. T. Mellor, Past President).
President, Association of Ceritificated Engineers (H. Newbery),
President, Association of Architect's of the Transvaal (■\1. J.
Harris), President. Transvaal Insititute of Architects (D. M.
Burton), President (London Society of Architects, S.A. Branch
(D. M. Sinclair), President, Transvaal Society of Accountants
(J. T. Goldsbury), President, Society of Incorporated Account-
ant's (H. J. Macrae), President, S.A. Geographical Society

OFFICERS OF SECTIONAL COMMITTEES. XI

(J. H. Hutcheon, M.A.), President, Instkute of Land Surveyors
(W. M. Harries), President, Britisih Medical Associiation, Wit-
watersrand Branch (Dr. E. P. Baumann), President, Transvaal
Medical Council (Dr. J. Van Niekerk), Presidenit, Transvaal
Pharmacy Board (B. Owen Jones), President, Pharmaceutical
Society of the Transvaal (J. Colebank), President, Incorporated
Law Society of tlhe Transvaal (E. J. Van Gorkom), Chairman of
Council, Soultlh African School of Mines and Technology
(S. Evans). Principal, South African School of Mines
and Technology (Dr. George S. Coirstorphine), President,
Transvaal Teachers' Asisociait'ion (J. Mitchell), President,
Johannesburg and Rand Teachers' Association (I. Abra-
hams), Chairman, WitwE^tersrand Council of Education
(Colonel W. Dalrymple, Deputy Chairman), Chairman,
Witwaitersrand Central Sdhool Board (Howard Pim),
Director, South African Institute of Meidical Researdh (Dr. W.
Watkins-Pitchford), Chairman, Rand Water Board (T. A. R.
Purohas). Chairman, Joh'annesburg Stock Exchange (D. C.
Greig), President, Witwatersrand Commercial Exchange (A. Y.
Niven), President, Witwatersrand Agricultural Society (John
Roy), Chairman, South African National Union (J. Waldie
Pierson), President, Transvaal Automobile Club (J. Davidson),
Chairman, Rand Club (J. M. Buckland), Chairman, New Club
(J. Hopkins), Chairman, Country Club (C. A. Wenitzel), Chair-
man, Union Club (J. A. W. Kerr), Chairman, Unionisit Party
Club (J. E. Jones), Chairman, South African Party Club (J.
A. Coetzee), C. Aburrow, Alex. Aiken, Sir George Albu, Bart.,
P. M. Anderson, G. S. Burt Andrews, Norman Anstev, Sir Abe
Bailey, K.C.M.G., A. J. Beaton. L. Blackwell, M.L.A., Major
Blaney, D.S.O., W. R. Boustred, H. C. Boyd, J. Frank Brown,
C.M.G., H. O. Buckle, Sir William St. J. Carr, E. Chappell.
D. Ohristopherson, G. H. Clififoird, C. Chu'dieigh, L. Colquhoun,
Lt.-Col. F. H. P. Cresswell, M.L.A., L. Clarence, Col. Cresswell
Clark, C.M.G., Sir Thomas Cullinan, Richard Currie, J. P., D.
Dingwall, M.E.C., Patrick Duncan, C.M.G., M.L.A., W. Easton,
J. Emrys Evans, C.M.G., L. Edwards, S. E. T. Ewing, E.
Farrar, P. Ross Frames, A. French, Sir Kendal Franks,
M.D., L. Geldenhuys, M.L.A., Richard Goldman, W. T.
Graham, H. Graumann, M.L.A., G. Hartog, M.E.C.,
R. H. Henderson, C.M.G., H. J. Hofmeyr, W. Hosken,
A. C. Holtby, Sir William Hoy, Sir Wm. Van Hulsteyn, E. G.
Izod, R. Ward Jackson, Julius Jeppe, J. L. Johnson, C. E.
Knecht, Dr. F. E. T. Krause, J. Dale Lace, C. D. Leslie. J.
Langley Levy, H. T. Lewis, Isaac Lewis, F. R. Lynch, H.
McAlister, M.L.A., T. G. Macfie, W. B. Madeley,' M.L.A.,
Senator the Hon. Sam Marks, W. A. Alartin, H. Stuart Martin,
J. B. MacKinlay, Dr. G. A. E. Murray, John Munro, Lt.-Col.
Temple-Mursell, Dr. F. Napier, Emile Nathan, M.L.A., Dr.
Manfred Nathan, M.P.C., James Neilson, H. Newhouse, Henry
Nourse, J. W. O'Hara, J.P., W. J. Parrack, M.L.A., Bernard

Xll OFFICERS OF SECTIONAL COMMITTEES.

Price. H. P. Papenfus, K.C.. M.L.A., D. B. Pattison, E. J.
Renaud. Theo. Reunert, F. Peabody Rice, J. B. Robinson,
M.L.A.. F. G. A. Roberts, W. Rockey, M.L.A., W. Ross, H.
W. Sampson, M.L.A., Sir H. Ross Skinner. H. Warrington
Smj^th, A. Sutherland, W. H. Stucke, M.P.C., James Thompson,
Senator the Hon. W. K. Tucker, C.M.G., A. M. Tippet, Walter
Webber, W. L. White, D. Wilkinson, E. J. Way, Hon. Justice
Ward, Senator the Hon. J. J. Ware, Senator the Hon. P. White-
side. Hon. H. A. Wyndham, M.L.A. Hgvi. Secretary: H. A.
Trubshaw.

SECTIONAL COMMITTEES.

Section A.— ASTRONOMY, MATHEMATICS. PHYSICS,
METEOROLOGY, GEODESY, SURVEYING, ENGIN-
EERING, ARCHITECTURE, AND IRRIGATION.

President, Prof. J. T. Morrison, M.A., B.Sc, F.R.S.E. ; Vice-
Presidents, W. Ingham, M.I.C.E., M.I.M.E., and H. E. Wood,
M.Sc, F.R.Met.S. ; Members, C. J. Gyde, A.M.I.C.E.,A.Hammar,
R. T. A. Innes, F.R.A.S., F.R.S.E., F. E. Kanthack, C.M.G.,
M.I.C.E., M.I.M.E., T. J. Niven, M.I.C.E., Prof. J. Orr, B.Sc,
M.I.C.E., :\I.I.Mech.E., and Prof. W. N. Roseveare, M.A. ;
Hon. Secretaries, Prof. A. Brown, M.A., B.Sc. (Recorder), and
Prof. T. P. Dalton. M.A.. D.Sc.

Section B.— CHEMISTRY, GEOLOGY, METALLURGY,
MINERALOGY AND GEOGRAPHY.

President, P. A. Wagner, B.Sc, Ing.D. ; Vice-Presidents,
H. H. Green, D.Sc, F.C.S., and H. A. White. Members, ].
Hutcheon, M.A., F.R.S.G.S., Prof. D. F. du T. Malherbe, M.A.,
Ph.D., Prof. M. M. Rindl, Ing.D., Prof. E. H. L. Schwarz.
A.R.C.S., F.G.S., Prof. G. H. Stanley, A.R.S.M., M.I.M.E.,
M.I.M.M., F.I.C., Prof. B. de St. J. van der Riet, M.A., Ph.D.,
Prof. T. A. Wilkinson, M.A.. F.C.S., and Prof. R. B. Young,
M.A.. b.Sc, F.R.S.E., F.G.S.; Hon. Secretaries, H. C. T- Tietz.
M.A., Ph.D. {Recorder), and J. Moir, M.A., D.Sc.

Section C— BOTANY, BACTERIOLOGY, AGRICULTURE

AND FORESTRY.

President, C. E. Legat, B.Sc. ; Vice'Presidents, Ethel M.
Doidge, A'l.A., D.Sc, F.L.S., and Prof. C. E. Moss, M.A., D.Sc.
F.L.S., F.R.G.S. ; Members, Prof. J. W. Bews, M.A., D.Sc. I. B.
Pole Evans, M.A., B.Sc, F.L.S., Prof. A. I. Perold, B.A., Ph.D..
Prof. G. Potts, M.Sc, Ph.D., T. R. Sim, E. Holmes-Smith, B.Sc,
and Prof. H. A. Wager, A.R.C.S. ; Hon. Secretaries, E. P.
Phillips. M.A.. D.Sc, F.L.S. {Recorder), and T- Burtt-Davy,
F.L.S., F.R.G.S.

OFFICERS OF SECTIONAL COMMITTEES. xiii

Section D.— ZOOLOGY, PHYSIOLOGY, HYGIENE AND

SANITARY SCIENCE.

President, Prof. E. J. Goddard, B.A., D.Sc. ; Vice-Presidents
Prof. H. B. Fantham, M.A., D.Sc, A.R.C.S., F.Z.S., and A. j!
.Anderson, M.A., M.B., M.R.C.S., D.P.H. ; Members, C. G. S.
de VilHers, M.A.. T. F. Dreyer, ©.A., Ph.D., Prof. J. E.
Duerden, M.Sc, Ph.D.. A.R.C.S., Prof. J. D. F. Gilchrist,
M.A., D.Sc, Ph.D., F.L.S., C.M.Z.S., Prof. W. A. Jolly, M.B.,
Ch.B., D.Sc, D. F. S. Lister, C. P. Lounsbury, B.Sc, F.E.S.,
D. T. Mitchell. M.R.C.V.S., G. A. E. Murray. M.D.. F.R.C.S.,
L.R.C.P., A. J. Orenstein, M.D.. M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., Annie
Porter, D.Sc, F.L.S., Prof. E. Warren, D.Sc. and W. Watkins-
Pitchford, M.D., F.R.C.S., D.P.H. ; Hon. Secretaries. C. W.
Mally, M.Sc, F.E.S., F.L.S. (Recorder), and R. J. Ortlepp, M.A.

Section E.— ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY, NATIVE
EDUCATION, PHILOLOGY, AND NATIVE SOCI-
OLOGY.

President, Rev. W. A. Norton, B.A., B.Litt. ; Vice-
Presidents, Rev. S. S. Dornaoi, M.A.,F.G.S., and Rev. J. R. L,
Kington, M.A., F.R.S.E., F.L.S. ; Members. Rev. S. " G. G.
Aitchison, M.A., D.D., M. S. Evans, G.M.G., F.Z.S.. Hon.
Justice C. G. Jackson, C. T. Loram, M.A., LL.B., Ph.D., J.
McLaren, M.A., and S. Seruya ; Hon. Secretaries, Rev. E. W. H,
Musselwhite, B.A. (Recorder), and Rev. G. Evans.

Section F.— EDUCATION, HISTORY, MENTAL SCIENCE,
POLITICAL ECONOMY, GENERAL SOCIOLOGY,
AND STATISTICS.

President, Prof. T. M. Forsvth, M.A., D.Phil.; Vice-^
Presidents, Prof. R. A. Lehfeldt, M.A., D.Sc, and Prof. W. A,
Macfadyen, M.A., LL.D. ; Members, A. Aiken, Prof. F. Clarke,
M.A., Prof. J. Finlay, C. W. F. Harrison, F.R.G.S., F.R.S.S..
Prof. R. Leslie, M.A., F.S.S., Prof. W. M. Macmillan, B.A., and
Prof. O. Waterhouse, M.A. ; Hon. Secretaries, Prof. R. D. Nauta,
(Recorder), and J. Mitchell.

XIV

PROCEEDINGS OF THE SIXTEENTH ANNUAL
GENERAL MEETING OF MEMBERS.

(Held in the S 021th African Schc^ol of Mines and Technology,
Johannesburg, on Thursday, July 11, 1918.)

Present: Dr. C. F. Juritz, M.A., D.Sc, F.I.C. (President),
in the chair; C. Aburrow, Miss A. M. B'ottomley, P. Cazalet,
Miss R. Clapton, W. P. Cohen. C. Constaneon, W. S. Cordiner,
Prof. G. E. Cory, Prof. L. Crawford, Prof. J. P. Dalton, J.
Daniel, Miss F. C. de Wet, Lieut.-Col. J. H. Dobson, Dr. Ethel
M. Doidge, Prof. T- E. Duerden, Dr. A. L. du Toit, Rev. G.
Evans, I. B. Pole Evans, Prof. H. B. Fantham, Mrs. H. Fitz-
Simons, Prof. T. M. Forsyth, Prof. Elinor W. Gardner, F.
Gimkewitz, Prof. E. J. Goddard, J. Gray, Dr. H. H. Green, Prof.
J. H. Hofmeyr, J. Hntcheon, W. Ingham, R. T. A. Innes, Hon.
Justice C. G. Jackson, A. J. T. Janse, A. E. Jensen, L. D. Jones,
Rev. H. A Junod, F. E. Kanthack, Miss A. M. King, Rev.
J. R. L. Kingon, Rev. Dr. F. C. Kolbe, C. E. Legat, Prof. R. A.
Lehfeldt. Dr. C. T. Loram, W. M. McDavid, Prof. W. A. Mac-
fadyen, Mrs. H. M. McKay, Mrs. F. V. McLaren. J. McLaren,
Dr. B. de C. Marchand, J. Mitchell, A. O. D. Mogg, R. E. Mont-
gomery, Prof .J. T. Morrison, H. K. Munro. Rev. W. A. Norton.
Prof. J. Orr, R. J. Ortlepp, Dr. E. P. Phillips, Dr. C. Pijper, Dr.
Annie Porter. V. A. Putterill, H. C. Reeve, S. G. Rich, Prof.
M. M. Rindl. Prof. W. N. Roseveare, Prof. S. Schonland, Prof,
E. H. L. Schwarz, S. Seruya, R. Shanks, G. A. Smith, Miss
E. L. Teasdale, H. A. Trubshaw, Dr. P. A. Wagner, Hon. Sena-
tor J. J. Ware, Prof. E. Warren, Prof. O. Waterhouse, W. C.
Watson, Prof. J. A. Wilkinson, Miss M. Wilman, and H. E.
Wood; Rev. Dr. W. Flint and J. A. Foote (General Secretaries),
and H. Tucker (Assistant General Secretary).

Minutes. — The Minutes of the Fifteenth Annual General
Meeting, held at Stellenbosch, on 5th July, 1917, and printed
on pp. xxiii to xxvii of the Report of the Stellenbosch Session,
were confirmed.

Annual Report of Council. — The Annual Report of the
Council for 1917-18 having been suspended in the Vestibule since
Qth July, was taken as read and adopted, on the motion of Mr.
W. Ingham. (See p. xviii.)

Report of General Treasurer and Statement of Ac-
counts FOR 1917-18. — The General Treasurer's Report and the
audited Financial Statements for the year ended 31st May, 1918,
having been suspended in the Vestibule since 8th July, were
taken as read and adopted, on the motion of Prof. Wiikinson.
(See p. xxiii.)

Alterations in Constitution. — i. Goold-Adams Medal
Rules. — The question of either amending Rule (a), in view of
the abolition of the University of the Cape of Good Hope re-
ferred to therein, or discontinuing the award of the Goold-Adams

PROCEEDINGS OF ANNUAL MEETING. XV

Medals, and consequently abolishing all the rules relating thereto,
was discussed. A letter having been read from Hrof. G. Potts,
urging that the award of tlhe Medals should not be discontinued,
as they were a great stimulus to students, the General Secretary,
Capetown, explained that the founder of the Medals, in providing
a die, had supplied no funds for expenses, so that the Associa-
tion had to pay annually for the cost of striking and engraving
the Medals. It was then moved by Prof. Rindl that the award
should be discontinued for the present. Prof. Schonland moved
an amendment to the effect that the question should be referred
to a sub-committee for consideration and report to the incoming
Council. The amendment being put to the vote, was rejected by
27 votes to 25 ; and Prof. Rindl's motion being put, was carried
by 2;^ votes to 11.

(2) Headquarters of Association. — Prof. Orr moved, in
accordance with notice : —

That "Johannesburg" be substituted for "Capetown" in Rule VIII of
the Constitution.

This was seconded by Dr. Annie Porter, and supported by
Mr. Innes. Prof. Dalton moved as an amendment that the con-
sideration of the change of Headquarters should be deferred
until the next Annual Meeting. This was seconded by Mr.
Kanthack, and the discussion was continued by Professors Rindl.
Crawford and Morrison. The motion and amendment were then
withdrawn by the movers.

Reports of Sectional Committees. — The following reso-
lutions, adopted by Section D Committee and recommended to
the General Meeting, were read and adopted : —

(a) By Prof. Goddard:

This Committee, realizing the immediate necessity for the institution
of a zoological survey of South Africa, strongly urges the Government
to forthwith appoint a Scientific Committee to draft a practical scheme
for its accomplishment.

{b) By Mr. R. T. A. Innes:

(i) That the Government be requested to introduce legislation
restricting the sale of quack medicines, especially those professing to
cure venereal diseases.

(2) That information regarding the prophylaxis of venereal diseases
should be published.

(3) That the danger of venereal diseases and the necessity for early
treatment be urged.

A recommendation by Section E Committee that the Com-
mittee should nominate officers for the section for the next An-
nual Session was referred to the incoming Council, with power
to act as might be found expedient.

A resolution, adopted by Section F Committee, was read,
viz. : —

That four propositions relating to the Reconstitution of the Union
Senate, submitted by Mr Innes, be sent forward to the Annual Meeting
for discussion, to give Mr. Innes the opportunity of bringing the matter
before the whole of the Associatio \

XVI PROCEEDINGS OF ANNUAL MEETING.

It was resolved that as time did not allow of the discussion
of the subject, it should be referred to the incoming Council.

Election of Officers for 1918-19. — The following Officers
were elected for 191^8-19: —

President, Rev. W. Flint, D.D. ; Vice-Presidents, P.
Cazalet, Prof. J. E. Duerden, M.Sc, Ph.D., A.R.C.S., W, Ing-
ham, M.I.C.E., M.I.M.E.. and Prof. E. Warren, D.Sc. ; General
Secretaries, C. F. Juritz, M.A., D.Sc, F.I.C., and J. A. Foote,
F.G.S., F.E.I.S. ; General Treasurer, Prof. A. Brown, M.A.,
B.Sc, F.R.S.E. ; Editor of Publications, C. F. Juritz, M.A.,
D.Sc, F.I.C.

Election of Council Members for 1918-19. — The follow-
ing were elected members of Council for 1918-19 (the retiring
President, Dr. C. F. Juritz, being also ex-officio a member of
Council for the year) : —

I. Cape Province. — (i) Cape Peninsula'. Prof. L. Craw-
ford. M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S.E., Prof. R. Leslie, M.A., F.S.S.. C. W.
Mally, M.Sc, F.L.S.. F.E.S.. Sir A. Theiler, K.C.M.G., D.Sc,
and A. Walsh. (2) Kiniherley: Miss M. Wilman. (3) King
William's Town: J. Leighton, F.R.H.S. (4) Middelburg:
W. J. Lamont. (5) Port Elisabeth: Rev. J. R. L. Kingon, M.A..
F.R.S.E., F.L.S. (6) Stcllenbosch : Prof. E. J. Goddard, B.A..
D.Sc, and Prof. B. de St. J. van der Riet, M.A., Ph.D.

II. Transvaal. — (i) IVitzmtersrand: C. Aburrow.
M.I.C.E., M.S.A., J. Burtt-Davy. F.L.S., F.R.G.S., Lieut.-Col.
J. H. Dobson, D.S.O., M.Sc, M.I.Mech.E., M.I.E.E.,
A.M.I.C.E., Prof. H. B. Fantham, M.A., D.Sc, A.R.C.S.,
F.Z.S., J. Grav, F.I.C, R. T. A. Innes, F.R.A.S., F.R.S.E..
J. W. Kirkland, M.Am.I.C.E., Dr. E. T. Mellor, MT.M.M..
F.G.S., Prof. C. E. Moss, M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S.. F.R.G.S., Prof.
J. Orr, B.Sc, M.I.C.E., M.I.Mech.E., Ven. Archdeacon F. A.
Rogers. H. A. Trubshaw, Prof. J. A. Wilkin.son. M.A., F.C.S.,
and H. E. Wood, M.Sc, F.R.Met.S. (2) Pretoria: I.'h. i^ole
Evans, M.A., B.Sc, F.L.S., H. H. Green, D.Sc, F.C.S. A. [. T.
Janse, :^.E.S., and R. E. Montgomery, M.R.C.V.S. (^) Potchef-
stroom: E. Holmes Smith, B.Sc.

III. Orange Free State (including Basutoland). — T. F.
Dreyer, 'B.A., PhD., and Prof. M. M. Rindl, Ing.D.

IV. Natal.— (i) Durban: Hon. Senator F. F. Churchill,
and M. S. Evans, C.M.G., F.Z.S. (2) Maritsburg: Prof. J. W.
Bews, M.A., D.Sc, and Prof. E. Warren. D.Sc

V. Rhodesia. — Bulawayo: Rev. S. S.Dornan, M.A., F.G.S.,

VI. Mozambique. — Loureugo Marques: S. Seruya.

In this connection a representation by the Rev. J. R. L.
Kingon, that the present system of requiring a local Council
Member representing a single-member centre to conduct the
election of a representative for that centre for the following year
placed such Council Member in an embarrassing position, was
referred to the incoming Council for consideration.

PROCEEDINGS OF ANNUAL MEETING. XVll

Annual Session, 1919. — The acceptance by the Council of
an invitation by the Mayors of Kino^ WilHam's Town and East
London, for the Association to hold its next Annual Session
at those towns, giving- three days to each, was confirmed.

President for 1919-20 and Place of Meeting, 1920. —
The provisional selection of these was discussed, and an invitation
from the Alayor of Durban for the Association to hold its 1920
Session at that place was read ; but it was decided, on the motion
of Prof. Orr, to leave the matter for the incoming Council to
deal with.

Exhibition of Apparatus. — A motion by Prof. Rindl to
the following effect : —

That at future meetings arrangements be made to have lantern slides,
etc., illustrative of papers, and other interesting exhibits (original appa-
ratus and specimens) on view at one of the evening functions.

was referred to the incoming Council for consideration.

Votes of Thanks. — On the motion of Prof. Duerden, it
was unanimously resolved that the hearty thanks of the Associa-
tion should be accorded to the following: —

(i) To His Worship the Alayor and the Councillors
of Johannesburg, for the cordial welcome extended to the
Association, and for the Reception given to the Members
at the Town Hall.

(2) To the Local and Reception Committees for the
excellent arrangements made for the accommodation, com-
fort and entertainment of the visitors, and for the Reception
given to the Members at the Union Observatory.

(3) To the Council of the South African School of
Mines and Technology, for their kindness in placing the
School buildings at the disposal of the Association as the
Headquarters for the Session, and for the use of the hostel
" Sunnyside " as residential quarters.

(4) To the ladies of the Home Industries Depot, for
kindly taking charge of the arrangements for morning tea,
and to the ladies assisting them.

(5) To tihose in control who have afforded facilities for
the inspection of the following: —

Johannesburg Municipal Undertakings.
Crown Mines.

New Modderfontein Gold Mines.
Dunswart Iron and Steel Works.
South African Institute of Medical Research.
Johannesburg Trades School.
New Transvaal Chemical Works, Delmore.
Power Stations of the Victoria Falls and Transvaal
Power Company, at Rosherville and Vereeniging.
Union Observatory.

Union Steel Corporation Works, Vereeniging.
Rand Water Board Barrage, on Vaal River.

XVm PROCEEDINGS OF ANNUAL MEETING.

(6) To the following Clubs for admitting' Members as
Honorary Members during the period of the meeting: —

Rand Club.

New Club.

Automobile Club.

Country Club.

Union Club.

Unionist Party Club.

South African Party Club.

(7) To those gentlemen who kindly provided motor
cars for the motor drive round Johannesburg and Suburbs,
and other excursions.

(8) To the local Press for its appreciative references to
the proceedings of the Session.

Prof. Orr moved a vote of thanks to Dr. C. F. Juritz, the
retiring President, for his services during his year of office ; and
Rev. Dr. Flint moved a further vote of thanks to the retiring
General Treasurer, Mr. A. Walsh, for his valuable services for
many years. Both these votes of thanks were unanimously and
heartilv accorded.

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR THE YEAR ENDED

30TH June, 1918.

I. Obituary : Your Council desires to place on record its sense
of the loss it has sustained during the year in the death of two
of its former Presidents — Col. J. H. Hyslop, D.S.O., who was
President at the Natal Meeting in 1907, and Prof. P. D. Hahn,
M.A., Ph.D., who held the same office at Bulawayo in 191 1.
Other losses are indicated by the names of General P. L. de Ij. da
Silva, Prof. J. P. du Buisson, Rev. B. P. J. Marchaiid, Messrs.
D. Cullen, C. L. Fischer (on active service), D. J. Haarlmft, A.
GK>rdon Howitt (on active service), G. Rouliot, and W. W.
Thompson.

2. Memuership: Notwithstanding the removal of 42 names
from the register by resignation or resolution of the Council, in
addition to the 11 removed by death, it is gratifying to report an
increase from 712 to 774 members, no less than 115 new names
having been added :

The following is a comparative table showing the localities^
from which the members are drawn : —

REPORT OF COUNCIL. XIX

1917.

1918.

Cape Province . . .

• . • ...

203

... 215

Transvaal

... ...

337

... 390

Orange Free State

... ...

7>7

... 41

Natal

... ...

... 82

Rhodesia

. • • ...

Basutoland

. ■ • . • •

Mozambique

. . • ...

Swaziland

... ...

South-West Africa

Protectorate

Abroad

• • ■ • • •

Unknown

712

... 774

The present number of Life Members is 84, one having died
during the year, and five having been added.

3. Report of the Maritzburg Meeting, 1916: This, the
thirteenth annual volume of the Transactions of the Association,
has been completed and bound in uniformity with the previous
issues of the series. It comprises 57 papers printed in full, and 23
by title only, making a volume of 714 pages.

4. Report of the Stellenbosch Meeting, 1917: The issue
of this is well advanced in the Journal form, and the complete
volume should be available at a much earlier date than last
year.

5. Journal Expenditure: This has engaged the serious
attention of the Council at several meetings during the year.
Owing to the fact of the late publication of some of the numbers
of the Journal containing the papers read at the Maritzburg
meeting, the balance-sheet presented at the last Annual General
Meeting did not reflect the true position of the Association, as
was pointed out by the Treasurer. A Sub-committee was
appointed early in the year, consisting of two sections representa-
tive of Capetown and Johannesburg, to consider and report upon
the financial situation, and a deputation waited upon the Minister
of Education with a view of obtaining a Government Grant
towards the expense of publishing the Transactions of the Asso-
ciation. It was hoped that a sum of £250 might be obtained,
and in due course the sum of £150 was voted by Parliament, and
has been received. Without this sum the Council would have been
unable to fulfil its obligations. The Council desires to place on
record its thanks to the Minister of Education for his interest in
the work of the Association. Ir must also he noted that by resolu-
tion of the Council the sum of £150, together with £19 6s. 9d. in
interest, was withdrawn from the bank, where it had been
deposited in more favourable years, and was placed in the general
fund. A special effort in Johannesburg to obtain subscriptions
has added to the funds of the Association the sum of £150, and
the thanks of the Council are due to the Sub-committee. The

XX REPORT OF COUNCIL.

Sub-committee has made certain suggestions with a view to cur-
taiHng expenditure on the Journal, and it is hoped that these
may not be without effect, although at the same time it must be
borne in mind that, owing to the war, the cost of pubHcation will
be considerably enhanced during the coming year if the same
number of pages be printed.

6. South Africa Medal and Grant, 1918: The South
Africa Medal Committee, comprising Dr. C. F. Juritz (Chair-
man, Mr. J. Burtt-Davy. Dr. W. A. Caldecott," Prof. J. E.
Duerden. Prof. H. B. Fantham, Prof. C. E. Moss, Sir Thos.
Muir. Prof. J. Orr. Prof. M. M. Rindl, Dr. A. W. Roberts,
Sir A. Theiler, and Prof. E. Warren, recommended Mr. R. T. A.
Innes, F.R.A.S., F.R.S.E, Union Astronomer, Johannesburg, tor
the eleventh award of the South Africa Medal, together with the
grant of £50, which has invariably been presented with the Medal.
This recommendation has been confirmed by the Council.

7. Goold Adams Medals, 1918: The eighth series of awards
of the Goold-Adams Medals was made in connection with the
Matriculation and Senior Certificate Examinations of the Uni-
versity of the Cape of Good Hope, held in December last. The
names of the recipients were as follows : —

MatheiJiatics: Max Cohen, South African College Hi"f-^h

School, Capetown.
Physics: John Alexander Gilmore, South African College

High School, Capetown,
Chemistry : Bernard Gluck, Grey College School, Bloemfon-

tein.
Physical Science : Daphne Olive Tipper, Gill College High

School, Somerset East.
Botany : Edith Kathleen Tredgold, Girls' High School, Wyn-

berg.

The abolition of the University of the Cape of Good Hope
will necessitate the amendment of the Medal Rules ; and the
question of altering the rules or discontinuing the award of these
medals is being referred by the Council to the Annual General
Meeting for decision.

8. Research Grant Committee, 1918: Your Council has
appointed Prof. H. B. Fantham, Rev. Dr. W. Flint, Dr. C. F.
Juritz, and Mr. A. H. Reid as its representatives on the 1918
General Committee for Research Grants administered by the
Council of the Royal Society of South Africa. The grants have
not yet been awarded.

9. Metric Conference: In connection with the recom-
mendations of this Conference for stimulating public interest in
the adoption of the Metric System, the Witwatersrand Council
Members were appointed a sub-committee to consider and report
upon the steps necessary to give effect to the resolutions.

10. Memorial to Sir David Gill : The question of a Memo-
rial to the late Sir David Gill, the first President of the Associa-

REPORT OF COUNCIL. XXI

tion, was considered, and several suggestions were made in regard
thereto. It was resolved that a Sir David Gill Memorial Fund be
instituted and allowed to accumulate for a number of years, until
an amount is raised adequate for some purpose to be decided on
later, and that the offer of Mr. R. T. A. Innes to act as Secretary
and Treasurer of the Fund be accepted.

11. Standing Committee on Meteorological and Geo-
physical Research : The recommendation of Section A at the
last Annual Meeting, that a Standing Committee on Meteoro-
logical and Geophysical Research should be appointed was
approved by the Council, and the following Committee appointed :
Principal J. C. Beattie, Prof. A. Brown, Prof. J. P. Dalton,
Messrs. E. J. Hamlin, J. Hutcheon, S. S. Hough, R. T. A. Innes,
and F. E. Kanthack ; Professors W. H. Logeman. f. T. Morrison
and A. Ogg; Dr. A. W. Roberts, Mr. H. Pealing. Prof. W. N.
Roseveare, Dr. E. T. Stegmann, Messrs. J. S. van der Lingen,
and H. E. Wood; and also (subject to their joining the Associa-
tion) Messrs. C. Stewart, T. Stewart, Dr. J. R. Sutton, and Prof.
A. Young; Prof. Morrison to be Chairman, and Messrs. Hamlin
and Wood to be joint Secretaries.

12. Subdivision of Section C: The recommendation of the
Committee of Section C that the Section should be divided has
been considered by the Council. Various proposals for carrying
this into effect were brought under review, but as these diverged
too widely to admit of reconciliation, it was resolved to accept
the original proposal of Section C Committee for adoption at the
Annual Session, viz. : ( i ) Botany, Bacteriology, Agriculture, and
Forestry; (2) Zoology. Physiology, Hygiene, and Sanitary
Science, the Committee appointed for that Session to be asked
to report thereat whether any modifications appear desirable.

13. Central Committee of Industrial Research: Pro-
fessor J. Orr and Messrs .J. Burtt-Davy and R. T. A. Innes were
re-elected representatives of the Association on this Committee.

14. Endowment Fund Trustees: Mr. A. D. R. Tugwell,
one of the trustees of the Endowment Fund, having died during
the year, the vacancy was filled by the appointment of Principal
J. C. Beattie, D.Sc, who has accepted the office.

15. Loan of Publications in the Library to Members:
Requests having been received for the loan of publications in
the Library to members, the Council resolved to approve the
principle, and the following regulations regarding the same were
adopted :

( i) A Member desirous of borrowing" books or journals shall forward
a deposit of £1.

(2) The borrower shall paj- postage both ways, and in the case of
the loss of books or journals shall refund the value of the same.

(3) Not more than three issues shall be held at one and the same
time

(4) Books and journals may not be kept longer than one month, but
this period may be extended to two months if the application is renewed
at the end of the first month.

XXn REPORT OF COUNCIL.

(5) An extension of the period shall not be granted 'f another
application has been made for the same work during the first month.

(6) In the case of specially valuable works, the Librarian shall have
discretionary power as to the issue of the same.

16. The New Council: On the basis of membership pro-
vided for in the Constitution of the Association. Section VI (d),
the number of Members of Council assigned for the representa-
tion of each centre during the ensuing twelve months should be
distributed as follows:

Cape Provhice :

Cape Peninsula 5

Kimberley i

Kingwilliamstown i

Middelburg i

Port Elizabeth i

Stellenbosch 2

Transvaal :

Witwatersrand 14

Pretoria 4

Potchefstroom i

Orange Free State {with Basut eland) :

Bloemfontein 2

Natal :

Maritzburg 2

Durban 2

Rhodesia :

Bulawayo i

Mozambique :

Lourengo Marques ... i

XXlll

REPORT OF THE HONORARY TREASURER FOR THE
YEAR ENDED MAY 31st, 1918.

In handing you the audited financial statements for the year
1917-18, I regret to have to draw your attention to the fact that,
notwithstanding the special grants amounting to i200, and al-
though the ordinary revenue has been higher than last year by
£74 i8s. id. (made up of the following: increases, subscriptions,
£56 2s. 8d. : interest. £8 15s. 5d. ; Hfe fees, iio), the revenue has
fallen short of the expenditure by no less than £122 12s. 46.

On the expenditure side, printing and stationery is higher
by £5 IIS. 5d., due to the general higher costs. Grants under
Rule 9 are smaller than they otherwise would have been, owing
to an amount of £3 17s. 6d. having been returned by the Maritz-
burg centre. The expenses of the Annual Meeting include the
amount of £10 los. granted to the Assistant General Secretary;
other items are as usual.

The expenses of the Journal are shown in the balance-
sheet, and are sufficiently explanatory. The monthly issues have
been brought closed to proper date, only April and May numbers
not having been paid for at the end of May. The accounts for
these have since come in, amounting together to £65 is. iid., so
that the cash balance at the end of June of £92 los. 3d. may be
considered as reduced by that amount, leaving £27 8s. 4d. to
start the new year clear with.

As I understand that the Council will frame some new regu-
lations re expenditure, I would say that, excluding extraneous
donations, the income for the year 1918-19 may be estimated at
£725, and the balance as above added makes available for ex-
penditure the sum of £752, against which the average ordinary
expenses amount to approximately £270, leaving a balance of
£482 for Journal expenditure and carrying forward.

The Endowment Fund now amounts to £1,548, a sum of
£60 having been added, and £10 withdrawn.

The Medal Fund amounts to £1,445 13s. ,8d.. invested at
4 per cent. The annual requirements amount to £53, which
would be yielded by £1,325. I would suggest that some of the
surplus money might with advantage be used for grants in aid
of scientific research, as that side of the Society's original pro-
gramme has not been given effect to for many years, and our
ordinary income does not allow of anything being done in that
direction.

All investments are taken at face value.

A Walsh,

Hon. Treasurer.
June 20th, 19 1 8.

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1918. Pl. 1.

The South Africa Medal.

xxvn-

ELEVENTH AWARD OF THE SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL

AND GRANT.

(Fund raised bv Members of the British Associaticm in com-
memoration of their visit to South Africa I'n. 1905.)

After the conclusion of the Presidential Address in the Sel-
borne Hall. Johannesburg, on Monday, July 8, 1918, the Presi-
dent, Dr. C. F. Juritz, handed the South Africa Medal, together
with the customary grant of £50, to Mr. Robert Thorburn
Ayton Innes, F.R.S.E., F.R.A.S., Union Astronomer. In
making this presentation the President said: —

Mr. Innes occupies an assured place as one of the foremost
astronomers of the day, especially in such branches of research
as the astronomy of double and variable stars. To the advance
of knowledge in these subjects he has not only contributed ex-
tensively and continuously by his own observations, but he has
also produced works which are considered to be of standard
rank by those who are intimately acquainted with the branches
of astronomical science just mentioned.

In 1894 he published his first list of new double stars. This
list has since been followed by others, the number of independent
discoveries now standing at 1.125 pairs.

It was as an enthusiastic amateur that Mr. Innes began
astronomical work in New South Wales, and much of his earlier
investigations in relation to variable stars and double stars was
recorded from time to time in the Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society and in the Journal of the British Astro-
nomical Association. In those earlier days he also contributed to
the Proceedings of the Royal Astronomical Society papers relat-
ing to the secular perturbations of the earth's orbit. Mr. Innes'
method of computing these perturbations was a new adaptation of
(iauss's " elliptical ring "" method to m<')dern elliptical functions,
and is the briefest method available for the solution of the prob-
lem. His first contribution to the Astronomical Society's Pro-
ceedings was made just 30 years ago. and its object was to point
out an error in Le Verrier's tables.

Conjointly with Gale, one of the best-known and most skilful
observers of New South Wales, he was instrumental in founding
the New South Wales Branch of the British Astronomical Asso-
ciation.

In 1896 he came to South Africa to join the staff of the
Royal Observatory at Capetown, and laboured at the revision
of the Cape Photographic Durchmusterung. Of his services in
this direction Sir David Gill spoke as follows in his introduction
to the last volume of the Durchmusterung: —

" Mr. R. T. A. Innes has, as a labour of love, devoted him-
self since April. 1896, to the work of revision which is sum-
marized in the introduction."

XXVni SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL.

And again, in his Presidential address to the South African
Philosophical Society, September 17, 1902, Sir David Gill said: —

" Mr. Innes, previous to his arrival at the Cape, had devoted
himself to this branch of astronomy (double stars), and, with
comparatively feeble means, had discovered about 40 previously
unknown double stars, and published their estimated distances
and position angles. In the course of his revision of the Durch-
musterung, and by making use of opportunities of exceptional
definition, he has now added about 300 to the list of known
southern double stars, all of a class that would appear single on
cur photographic plates. He has also applied the i8-in. refractor
of the new McLean telescope to that work, and with Mr. Lunt
has made many measures of the position angles and distances
of southern double stars. In addition to this he has prepared a
reference catalogue of southern double stars, with a bibliography
of the subject, which is published in the Annals of the Cape
Observatory, vol. ii., part 2."

In 1903 Mr. Innes was a])])ointed to take charge of the
Transvaal Observatory, and in this capacity he issued eight an-
nual volumes of Meteorological Reports. In 1909 the issue of
the Transvaal Observatory Circulars was commenced — the title
of this publication was altered to Union Observatory Circulars in
1912 — and some four dozen numbers have since appeared.

Mr. Innes was amongst the first to appreciate the value of
the blink method in application to the discovery of minor planets
and other rapidly-moving objects in the heavens. By this method
he has succeeded in discovering many proper motion stars, vari-
able stars, and minor planets, including a third component of the
system Alpha Centauri, our nearest neighbour in stellar space
outside of the solar system. To this star the name of Proxima
Centauri has been assigned.

In this connection it is of considerable interest to note
that the first parallax of a fixed star ever observed was found at
the Cape by Henderson, whose observations were made during
1831-32 This was. in fact, the parallax of Alpha Centauri.
The results, however, were not published uritil 1841 — that is
to say, after Bessel had announced the parallax of 61 Cygni.
The parallax of Proxima Centuri was found by Mr. Innes in
1917.

It is in the knowledge of many members of this x*\ssocia-
tion that ]\Ir. Innes was one of its original founders in 1902,
and that by his zeal and service he did much to make it a suc-
cessful venture from the ver\- beginning. From 1909 to 1912
he was one of the General Secretaries of the Association, and
at the Pretoria meeting in 191 5 he occupied the presidential
chair.

It is only seemly and just that the Association should mark
its appreciation of the services of one who has so loyally sup-
ported science in South Africa, and who has done so much
for its furtherance: the Council of the Association has therefore

SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL. XXIX

resolved that this eleventh award of the South Africa medal and
grant, bestowed on the recipient for achievement and promise in
scientific research in South Africa, shall be made to Mr. Innes,
and in now handing him this mark of appreciation, I voice the
hope, which I am sure the whole Association shares with me,
that investigations of the important and valuable character of
those carried out by Mr. Inues in t!he past may yet long be con-
tinued by him.

The following is a list of some of the principal astronomical
and meteorological papers published by Mr. Innes : —

" Note on an error in Le Verrier"s ' Tables cln Soleil.' " Monthly

Notices R. /IS. (1888).
" Secular Perturbations of the Earth's Orbit bv Mars." Monthly Notices

R.A.S. (1891).
■' Secular Perturbations of the liarth's Orbit bv \'enus." Monthly

Notices R.A.S. (1892).
"A List of New Double Stars." Monthly Notices R.A.S. (1894).
■' Computation of Secular Perturbations." ^fonthly Notices R.A.S.

(1906).
" Anomalous Occultations of Stars bv the Moon." Monthly Notices

R.A.S. (1900).
" Note on certain coefficients appearing in the algebraical development

of the perturbative function." Monthly Notices R.A.S. (1908).
" Reference Catalogue of Southern Double Stars." Annals of the

Cape Observatory 2 (1899).
9. ■■ Revision uf the Cape Photographic Durchinusterung."" Annals of

the Cape Observatory 9 (1903).
TO. "Transvaal Meteorological Reports." Annual Volumes (1903 to 1910).
'■ The Barometer in South Africa." Report S.A . Assoc, for Adv. of

Science (1906).
" Weights and Measures for Sonth Africa." Report S.A. Assoc, for

Adv. of Science (1909).
"A Logical Notation for Mathematics." Report S.A. Assoc, for Adv.

of Science (1910).
" South African Climatic Conditions in relation to Aviation." Report

S.A. Assoc, for Adv. of .Science (1911).
" Star Positions and Galactic Co-ordinates." Kchort S.A. Assoc, for-

Adv. of Science (1913).
" Cosmological Hypotheses." Report S.A. Assoc, for .\dv. of Science

(1914).
"Daylight Saving." Report S.A. Assoc, for Adv. of Science (1916).
" Periods of the Elliptic Functions of Weierstrass." Proc. Roy. Sac.,

Edin. (1907).
" Double-Star Astronomy in the Southern Hemisphere." Addresses

and Papers Brit, and S.A. Assocs. for Adv. of Science (1905).
" Reduction of Transvaal Temperatures to Sea-level." Trans. Roy.

Soc. of S.A. C190Q).
"Fourth Order Perturbations of Satellites TTT and TV of Jupiter."

Trans. Roy. Soc. of S.A. (1911).

12
13

17
18,

19
20.

Previous Recipients.

1908. GrahamstoivH. — Arnold Theiler, C.M.G., V.M.D., Bac-

teriologist to the Transvaal Government, Pretoria.

1909. Bloenifontein. — Harry Bolus. D.Sc, F.L.S., of Sherwood,

Kenilworth, Cape Division.

XXX SOUTH AFRICA MEDAL.

1910. Capetonm. — John Carruthers Beattie, D.Sc, F.R.S.E.,

Professor of Physics. Smith African College.
Capetown.

191 1. Bulawayo. — Louis Peringuey, D.Sc, F.E.S.. F.Z.S.,

Director of the South African Museum, Capetown.

1912. Port Elizabeth. — Alexander William Roberts, D.Sc,

F.R.A.S., F.R.S.E., of Luvedale Observatory, C-P.

1913. Lourengo Marques. — Arthur William Rogers, M.A,.

ScD., F.G.S., Assistant Director of the Union
Geological Survey, Capetown.

1914. Kimbcrley. — Prof. Rudolph Marloth, M.A., Ph.D., Cape-

town.
'915. Pretoria. — Charles Pugsley .Loun.sbury, B.Sc, F.E.S .
Chief of the Division of Entomology, Union De-
partment of Agriculture, Pretoria.

1916. Maritzburg. — Thomas Robertson Sim, F.L.S., F.R.H.S.,

formerly Conservator A Forests for Natal.

1917. Stellenbosch. — John Dow Fisher Gilchrist, M.A., D.Sc,

Ph.D., F.L.S., C.M.Z.S., Professor of Zoology.
South African College, Capetown.

ASSOCIATIOX LI I'.KARY

The followinir publications are regularly filed at the office
of the Association, Cape of Good Hope Savings Bank Buildings.
St. George's Street, Capetown.

General Science.

Royal Society of Edinburgh : Proceedings.

Royal Society of South Africa: Transactions.

Royal Society of South Australia : Memoirs.

Royal Society of South Australia : Transactions.

Royal Society of Victoria : Proceedings.

Royal Society of Canada : Proceedings and Transactions.

Royal Society of Tasmania : Papers and Proceedings.

Royal Society of Queensland : Proceedings.

Royal Dublin Society : Scientific Proceedings.

Royal Institution of Great Britain : Proceedings.

Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow : Proceedings.

Royal Society of Arts : Journal.

Michigan Academy of Science : Reports.

Chicago Academy of Sciences:

Bulletins.

.Special Publications.
Reale Academia dei Lincei, Rome; Atti.
Kungl. .Svenska Vetenskapsakademien :

Handlingar.

Arsbok.

ASSOCIATION LIBRARY. XXXI

Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen, Amsterdam:

Proceedings of the Section of Sciences.

Verhandelinqen.
Real Academia de Ciencias de Madrid : Revista.
British Association for the Advancement of Science : Reports.
Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science.-

Reports.
American Association for the x\dvancement of Science : Pro-
ceedings.
Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science :

Proceedings.

Reports.

Bulletins.
Societa Italiana per il progress© delle Scienze : Atti.
Cambridge Philosophical Society;

Transactions.

Proceedings.
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society :

Memoirs and Proceedings
American Philosophical Society : Proceedings.
University of California :

Bulletins.

Memoirs.
University of Virginia : Philosophical Society Bulletins.
Tohoku Imperial University : Science Reports.
New York Academy of Sciences: Annals.
American Academy of Arts and Sciences : Proceedings.
Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences: Transactions.

Meddelanden fran K. Vetenskapsiakademiien Nobelinstittut.

California Academy of Sciences: Proceedings.

Academy of Science of St. Louis : Transactions.

Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadephia : Proceedings.

American Journal of Science.

Ohio Journal of Science.

Revue Generale des Sciences.

Archives Neerlandaises des sciences exactes et naturelles.

Annaes scientificos da Academia polytechnica do Porto.

Rlhodesia Scientific rVssociation :

Proceedings.

Annual Reports.
Societe de ph3''sique et d'histoire naturelle de Geneve :

Memoires.

Comptes rendus.
Det Kongelige Norske Videnskapers Selska]is Skrifter.
Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab: Oversigt.
Vierteljahrsschrift der naturforschenden Gesellschaft, Zurich.
Imperial Institute : Bulletins.

New Zealand Institute : Transactions and Proceedings.
Annual Reix)rt of the Smithsonian Institution.
Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution (United States

National Museum).

XXXn ASSOCIATION LIBRARY.

South African Museum: [

Annals.

Annual Reports.
Transvaal Museum : Annals.
Natal Museum : Annals.
Queensland Museum :

Annals.

Memoirs.
Field Museum of Natural History Publications.
University of Pennsylvania Museum Journal.
Public Museum of Milwaukee : Bulletins.
Albany Museum :

Annual Reports.

Records.
Knowledge.
Science.
Franklin Inistiitute : Journal.

Chemistry, Metallurgy, and Geology.

Chemical, Metallurgical, and Mining Society of South Africa:

Journal.
Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakademien : Arkiv for Kemi>

Mineralogi, och Geologi.
Geological Society of South Africa : Transactions.
Geological Society of Tokyo: Journal.
Geological Survey of New South Wales :

Reports.

Memoirs.

Alineral Resources.
Geological Institution of the University of Upsala : Bulletins.
Geological Society, London : Abstracts of Proceedings.
Bulletins of the Wyoming State Geologist.
United States Geological Survey:

Annual Reports.

Mineral Resources.

Bulletins.

Monographs.

Professional Papers.
Florida State Geological Survey : Annual Reports.
Union of South Africa Mines Department : Annual Reports.
Canada Department of Mines:

Museum Bulletins.

Memoirs of the Geological Survey.

Reports.
Egyptian Ministry of Finance : Geological Reports.
Geological Survey of Western Australia:

Annual Progress Reports.

Bulletins.
Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry.
Journal of Chemical Technology.
The Chemical News.

ASS(K"1ATI()\ LIBRARY. XXXlll

The Mineralogical Magazine.

South African Association of Analytical Chemists: Proceedings.

Meteorology.

Royal Meteorological Society : Quarterly Journal.
Mount Weather Observatory : Bulletins.
Observatorio Campos Rodrigues :

Relatorio.

Resumo mensal.
Egyptian Ministry of Finance: Meteorological Reports.

Agriculture.

Regia Scuola superiore agricoltura di Portici : Annali.
International Institute of Agriculture, Rome.

International Crop Report and Agricultural Statistics.

International Review of the Sciemce and Practice of
Agriculture.

Documentary Leaflets.

Statistical Notes on the Cereals.
Massachusetts Agricultural h^xperiment Station :

Annual Reports.

Bulletins.
Maine Agricultural Experiment Station :

Annual Reports.
Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales.

Department of Agriculture, New South Wales, Science Bulletins.
United States Department of Agriculture :

Experiment Station Record.

Year Book.
Journal of Agricultural Research.
Rhodesia Agricultural Journal.

Biology and Physiology.

Bulletin de la Societe Imperiale des naturalistes de Moscou.
Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakademien :

Arkiv for Botanik.

Arkiv for Zoologi.
Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany.
Bulletin of the Wisconsin Natural History Society.
The Medical Journal of South Africa.
University of California: Publications in Botany.
Linnean Society of New South Wales : Proceedings.
Missouri Botanical Garden.

Annual Reports.

Annals.
Bolus Herbarium : Annals.
Smithsonian Institution (United States National Museum) :

Contributions from the United States National

Herbarium.

XXXIV ASSOCIATION LIBRARY.

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew : Bulletins.

Union of South Africa: Reports of the Director of Veterinary

Research.
The Australian Zoologist.
Lloyd Library :

Bibliographical contributions.

Mycological Notes.
Abstracts of Bacteriology.

Entomology.

Bulletin of Entomological Research.
Review of Applied Entomology.

Astronomy, Mathematics and Physics.

Royal Astronomical Society:

Memoirs.

Monthly Notices.
Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada.
Harvard College Astronomical Observatory :

Circulars.

Annals.

Annual Reports.
Union Observatory Circulars.

Observatoire Royal de Belgique; annuaire astronomique.
KJiedivial Observatory, Helwan, Egypt : Bulletins.
Kodaikanal Observatory Bulletins.

Kodaikanal and Madras Observatories : Annual Reports.
British Astronomical Association,

Journal.

Memoirs.
Lick Observatory : Bulletins.
Nizamiah Observatory : Reports.
Astronomical Society of India;

Journal.

Monthly Notices.
United States Naval Observatory Publications.
American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac.
Western Australian Astronomical Society : Proceedings.
Kungl. Svenska Vetenskapsakademien : Arkiv for Matematik,

Astronomi och Fysik.
Loaidon Mathematical Society : Proceedings.
Tohoku Mathematical Journal.
National Physical Laboratory, Middlesex:

Collected Researches.

Reports.
Universidad Nacional de la Plata;

Contribucion al estudio de las Ciencias fisicas y
matematicas.
F)iysiical Society of Londo-n : Proceedings.

association library. xxxv

Education, Political Economy and Sociology.

United Empire.

South Africa.

Ohio State University Bulletin.

International Institute of Agriculture, Rome: International

Review of Agricultural Economics.
Royal Dublin Society : Economic Proceedings.
Athenaeum subject index to Periodicals.

Geography, Oceanography and Hydrography.

Societa Italiana per il progresso delle Scienze : Comitate
talassografico :

Bolletinos.

Memorias.
The Geographical Journal.
The Geographical Review.

United States Geological Survey; Water Supply Papers.
Egyptian Ministry of Finance: Survey Department Papers.
Istituto di geografia fisica e vulcanologica della R. Universita

di Catania : pubblicazioni.
United States Department of Commerce, Coast and Geodetic
Survey :

Special Publications.

Annual Reports.

Engineering.

Proceedings of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.
Journal of the South African Institution of Engineers.
Transactions of the South African Institute of Electrical

Engineers.
South African Society of Civil Engineers : Proceedings.
South African Engineering.

Technology.

Patents for Inventions : Abridgments of Specifications.
The Illustrated Official Patents Journal.
Souitih African Journal of Industries.

Anthropology and Ethnology.
Journal of the African Society.

x^rch.eology.
Bulletins of the Archseological Survey of Nubia.

PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.

ADDRESS

CHARLES FREDERICK JURITZ,
M.A., D.Sc, F.I.C.

PRESIDENT.

Since last we met in annual session we have had to mourn
the loss of several of our members. Some of these have yielded
up their lives in the service of their country — yes, and in a
larger sphere of service, the service of humanity — on the field
of battle ; others, who had, in another sense, spent their lives
for South Africa, passed away in the quiet of their own homes.
Amongst the latter I pause for a moment on the names of three
who had held high offices during some of our past annual gather-
ings : two had been Presidents of the Association, and the third
was a sectional president. Paul Daniel Hahn, a man of con-
spicuous personality and strength of character, who thoroughly
appreciated the inestimable value of science as a factor in national
prosperity, achieved an immense work for this land in fostering

2 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS.

the scientific spirit during a period exceeding an entire generation,
not only amongst the youth of the country generally, but more
particularly amongst the agriculturists. James Hyslop, perhaps
better known in the Province of Natal than in the rest of the
Union, coupled military instincts with a keen desire to alleviate
mental ailments among his fellow-beings. Modest and unobstru-
sive, he accomplished the bulk of his valuable labours sa silently
that the great world around was almost unaware of them, but
those who came from other parts and saw, returned deeply im-
pressed with admiration for the man and for what he had done.
Then there was Bernard Alarchand, keen as an educationist, and,
if that were possible, keener still to uplift sunken and degenerate
countrymen, alive to every opportunity of fashioning such into
thrifty and useful members of society. Each of those three
worked for South Africa in the manner that best became him.
In aims and methods they differed considerably, but all were
alike practical, and their aggregate achievements covered a field
so extensive that few, if indeed any, of us adequately realise its
proportions.

We are now meeting in annual session for the fourth time
since the war began, a war which has made some of us wonder
whether an association for the advancement of science is after
all an institution beneficial or prejudicial to the best interests of
the human race, for it is undoubtedly science — organised, calcu-
lating, deliberately applied science — that has made this un-
paralleled conflict — a conflict of arms, yes, but more of intellects
— possible. But the suggestion is fallacious : fire and water are
ills only when they are allowed unbridled scope and become mas-
ters ; under control they serve us excellently. The world had
got into the way of luxuriating in all the unprecedented benefits
that new forms of applied science had conferred on human-
kind during the first decade of this century, when the second
decade let loose on an unprepared world all the evils, all the
passions, all the debasing influences that misapplied and mis-
directed science could call into being.

I doubt whether humanity at large has even now learnt the
lesson which this colossal disaster should teach it ; that principle
and loftiness of purpose are more to be desired than knowledge,
and that mere science, uncontrolled by man's higher aspirations
and nobler feelings, may involve the human race in an inconceiv-
ably stupendous catastrophe. We are fortunate indeed that we
do not yet possess the highly dangerous power to unchain the
interatomic energy now happily latent in our stabler chemical
elements.

Is science, then, to be blamed for that which the world now
suffers? Is it not rather the circumscription of science that is
the cause of it all? Inasmuch as science is knowledge, our science
of necessity remains imperfect as long as we know only in part ;
and if a so-called science levels in the dust all the highest moral
and spiritual principles in man, if it outrages liberty, flaunts truth,
tramples sanctity underfoot, casts chivalry to the winds, and
acclaims as its god all that is vile and loathsome and devilish, it

{'RKSIDKKT S ADDRESS. 3

remains a stunted travesty of the full-orbed science that seeks
the highest ideals of knowled_2^c in every realm.

And so Principal Beattie was unquestionably right some
months ago when he said that the present world contest is a
struggle not between nations, but between ideals. Admittedly
neither ideal is perfect, but the ideal that is low and grovelling
and sordid and selfish is obviously the ideal of a mind that has
no vision for anything loftier. If science is to confer the highes^t
benefits on mankind, its outlook must be ever broadening, and
to a truly scientific people there should be nothing tending to
prejudice or dogmatism resulting from a circumscribed range
of A-ision.

In one of his " short stories," H. G. Wells describes con-
ditions amongst a race of degenerated human beings, who vege-
tated in a mysteriously isolated and forgotten valley amongst the
mountains — a valley that had in it all that the heart of man could
desire — sweet water, verdant pastures, glorious climate — -but a
valley cut off from the outside world, less bv reason of the ice-
capped clifTs of rock that walled it in than because of the fact
that 15 generations ago a strange disease had seized upon the
dwellers in that valley, and had left to them total blindness as
an inheritance. The walls of ice that isolated them geographically
they could have surmounted, as man's ingenuity often scales the
highest of material difficulties, btit the sightlessness which
hemmed them in mentally cut them ofif efifectually from the world
of men.

The most serious obstacles to the advancement of a country
are not geographical. When a great movement is in progress
one sometimes finds that those who should be in the van fail
to lead because they lack discernment. It was not Nelson who
was blind at Copenhagen, but the amiable and kindly Sir Hyde
Parker, who seldom ventured to take responsibility, while Nelson,
when he put the telescope to his blind eye, had really the clearer
vision of the two. Now South Africa had been geographically
cut of¥ from the centres o'f scientific activity in the Northern
Hemisphere for generations, but to-day all the important hap-
penings of Europe are flashed across 6,000 miles of ocean in a
few hours. The opening decades of last century brought no less
sensation in the way of scientific discovery to our forefathers than
the discoveries of the last 18 years have brought to us, and one
of the chief contributors to the new light that dawned on men a
century ago was Prof. Hans Christian Oersted, of Copenhagen,
who laid the foundations of electro-magnetism by his discovery
that the electrical current of a galvanic battery, when passed
through a platinum wire, acted on a compass needle placed below
the wire.

Every naval man at the beginning of last century was not as
clear-sighted as Nelson, and illustrations may be quoted of some
of very different type who, it is much to be feared, still have
representatives amongst us in this rapidly closing second decade
of the twentieth century, as they had amongst our ancestors in
the second decade of the nineteenth.

4 PRESIDENTS ADDRESS.

For some time before Oersted's clear reasoning- led him to
the precise point at which his discovery was made, Ronalds, of
Hammersmith, had been busy devising an electric telegraph, and
succeeded in working it on a small scale between two stations
525 feet apart. When the possibilities latent herein were com-
municated to the Admiralty, the reply was received that " tele-
graphs of any kind were wholly unnecessary, and no other than
the one in use would be adopted." The British Admiralty's stolid
refusal to see any better way of doing things than that of the
time-worn groove was emulated by a large proportion of the
British nation when war was declared four years ago, and the
silly formula, " Business as usual," was flaunted about. The dis-
illusionment soon came, for the voice of Science began to assert
itself, and demanded audience, until the stolidity that was pro-
verbial began to melt, and the need of organising the stud\- and
application of science was realised simultaneously with the dawn-
ing of an unpleasant feeling that the enemy had been beforehand
in this matter.

Then it was that the leaders of science laid the responsibility
for the lethargic condition of the nation at the door of the Gov-
ernment, and charges of administrative inertia with respect to
the support of science as a national duty were heard.

The reply of the British Admiralty to Ronalds, of Hammer-
smith, is an instance by no means unique of ci>rjx)rate self-com-
placency in regard to science : an entire nation exhibited a similar
mental twist when that brilliant chemist, Lavoisier, was executed
by the French Republic in 1794. After his sentence he had
pleaded for a fortnight's reprieve in order that certain experi-
ments on which he had been engaged might be completed, but the
reply was. " The Republic does not need such," and so the guillo-
tine terminated Lavoisier's researches. We speak of Liebig as
the father of modern agricultural chemistry, and justly so, but
the extent to which Liebig might have been forestalled had not
the blundering short-sightedness of the French Revolution
sheared Lavoisier's life away nine years before Liebig was born
we shall never know.

" Wholly unnecessary !" " We do not need such !" The
ejaculations, we say, of a purblind administration — of an ob-
sessed nation! And yet. to-day, 120 years after Lavoisier's death,
even to-day, after four years of intense warfare, it is surprising
how much we are still inclined to echo the stupid cry of the
Republic, " We do not need such !"

What foundation is there for such an assertion ? What
w'arrant has one for diagnosing national lethargy and adminis-
trative inertia? Listen to some evidence. Many of us in South
Africa have most perverted notions of what the national attitude
with regard to the study and encouragement of science should
be. In the United Kingdom, they probably imagine, that attitude
is all that could be desired, and here, most likely, it is just what
it is there. Both assumptions are incorrect, but as I do not wish
you to accept such a statement on my bare assertion, I ask pardon
for introducing several quotations. Much strong language has

PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 3

been uttered on this subject since the war began, but Httle of it
has been stronger than that of the eminent bacteriologist. Sir
Ronald Ross, in Nature of January 13th, 1916 — 17 months after
the declaration of war : —

Tt is idle to disguise the fact [said he] that recent events have filled
most educated persons with a sense of extreme resentment against the
administration of this country. . . . It is felt by many (and I am one
of them) that we live under the rule of the invertebrates. The people
who administer the country are not the best, the most vigorous, and the
most sagacious of men. They are too often the time-servers and the
mediocrities. The maladministration of scientific afifairs is only one of
the many forms of maladministration ; but, on the whole, I think it is
perhaps the most important form, because it gives to the mind of the
whole nation a lower, a meaner, and a thoroughly sentimental and
unpractical turn.

Scarcely less trenchant in parts is an editorial in Nature of
March 29th, 1917 — 31 months after war was declared. There
we are told that

such matters have been too much in the control of the clerical establish-
ments> who are ignorant of the significance of chemistry, and its vital
importance to the interests of the country.

Even if one had no other evidence, the obvious consensus
of opinion on the part of scientific men throughout the length
and breadth of the British Dominions should suffice to convict
the nation of criminal neglect of science in general, and of chem-
istry in particular. Witness against this neglect has. I say. been
borne in every part of the Empire. In England, Sir William
Crookes suggested as a remedy a Ministry of Science, and repre-
sentation of Science on the Privy Council. In the Nova Scotian
Institute of Science, Professor Eraser Harris put forth a power-
ful plea for the institution of a Department of Science, presided
over by a Cabinet Minister. The comfortable mental inertia of
the British race he deemed to be such that " nothing less than
this irruption of Teutonic brutality " could have shaken it, and
so he urged that the official interests and the economic aspects
of science should be presided over by someone who knows some-
thing about them.*

Not mere lapse of time — not six score years of unparalleled
scientific progress since the day when Erance rewarded the dis-
coverer of oxygen with the guillotine — sufficed to break down the
impenetrable crystalline structure of the British mind. Natura
non agit nisi fluida, and so a stupendous war had to intervene
and melt this conl}X)site solidity before anything like chemical
action could be brought about. The war has been called a chem-
ists' war. It has been described over and over again as a war
between the engineers and chemists of the belligerent countries,
with chemistry in the front ranks. Within limits the statement
is true, and certainly it is far nearer the truth than many admin-
istrative authorities realise. Bearing that in mind, hear the
testimony of two chemists of note, one from the British and
one from the American side of the Atlantic.

* Nature (1917), 99, 237.

D PRESIDENT S ADDRESS.

Prof. G. G. Henderson, of the Royal Technical College,
Glasgow, addressing the British Association as President of
Section B. animadverted strongly on British failure to keep pace
with other countries in industrial chemistry. This he ascribed
to the general ignorance of and indifference to the methods and
results of scientific work which characterise the people of Great
Britain.

For many years past [he said] our leaders in science have done all
that lay in their power to awaken the country to the inevitable and deplor-
able results of this form of " sleeping sickness," but hitherto tlieir recep-
tion has been much the same as that accorded to the hero of " The
Pilgrim's Progress : " they lookt upon him, and began to reply in this sort :
Simple said, / see no danger; Sloth said. Yet a little more sleep; and
Presumption said, Every vat must stand upon his ozvn bottom. And they
lay down to sleep again, and Christian went on his way."*

Similar in its kernel was an utterance by G. W. Thompson
in the course of an address to the American Institute of Chemical
Engineers last year.f

Germany has made great advances in chemistry. Some think that
this is due to her system of education, and probably this is partly true.
Some think that it is due to the far-sighted wisdom of public men. This.
too, is probably partly true, but the real success of chemistry in Ger-
many in my own opinion has been due to its greater popular appreciation.
. . . Progress ultimately is in the people of a nation, their developing
thoughts, their appreciation of the world that is about them.

One is astounded to find that a blundering nation may receive
a staggering shock as a result of its blundering course and yet
persist in the selfsame course. One expects a civilised nation
to show more common-sense than a flock of sheep dashed into
by a railway train. Britain was staggered when she discovered,
at the outbreak of war, her extreme poverty in three departments
of chemical manufacture — synthetic dyes, synthetic organic prin-
ciples, synthetic drugs. One tnight imagine that this would have
taught her wisdom, and that she would forthwith have begini
employing her chemists to best advantage ; but no, it was not
until the introduction of asphyxiating gases by the Germans
that it begati to dawn on Britain that she was acting unwisely
in making musket-bearers of her chemists. It was then, as
Nature points out.t that the War Office called for volunteers
with training in chemistry, and formed a new fighting force,
" selecting the officers from chemists already holding commis-
sions, and transferred non-commissioned officers and men with
scientific qualifications from other units." But the awakening
came far too late to be of the service that it might have been.
Let me quote to you some forcible sentences by Dr. Geoffrey
Martin, a graduate of the Universities of London, Bristol, and
Rostock, a lecturer on technical chemistry in one of London's
University colleges, one of the most lucid writers of the day
on both theoretical and applied chemistry, and the author of
numerous works both in English and in German. He says : —

* Rept. Brit. Ass. for Adv. of Sc. (1916). Newcastle-on-Tyne. 369.
■f Jotirn. Ind. and Eng. Chemistry (1917). 9 [2], 182.
X March 29, 1917, p. 85.

PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 7

British chemists believe that if their Government had h'stened to them
years ago the Germans would have been beaten in the early
stages of the great war, and that thousands of lives would have been
saved, [and that] in the autumn of 1914 Germany was saved from a
crushing defeat because she possessed the sense to encourage her
chemists.

We may. however, candidly admit that the Anglo-Saxon pub-
lic has gone some distance in the direction of learning wisdom
during these four years. An American chemist was delivering a
presidential address to an academy of science on the evening of
the day on which President Wilson .signed the Declaration of
War, and he said that

probably the greatest contribution to science of the present war is the
awakening of the average mind to the power and value to mankind of that
group of phenomena which we study as chemistry. This is probably
because we most easily grasp and appreciate applications rather than
generalisations, and the use of chemistry in war has been a revelation to
the general puljlic.

My predecessor of three years ago, in a paper read by him
at our Stellenbosch meeting last year, urged that " each State
must be organised for efficiency." If that be aimed at, then the
principle " Every man in the post that fits him best " will have
to become one of the guiding principles of organisation, as it
has done in the United States. The Western Allies were slow
to realise the need of applying this principle, at all events as
far as scientific qualifications were concerned, but they have
begun to see it now. In the " Report on the War Service for
Chemists " to the Council of National Defence of the United
States, it was stated that

Eingland, France, and Italy found it necessary to recall all chemists from
the ranks ; Canada does not allow chemists to enlist ; chemists have saved
Germany up to the present time.

Prof. Camille Matignon, writing in the Revue Gencrale dcs
Sciences in January, 191 7, explains how this salvation was
brought to pass. Germany would surely have been faced with
disaster at the commencement of the present war had she not
devised means of providing herself with a sufficiency of nitrates.
These were absolutely essential for the production of explosives,
and the outside supply being cut off, Germany could only be
saved if the problem of converting ammonium sulphate into
nitrates on a large scale could be solved. How this was done is
too long a story to tell here ; suffice it to say that by encouraging
people to use gas and coke instead of coal a large annual output
of ammonium sulphate was secured, and by the end of 191 5 the
Anhaltische Maschinenbau Gesellschaft of Berlin had established
30 installations for the conversion of this into nitric acid at the
rate of 100,000 tons per month by means of a process newly
worked out by Frank and Caro. A factory employing Pauling's
process for the preparation of nitric acid from atmospheric nitro-
gen was established in Saxony, and a third method — the direct
synthesis of ammonia — was subsidised by the German Govern-
ment after the Battle of the Marne, so as to increase its annual
production to 300,000 tons of ammonium sulphate.

8 president's address.

Contrast with this the official attitude in Great Britain when
the war began. " The need for fit men was the first considera-
tion," says the Editor of Nahit-e* and the need for chemists, as
such, in other spheres directly connected with war was not at
first recognised. OfiFers to the War Office of scientific assistance
emanating from organised bodies and from individuals were
politely acknowledged, and pigeon-holed for future reference in
case of necessity. The British Admiralty and Ronalds over
again !

It is true things are somewhat different to-day in the Old
World: to quote a recent address by Prof. W. J. Pope, F.R.S..
of Cambridge, President of the Chemical Society if

The general public, the public authorities, and our governing bodies
now regard as vital to the interests of the country a science which they
previously left unconsidered as being of purely academic interest.

The error has been fully and frankly admitted. As the
editor of the American Journal of Industrial and Engineering
Chemistry wrote a few months ago,f

France and England fully acknowledge that they greatly decreased
their efficiency by sending their scientific men to the trenches. Although
they have since withdrawn most of those still alive, § and are now using
them in special service, the dearth of technically-trained men has been
and is severelv felt.

As I make this quotation I think in particular of such a
man as the late H. G. J. Moseley, whom I had the privilege of
meeting in Australia four years ago, and whose work in England
as a scientific investigator was incomparably greater than the
brief service which -he rendered in the fighting-line before his
brilliantly begun career was cut short — a man of whom the
Chairman of the Chemistry Committee of the United States
National Research Council said that he was allowed to go to the
front when he should have been retained at home at all costs.

When America first entered the war there was for a brief
period the danger that she, too, would follow the mistaken lead
of England and France, and so Dr. W. H. Nichols, Chairman of
the Committee on Chemicals of the United States Council of
National Defence, felt impelled to say :

Already serious trouble has come to many of our chemical plants, and
plants employing chemists, as a result of the draft, and unless wise pro-
vision be soon made we can foresee a condition which it will cost months to
rectify.

Lieut. Engel, of the French Commission, drove home these
remarks :

I desire first to emphasise [said he] the mistake it is to take chemists
from where they are most needed, and to place them in the trenches, as
we did ourselves, and have lost them where they were most needed — in
the laboratories and the industries. We made this great mistake at the
beginning of the war. We took all chemists available and sent them into

* March 29, 1917.
t Chem. News (1917), 116, 199.
t (1917), 9 [11], 1002.

§ To the number of 128,000, it is said. — Journ. Ind. and Eng. Chem.
(.1917), 9 fii], 1009.

PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 9 '

the regiments, mostly the infantry. Perhaps we lost 60 per cent, of the
mobilised chemists below the age of 40. . . . At the National School.
in the scientific department, there was a loss of about 52 per cent, in the
first ten months of the war. I cannot tell you emphatically enough that
we must in all of our allied nations do our best to keep scientific men
where they are most needed, not only for war problems, but for the future
upbuilding of these nations.*

Such quotations as the above afford an informative pano-
rama to the average South African, who has, I fear, but Httle
conception of the manner in which the position is regarded by
scientific inen overseas ; they give us, moreover, some inkling of
where Germany's power and our own weakness He. If we wish
to probe a Httle further into ulterior causes, we may find some-
thing of what we seek in Sir Ronald Ross's remark that

for more than half a century before the war England has ceased to be
an intellectual nation ; the public at large has remained indifferent to
science, art, literature, invention, and all the great intellectual pursuits,
and has given itself up to game-playing, party-politics, faddism, and a
debased drama. We are now paying the penalty, and, if I do not mistake,
will have to pay a heavier one before the end.

How is it that we do not realise that they do these things
differently in Germany? Mr. A. G. Thacker, writing in Science
Progress i8 months agof on the recent advances in anthropology,
had occasion to refer incidentally to German science, and used
these words :

Even now the people of this country do not properly appreciate the
fact that the remarkable strength displayed by the German nation during
the last thirty months has been very largely the power of German science.
Eailing a much more adequate cultivation of science, there will be no
great future for Great Britain.

Now why has German science such a power? The answer
is : Because of the wise policy pursued in connection therewith.
Let me offer you an illustration. Prof. J. Stieglitz, of the Uni-
versity of Chicago, President of the American Chemical Society,
a few months ago said with special emphasis that, in his opinion,
the most important single factor which would lead to a tremen-
dous increase in power in the industrial development of the
United States is not immediately a question of scientific achieve-
ment, but a factor found in a simple psychological analysis of
the country's industrial situation. J

Let our manufacturers but awaken [said he] to the full meaning of
the simple old behest that the labourer is worthy of his hire, and they will
be astounded at the results.

He went on to relate how the chief chemist in one of the
largest manufacturing concerns in the country perfected a device
that saved the corporation perhaps 80,000 dollars a year: his
reward was a princely increase of 200 or 300 dollars a year in
salary. " Let me say," he continued, " that I promptly took him
away from this corporation — we cannot afford to waste good
men in such places." American tendency, he said, is to exploit

*Jour. Ind. and Eng. Chem. (1917), 9 [10], 925-926.

t January, 1917, p. 477-

t Science (1917), 46, 324, 325.

lO PRESIDENT S ADDRESS.

the chemist as an employee, instead of treating him as a partner,
and by way of contrast he mentioned the Badische Anilin-Fabrik,
where, from the lowest workman up to the highest chemist, every
individual is by contract guaranteed a royalty, a definite share
in the money earned or saved by any suggestion or discovery
on the part of the individual. Britain. I need not say, approxi-
mates in this respect more to American than to German practice,
and to say what some of Britain's colonies do is quite superfluous.
Often we find that private manufacturing firms, who ought to
be employing whole-time chemists of their own, seek to make
amends for the lack by periodical interviews with Government
chemists. On the other hand, it is a significant comment on the
rate of remuneration in Government scientific departments that
one of the must important laboratories in this country should
have lost five members of its stafi:' within the last six months
because considerably better financial prospects were offered by
a private firm and by an adjacent administration — this at a time
when the Government was already achertising for three chemists
to fill other vacancies caused by the war.

American scientific journals have reiterated that chemists
have become scientific hacks solely because they have not made
their voices heard. They are, 1 know, proverbially a ])atient
class, and have e\'er been so. As long as 200 years ago Pope
spoke of

The starving chemist, in his golden views

Supremely blest.

But there are limits.

Let me revert to the comparison between British and Ger-
man methods in regard to chemists. In a supplement to the
Manchester Guardian of June 30th, 1917, Prof. A. G. Green
attributes the decadence of the dyestuff industry in Britain, and
its prosperous career in Germany, to the fact that though in both
■countries the managing firms were originally chemists, those in
England gradually passed into the hands of purely commercial
men. Some of you may recollect that, in my presidential address
given in this city three years ago to the South African Association
of Analytical Chemists, I referred to the British efforts to regain
the lost industry, and quoted the late Prof . Meldola as saying that
the supposition that this could be done by staring a company
whose directorate is to consist solely of business men is simply
ludicrous. What do we hear on the subject to-day? This:

The Government meant well, the husiness men meant well, but after
three years the hard facts can no longer l)e denied. The protests of British
scientific opinion, ignored at the time, are in the event justified beyond
all measure. The fact is, it is not enough to mean well ; it is knowledge
that is wanting, not good will.

That is the state of affairs in Britain : how far is South
Africa behind Britain?

South Africa is a new country, and her future — she imagines
— lies all before her : shall we be right in adapting Mr. Thacker's
remark that, failing an adequate cultivation of science, she will
have no future at all? On the other hand, one does not wish

PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. II

these reflections to be misunderstood. A mere cultivation of
science is hopeless.ly inadequate to ensure the best results. If we
never realised this before, we should certainly be positive of it
now. South Africa, I trust, will have something more than mere
organised science. G. K. Chesterton has said that the weakness
of Prussian organisation is that it is destitute of all that is or-
ganic. An organ is not at best, he says, when it is a barrel organ.

Precisely what makes the difference between the mechanical and the
organic is the presence throughout the system of that invisible vital
principle which we call in the lower organisms " life," and in the higher
organisms " soul."

I have spoken about the symptoms of inertia: to a certain
extent it has been generally admitted that the diagnosis is correct,
and efforts are being made to apply remedies, but it is to be
feared that in some cases, even where the heart has been put
right, the head is still woefully wrong. Prof. W. J. Pope has
wisely insisted that public opinion should be educated to realise
that concentration upon scientific progress, urgent in time of war,
is also vital in time of peace*. If such be not done, legislators
and administrative bodies will be in danger of flying off at a
tangent when a crisis occurs, and when a nation thus loses its
head, panic legislation sometimes results : measures are adopted
which effect more harm than good. We. I trust, are not in such
a condition now. Nationally, our heads may be cool enough, but
the dawning sensation that our nurture of science has been de-
fective and is in urgent need of buttressing has roused in us a
zeal which, at times, I fear, is not altogether according to know-
ledge, and that blessed word " research " is again brought for-
ward, dazzling the uninitiated with the fancy that it is a kind
of Kut-el-amara, by the taking of which we may expect to gain
control of all Mesopotamia.

Is it consistent — not to say dignified — on the part of a nation
and its rulers to treat science with apathy, and starve scientific
investigators in days of ease and plenty, and then to turn to
them with wringing hands when smitten by panic? Some years
after I was first appointed to a position under the Government
of the Cape Colony, a far-seeing permanent head of the Minis-
terial Department to which I then belonged, said to me, " If I
could have had my way, twelve chemists would have been ap-
pointed instead of one." If nothing more than the mere training
of men for such posts had then been begun, and appointments
made five or six years later, a vast amount of useful work
accomplished would now stand to the country's credit. Now
turn to another picture. When the South-West African Cam-
paign was undertaken, and there were fears of the water supplies
being poisoned, and there was a dearth of chemists, a score of
men were sent helter-skelter into my laboratory one day, and I
gave them an hour's experimental lecture on testing for poisons,
after which they were attached to various units, provided with
the requisite appliances, and despatched to different parts of the

* Chetn. News (1917), 202.

12 PRESIDENTS ADDRESS.

invaded territory, in order to apply their hastily-acquired skill.
Most of them had never before had so much as an hour's lecture
on chemistry in their lives.

Panic research will undoubtedly lead to effects analogous lo
those resulting from panic legislation. In neither case can the
procedure be sane, well-considered, evenly-balanced. In the
United States Experiment Station Record last October it was
said that

The lesson has been taught that research cannot be carried on spas-
modically under stress of temporary emergency, but must go forward
continuously, year in and year out, from generation to generation. And
it must be surrounded by conditions in which it will best thrive, without
the handicap of being expected to produce something every day of imme-
diate market value or application.

Now in many respects our mode of action in the past has
been the exact antithesis of this. Let me given you one example
from a printed report of my own, dated 13 years ago. Discussing
ihe investigation of our poisonous plants. I remarked:

This most important branch of the laboratory's work is perhaps the
most unsatisfactorily performed. It is carried on at present in a most
casual way, instead of being earnestly and systematically undertaken.
Whenever a poisoning or suspected poisoning case occurs, problems have
to be grappled at short notice, and in a hurried and therefore often per-
functory manner, which should have been carefully investigated at leisure
months beforehand.

In eleven successive annual reports I continued making
allusions to this matter, and in a report four years later than
that just quoted from I said :

The complaint that I have to make is that the casual and incidental
character that these investigations are compelled to assume greatly militates
against results of enduring usefulness being arrived at. Matters of
this kind should be dealt with because of their intrinsic value
and not, as they at present are, merely as side-issues to the legal
proceedings against some " Kaffir doctor."

In scientific research, as in so many other phases of activity,
it is " slow and steady that wins the race ": ad hoc measures only
court failure; and carrying this principle to its logical conclusion
means that research in pure science has the strongest claim on
State aid and encouragement. Prof. A. W. Crossley, in an address
on " Science and industrial problems," delivered before the Royal
Institution about three years ago, aptly quoted a remark made,
some two months before the war broke out, by one of the world's
most prominent industrial chemists — " Pure scientific research
work, carried out in the laboratory, is the soul of industrial
prosperity " ; and, as Sir J. J. Thomson has said, applied science
ma)^ lead to reforms, while research in pure science
leads to revolutions, a remark which may be supplemented by
one of Prof. W. J. Pope, that " practically every useful chemical
development of a technical kind has arisen as the result of some
[)urely scientific investigation."*

But this is not the class of research that appeals to Govern-
ments : the research that they want and are willing to encourage

* Chcni. News (1917), 116, 200.

PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. I3

15 of the ad hoc type — perfectly utilitarian. Read what an edi-
torial in Nature of June 2131.1917, says in this connection:

Though we are assured that " after the war " scientific research is to
receive substantial aid from the State, there is reason to fear that this aid
will be given with qualifications. In other words, the promise is extended
only to investigations calculated to further the ends of commerce.
Students of what is commonly known as " pure science" will not only not
participate in the grants that are to be made, but they may be called upon
to subsist upon even smaller doles than were allotted to them in the
pre-war days. Our administrators seem incapable of appreciating the
fact that "applied science" has its roots in "pure science," so that if
these be starved the tree will of necessity be stunted.

B'ut surely, some may say. during a period of great national
emergency, at all events, we cannot alTord to spend on pure
scientific research time and money which should be devoted to
the objects of the immediate and critical present. Admitting
that there may be validity in such an argument, and that those
researches which concern the manufacture of arms and ammu-
nition are vital, yet an adequate supply of foodstuffs is equally
essential even for the waging of war, and that supply depends
upon the nation's agricultural prosperity, which is in turn de-
pendent upon the farmer's ability to maintain his soil at its
normal productivity, and. if possible, to increase the latter. More-
over, it remains for the close of the war to reveal how much
pure scientific research has been able to achieve in the years
through which we are now struggling; and let us never forget
that excessive devotion to the merely practical may hinder rather
than help the attainment of even the most " practical " discoveries.
To quote some lines from an address on " Industrial re-
search and the colleges " given last October by Dr. A. E. Ken-
nelly before the American Institute of Electrical Engineers :

While under extraordinary circumstances, such as those due to the
present World-German war, the pure science departments may advan-
tageously take up industrial research, yet, as a general rule, the best con-
tribution of those departments to industry is by restricting their attention
to pure science.

Sir A. G. Bourne, F.R.S.. in his presidential address to the
Indian Science Congress at Bangalore, in January, 1917, said:

Who can say how many profound truths await discovery because some
utilitarian who happened upon a glimmering of them did not think it
worth while to pause and investigate the apparently irrelevant? . . .
How much patient work and loving care have been bestowed upon inves-
tigations seemingly impossible of application to any of the specific
problems of the day? Upon research of this kind no utilitarian would
have been at all likely to embark, yet, sooner or later, such research has
either proved capable of direct application, or — and this has more often
been the case — has unexpectedly formed a corner-stone, or occupied a
more humble, but still useful position, in building up some far-reaching
generalisation capable of being seized upon at once bv the worker in
applied science, thus in turn perhaps stimulating further scientific
research.

Such remarks as the above, many times repeated in varying
keys and modes, are slowly educating administrators and the
public, and one is not without hope that at some not very distant
date the value of true research in pure science may be far more

14 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS.

generally realised that it now is. Meanwhile one may rejoice
that even applied science has received an amount of recognition
formerly denied to it, or at best grudgingly conceded. In this
connection a most unfortunate fact is that almost everyone who
has had a general education imagines himself in the possession
of sufficient knowledge of scientic subjects to be able to decide
what kind of research should be undertaken in each branch.
Here such a science as astronomy has an advantage : the average
educated man is so ignorant of astronomy that the astronomer
is usually left to pursue his investigations unmolested, and it
is only when persons who themselves carry on these pursuits
prostitute science to personal ends that the astronomer finds him-
self obstructed by lay intervention. An instance of this kind
seems to have occurred when Sir David Gill had served the
Admiralty for as long a period as 15 years. In a letter to Prof.
Kapteyn. Sir David wrote :

A deliberate attempt was made to hand over the Observatory to the
Cape Government — which would have been equivalent ro its extinction —
and the appointment of a successor to George Maclear (one of my assist-
ants) was refused — in consequence of statements made to the Treasury
that I had been neglecting my proper duties and been observing mmor
planets and other pursuits on my own account. Fortunately Newcomb
wrote me a letter, acknowledging in strong terms the value of the Cape
work to the American Ephemeris, which gave the lie direct to my false
accusers, and ended in my getting a warm official letter of thanks from
the Admiralty for these very services.*

Another instance of workers in science endeavouring to
thwart research may be quoted from the same book (p. 175) :

It would be laughable [says Prof. Forbes], if it were not almost tragic.
to record the fact that Gill's work was opposed because, at a Royal Society
Conversazione in 1886, his photographs, showing so few stars, were placed
beside the long-exposure photographs of the Milky Way. showing thou-
sands of stars. Gill wrote to Newcomb: "I told them that I had heard
of babies crying for the moon, but I had never dreamt of anything so
funny as a row of Fellows of the Royal Society insisting on having more
g^ magnitude stars in the heavens, else they would stop supplies."

Unfortunately astronomy is not the only branch of science
in regard to which such episodes as the above have occurred,
but there is surely nothing more reprehensible in the history of
scientific investigation than opposition to the inception or con-
tinuance of necessary work, engineered by those who should
be aware of the value of that work, but who labour to oppose
it in order to serve personal ends. Proceedings like these would
be less likely to occur if there were a Department of Science as
suggested by Sir William Crookes and Prof. Fraser Harris, for
such a Department would be less liable to be misled by the un-
scrupulous, and better able to gauge the capabilities of its workers
and the value of their work.

After four years of war we are looking forward to a time
when accounts shall be ruled off, and a balance-sheet drawn up.
Each country, each State, will be estimating its assets and Ha-

* George Forbes, F.R.S., "David Gill: Man and Astronomer.'' pp.

.V)0-I.

president's address. 15

bilities, and unquestionably such a process will go on in this
Union amongst the rest. We are continually hearing a great
deal about our assets : last year at Stellenbosch the Rev. Noel
Roberts reiterated the view that the native population is one
of South Africa's greatest assets ;* we need not be told to regard
the country's enormous mineral wealth as one of its chief assets ;
and the economic potentialities of our almost boundless floral
riches constitute another, while the many still untapped resources
of agriculture form an asset that is almost without rival in variety
and importance. If the end of the war is to find the country a
going concern — to adopt commercial parlance — we should not
risk the need of having to put up our shutters for stock-taking
when peace comes : we should reckon out and invest our assets
without delay, so that the proclamation of peace may find them
at least on the high road to the production o^f substantial interest.
We are, I know, working in that direction, but is there that
whole-hearted co-operation that is so highly essential if a commu-
nity means to succeed in a task that calls for grit and strenuous
action ?

As we wax hot in faction,

In battle we wax cold.

We have at times considered the subject of a national bo-
tanical survey, but for some unexplained reason this matter,
economically so important, hangs fire. South Africa had, a cen-
tury ago, acquired a world-wide reputation as a field for botanical
students, and. in addition to botanists from other continents, is
now building up botanical schools of her own. The worth of
a botanical survey is everywhere admitted, and even the type of
person who shrugs his shoulders at observations of minor planets
has no botanical counterpart. Yet the survey lags, and not alone
South Africa, but the world, remains the poorer on that account.
One hesitates to surmise reasons for the delay, but so much is
certain, the vastness of the undertaking makes it imperative that
the co-operation of every possible worker shall be enlisted, and
the American principle, " Every man in the post that fits him
best,'" would no doubt find loyal acceptance with all.

The need of an agricultural survey o'f the country's soils I
have discussed on several previous occasions, t Such a survey,
if it is to be thoroughly carried out, should include a study not
only of the inherent character and properties of the soils them-
selves, but also of the soil in relation to its environment; that

*Rept. S.A.A.A.S., Stellenbosch (1917), 88.
t See inter alia —

Senior Analyst's Report, Cape of Good Hope (1892), 6.

"Need for organised research in Cape Colony": Addresses and
Papers. Brit, and S.A. Assocs. for Adv. of Sc. (1905), 1, 221.

'' Fertility of some Colonial soils as influenced by geological con-
ditions "' : Trans. S.A. Phil. Sac. (1907), 18, 13.

Presidential address, Sect. B, Rept. S.A. Assoc, for Ad7\ of Sc,
Bloemfontein (1909), 33.

"The study of the soil": Agricultural S. Africa (1910), I9-

"Soil Surveys": Proc. Jsi Ann. Transvaal Dry Farming Congress
(1910), 25, 30.

1 6 president's address.

is to say, the soil must be studied both absolutely and relatively.
Regarding the soil itself, we have to study its chemistry, its
physics, and its biology, the last including the indigenous vege-
tation on the surface as well as the micro-biology beneath the
surface. In respect of the soil's external relations, we have to
learn all that we can about the orography, the geology, and the
meteorology of the tract of country surveyed. Hence the soil
may be studied, as to its inherent qualities, in the soil laboratory
(though only after having been properly sampled) ; but as to
its external relationships co-operation with the surveyor, the
geologist and the meteorologist is needed.

The whole subject of soil chemistry in relation to crop pro-
duction is comparatively little understood, not only in South
Africa, but all the world over. How little we know of it we
realise but too keenly when the world is faced with a wheat
shortage. All things are in a state of flux,* said Heraclitus, the
Greek sage, and he doubtless had a prevision of twentieth-
century science. It is little more than half a century ago that
the doctrine began to be preached that the crop-producing power
of a soil can be determined by a mere chemical analysis. There-
after arose a school that ridiculed such teaching, and upheld
practical plot experiments. To-day we find men like Patten
declaring that

the manner of conducting fertiliser tests by measuring the crop produced
has failed to materially increase our knowledge of soil conditions, and it
is now quite generally recognised that it is unsafe to draw general con-
clusions from results based upon such experiments. +

All this shows the need of agricultural chemical research,
for which South Africa affords a peculiarly well-adapted field.

To come closer to particulars : the world has been threat-
ened with a wheat famine, and, second only to the problem of
munitions, there has come the wheat problem. On the day that
I left Australia — two months after the declaration of war — the
Commonwealth newspapers announced that the Government had
authorised the immediate conversion of large extents of forest
into wheat lands, and had set great bodies of men to work at
felling the trees. Of late we, too, have begun to show some
concern about our wheat crops, and the two problems that faced
us were how to make existing lands yield larger crops, and how
to extend the present wheat area. These problems have been
rendered none the easier by the extreme scarcity of fertilisers,
and with us, as, indeed, all over the world, the scarcity has
brought to the fore another problem — how to turn potential into
available supplies. These are all-important matters for research,
even in war-time ; in fact, all the more important because it is
war-time.

Under war conditions, then, the cultivation of cereal lands
must of necessity be, as far as possible, intensive, and so we
need fertilisers containing not merely phosphates and nitrogen,

* TIdvra pet-

t Mich. Acad, of Science, T3th Report, (igii), 44.

PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. \J

but containing them in a state as readily available as possible
for the cereals to absorb. How to get our raw materials into
this readily available state is precisely the problem on which
all our chemical energies should have been concentrated for some
time past.

Regarding the utilisation of our phosphate deposits there
is much work to be done, both on the field and in the laboratory.
The Saldanha Bay deposits were first investigated in the Cape
laboratories about nine years ago,* but until the war quickened
the pulse, very little was done in the direction of ascertaining the
best way of converting these aluminium-iron phosphates into a
form available to plants, and of their value in the unconverted
form we know scarcely anything more from field experiments
than we knew nine years ago. With regard to nitrogen, we
scarcely realise that we live at the bottom of an atmospheric
ocean of which the bulk consists of free nitrogen — free, not only
in the chemical sense, but likewise so free that no war can cut
us off from it as the present war has cut us off from the essen-
tially German potash ; and not alone free, but abundant, for
there is a weight of seven tons of this nitrogen above every
square yard of the earth's surface.

Now there are two nitrogen cycles in constant operation, and
in each cycle the animal kingdom has a definite part to perform.
There is a cycle of free nitrogen, and there is a cycle of com-
bined nitrogen. The former is relatively simple, the latter more
complex. We breathe in the free nitrogen of the atmosphere' and
exhale it again, thus restoring it to the air unchanged, and as
free as it was before. The. combined nitrogen taken by animals
as a constituent of their food undergoes a change within the
animal body, is returned to the soil as new nitrogenous com-
pounds in the form of manure, and becomes converted by the
soil bacteria into nitrates, which are capable of being absorbed
by the vegetation. Animals feed on and assimilate this vegetable
ifoodstufif. and so the cycle begins anew. The two nitrogen
cycles — ^^the.breathinw cycle and the feeding cycle — move in per-
fect independence of each other, and the problem of the chemist
— a problem that has been largely solved within little more than
the last dozen years — has been to bring free nitrogen within
the sphere of operation of the cycle of combined nitrogen. I
say this problem has been to a great extent solved. Chemistry
has discovered two methods which are commercially practicable
whereby the nitrogen of the air can be "' fixed," as it is called.
One is the manufacture of cyanamide, which can then be used
directlv as a fertiliser. For this manufacture two things are
essential — almost pure nitrogen and electrical energy as a source
of heat. The nitrogen is obtained by liquefying air. and allow-
ing the liquid air to evaporate, when the nitrogen boils away
first and is collected. This " fractional distillation " of the
liquid air is generally carried out in a Linde or Claude apparatus.

* C. F. Juritz : Report of Senior Anal.vst, Cape of Good Hope (1909),
159.

1 8 president's address.

The electrical energ^^ is obtained from water-power. It is re-
markable that in the United States, where there is much water-
power available, there was not a single factory of the above
type when America entered the war. South Africa has many
rivers furnishing waterfalls of no mean size, but none of these
has hitherto been utilised in this direction.

The other commercial method for the fixation of nitrogen
is also dei)sndent upon electrical action. Water is decom43osed
into its constituent elements by electrolysis, and under great
pressure at high temperature the hydrogen is made to combine,
in the presence of a catalyst, with nitrogen produced by the frac-
tional distillation of liquid air, and thus forms ammonia. To
the practical operation of this process is largely due the fact
that Germany has still the means of manufacturing explosives.
The ammonia produced as above is converted into nitric acid,
also by catalytic agency in the presence of atmospheric air, and
nitric acid is the chemical basis of all explosives.

Before the introduction of these methods the far greater
power-consuming process of Birkeland and Eyde, first commer-
cially practised in the neighbourhood of the Niagara Falls, and
subsequently developed in Scandinavia, played a great part in
bringing within Germany's reach the potentiality of producing
enormous quantities of nitric acid, and it was to the perception
of this potentiality by Germany that the present war was due,
for then began to be Jaid the foundations of the scheme of
munition production which in turn made it possible for Ger-
many to embark on a definite war policy.

That this was actually the position is now thoroughly well
recognised amongst chemists all the world over. The President
of the Ohio Academy of Science put the facts in a nutshell at
the Columbus meeting- a year ago, when he said, in the course
of an address on " The relation of war to chemistry," that, with
British control of the seas, German armies with all their num-
bers, thorough equipment, and solendid military power, would
have been impotent in a few weeks or months without the chem-
ical ability to get nitric acid from atmospheric nitrogen instead
of from Chilean nitrate, for without nitric acid high explosives,
and even smokeless powder, are impossible.*

The class of investigation that finds most favour amongst
Governments and populace in Britain and her dependencies to-
day is that which is commonly known by the name of " Indus-
trial Research." The reason of this is of course quite plain :
both officials and public are capable of grasping the direct benefits
of applied science and technologv. and hence technological inves-
tigation is frequently favoured in quarters where pure scientific
research is despised.

Obviously we cannot make any real advance in scientific
investigation or research unless we have adequate facilities,
qualified workers, well-equipped laboratories. Naturally all this

* Ohio Joiinil. of Science. (igiS). 18 [3], 70.

PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. IQ

means a financial backing, l)ut we shall never reap the bounteous
fruits that science is able to afford until we cease to look upon
money devoted to such objects as expenditure, and dubious ex-
penditure at that, and begin to believe in it as direct investment.
As long as we hold the former view, scanty returns \v\\\ be
deservedly proportionate to our niggardly treatment of science.
And the treatment has in the past been niggardly because — to
quote the editorial in A'atitrc (March 29th. 1917) again —

such matters have been too much in the control of the clerical estaMish-
ments, who are ignorant of the significance of chemistry, and its vital
importance to the interests of the country.

Prof. Pope, alluding, in an address given by him in the
Regent Street Polytechnic last October, to the establishment of
the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research with an
endowment of £1.000.000. asked why that experiment was not
made 20 years ago. at a time when it would undoubtedly have
prevented the horrors of the last three years.

We have suffered [he said] in the past from the exclusively British
method of making the specialist entirely subservient to the administrator,
the administrator being generally chosen because he is available, because
he is politically acceptable, and because he knows nothing whatever about
the subject which is to be administered, and is therefore not likely to be
prejudiced by any previous convictions. That process of appointing some-
one who knows nothing to supervise the work of someone who does
know how to do the job seems to have been at the bottom of a great many
of our misfortunes in the past.

There was a time — now, fortunately, long past — when I used
to be asked to submit an annual requisition for the " drugs "
which I would require in the course of my chemical work, and
the request used to be accompanied by an instruction to call for
tenders for the supply of these " drugs " from the various
pharmacists in the city. It was with the utmost difificulty that
I managed to persuade the authorities that the laboratory under
my charge needed not drugs but chemicals, and that the disciples
of Galen and .^sculapius were quite unable to supply those
needs ; the chemist, whose concern during war-time is largely
with explosives, gases, foodstuffs, follows a calling totally dis-
tinct from that of the druggist, who concerns himself solely with
pills, potions and plasters ; but this is a distinction wholly beyond
the ken of those pilloried by the editor of Nature.

Those day.s — when one used to be called a Trades Unionist
for suggesting that when a Government Analyst was wanted it
was scarcely appropriate to appoint a physician to the post —
have happily passed away, even in South Africa, which gener-
ally lags behind in such matters, and thanks to such books as
Sir William Tilden's " Chemical Invention and Discovery in the
Twentieth Century." the general reader is at last beginning to
arrive at clear notions regarding the chemist and his work ; not
a moment too soon, for, as a contributor to the Manchester
Guardian remarked a few months ago.*

* January. 9, 1918.

20 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS.

it is high time that the public began to distinguish between the druggist
or pharmacist, who sells toilet articles and medicine, and the chemist,
whose prime business is chemistry and its application to production.

The popular confusion that formerly existed in the British
mind between the chemist and the apothecary is largely respon-
sible for the false perspective of chemical matters that the whole
iBritish nation has had. In Germany such a Hogarth's picture of
the chemist and his functions never prevailed.

It is unfortunately true that, however inadequate the value
placed upon chemical attainments and qualifications in England,
the position is distinctly worse in South Africa. Two years ago
the South African Association of Analytical Chemists appointed
a Sub-Committee to report upon the duties and responsibilities of
Government Analysts. The resulting report — a very exhaus-
tive one — was subsequently printed in that Association's Pro-
ceedings,''' and it proclaims with emphasis that with the emolu-
ments obtained by analysts in the Imperial Government Labora-
tory the conditions of the South African service compare most
unfavourably, a condition of afifairs which it attributes to " the
lack of scientific training extant among ministers and responsible
officials."

The Government Laboratories [the report continues] could be more
fully utilised in investigating the industrial resources of the country. The
crying need of this countr}' is research, and the Government should
provide the necessary staff and laboratories for investigational work ; at
present, the time of the officials is largely taken up by work of a routine
character.

In another part of the report occurs this paragraph :

This failure to realise the importance and necessity of the cliemist is
found among the general public as well as among Government officials,
and it will be necessary, in order to effect an improvement and secure
proper recognition of the value of the chemist, to continually emphasise his
importance to the welfare of the State.

Many, no doubt, do not comprehend what functions the re-
search chemist can exercise in South Africa, and what scope the
country can offer for his labours. Following the United States'
principle of the best men in the best posts, where, they ask, can
we place him so that the country may, through his instrumen-
tality, reap the greatest advantage? To answer such questions
one needs, first of all, to consider how scientific research — and
therefore inferentially chemical research — may be distributed.
As a matter of convenience, a threefold grouping is adopted —
imiversity research, industrial research, and national research.
Adapting the definitions given by Mr. C. E. Skinner a few month>
ago at a meeting of the American Institute of Electrical
Engineers, we may say that university research includes the pure
scientific research, which naturally finds its home in the univer-
sity and all other research done there for the purpose of training-
men. Industrial research comprises all that done by or for
industrial concerns with the purpose of advancing industry.

* Proc. S.A. Assoc. Anal. Chemists (1916-17), 32-51.

PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 21

National research is that carried on by the Government for the
purpose of benefitting the people as a whole. Now it is plain
that between these three types of research there can be no sharp
lines of demarcation, but university research is often the step-
ping-stone to industrial advancement, while national research is
repeatedly industrial in its objects.

Mr. Skinner rightly holds that the primary function of the
university in research should be the training of research men,
and that universities should be equipped to turn out research
men just as they are now equipped to turn out men with academic
and engineering degrees. Prof. G. G. Henderson, in the address
from which I have already quoted, laid down that the training
of the chemist, so far as that training can be given in a teaching
institution, must be regarded as incomplete unless it includes
some research work.*

The demand for research in almost every field is growing
with a rapidity wholly unprecedented, and to the universities
alone can we look for men able and ready to take their places
in the strenuous efifort that is bound to be put forth on all hands.
We have just inaugurated a triple university system: Prof. Craw-
ford, in his presidential address to this Association at Maritz-
burg, asked and sought to answer what South Africa expects
from its universities, and referred, in particular, to the need of
encouraging the study of science and of furthering research. In
developing this theme he asked us to remember that the highest
form of research is not made to order, and that there is more
in genius than industry and opportunity. It would benefit us
to bear this in mind, and in juxtaposition with Prof. Crawford's
words, to place a sentence from Mr. Skinner's address :

If it takes a genius to recognise a genius yet undeveloped, and
properly to stimulate and direct that geniusj liow necessary it is that we
place men of genius at the head of the research departments of our
universities.

It comes to this, then : that we should see to it that our
universities are well equipped with scientific research workers,
and it is pre-eminently desirable that a system of research pro-
fessorships should be instituted, the chairs to be occupied by men
of enthusiasm — men who will inspire a like zeal and devotion
amongst those of the younger generation whom they gather
around them, men of personality and character, who will kindle
in the breasts of the research students feelings of admiration and
respect for them and their work.

" In training research men," says Mr. Skinner again, " the
university will naturally become the custodian and the promoter
of pure scientific research." Here is the fountain-head whence
, we shall ultimately draw our men for industrial research, and
for national research ; how important, then, that the source of
all our supplies be of crystal purity! Whatever more utilitarian

* Kept. Brit. Assoc, for Adv. of Science. Xe\vcastlc-on-'l"ync (i<)i6),
374-

22 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS.

form of research one may subsequently take up, research in
pure science is invaluable in the earlier part of the research
student's career, for it will give him a zest and a stimulus that
will remain with him throughout, enrich his scientific imagina-
tion, and adorn all his subsequent work.

At the same time uniyersity research may lead to the most
utilitarian results : some of the most important dyes, artificial
alizarin, the phthaleins. indigo, and such drugs as phenacetin,
antipyrin, and aspirin, were all discovered in university chemical
laboratories.

Now. why have we so few persons doing research work in
South Africa? Is it in part because no research geniuses are
born, or is it that we failed to recognise them, and neglected to pro-
vide them with the essential facihties? — youths, maybe, on whose
humble birth fair science frowned not, flowers " born to blush
unseen and waste their sweetness on the desert air," mute in-
glorious Miltons, whose genius remained latent because we took
no trouble to draw it out?

Science to their eyes her ample page.

Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll.

Dr. P. G. Nutting about a year ago said that

some writers have spoken of the investigator as a rare individual, to be
sifted out from educational institutions with great care for a particular
line of work. My personal opinion is that a large percentage of the men
students are fitted for research work if properly started along the right
line.

What we in South Africa lack — next to the facilities for
research — is not so much the research students as the men to
start them on right lines. I think that Principal Beattie, at the
inauguration of the University of Capetown three months ago,
sounded the correct note in observing that the youth of South
Africa did not lack enthusiasm or ability for research, but they
lacked opportunity, and, he added, much depended on the men
they had as professors. That is the secret of it all. In this
dread war South Africans have more than once exhibited a phy-
sical courage and a pertinacity equal to anything that Australia
or New Zealand could show ; why should not South Africa, then,
produce a Bragg or a Rutherford as well as Australia and New
Zealand, seeing that intellectul courage and pertinacity are two
indispensable qualities in a successful research worker? The
position is analogous to that which war has developed in Europe
and America : there the opportunity has made the man. An
American chemist already quoted said that

the German General Staff has learned, if others have not, that German
chemical achievement, which is great indeed, is no sign that equal ability
does not exist elsewhere. The Allies and America improvised a muni-
tions industry in two years to match their machine of forty years' pre-
paration.

And then he went on to make a remark which we may well
take to heart :

PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 23

War could force us to do nothing we did not possess capacity for
before.

" The potential research worker," says the editor of the
United States Experiment Station Record, " is probably less born
than made," and Dr. Nutting thus clothes the same thought in
different language :

Fertility of mind is not so m,uch an inborn quality of the mind itself
as of the training and association which that mind has had.*

Hence it is our solemn duty as a young nation to provide
abundant facilities at each of our three universities for the
making of our future research workers.

We pass on to speak of industrial research, which always
has some utilitarian end in view, whereas the purpose of pure
scientific research is more exclusively philosophic — the discovery
of truth. The investigator in pure science has been likened to
the explorer who discovers new continents, or islands, or lands
before unknown; the investigator in industrial research to the
pioneer who surveys the newly-discovered land in order to locate
its mineral resources, to determine its forest areas, and ascer-
tain the position of its arable land.f

I quote these remarks with all circumspection, for after all
there are no sharp boundaries between research in pure science
and in applied or industrial science, and Huxley was right when
he wrote that " what people call ' applied science ' is nothing
but the application of pure science to particular problems." The
fact is that applied science is impossible until a foundation of
pure science has been laid to build it on. You cannot apply a
science which is not there to apply, and, as Sir William Tinney
has said, until men began to interrogate nature for the sake of
learning her ways, and without concentrating their attention on
the expectation of useful applications of such knowledge, little
or no progress was made.

Industrial chemistry has been defined as that branch of
chemical science which uses all the rest of chemistry, and much'
engineering, for the furtherance of production of chemical sub-
stances, or the use of chemical means or methods for manufac-
turing any material of commerce ; and hence industrial research
for the most part differs widely from university research. True„
there are instances to the contrary : thus Michigan University
has at Ann Arbor a tank for testing ship resistance,' and Illinois
University has a laboratory for investigations on a full-size loco-
motive engine, but industrial research is for the most part im-
practicable for universities, and as often as not needs to be
carried out under large-scale conditions, as it were in situ, and
by persons already possessing practical experience in the various
phases of the problem under investigation. At the same time

* Nature (1917), 100, 157.

t Col. J. J. Carty: Presidential address: Proc. Amer. Inst. Elec. Engi-
neers (1916), 35, [10], 1415.

24 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS.

there should be much closer co-operation between the university and
industrial research. Industry should recognise that it must depend
primarily upon the universities for its trained research men, and co-operate
to the fullest possible extent to the end that properly trained men be
turned out.

Do you realise what this last sentence involves — you who
are connected with the big industries? It involves that industry
should recognise that, from a purely selfish motive if from no
other, its interest lies in endowing research chairs at the univer-
sities, and in seeing that they are occupied by men of genius.
The very nature of industrial research implies that there must
be a constant accession to the ranks of its workers of persons
trained in pure scientific research. If such accession be inter-
m.itted. or if the increase of knowledge by means o'f pure scienti-
fic research be hampered, industrial research will inevitably be
limited in corresponding degree.

The Government has acted wisely and well in endeavouring
to establish a system of industries in this country : do we want
these industries to fizzle out, or to go through years of laborious
struggling? If we wish to minimise preventable disadvantages
of that kind, let us do without delay whatever we can to foster
research, so that the men to conduct it become available as soon
as they are needed.

National research approaches more nearly to the industrial
than to the university type. It is often undertaken for the
advantage of industry in general, but its outlook is considerably
broader than that above embraced within the scope of industrial
research, restricted, as the latter is, to the requirements of indi-
vidual industries. In South Africa the cry for industrial re-
search has become more imperative of late, and the Industries
Advisory Board, as well as the Scientific and Technical Com-
mittee appointed on the initiative of the Minister of Mines and
Industries, have gone some distance, both in educating the public
to the need of this type of research and in giving an impetus
in the required direction. Mainly, however, the agencies used
were of two classes : the laboratories of the University Colleges
and those of certain Government Departments, together with the
respective officers of those institutions.

There are two fundamental principles on which I must now
lay stress : they are expressed in the words " co-operation " and
" co-ordination " — co-operation between workers in different
branches of science, co-ordination amongst those who work in
the same branch, in order that the maximum of benefit may be
attained. So interdependent, in fact, so interlaced, are the three
types of research to which I have briefly alluded, that it should
be patent as the sun at noon that the closest co-operation between
them all is essential. It is to be feared that this is not yet as
clearly realised as it should be. The waste of time and energy
that has arisen from overlappping, which in turn has resulted
from lack of collaboration, is incredibly great. It has stifled
work of value in the past to an extent that is certainly not

president's address. 2^

realised ; it has thrown back for many years branches of investi-
gation in which ere now incalculable progress might have been
made, and untold pecuniary advantages reaped. Would that the
dire necessity of this searching^ war could stir up the South
African nation to a correct appreciation of the facts!

About a year ago the President of the Society of Chemical
Industry, in his address at Birmingham, insisted on the absolute
necessity for the engineer and the chemist to " get into double
harness as quickly as possible," and work sympathetically to-
gether for the progress of chemical industry. In South Africa,
too, this necessity has been manifested, but I am glad to say that
we have had more than manifestation: we have had realisation,
and we have had operation. For example, when, some months
ago, the fertiliser scarcity arose. I was deputed to investigate
the potentialities of unutilised raw materials in the Union, and
found, amongst other things, that there were several thousand
tons of good material going to waste in various places in connec-
tion with such institutions as slaughter-houses and crayfish can-
neries for lack of by-products plant to deal with it. When I
had completed my tour of inspection and furnished my report,
the engineers were charged to follow on, and set to work to
make good the deficiency in plant, with the result that a respect-
able quantity of fertilisers will now be produced from the refuse
that hitherto has been going to waste.

May I just here repeat^because they are still applicable to-
day — a few remarks which I made in my presidential address to
the Cape Chemical Society six years ago:

As an industrial science, chemistry never operates in isolation. When
we concern onrselves with the chemistry of the country's vegetable
products, it is the science of botany that has to afford additional aid; if
it is general agriculture that we arc dealing with, the chemist may also
have to work in co-operation with the zoologist, entomologist, or mycolo-
gist. Often, in connection with the investigation of the country's mineral
products, and of its agricultural soils, consultation with the geologist is
required. In any case, there is tliis one outstanding fact : that these
various scientific offices need to be in closest touch with each other in
order to promote the smoothest working of the entire machine of investi-
gation as an organised whole.

This close contact between science and science is of great importance,
but it is still more important that contact between the various workers in
one and tJ:c same science should be as intimate as proper co-ordination
and organisation can make it. During its annual convention towards the
close of iQiOj the American Society of Agronomy was very largely
occupied with the standardising of methods for conducting experiments.
It was then shown, again and apain, that a large amount of experimental
work, done in the United States, has led to results which could not be
compared with each other, were difficult to interpret in a reliable way,
and were liable to lead to wrong conclusions, because there had been no
agreement as to method amongst the various institutions involved in the
work. We do not wish to have these mistakes repeated in South Africa;
our desire is rather to profit by the experience of other lands ; but unless
we look well to our steps we stand to repeat some of those very mistakes
in an aggravated form. Therefore, lest we should go on a wrong track
with regard to this matter of investigation and research, two principles
should remain deeply graven on 'nir minds : these are co-ordination of
effort and unity of plan.

26 president's address.

Some of us have read what H. G. Wells describes as ideal
in his " Modern Utopia " :

In Utopia a great multitude of selected men, chosen volunteers, will
be collaborating on this new step in man's struggle with the elements. . .
. . Ever}- university in the world will be urgently working for priority
in this aspect of the problem or that. Reports of experiments, as full and
as prompt as the telegraphic reports of cricket in our more sportive
atmosphere, will go about the world.

Clearly co-operation and co-ordination cannot become effec-
tive without efficient organisation. We were afforded a splendid
illustration of what may thus be eft'ected in the case of a private
corporation on the occasion of the Stellenbosch meeting, a year
ago, when we visited the dynamite factory at Somerset West.
and listened to the historical account given by the general
manager. Established at the beginning of the present century
for the purpose of supplying dynamite to the Kimberley Mines,
the sphere of operations had so extended that during the twelve
months immediately preceding our visit the works had exported
to the Commonwealth of Australia over £100,000 worth of explo-
sives manufactured in South Africa, in addition to supplying
our own needs. From that manufacture other industries
developed, one by one, and the works now include plant for the
manufacture of sulphuric, hydrochloric, and nitric acids, and of
copper sulphate and the nitrates of barium and lead, while others
are under consideration. Farmers have been supplied with the
sulphur which they need for sheep-dipping and vine-spraying,
while 20.000 gallons monthly of a lime-sulphur solution for sheep-
dipping have been turned out. The works bid fair to develop
into a general chemical factory after the war. Thus far the
private concern; what we need in the 'way of a Government
establishment is an institute for research in pure and applied
chemistry — such a National Chemical Laboratory as Prof. Hen-
derson has been longing to see established in England, but Eng-
land is not yet sufficiently responsive. " We don't conduct
research." says H. G. Wells. " we simply let it happen." Ah.
that is where England dift"ers from South Africa — we don't let
it happen : sometimes we make ourselves believe that we do, and
then we let other things happen to interfere with it. Why, I
have been pleading these twenty- four years in this agricultural
country for a properly organised system of chemical, physical,
biological research with respect to our agricultural soils, and it
has not come yet.

The way in which a nation can organise itself and its re-
sources for war has impressed a world. Other nations are
talking about organising themselves for the commercial struggle
that will ensue upon the present strife, but mere talking about
reconstruction will not enable us to face the future serenely.
" We all talk about the weather," said Mark Twain, " but
nothing is done!" Why is it that England, France, Australia.
New Zealand, Canada, are mobilising their scientific men for
research? Dr. G. E. Hale. Chairman of the Department of

PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 2/

Science and Research of the United States Council of National
Defence, says that it is because,

looking ahead, it was seen that the conchision of peace would be followed
by a trade war witli German}', in which no industry not perfected by
scientific research could hope to succeed.

Can this country compete industrially with a country that
has shown me what organisation can achieve if we starve the
very soul of industrial prosperity — pure and applied scientific
research carried out in the laboratory ?

Mr. W. C. Dampier Whetham, F.R.S., in his recently pub-
lished book on " The War and the Nation," devoted a section to
'■' The organisation of iBxitish industry and commerce," in regard
to which a reviewer says that

three years of war have done more than a century of peace to impress
upon the public mind the indispensability of scientific research to national
prosperity.

The result has been that the Imperial Government has called
into being a Department for the express purpose of organising
and directing research, and has placed considerable sums of
money at this Department's disposal. But perhaps the most
important outcome is that «

the leaders of British industries have licgun to acquire the hal^it of working
together in order to conduct associated researches.*

Now let me emphasise the point that there is not one of
these industries for which the chemist is not essential at one
stage or another. An interesting address given some months
ago by the President of the American Cyanamide Companyt
shows how universal the need of the chemist is. Two thousand
grades of glassware are required for a vast variety of purposes ;
for this the skilled glass-maker must work under chemical con-
trol. The iron and steel of oin* cutlery, the extraction of silver,
gold, and, in fact, of all metals from the ores, need the chemist
at every step ; the clothing we wear, the dyes that colour it, and
more particularly synthetic dyes, 'the host of other uses to which
cotton is put, the use of cellulose in the form of artificial silk
as a new textile material, all are interwoven with the resources
of the chemist. The preparation and preservation of our foods,
and the securing of their purity, both depend on chemical con-
trol. The manufacture of synthetic drugs, such as antipyrin,
phenacetin, sulphonal. veronal, novacain, aspirin, and salvar-
san ; the introduction of synthetic perfumes like heliotropin, of
synthetic flavours like vanillin, of synthetic rubber and synthetic
camphor ; the quality of the fuel we use, the efficiency of the
fertilisers we put into the soil, the extraction and utilisation of
the various animal and vegetable oils, and the conversion of some
of them into solid fats by catalytic agency, and so into soaps or
candles, with glycerine- as a by-product ; the production of liquid

* Journ. Roy. Soc. of Arts (iyi7), 65, 755.
fChem. Nezi's (1917), 116, 157-159.

28 president's address.

fuels — every one of these would be impossible without chemical
aid.

There are a few facts regarding the chemist which I want
every South African, and particularly those in high positions, to
realise. First of all, get rid of the idea that he is a druggist
or pharmacist, any more than he is a baker of plumber, or
belongs to any other avocation in which chemistry takes a share.
And then, grasp the fact that there is scarcely an avocation on the
face of this earth intO' which chemi.stry does not enter, or wherein
the chemist would not be of some use. One does not need to
tell Johannesburg that it has to thank the chemist for its pros-
perity, for without him many of the mines would long have
ceased to work. The other great industry of South Africa,
agriculture, is at the mercy of the chemist in respect of the manu-
facture of fertilisers, and many agricultural products owe to him
the processes employed in their preparati(m ; chemical operations
are fundamental to every branch of the dairy industry, the
making of jam, the drying of fruit; the tinned vessels in which
many of these articles are preserved are all subservient to the
chemist. Without him the economical production of metals of
any kind could not take place, there would be no locomotive
engines, no assurance that the water which these engines need
w\\\ not corrode their boiler tubes, no testing of the coal which
converts that water into steam, no orovision of steel rails to run
the locomotives on, or. to go further, no steel armour for our
battleships and no alloys for shrapnel, aeroplanes, or submarines.
It is also the chemist's work to control the driving power of ships
of war and merchandise alike, whether that driving power be
coal, oil, or electricity, for the materials employed by the elec-
trician must all in the first place be scrutinised by the chemist.
All explosives are essentially chemical in their make-up, and, in
fact, the whole army, as well as the navy, is dependent on the
chemist all along the line, inasmuch as he has to vouch for the
purity of all their supplies of food and drink, even well-
water ; and not only their natural purity, but also their
freedom from fraudulent adulteration or deliberate poison-
ing. The various gases so much used in the present
war are all the productions of the chemist, and so are
the means adopted to secure immunity from those gases. It is
the chemist who controls the army's drugs, disinfectants and
anaesthetics. The colouring of the material used for clothing
not only the military and naval services, but the whole civil
population as well, is subject to the careful scrutiny of the
chemist. His functions also include the manufacture of the
leather which provides an army with boots : without him that
leather cannot be tanned, as the entire wattle and other tanning
industries are conducted under his advice. The finished leather,
too, is investigated by him, lest fraudulent practices should have
participated in its manufacture Without the chemist there
could be no books, for chemical processes are fundamental to the

PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 2g

making of paper, of printing and writing ink. not to mention
again the materials wherewith bool^s are bound and the colouring
of the binding. The production of illustrations in those books,
by whatever means, and also the whole art of photography, must
Stand or fall with the ability of chemistry to assist them. And
then, as I have already said, there is the increasingly large sub-
ject of fine and synthetic chemicals, beginning with manufactures
like those of starch, glucose, and dextrine, the synthetic dyes
which surpass natural products in brilliance and permanence, the
synthetic perfumes which far transcend natural odours in
potency, the synthetic drugs which have done much to afford
relief to the suffering ; artificial products — I do not say imita-
tions, for they are often better suited to their applications than
the natural products which they replace — artificial products in
substitution of rubies, of bone, horn, and ivory, of resins, and
of leather, are all the result of chemical research. Again and
again the chemist has shown us how to produce the most valu-
able commodities out of waste and refuse. The refuse of the
Bessemer steel works gave rise to one of our most efficient fer-
tilisers ; the refuse of the gas works provided the world with
dyes, drugs, and a marvellously long list of other useful articles ;
the waste of wool-washeries furnishes us with lanoline. Waste
wood, if destructively distilled, and. amongst others, waste wattle
wood, of which large quantities are annually available in Natal,
is capable of producing acetone, whereof enormous quantities
are now being used for the manufacture of propellants.

And so we may rightly claim that the present age is the age
of the chemist. The chemist has never before had such oppor-
tunities for the application of his knowledge to the betterment
of material conditions upon earth, and never has he more effec-
tively applied it to the attainment of this aim. It is also sadly
true that never before has he applied his knowledge with such
damaging eft'ect as during the present w^ar ; but when the war
shall have run its course, all the chemist's resourcefulness, all his
energy, all his persistence will be needed to repair the damage
done, and to start exhausted nations upon new lines of industry.
On the chemist, more than on anyone else, will this task devolve,
and in South Africa in particular he will find abundant work
awaiting him. Is he to be there to respond to the call? Then it
is for us to educate and train him to the necessary standard ; it
is for us to provide the means whereby his purpose may be accom-
plished ; it is 'for us to accord him sympathetic treatment. Do
not let us regard him as useful only as long as he is bound down
to routine work, and as academic when he is occupied with in-
vestigations beyond our limited capacity to understand.

We have heard much during the past four years of the diffi-
culties under which the chemist has been labouring in Britain
and America — of the apathetic attitude adopted towards him by
Governments, public institutions, and industrial concerns, of the
sparing hand wherewith the essentials for the pursuit of his

30 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS.

investigations have been doled out to him. I have deemed it
very desirable to place before you this evening some of the
opinions which have been expressed on these topics north of the
equator, because I am convinced that many of our administra-
tors, politicians, educationists, and commercial men are wholly
unaware of the strong remonstrances which have grown to quite
a literature during these four years, and are probably under the
illusion that in South Africa the chemist has now the oppor-
tunity, if he cares to make use of it, to help the Union, with
eclat to himself, safely through some of the difificulties resulting
ifrom the war. I have, in fact, heard such a view seriously ex-
pressed. The idea is, of course, perfectly absurd. At the same
time it falls to the chemist in particular to do all that in him lies
to aid production during this time of crisis, and to assist those
directly engaged in the work of production, whether it be the
manufactures or agriculttire. And those who have it in their
power to strengthen the chemist's hands in such a work will
themselves not only be aiding the State, but will be assisting to
bear up the lofty principles for the maintenance of which
amongst men Britain and her Allies are contending.

Thoughts somewhat akin to these were well developed by
the American chemist, James R. Withrow, President of the Ohio
Academy of Science, whom I have more than once quoted in
the course of these remarks, and now I close by commending to
your attention the concluding paragraph of his able and thought-
ful address :

It has become so evident in this war that the intelligent and scientific
criminal is a terrible menace, and dislodging him at times such a weary
and fatal task, that we must find some way of preventing our leaders and
groups or classes, whether governmental or industrial, from becoming this
kind of danger. Have we not reached the time when we are willing to
turn to the One Who ordained civil government for our good, acknow-
ledge that He ordained it and not we ourselves, and make our leaders
or rulers " whom God and this people shall choose " — " men fearing God
and hating covetousness "?

Section A.— ASTRONOMY, MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS,
METEOROLOGY, GEODESY, SURVEYING, EN-
GINEERING, ARCHITECTURE, AND IRRIGATION.

President of the Section : — Professor J. T. Morrison, M. A.,

B.Sc, F.R.S.E.

MONDAY. JULY 8.

The President delivered the following address : —

ON THE INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH.

Some fourteen years ago, Parsons, of steam-turbine fame,
when President of the Engineering Section of the British Asso-
ciation, devoted a considerable part of his presidential address
to the question of the feasibility of the sinking of a mine-shaft
to the enormous depth of 12 miles. He went in some detail into
the methods of construction and probable cost of such a shaft,
basing his proposals largely on the experience gained in deep
mining on the Rand. His suggestions gave rise to a considerable
amount of discussion, which was directed more particularly to
the question whether the rocks surrounding such a shaft would
not flow like plastic solids at the pressures and temperatures
which must occur at so great a depth ; but at that time there
v/ere few accurate experimental data on which to base a well-
considered judgment on this question.

Since the date of Parsons' address, a great deal of research
has been directed towards the elucidation of the conditions that
obtain at various depths in the earth's interior, and as much of
this research is geophysical rather than geological in character,
it has occurred to me that the subject of the internal structure
of the earth in its broad aspects would be a suitable one for the
presidential address to Section A of this Association, more espec-
ially at a town such as Johannesburg, whose material welfare is
so largely dependent on mining operations.

The problem of the structure of the earth is one that pos-
sesses many elements of fascination and attractiveness. It has
important bearings on almost all the sciences. For the astrono-
mer, the earth sei'ves as the short and incessantly moving base
from which all astronomical positions and distances must be
measured, as well as the planet whose life-history is most likely
to throw light on the course of cosmical development. To the
physicist and physical chemist it has the interest that it must
contain materials under conditions of temperature and pressure,
such that their faint imitation calls for the highest resources of
experimental skill, and that their effect on the physical behaviour
of the materials will always present a wide field for the specula-
tive tendencies of molecular philosophers. For the geologist,
the knowledge of the internal structure of the earth is the only

32 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION A.

key to the mystery of those incessant rises and falls, those thrusts
and bucklings and occasional tearingfs of the apparently rigid
crust, of which the surface rocks are so plain a record. For
the evolutionist student of the biological sciences and of the
history of man, the question is wrapped up with such important
matters as the area and extent and connections of old land
surfaces, their possible climates as affected by changes in alti-
tude and other terrestrial and astronomical conditions, the per-
manence and physical state of the oceans, and the like. Finally,
the subject has presented tO' the mathematician problems at once
of the greatest interest and of the greatest difficulty, problems
that test in the 'highest degree his resources of imagination and
his clarity of thinking.

I shall discuss the question chiefly from the side of geo-
physics, partly because it is on this side that my own ignorance
of the subject is perhaps less complete than on others, and partly
because the methods of geophysics, because of their quantitative
character and comparative simplicity, are those which have of
late years been the most fruitful in trustworthy results. I say
this with no want of respect for the large body of exact know-
ledge accumulated by the researches of geologists. But it appears
to me that to a considerable extent the work of the geophysicist
begins where that of the geologist ends, and that it lies with
the former__to discover, as far as may be, the exact processes by
which those incessant movements have been maintained to which
the geological record is so indubitable though perplexing a
witness.

The methods that have been of greatest service in geo-
physical research are the following: —

(i) Exact geodetic surveys, accompanied by astronomical
observations of latitude, longitude, and meridian.
Such surveys have not only given the size and shape
of the earth so far as these can be determined from
land observations, but have also in recent years thrown
a considerable amount of light on the probable density
and strength of the earth's crust and the layers lying
immediately thereunder.

(2) Determinations of the total mass of the earth and of

the densities of the chief rocks.

(3) Exact determinations of the intensity of gravity at

points kno'wn in geodetic height and position.

(4) Determinations of temperature, heat conduction and

radium content in surface rocks.

(5) Laboratory determinations of the elastic constants of

rocks, and of their greatest stress-bearing power at
the ordinary and higher temperatures.

(6) Investigations into the small deformations of the earth

that occur under the tidal forces of the moon and sun.

(7) And perhaps the most fruitful of all, investigation by

seismometers of the rates of propagation of earth-

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION A. 33

quake waves in various directions round and through
the earth.

I should like to add that in my opinion the recent pro-
foundly important discoveries of the arrangement of the mole-
cules in crystals is likely to lead at an early date to our being
able to calculate the elastic constants and strength of solids even
at the enormous pressures and high temperatures that must
exist in the interior of the earth. If such be the case, the whole
of our knowledge of the interior of the earth will attain an
exactitude quite unexpected only a few years ago.

This summary of methods will show how impossible it is
for anyone to attempt anything but the shortest outline of some
of the more certain results that have been yielded by them, or
to make more than passing reference to the need there is in
many cases simply to suspend judgment.

The size and shape of the earth have been measured with
something like accuracy, only by geodetic surveys made on con-
tinental areas. Such measurements vary slightly, but the general
result is that the land surfaces, when reduced to a mean level,
are very approximately those of a flattened ball or spheroid
such as would be produced by spinning an ellipse round its
shorter axis, the equatorial radius or semi-axis being 6,378.2 km.
very nearly, or 3,963.3 miles, and the solar radius being 1/298
part shorter. It is worth pointing out that the radius of curva-
ture of the oceans has not been directly determined. It is known
from dynamical theory that if the earth consisted of a series of
concentric shells, each of uniform density, the free surface would
be a flattened spheroid such as has been described. But a direct
determination of the curvature of the ocean by a goedetic chain
of triangles extending over some of the Pacific Islands would, if
feasible, yield information of great interest.

The method of such geodetic surveys is, of course, a well-
known one, but as it has an intimate bearing on some questions
dealing with the strength and movements of the earth's crust
that will come up for our consideration later on, I may be par-
doned if I refer to it briefly. A level base line several miles
long is carefully measured, and from its ends the angular posi-
tions of two marks set up on neighbouring hilltops are accurately
determined by a theodolite. The base line is thus the base of
two triangles that have the hilltop marks as vertices. The line
joining these serves as a new base from which one or two other
points are determined. So the process of triangulation goes on,
the triangles spreading over the country, and the individual
sides being ultimately usually about 30 miles long. The vertices
of the triangles are almost invariably beacons set up on promi-
nent mountain peaks. I need hardly say that the highly accur-
ate and extensive geodetic sun'ey of South Africa which we owe
to the energy and skill of the late Sir David Gill and of Colonel
Sir Richard Morris is one of the finest examples ever effected.
To find the shape of the earth we must also by star observations

34 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SEt TION A.

determine very accurately at as many vertices as possible pre-
cisely how a plumbline would hang with reference to the sides
of the triangles that meet at the vertex. One may imagine the
whole network as a system of triangles whose sides are made of
long, straight wires with plumblines hanging from as many of
the vertices as possible. Now the problem of the geodesist is to
find what shape of flattened spheroid will pass as nearly as pos-
sible at right angles to these various plumblines, and will start
from the mean sea-level at some chosen point of the coast. This
shape gives the figure of the earth as calculated from that par-
ticular survey.

When the average figure lias been calculated that will most
nearly cut the plumblines perpendicularly, it is invariably found
that practically all the plumblines show minute deviations from
perpendicularity. These deviations, usually called residual deflec-
tions, are. of course, related to local irregularities of surface or
of density. They throw a clear light on the density of the crust
underlying the surface to depths far beyond those we can reach
by boring, and we shall return to their consideration towards
the close of this address.

It is well to remember how enormous the dimensions of the
earth are, when compared with the thickness of the surface rocks
with which we are directly acquainted. On a model of the earth
of a diameter of six feet, the ten miles' vertical interval which
separates the highest mountain-top from the greatest ocean depths
would be represented by a thickness of only i/ii of an inch, and
the elevation of a sea-coast through a mile, with its consequent
profound change of climate and its exposure of the surface to
agencies of new character and intensity would be represented by
a movement of the model surface through merely the thickness
of thick paper. These comparisons will help us to realize how
gentle a tilting of the earth's crust would cause surface changes
of the greatest biological and geological importance.

The density of the earth, as determined by recent accurate
comparisons of its gravitational attraction with the gravitationr^l
attraction exerted by a small body of known shape and mass,
is very nearly five and a half times as great as that of water. The
mean density of the chief rocks of the crust being only about
two and three-quarter times that of water, it is obvious that the
parts towards the centre must have a density so far exceeding
the average as to make up for the deficient density of the crust.
It may therefore be regarded as very probable that the central
parts contain predominant quantities of iron and other heavy
metals, though it is to be noted that the pressures that obtain in
the interior are so enormous that they must compress all ma-
terials considerably and cause their densities to rise proportion-
ately. As we do not know how the different layers increase in
density, we cannot calculate these pressures exactly, but it is
easy to give rough approximations. At a depth of 40 miles,
i.e., only one hundredth part of the earth's radius, the pressure
must be about 250,000 lbs., or (say) no tons to the square

PKESIIM", N'TIAL ADDRESS SliCTlON A. 33

inch, while at 2,000 miles, or half-way to the centre, a probable
estimate is 8.000 tons to the square inch. It will help to gave
some idea of the effects of such pressures if we recollect that
a block of good granite, if unsupported laterally, will generally
begin to crush under a pressure of about 11 tons to the square
inch, so that a column of granite four miles high will, if devoid
of lateral support, begin to crumple at the base under its own
weight. We shall see. however, later that strength to resist
crushing is immensely increased if the column be given lateral
support.

To complete a first rough picture of the earth's structure,
we must turn now to the question of the temperature of the
interior and of its physical state.

As all w^ho have to do with mining are well aware, after
a borehole passes through the first few feet, the temperature
always gets higher the deeper we go. The rises observed in dif-
ferent boreholes and tunnels have varied considerably, but we
shall not be far wrong in taking a rise of about one Centrigrade
degree for every 100 feet, or, say. 50 degrees per mile as an
average. If this rate were maintained for even a few miles in
the crust, we see that at a depth of only 40 miles the temperature
would be about 2,000° C, a temperature well above the melting-
point of all known rocks, when these rocks are subjected to
ordinary pressures.

The deduction made by most geologists and many physicists
till well on in the nineteenth century was that a part of the
interior of the earth must be liquid, and the innermost part even
a highly compressed gas.

There are, however, many facts which militate very strongly
against the soundness of such conclusions.

In the first place, it is, as we shall see, very doubtful whether
the surface gradient is maintained. Again, direct experiments on
substances in the laboratory show that increase of pressure raises
the melting-points of almost all substances, including rocks, and
also increases enormously their stiffness or rigidity when below
the melting-point. Finally, the evidence of observations on earth-
tides practically precludes the possibility of the existence of a
continuous shell of liquid or gas anywhere, and this is confirmed
strongly by the evidence of the propagation of earthquake waves
as observed by the seismometers now installed at numerous
places.

On the other hand, these is strong evidence of the existence
of a layer beginning at some depth between 20 and 100 miles
beneath the surface, and probably extending considerably down-
wards, wdiich is relatively less rigid than the rest, and which
intermittently, perhaps, or like a plastic solid, adjusts itself to
the constantly varying burden which the surface agencies lay
upon it when they corrode and denude the continental areas, and
deposit the products along the oceanic borders.

We shall shortly consider these points in turn.

36 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION A.

Lord Kelvin showed many years ago. that if we can regard
the earth as cooHng in the manner of a small ball of uniform
conductivity and uniform initial temperature, and if we know
that initial temperature and the surface gradient, we can specify
the temperature at any depth, and can also tell the duration of
cooling. The diagram ( Fig. i ) illustrates Kelvin's result, and one
striking point about it is the slight extent to^ which the tempera-
ture of the innermost parts elf the earth would be affected by con-
duction even after the lapse of many millions of years. Thus if
the earth had been initially at 4,000° C. throughout, and its
surface had at once been reduced to our ordinary temperature,
its fall of temperature after 1,000,000 years, at a depth of 7.6
miles, would have been about 630 Centigrade degrees, at 15.2
miles only 17 degrees, and at 22.8 miles barely one-tenth of a
degree; while after the lapse of 100.000,000 years these falls of
temperature would have penetrated only ten times as far, that
is, the fall at the comparatively small depth of 228 miles would
have been less than one-tenth of a degree, while the remaining
3,700 miles of the radius would have been still more minutely
affected by the surface cooling.

Kelvin used his calculations to determine the so-called age
of the earth, that is, the limits of time Vv-ithin which the conditions
oi the earth's surface were likely to have been such as to make
life possible thereon. Several things go to invalidate the sound-
ness of his ?ireument. but two facts are made clear by his reason-
ing which will always have an important bearing on our subject.
The first is that owing to the enormous distances and to the poor
conducting powers of rocks, the various layers of the earth are
much isolated from each other as far as the distribution of heat
is concerned. The second is that a wave of cooling progresses
slowly from the .surface inwards, so that while at first the free
surface itself cools most quickly, thereafter the layers that cool
most cjuickly are to be found always deeper and deeper as time
goes on. This is independent of any maintenance of temperature
that may arise from the presence of radium, but is slightly af-
fected by the heating that is generated by shrinkage. The dia-
gram (Fig. i) shows the curves of Kelvin's imaginary earth
after periods of cooling of 25,000.000 aufl 50,000.000 years re-
spectively, and it will be seen by the third curve, which repre-
sents the fall of temperature in the intervals, that a layer 30
miles deep had cooled most during the second 25,000,000 years.
It is ea.sy to calculate what layer is cooling most rapidly after
any given lapse of time on Kelvin's data. For instance, if apart
from radio-active action a fairly uniform temperature had pre-
vailed in the surface layers 100,000,000 years ago, the layer that
would now be cooling most rapidly would be only 54 miles deep,
and this is not unlikely to be something like the actual fact.
Further, if the initial temperature had been 3.700° C, as Kelvin
assumed, the rate of cooling of this layer would at present be
one Centigrade degree in loo.oco years. The shrinkage pro-
duced in this layer by its more rapid cooling would have tended

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION A.

to relieve the pressure on it, have produced in it a tendency to
plasticity, and would have caused intense horizontal thrusts in
the more superficial crustal layers — all of which are phenomena
the occurrence of which must be regarded as extremely probable
from other lines of evidence.

There is now a general consensus of opinion that we must
probably look to two sources for the origin of supply of the
earth's internal heat. The first, and in some ways, the more
important, is that which has arisen from the almost certain fall-
ing together of the earth's materials from a much more widely
disseminated state ; the second, the discovery and further in-
vestigation of which we owe chiefly to the researches of Strutt
and Joly, arises from the presence of uranium and its child
radium in the rocks of the earth's crust, and perhaps to some
slight extent in the interior of the earth.

Temp.

tuoo
3T0<J

30O0

-yd

5000

1
1

J00<?

^ ^

m- ^ .

'..^

■?i

.^jlJ

3700

Dept h

100

IS'omis.

Fig. 1. Kelvin's curve:^ ut cooling of a supposed homogeneous Earth,
originally at .3700° C. throughout: A, after 25,000,000 years; B, after
.50,000,000 : C, fall of temperature in the interval hetween A and B.

It is worth while considering each of these for a moment.

The heat developed in the original concentration .)f the
earth was enormous, and the temperatures that were generated
must have been correspondingly high except so far as the heat
was lost from the free surface of the growing earth by the pro-
cess of radiation. It is easy to show that the energy developed
by a pound of any material in falling from any large multiple of
the earth's radius on to its present surface would raise nearly
1.5,000 lbs. of water through one Centigrade degree. When the
earth was much smaller the heat generated was less ; in fact, for
the same mean density, the heat generated would be less in pro-
portion to the square of the radius. No doubt, additions to the

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION A.

growing earth would by compressing the whole cause a general
rise of temperature. In spite of this and of cooling by radiation
during the process of growth, it is clear that it is the outer and
not the central parts of the earth that must have been most
heated in the process of earth formation, and I do not doubt
that a somewhat similar state of things still prevails. Apart
from radio-activity then, I think the curve of temperature along
a diameter of the earth is likely to run soinewhat as in the
diagram (Fig. 2).

The other source of heat is the presence of uranium and its
product radium in the surface rocks. In most of these, radium
has been shown by Strutt and Joly to be present to the exces-
sively small amount on an average of abo-ut five parts by weight
in 1,000,000,000,000 parts. But the heating effect of the radium
emission is so enormous that if radium were present in that
quantity even to a depth of only 45 miles, it would provide all

Fig. 2. Probable distribution of tenijxivature along a diameter

of the earth.

the 'heat that is at present being lost by the earth's surface.
As we cannot admit that none of the original heat of aggrega-
tion is now being lost or that the earth's geological age is likely to
be much, if at all, less than 100,000,000 years, we must agree
with Strutt in his contention that the distribution of radium and
its parent, uranium, is almost wholly superficial, confined proba-
bly for tbe most part to the outer 30 miles or thereabouts. This
contention is confirmed by the observation that meteoric iron
which is not unlikely tO' be similar to a large part of the earth,:
is found to contain little or no radium.

Joly has pointed out that when sedimentary materials are
eroded and deposited they carry their uranium and radium with
them, and begin to rise in temperature in their new position. The
rise is slow and its total extent increases rapidly with the thick-

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION A. 39

ness of the deposit. When such deposits therefore occur on a
larg-e scale as in great earth troughs or geosynchnes, the con-
siderable rise of temperature that will ensue is likely to cause a
line of weakness to develop along the axis of the trough, and
the line is less likely than neighbouring areas to resist the hori-
zontal thrusts that will be caused by that general cooHng of sub-
crusted layers which we have pointed out as probable. It is to this
deposition of radio-active sediments in great geosynclines that
Joly attributes, with some degree of probability, the origin of
the great mountain chains of the Alps and Himalayas and analo-
gous systems.

It has- been stated above that in spite of the high tempera-
ture of the interior revealed by mines and by volcanic action, and
of the supplies of heat generated by the original potential energy
and by the radio-active contents of its materials, it is impossible
to regard any continuous shell of it as being liquid ; and, in fact,
that the earth as a whole behaves towards quick-acting forces as if
it were a rigid body somewhat stiffer than first-class steel.

Several lines o-f evidence concur in leading to this conclusion.
I shall refer to two.

The first is the evidence of the tides. Kelvin and Love have
proved that if the earth had a liquid kernel or even if there were
a liquid shell below the crust, the crust would rise and fall under
the tidal forces of moon and sun to nearly the same extent as
the ocean would, and that the actual tides which depend on the
relative motion of crust and ocean would be much smaller than
they really are. The most accurate observations on the matter
are those of Michelson, who laid twO' horizontal iron pipes, each
500 feet long, underground, closed them and half-filled each
with water. He then observed that the water at one end of each
pipe went up and down, though a very minute distance, under the
tidal action, while the water surface at the other end went down
and up. He observed that the amount of rise and fall was less
than if the earth had been quite unyielding, but much greater
than was compatible with the presence of any liquid shell. The
axnount of yielding was such as would be expected from an earth
rather stififer than first-class steel. It is highly desirable that the
experiment should be repeated in various parts of the world, and
a beginning has been made therewith in South Africa.

The general high rigidity of the earth revealed by such
experimeuts and by certain astronomical effects, has been fully
confirmed by the evidence oif earthquake waves, as shown on the
delicate earthquake recorders or seismometers which are now
to be found in many parts of the world, and of which we have
at least three in South Africa, namely, at Capetown, Johannes-
burg and Kimberley. Just as X-rays, by their passage through
the human body, reveal its inner structure, so do earthquake
waves, by their march through the innermost parts of the earth,
make a definite and undeniable revelation of their nature, and
I do not doubt that in the course of the next 20 vears we shall

40 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION A.

be able to give a fairly precise description of the various layers
that compose it, at least, as regards their elastic strength.

To record earthquake waves completely, and to find their
true meaning, we need three recording instruments at each sta-
tion — one to record the N. and S. horizontal motions of the
ground, another to record. the E. and W. horizontal motions, and
the third to record the vertical motions. The earth motions, much
.iiagnified, are recorded on a uniformly moving paper, on which
the intervals of time are also marked.

Many earthquakes have their origin near the surface, and
these are seldom felt at great distances. But the so-called tec-
tonic earthquakes which seem to be caused by those underground
shiftings of rock masses, of which we have so many geological
evidences in the foldings and faultings of strata, often originate
at depths such as six to twelve miles, and their shock is recorded
all over the world. Many such occur every year.

When we examine the record of any such earth-shaking
earthquake, we find that the large waves that chiefly constitute it
are invariably preceded by a gentler rippling motion known as
the preliminary tremors. When the recording station is near
the seat of the earthquake, these tremors precede the main waves
by a very short interval of time, but the interval grows longer
and longer the further away the seismometer, till at last the
tremors outstrip the main waves by more than an hour. These
tremors predicted by Knott and first observed clearly by Rebeur-
Paschwitz, were shown by Oldham to fall with more or less
clearness into two stages. These become most distinct when we
compare the records given by the three instruments at any one
station. The instinnments show clearly that in the first stage of
the preliminary tremors the ground is pushed backwards and
forwards along the line in which the quake is travelling. For
example, an earthquake originating in Italy would at first affect
the N.S. seismometer at Johannesburg much more than the
E.W. one. This part of the tremor is clearly due to longitudinal
vibrations. In the second phase, however, the earth shakes across
the line of advance of the waves, i.e., the vibration is transverse,
and would in the case supposed mainly affect the E.W. in-
strument. In the chief waves, the motion is partly vertical an3
partly horizontal, and somewhat resembles the motion of sea-
waves.

The times taken by earthquake waves to reach stations at
dift'erent distances from the origin have been examined with
great care. It is found that the main waves take a time very
nearly proportional to the distance travelled measured along the
earth's surface, i.e., to the arc. We therefore conclude that they
travel along the surface, and this agrees with the mathematical
theory of their progress as worked out by Rayleigh and Lamb.
On the other hand, the times taken by the two parts of the
preliminary tremors are much more nearly proportional to the
direct distance right through the earth. If we assume that they
go along the surface we must imagine that they go faster and

PRESIDENTIAL AiJDKESS SECTION A 4I

faster the further they go, and the theory of elastic vibrations
shows this to be impossible. Hence we are forced to conclude
that they take a nearly direct route, and plunge right through the
great unknown depths of the earth. The way in which they
emerge entirely confirms this.

The behaviour and speeds of these waves throw much light
on the elastic nature oi the earth's interior. In the first place it
is well-known that a liquid or gas cannot propagate a transverse
disturbance at all. Hence we are once more definitely shut up to
the conclusion that for such rapid vibrations as constitute these
waves, with periods of a few seconds, the earth behaves like a
stifif, very incompressible body.

But we can go much further. For it is well-known that
from the speeds of longitudinal and transverse vibrations travers-
ing a large solid of known density we can calculate its elastic re-
sistance to compression and to change of shape. The equations
are: —

Vi (longitudinal vibrations) = \J k-\- ~ ^z=modulus of re-

d ' sistance to com-
pression.

v., (transverse vibrations )= v/-^ n=:modulus of re-

" ▼ a, .

Sistance to

change of shape,
(/zrrdensity.

Whence k and n are found when V,, \\. and d are known.

At the surface, Galitzin gives as mean observed values for
V\.. 7.17 km./sec. and for Vo 4.0J km. /sec, whence, if we assume
a surface density of 2.75 gm/per com. we get for the rigidity
of the surface crust a value equal to a little more than half of
that of good steel.

As we go down into the earth we .should naturally expect
the increasing temperature and density to cause a progressive
diminution in the speeds of these waves. To our surprise, the
precise contrary is the case. The speed grows decidedly greater
the deeper we go, in spite of the certain great increase of density.
DilTferent seismologists have given somewhat different estimates
of the increase, the differences arising from the dilBculty of com-
paring the records of instruments of different types. But we shall
not ibe far wrong in taking 12.7 km./sec. as the maximum speed
otf the longitudinal vibrations, and 6.8 km./sec. as the maximum
speed of the transverse vibrations when passing through nearly
centra] regions. These speeds give evidence of a rigidity ex-
ceeding that of steel two or three times.

The continued investigation of earthquake records is full
of promise. For instance, there seems to be evidence of a differ-
ent surface speed under oceans from that which obtains under
continents. Again, both Oldham and Wiechert believe that they
have accumulated clear evidence of more than one shell within

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION A.

the earth. Oldham, in 1906, published the accompanying diagram
(Fig. 3) in explanation of the results he had collated up to that
date. He considers that there is clear evidence that the speed
of the transverse vibration attains a maximum at a depth of about
2,400 miles, and thereafter decreases somewhat sharply to a
steady value. This would argue the presence of an innermost
core somewhat less stiff than the parts immediately outside of
it, which would bend the waves along the paths shown, much as
a sphere of glass bends and condenses the waves of light.
Wiechert agrees with Oldham in the main, but believes himself
able to differentiate a considerable number of layers between
Oldham's core and the surface. He considers that the main
waves are confined to a crust of thickness of about 19 miles, and
that there are changes of stiffness at about 750 miles. 1.030 miles.
and 1,530 miles.

Fig. -.i. Oldham's Eaitli-Wave Patlis.

Longitudinal Vibrations.

Transver^^e Vibrations.

I may add that recent investigations by Barrel! on the
strength of the earth's crust to resist deformation, as evidenced
by the enormous deltas of the Nile and Congo, and the remark-
able experiments of Adams in Canada on the crushing stresses
of different kinds of rocks, both bear witness to the enormous
increase of the stiffness of rocks when supported laterally.
Adams found that granite which, if unsupported laterally, would
yield under a crushing stress of 23,000 lbs to the square inch,
gained immensely in power of resistance to such stresses if given
lateral support, till with a lateral support of 20,000 lbs to the
square inch it needed a crushing stress of some 80.000 lbs. per

PRESIDENTIAL ADDKESS SECTION A. 43

square inch to make it begin to yield. After such an experi-
ment the granite was found quite as rigid as ever.

The rocks experimented on, however, lose seriously in rigid-
ity when subjected to a high temperature, though they still show
great gain in strength with lateral support.

The evidence of earthquake waves, of earth-tides, and of
other phenomena, while firmly establishing the rigidity oi the
earth to quick-acting forces, must not keep us frotn giving due
weight to the countervailing evidence that distinctly indicates the
tendency of a layer lying under the earth's crust to adjust itself,
probably with extreme slowness, to the enormous stresses placed
on it by the constant wearing away of land surfaces and the de-
position of the sediment on the oceanic borders. This combina-
tion of rigidity and plasticity is not a singular one. The slow
creep of a rigid glacier is a case in point, and probably gives a
precise analogy ; or we might cite the case of a copper wire
slowly yielding to a heavy load, and yet capable of transmitting
longitudinal vibrations.

Permit me, in closing, to refer shortly to the arguments
which practically force us to admit the presence of some such
plastic-rigid layer at no great depth, its upper surface lying pro-
bably at a depth of between 20 and 100 miles.

In describing the method of making a geodetic survey, I
called attention to the fact that everywhere the plumb-line shows
slight deviations, called residual deflections, from perpendicular-
ity to the general spheroidal surface. These deviations were first
noted by Archdeacon Pratt in calculating the results of the
survey of the North of India, and were attributed by him to the
attraction oi the Himalayas. On calculating, however, the deflec-
tion which the Himalayas undoubtedly produced, he was sur-
prised to find that it was much greater than that which was
actually observed, and hence that the crust under the Himalayas
must be so far deficient in density as to greatly diminish the de-
flection produced by the great mountain range. The phenomenon
reminded Pratt and Airy, the then Astronomer-Royal, of what
would happen if an iceberg were floating near a suspended plumb-
bob. Such an iceberg would cause very little deflection of the
plumb-line, as its total mass down to the bottom is the same as
the mass of the water it displaces. Airy pointed out how strongly
Pratt's result bore evidence to the whole crust being, as it were,
buoyed up on a liquid substratum, the characteristic of such a
substratum being that at the same level it will push up equally
and be able to support equal total vertical loads, but would yield
if the loads were unequal.

Within the last ten years Hayford and Bowie, of the United
States Coast and Geodetic Sur\'ey, have made this theory the
subject of an enormous research. They had exact computations
made for every one of 383 geodetic stations in the United States
of the deflections which should be produced by all the land eleva-
tions and all the oceanic depressions within a distance of 4.126
km., or 2,600 miles from each station. They foimd that the mean

44 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION A.

deflection from the perpendicular which should have been pro-
duced by these surface features was 30.37 seconds of arc, while
the mean deflection actually observed was only 2.91 seconds.
Hayford and Bowie conclude that the surface features are to
the extent of 90 per cent., compensated by deficiencies of density
below the land elevations and by excess of density under the
ocean bottom. Observations of the intensity of gravity on conti-
nents, sea-coasts and oceanic islands largely confirm these results.
The magnitude of the compensation will be better understood
if one notes that 2.91 seconds of arc is the deflection that would
be produced by a rectangular table-land 12 miles long, 8 miles
broad, and 662 feet high, consisting of rock of specific gravity
2.77, acting on a plumb-bob at a point one mile from the middle
of its longer side. Hayford and Bowie's calculations go to show
that the most probable depth of the layer of equal pressure
is about 76 miles.

Now as the surface rocks of all continents are constantly
being worn away, and as this process has been going on for
enormously long geological periods, entailing a constant increase
of load on oceanic borders, it is clear that if no yielding had oc-
curred below the crust, the pendulum deflections would have had
much greater values than those which actually occur. We are
therefore forced to postulate a weak sub-crustal layer which has
adjusted itself to the varying load and by a slow flux backward
from below the ocean to below the continents has restored the
vertical loads to the approximate equality which we observe. To
small quick-acting forces this layer is highly rigid, just as a glacier
is when we walk on it ; to great slow-acting inequalities of load
with the changes of temperature and stress they involve, and with
the slow fall of temperature caused by conduction towards the
surface, this layer is plastic, just as a glacier slowly flows down
hill under its own weight.

The lines of evidence I have tried so imperfectly to trace for
you point then to an earth which, on the whole, is highly rigid and
fairly stable, especially for gentle, quickly-changing forces, but
which possesses within itself certain slowly-acting elements of
instability, namely, a greater density of rocks under the oceans
causing a separation of land and water, with all the consequences
of denudation and deposition flowing therefrom, a high tem-
perature at no great depth beneath the surface crust with proba-
ble cooling, shrinkage, and a tendency to plasticity in a layer
beginning at a depth of from 20 to 100 miles, and finally an
irregular distribution of radio-active materials carried hither and
thither by water and wind, and ready wherever they accumulate
to evolve their heat and generate fresh centres of instability and
weakness. Such, I believe, to be, in dim outline, the structure of
the interior of mother earth as seen by the feeble but steady
gaze of the great geologists, mathematicians, physicists and biolo-
gists who have devoted their lives to its study. For clearer out-
lines we must trust to perseverance in the great paths marked
out for us by our forerunners.

20°

REFERENCE

\L±±

Wil-witersrand- Venrersdarp Protrmce
fCaroo PrO¥/nce
Transf3a/ Sysf'em Province
SushyeM Province

'^ O/J Srani^Si^a^i/ant^Sys/'em ,^oyinc!

^^^^^/Vsmsoua/an:^ Copper /feg'on

tVesf Co^Si^ Province
Cspe SysZ-ein Province
ffa/sh^ri Province

THE UNION OF SOUTH

Section B.— CHEMISTRY, GEOLOGY, METALLURGY,
MINERALOGY AND GEOGRAPHY.

President of the Section. — P. A. Wagner, B.Sc. Ing.D.

TUESDAY, JULY 9.

The President delivered the following address : —

THE MINERAL INDUSTRY OF THE UNION OF
SOUTH AFRICA AND ITS FUTURE.

Notwithstanding the many adverse circumstances affecting the
mining industry, the value of the mineral production of the
Union during 1917 amounted to £52,288,766. only £636,224 short
of that of the record year 191 3. when diamonds to the value of
£11,387,807 were produced. The diamond output for 1917 was
worth £7,713,810 — £3,675,997 less than that during 1913. Had
it been anything like normal, the 1913 total would have been very
considerably exceeded : a truly remarkable achievement ajfter
nearly four years of war, and one that, in view of the fact that
over 92 per cent, 'by value of the total output is exported over-
seas, serves to emphasise our absolute dependence on the British
Navy.

Reference to the accompanying tables will shew that in com-
parison with 1913 the most important increases were under the
headings gold, silver, coal, copper, salt, asbestos, soda and corun-
dum ; also that certain products such as rock phosphate, tungsten,
talc, iron pyrite, mica and ammonium sulphate, that do not figure
in the 1913 tables, appear in those for 1917. On the other hand,
diamonds, lead and chert shew notable decreases, and tar and
kieselguhr, of which there was a small production in 191 3, are
not included in the 191 7 tables.

The returns for the first four months of 1918 are given, as
several new products make their appearance therein.

I propose, in the first place, to treat seriatim of the various
minerals and mineral products enumerated in the tables so as to
present to you a general picture of the mineral industry of the
Union, while the second part of my address will be devoted to a
discussion df the potentialities of the country in regard to future
discoveries.

Before proceeding, it may be of interest to record that the
Union is not only the world's leader in the production of gold,
diamonds, and corundum, but is happy in the possession of the
largest known reserves of these minerals. In the matter of
asbestos production we stand fourth, and in coal production
eleventh.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION h

STATISTICS OF MINERAL PRODUCTION

Product.

Gold . .
Silver
Diamonds
Coal ..
Coke . .
Tar ..

Ammonium Sulphate
Copper*
Tin* .
Asbestos
Corundum
Antimony
Graphite
Iron Oxide
Iron Ore
Iron Fyrite
Kaolin
Lead . .

Arsenic (White)
Verdite
Magnesite
Manganese
Mica . .
Soda . .
Talc ..
Tungsten*
Lime . .

Rock Phosphate
Chert
Gypsum
Salt

Kieselguhr
Clay i'roducts, Cement,
Structural Material

Totals

1913.

Quantity.

8798712 77 oz.
952596-81 ,,
5 1 68540-68 cts
6,801,216 tons
9,345 „
43,293 gals,

18383-41 tons

3671 90

961-78

1-2-81

47-87

38-83

395

1
444

70,953

604

121

47,992

Value

37,374,553

115,822

11,389,807

2,2411,458

15,862

1,433

607,856

436,550

16,0-28

128

18-2

1,257

1,199

20
1,191

185

118,984

3,789

484

77,142

621,993

£52,924,990

1916.

Quantity.

Value.

9296963-6 oz.

89,490,990

96S935-1 ,,

106,311

23463:-;0-2 cts.

5.728,391

10,007.502 tons

2,739,665

10,704 „

19,576

22841-65 ,,

1,137,380

3-264 07 ,,

839,571

4655-84 ,,

83,070

755-31 ,,

7,762

721-66 ,,

15,292

6015 ,,

1,780

22-4 ,,

5276 7

502-0

609-12

13-5
6299-0
132
1-42
78,222

297

3,990

56,267

8,019
5,502

1,766

1,185

25,121

686

252

115,750

1,587

11,983

106,303

646,773

£50,593,359

* The values given are calculated on the percentage of pure metal contained in the

\ Figures relate to actual sales.

\ Small quantifies of fluorspar, quartz and molybdenite were also produced, but in regard to
a fairly large production in the Cape Province.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION 15.

)F THE UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA.

1917

•

Increase ( + ) or Decrease ( — )
in 1917 compared with 1913.

1918.

Four months ended

April 30th.

Quantity.

Value.

Quantity.

Value.

Quantity.

Value.

018388.63 oz.

38,307,675

+ 219676-86 oz.

+ 933,122

2788687 98 oz.

11,845,590

9381-4 5-93 ,,

172,997

—14450-88 ,,

+ 57,175

294340-41 ,,

47,876

902416-51 cts.

7,713,810

— 2261130-17 cts.

—3,675,997

934553 66 cts.

2,607,425

10,382.920 tons

3,275.608

+ 1,581,704 tons

+ 1,035,150

3,352,929 tons

1,111,383

15,361 ,.

28,648

+ 6,016 „

+ 12,786

—

43,293 gals.

-1,433

—

132818 ,,

28,576t

+ 1328-18 tons

+ 28,576

762 ,,

28,474t

2013161 ,,

1,126,040

+ 1748-20 ,,

+ 518,184

1527-84 ,,

81.592

2678-56 ,,

346,016

—993-34 ,,

— eo,534

836-89 ,,

153,039

6219-56 ,,

87,3^4

+ 5257-78 ,,

+ 71,336

1610.76 ,,

22,740

2628-86 ,,

13,038

+ 2616-05 ,.

+ 12 810

15,37-75 ,,

9,085

616-68 ,,

12,428

+568-81 ,,

+ 12,246

.35-61 ,,

937

86-37 ,,

2,590

+ 47-54 „

+ 1,333

26-85 „

761

121-20 ,,

305

121-20 „

+ 305

91-20 „

200

—

2075-00 ,,

1,538

2856-00 .,

4,463

2856-00 ,,

+ 4,463

1334-00 „

1970

28 00 ,,

28.0 „

+ 19

—

270-12 ,,

3,761

—124-88 ,,

+ 2,562

53 ,.

613

—

6 185 ,,

619

781 00 ,,

2,050

+ 337 „

+ 856

352 ,,

924

123 50 ,,

641

+ 123 £0 „

+ 641

284-75 ,,

1,150

3-88 „

877

+ 3-88 ,,

+ 877

23C4 ,,

630

6715 75 ,,

29,377

+ 5674-75 ,,

+ 29,192

302 59 ,,

4,151

785 00 „

1,962

+ 785 „

+ 1,962

205- 5 „

519

8-62 „

l,f)51

+ 8-62 ,,

+ 1,551

3-58 ,,

777

89057-00 ,,

131,373

+ 18,104 ,,

+ 12,.389

33,104 „

49,715

—

2,875

—

+ 2,875

—

180-CO ,,

1,120

-424 ,,

+ 2,669

48 „

368

2082-00 ,,

5,092

+ 1,961 ,,

+ 4,608

741 „

1,895

5798400 ,,

110,566

+ 9,992 ,,

+ 33,424

—

-32 „

-64

—

877,934

£52,288,766t

—£636,224

shipments at London quotations.

these minerals no statistics are available. The same applies to mineral water, of which there is

48 presidential address section p..

Gkdld.*

Gold has long 'been, and will without doubt continue for
many a year to be the principal mineral product of the Union. The
total recorded output to date is approximately 134.435,000 ounces
— 4609.75 short tons — valued at £571,350,200. Much the
greater part oi. this has been contributed by the Witwatersrand
goldfield, the output of which during the past five years has
averaged over £37,500,000 per annum. The output for 1917.
namely 8,822,431 ounces, worth £37,475.303, f represented 42.34
per cent, of the gold output of the world. The high-water mark
of production on the Witwatersrand was reached in 1916. when
gold to the value of £38.492.070 was produced. It is not likely,
for various reasons, that this figure will ever be reached again.
Had it not been for the war, and ifor the serious shortage of
native labour in recent years, it is not improbable, however, that
the 40-million level would have been exceeded.

At the present time the industry is faced with one of the
gravest crises in its history. As a result of ever-increasing costs,
no fewer than 14 low-grade mines, responsible in 191 7 for
almost 19 per cent, of the total output of the Witwatersrand,
are either actually being worked at a loss or barely repaying
exploitation, and it is quite evident that, unless relief in some
form be forthcoming, most of these mines will sooner or later
have to suspend operations.

This, in addition to being fraught with the most serious con-
sequences to a large section of the community, would result not
only in a very considerable decrease in the current output, when,
according to the highest authorities, it is absolutely essential to
the successful prosecution of the financial side of the war that
gold production should be maintained at its highest possible level,
but in the ultimate output of the Witwatersrand, as it is certain
that a number of the properties referred to, if now closed down,
would never be reopened.

The inadequacy of the supply of native labour and the
shortage of glycerine have undoubtedly contributed towards
bringing about this very serious state of affairs, but at the root
of the trouble lies the fact that whereas the price of almost every
commodity incidental to its production has risen enormously
as a result of the war, that of gold itself is arbitrarily fixed. As
1 matter of fact, the mines, in consequence of the increase in
freight, insurance and refining charges, only receive £4 3s. 6.84d.
per ounce compared with the standard value of £4 4s. ii.45d.,
and owing to the depreciation of the British currency given in
payment the actual value received is much less.

As the producers, if they were allowed to dispose of their
gold in the best Allied markets, would obtain much better terms
than they now do, a case 'for equitable adjustment undoubtedly

* I am indebted for assistance in the preparation of this section of the
address to Sir Robert Kotze and Mr. Samuel Evans.

t The output of the Heidelberg district is included in this total.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRKSS SKCTloX V.. 49

exists. Various remedial measures have l)een suggested to effect
this, among the most recent of which are :

(a) That the price of gold 'he increased by 5 or even 10 per

cent.

( b ) That the Imperial Government — it is now generally

realised that this is essentially an Imperial (|uestion —
should grant a subsidy of so much per ounce or per
ton milled to all low-grade gold mines within the
British Empire,
(f) That part of the increased cost of production, due to
the rise in the price of commodities and wages, should
be borne by the Imperial Government.

The first of these proposals is obviously impracticable,
having regard to the enormous stock of gold actually in existence
— it is estimated at over £2,000,000,000 — compared with which
the total annual production is very small. The second and third,
while perhaps indefensible on sentimental grounds, have both
much to recommend them. A Committee, elected by the gold
producers of the Empire, are at present preparing a case for
presentation to the Imperial Government, and it is to be hoped
this will result in a satisfactory solution of the problem being
arrived at.

In regard to the question of freight and insurance charges,
which even in normal times constitute quite a heavy item, it
appears to me that these could to a great extent be done away
wath, in so far, at any rate, as the mines are concerned, by mint-
ing as large a proportion as possible of our gold locally ; and I
am strongly of opinion that a great mint ifor gold as well as
silver coinage should 'be erected at Johannesburg. The silver for
the purpose would have to^ be imported, hut this, after all, is also
done in England and other countries.

Assuming that means are found to enable the majority of
the low-grade mines threatened with being closed down to con-
tinue operations, it should be possible for some years to main-
tain the output of the Rand at nearly its present level,* as
developments at some of the mines on the far East Rand have
exceeded expectations, and it is anticipated that the opening up
of new mines in that area, which is proceeding apace, will make
up for the decline in production on the Central Witwatersrand
and in the Boksburg area. It is none the less certain that there
will henceforward be a steady diminution in the production of
the Witwatersrand goldfield.

As to the amount of gold that the mines of the Rand may
be expected to produce, it is of interest to recall that Sir Robert
Kotze, in evidence before the Dominions Royal Commission, in
1914, estimated the tonnage of ore in the mines producing at

* The value of the output of the Witwatersrand mines for the first six
months of 1918 was £687,970 below that of the corresponding period of
last year. This, however, is partly attributable 10 the floods during the
earlier part of the year.

50 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION B.

that date to be 587,000,000, and in the mines and areas not then
producing at at least the same quantity. Having regard to the
disappointing gold values encountered at depth in some sections
of the West Rand and in the neighbourhood df Boksburg, it
would appear that the estimate in regard to mines crushing in
1 9 14 was rather too high, while, if developments to date on the
Far East Rand can be accepted as a criterion, that in regard to
areas not then producing was undoubtedly too low.

Allowing for this, and assuming that working costs after
the war will recede to their average level during the period
1908-1914 — ^namely, 17s. 9. id. per ton — which wiii depend very
largely upon the policy adopted by the Allied nations with regard
to the prices of commodities,* I have estimated — so many un-
certain factors enter into the calculation that the estimate
is largely conjectural — that the total amount of gold still
capable of being profitably extracted on the Witwatersrand is
m the neighbourhood of £1,200,000,000. The probable life of
the field is to an even greater extent a matter of conjecture, as
it will depend on the rate at which the existing mines become
exhausted and new ones are opened up tO' take their places.
There can be no question, however, that 50 years hence the Far
East Rand— and possibly certain other sections of the Witwaters-
rand — will still be the scene on a very considerable scale of gold-
mining operations.

With regard to the gold mines of the " outside " districts
of the Transvaal — Lydenburg, Barberton, and Leydsdorp — the
outlook is not at all encouraging. Recent developments at most
of the mines in these districts have been very disappointing.
Several properties, including the celebrated Sheba at Barberton,
have in consequence been closed down, and the reserves of others
are being steadily depleted.

It would appear, altogether, that unless fresh discoveries
are made, the output of the "outside" districts will decline very
considerably during the next few years.

In the Cape Province alluvial gold mining is still being car-
ried on on the Millwood field in the Knysna district. The out-
put, however, is very small, and in 1916 amounted only to 31.28
ounces, valued at £132.

Silver.

No very important deposits of this metal have hitherto been
discovered in the Union. f Practically the whole of the silver

* It is contended by some economists (vide The Round Table,
September, 1917) that prices after the war should be maintained at the
highest level possible in order to lessen the burden imposed on the
different communities by the huge interest-bearing- war loans contracted
by their Governments. If this is done, there is little prospect of any very
appreciable diminution in working costs for a long time to come.

t South Africa appears to be rather poorly off as regards silver, lead,
and zinc, which are frequently associated in ore deposits. This may
possibly be due to great denudation that the sub-continent has undergone,
as deposits of these metals, speaking generally, are formed close to the
surface.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION B. 5I

recovered is contained in the gold ibullion, of which it forms
roughly lo per cent. Small quantities of silver are also con-
tained in the copper ores of Little Namaqualand, and in the
lead ores worked at different localities in the Transvaal, but in
regard to this no figures are available. It will be noted that,
while the weight of the silver produced in 19 17 was lower by
14,450.8 ounces than that produced in 1913, the value was
almost 50 per cent, higher, owing to the great advance in the
price of the metal.

Diamonds.

The production of diamonds in the territories embraced in
the Union of South Aifrica from the year 1867, when the first
discovery was made, to the end of April, 1918, reached the enor-
mous total of 137,868,630 carats — 31 short tons — of a declared
value of £216,165,760.* The latter figure is certainly very much
below what the diamonds actually realised in Europe and
America, and probably not much more than one-half of what
they were finally sold for in a cut state.

The industry ranks next to gold-mining in importance. The
output reached its maximum in 1913, when there were produced
5,163,547 carats, valued at £11.389,807. It is common know-
ledge, however, that there was a considerable over-production
of diamonds in that year, and the average annual output for the
period 1910-1912, namely, £9,596,804, gives a fairer indication
of the pre-war rate of production. As a result of the outbreak
of hostilities the output dropped in 1914 to 2,801.017 carats,
valued at £5,487,194, and in 191 5 to 103,3)86 carats, valued at
£399,810 — the lowest figures on record in the period 1870-1918.

Within the past two years there has been a remarkable
recovery, and the value of the output, of which about 86.5 per
cent, is contributed by the mines and 13.5 per cent, by the
alluvial fields, is now rapidly approaching its normal pre-war
level.

This is mainly a result of the agreement, in regard to the
production and sale of diamonds, reached by the principal com-
panies, which has placed the industry on a sounder basis than
it has ever been. The policy oif judiciously feeding the market,
or. in other words, of carefully adjusting the output to the
amount of money that the world is prepared or inclined to ex-
pend on the purchase of diamonds, has led to a very considerable
increase in the price of the gems, as is evidenced by the follow-
ing figures : —

* This figure is very ccnsiderably in excess of that given under the
heading, '' Progressive Totals of Mineral Production," in the last Annual
Report of the Government Mining Engineers. The " Progressive Totals."
however, do not take into account the diamond production of the Cape
Colony previous to 1883 — prior to which date no accurate data are avail-
able — or that of the Orange Free State previous to 1904-

52 I'RESIDENTIAL ADDRKSS SECTION U.

Average Value per

Carat of the
Diamonds produced
by the Mines of
the Union.

Year. s. d.

1913 41 6

1914 37 o

1915 —

1916 43 II

1917 49 2

Indeed, prices are higher at the i)resent time than at any pre-
vious period, and there is every pros])ect of their going yet higher.

The progressive appreciation in vahie is not only of great
advantage to the producers themselves, but of the utmost benefit
to the State; directly, because it tends greatly to increase the
profits of the mining companies, and thus the revenue accruing
to the (jovernment, and indirectly, because it has the effect of
conserving the diamond resources of the Union and prolonging
indefinitely the lives of the existing mines. If the increase in
prices continue, there can be no doubt, moreover, that certain
mines, hitherto unpayal)le, will he brought within the limit of
profitable exploitation, and the already enormous diamond
reserves of the Union therel)y considerably increased.*

Pin;iil\ . the policy of regulating and controlling sales has in-
spired the whole diamond industry with absolute confidence,
since, as the Chairman of De Beers put it at the last annual meet-
ing of that Company :

Cutters, polishers, factors, and jewellers now know
that they can. without fear of rough diamonds being forced
on the market, hold large stocks, and bankers can grant
financial facilities to the trade generally, knowing that our
product will not be offered in excess of requirements, and
that merchants and others will not be faced with a serious
fall in prices or the risk of over-production.

As regards the possibility of fresh diamond discoveries,
there can be no question, as I have elsewhere pointed out.f that
further payable pipes await discovery, and will be discovered.
So far as existing knowledge can be accepted as a guide, there
is no reason why pipes or dykes of kimberlite should not be
found anywhere within the limits of the South African plateau.
The profitable occurrences so far discovered are, however, con-
fined to a tract of country, about 160 miles wide, extending in a
north-easterly direction from the Jagersfontein Mine in the
south to the PVemier Mine in the north, and it is presumably

* The reserve of blue ground actually in sight in the live KimhL'rley
mines of the De Beers Company alone is estimated at 108.750,000 loads.
to'. The Diamond Fields of Soiitl;rni Africa, p. 242.

PRESIDENTIAI, ADDRESS SECTION I!. 53

witin this " Diamond Belt." as it may for convenience be termed,
that any discoveries of importance will be made.

What the future holds in this respect it is impossible to
say. but having- regard to the enormous financial resources of
the combination controlling the market, it may be asserted with
confidence that the discoverey of even a very large pipe — unless
it were of phenomenal richness — could not lead to anv serious
disorganization of the diamond industry.

The alluvial diamond diggings, which, as already stated, are
responsible for about 13.5 per cent, by value of the total output
of the Union, are likely to continue for many years to be an
important source of production. This applies particularly to
the Griqualand West fields, where diamond digging has reached
the condition of a comparatively settled industry conducted on
well-established lines df experience, and where it has come
gradually to be realised that, while the element of chance un-
doubtedly enters very largely, finds, generally speaking, are in
proportion to energy and intelligence expended.*

The only serious competitor of the Union in the matter of
diamond production is the Protectorate of South-West Africa,
the output of which amounts at the present time to about 30,000
carats per month.

Coal.

Coal, next to gold and diamonds, is the most important
mineral product of the Union. The "output amounted in 1917
to 10,382,623 tons, valued at ^3, 255,659, against 10,007,502 tons,
valued at £2,739.665 in 1916^ and 8,801.216 tons, valued at
£2,240,458 in 191 3. The marked increase in comparison with
1913 is due mainly to the increasing quantity of coal bunkered
and exported, which in 191 7 reached the record figure of
2,343,552 tons, valued at £543,211. This is largely a result of
conditions due to the war. In view, however, of the favourable
geographical situation of the Union, the excellent facilities for
coaling that exist at our principal ports, the fact that the price
of coal at the pit mouth is lower in South Africa than in any
country in the world with the exception of India,! and that the
quality of South African coal has now become established
abroad, there is every reason to anticipate — provided that the
coal-owners receive fair treatmeiit in the matter of railway rates
— that the export and bunker trade will continue steadily to ex-
pand. In particular, an exjiort trade with the Argentine and

* Cf. Annual Report, Govt. Mining Engineey, 1916, p. 64.

t The following table gives the average price per ton of coal at the
pit's moutli in 1Q12 in the principal coal-producing countries: —

s. d. s. d.

United Kingdom 9 of British India 4 6

Germany 10 6| .Australia 7 6J

France 12 8i New Zealand 10 ii\

Belgium 13 s\ Canada 11 S\

United States 6 r Union of South Africa .... 411

54 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION 1!.

Other South American States appears to offer great possibilities,
as South African coal can be landed on the east coast of South
America at a much lower price than North American or Euro-
pean coal. The establishment of a direct service of steamships
between South Africa and Buenos Ayres, which is also very
desirable for other reasons, would greatly assist matters in this
direction, and is certainly worthy df the consideration of the
Union Government and the big shipping companies carrying on
trade w^ith South Africa.

In regard to the available reserves of coal in the Union,
some of yon will remember that these were estimated in 191 1
at 56,200,000,000 tons, of which 36,000,000,000 tons fall to the
share of the Transvaal. Both estimates, which it is only fair
to state were admitted to be very approximate, are now gener-
ally conceded to have erred considerably on the conservative
side, and it is very desirable, both in order to settle this impor-
tant question and to obtain accurate information in regard to
the suitability of the various South African coals for the produc-
tion of coke and the manufacture of ammonium sulphate and
other by-products, that a detailed survey of our coal-fields be
made on the lines recommended by the Fuel Research Board of
Great Britain.

CoKE^ Tar, and Coal By-Products.

Most of the Natal coals and much of the coal found in the
Central Witbank district olf the Transvaal yield good serviceable
coke, well adapted to blast-furnace and foundry purposes, though
unfortunately, as a rule, rather high in sulphur.

Until the middle of last year the only producers were the
Natal Navigation Collieries at Hatting Spruit and the South
African Coke Company at Vryheid. Recently, as a result of
the increased demand for coke created by the erection of blast-
furnaces for the production of iron at Pretoria and Vereeniging
and in Natal, the coke industry has undergone considerable ex-
pansion, and at least five other Natal companies will shortly
enter the market.

None of the ovens at present in operation are designed for
the recovery of the valuable by-products contained in the volatile
matter of coal. The shortage and consequent liigh price of
coal-tar — for which there is a very considerable demand in
South Africa — due to the em'bargo placed on its export from the
United Kingdom, have, however, led to the formation of a com-
pany with a capital of £40,000, wdiich proposes to undertake
the production of coke, tar, ammonium sulphate and benzol at
Witbank.*

A much more ambitious project is that of the Dundee

* The tar production shown in the returns for 1913 came from a
plant erected at Witbank some years ago. The plant proved to be badly
designed and altogether unsatisfactory, and after being in operation for
some time it was closed down.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION B. 55

Coal Company, who intend, as soon as the requisite etiuipment
is available, to spend £150,0000 on the erection at Dundee of a
large by-product recovery coking-plant. These schemes are
fraught with the greatest importance to the country, because if
successful they will doubtless be followed by others, since it is
becoming generally realised that the coal by-product industry
offers almost illimitable possibilities.

It is almost certain, for example, that after the war trinitro-
toluol, prepared from toluol, a coal-tar derivative, will compete
with dynamite as an industrial explosive, just as benzol, another
coal by-product, is at the present time successfully competing
with petrol in France and Germany.

Ammoniitw Sulphate. — One of the most important develop-
ments that has taken place df recent years in the South African
coal industry has been the erection by the Natal Ammonium,
Limited, at Alount Ngwibi, near Vryheid in Natal, of a large
modern plant of the Mond type for the production of ammonium
sulphate. A seam of coal, characterised by containing about
2 per cent, of nitrogen, which crops out on the slopes of Mount
Ngwibi, affords the basis of the industry. At the present time
the output is at the rate of about 250 tons per month, and it is
hoped to increase this to 350 tons in the near future. Alost of
the ammonium sulphate is exported to Mauritius, ver\ little of
this valuable fertiliser being used in South Africa. The indus-
try appears to be capable of very considerable expansion, as there
are other coals in this and the adjoining districts of Natal which
are equally well adapted to the manufacture of ammonium sul-
phate.

Copper.

Practically the whole of the copper output of the Union,
amounting in 1917 to 20,131,614 tons, valued at £1,126,040,
comes from the Messina Mine in the Northern Transvaal and
the mines of the Cape and Namaqua Copper Companies in Little
Namaqualand. None of these mines are equipped for the
actual production of the metal, and have hitherto exported all
their copper in the form of hand-picked ore, concentrate, and
matte. The industry has in consequence received a very serious
set-back from the recently published decree of the Ministry of
Shipping prohibiting the shipment of copper ore, matte, and
concentrate. The Namaqua Copper Company, after nearly 50
years oif continuous production, have decided temporarily to close
down their mines. The Cape Copper Company are continuing
operations, and propose stocking the matte and concentrate pro-
duced. The Messina Company, on the other hand, are en-
deavouring to obtain equipment to enable them to produce blister
copper. In any case, the outlook of the copper mining indus-
try was none too bright. In the Namaqualand mines the grade
had of recent years fallen to such an extent as to cause the
gravest concern ; and at the last annual meeting of the Messina
Company shareholders were informed that they had " to con-

56 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION P..

template the unpleasant fact that the life of the mine may he
approaching its end."

'J he future of the Namaqualand copper region, where enor-
mous quantities of low-grade ore, averaging from i^^ to 2^2
per cent, of copper, are available in the existing mines and in tlie
hundreds of ore-bodies that have not hitherto been opened up,*
depends on the introduction of economical methods such as
leaching flotation for the beneficiation of this material.

As pointed out by Trevor, f the ore in question is well i.vcr
the grade that is being profitably exploited on a vast scale in
the United States and in Chile, in areas just as inaccessible and
inhospitable, and there is no apparent reason, therefore, why
the introduction of modern methods of treatment should not
give this grand old mining field a new lease of life.

At Messina it is a question of locating further rich ore-
bodies of the type being worked, which have been shewn to owe
their origin to a process of secondary enrichment by descending
solutions. Exploratory work has for several years past been
conducted by the management on approved scientific lines, and it
is to be hoped that their efforts will bear fruit.

Tin.

The tin production of the Union for 1917 shows a consider-
able decrease com]:)ared with 19 13. This is due to the fact that
during 1916 and 191 / poor zones were encountered at some of
the ])rincipal mines. At the present time the workings of all the
more important producers are in good, or fairly good, ore, and
if the high price of tin be maintained, it is not improbable that,
as regards value, the 1918 output will constitute a record.

Apart from a small production of alluvial tin from the Kuils
River fields near Capetown, the whole of the output t comes from
the Bushveld province of the Transvaal, which includes two
distinct tin-bearing areas, known respectively as the W'aterberg
and the Olifants River fields. Of these the former, occupying
a large crescent-shaped area in the central portion of the Water-
berg district, are the more important. The output of the Olifants
River fields, which extend in a north and south direction from
the farm Mutue Fides, in the south-eastern corner of the Water-
berg district, to the Elands River, is, however, steadily increasing.

The deposits of both areas exhibit an extraordinary diversity
of type, and are as yet but imperfectly understood. From the
experience gained in the different mines and i^-ospects. however,
one fact stands out. and that is that, within the limits of either
of these tin fields, it pays to follow up the merest indication. It
is also relevant to observe that fissure deposits in the quartzites
of the Rooiberg series and pipe occurrences in the Red (iranite

* C/. Rogers, A. W. : Proc. Geol. Soc S.A. (1915). 21-3.;.
t Cy. The South African Year-Booh. 4..13.

t The output of the alluvial tin-tields of Swaziland, amounting to
about 350 tons of concentrate per annum, is not inchided in the returns.

PKESIDEiNTlAL ADUKluSS — SliCTIUN Ji. 57

have hitherto given far more favourable resuhs than deposits in
the felsites and shales of the Waterberg system. In view of the
many disappointments that have attended the opening up of
our tin occurrences and the unenviable reputation that the
Bushveld deposits, Jn general, have earned for impersistence, it
is a pleasure to be able to record of one of them — the No. 13
pipe of the Zaaiplaats Company — that it has been foHowed for
a distance of 2,400 feet, measured along the dip, and at the
greatest depth hitherto attained— about 400 feet — is as productive
as it was near the surface.

The most notable event in connection with die tin mining
industry in 191 / was the erection by the Zaaiplaats Company of
a tin smeltery.

Hitherto all the cassiierite won in the Cnion has been
exported in the form of concentrate, containing from 65 to 70
per cent, of metallic tin. to the Malay States, where better ])rices
are obtainable for this material than in England.

About a year ago the Zaai])laats Company, owing to the
increasing difficulty and cost of shipping their concentrate, decided
to smelt it (jn the spot, and have ex{)erienced no difficulty in
obtaining ingot tin containing 99-5 pev cent, of the metal, for
which there is a ready sale locally.

Encouraged by the success of this ])ioneer smelting venture,
all the other large producers are erecting furnaces, and it appears
safe to |)redict that in future only metallic tin will be exported
from South Africa.

ASBESTCS.

The asbestos industry of South Africa has made remarkable
progress since 1913, and, as ] have jxDinted out elsewhere,*
appears to be capable of almost indefinite ex])ansion. Exports
are limited at the present time by the lack of shipping space, and
there will without doubt be a considerable increase in the output
after the war. Practically the entire production of the Union
is obtained from the deposits of (jriqualand West and the Lyden-
burg district of the Transvaal, which occur at almost the same
horizon as the Pretoria series, and are among the most extensive
occurrences of asbestos now being mined in any country.

The Griqualand West fields yield blue or crocidolite asbestos,
and the Lydenburg fields a pale-coloured iron-amphibole asbestos.

The output of the Lydenburg fields, which produce fibre up
to 10 inches in length, is already considerably in excess of that of
Griqualand West, notwithstanding the fact that their exploitation
only began two years ago.

The bulk of the asbestos produced in South Africa is
exported. It is gratifying, however, to be able to record that the
local asbestos manufacturing industry is steadily expanding.
Three firms are now making asbestos-cement tiles and slabs for
roofing, ceilings, and partitions. Another concern is engaged in

* C/. S.A. Jount. Industi'u's. Xoveniber, igi/.

58 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION B.

the manufacture of asbestos flooring, and yet another is putting
on the market a patent asbestos composition for covering boilers
and steam-pipes.

Corundum.

That South Africa ranks at the present time as the leading
corundum-producng country, and is Hkely to continue almost
indefinitely to continue to hold that position is not generally
known.

Much the greater part of the output, amounting to about
400 tons per month, is derived from the Zoutpansberg fields, in
the Northern Transvaal, which constitute by far the largest and
most important corundum-producing area in the world.

There is also a small production in the Leydsdorp division
of the Transvaal, and in the Steinkopf district of Namaqualand.

The bulk of the corundum exported is in the form of eluvial
crystals, for the most part broken, that are separated by sifting
and washing from the thin soil and sub-soil of the areas in
question. A smaller proportion is boulder- or rock-corundum, in
which the mineral is associated with varying amounts of other
minerals.

The position and prospects of the South African corundum
industry are fully dealt with in a recent article in the Journal of
Industries*

Antimony.

The increase in the price of this metal, caused by the demand
for it for war purposes, has given a great impetus to antimony-
mining and smelting in South Africa.

Considerable quantities of antimonite are available in certain
of the mines on the so-called " Antimony Line " of bedded gold-
quartz veins in the Murchison Range, and a very promising
occurrence is being worked in the Steynsdorp division of the
Barberton district. The bulk of the antimonite recovered is
reduced to the metallic state and used in the manufacture of
antifriction and white metals, for which there is a fairly large
demand in South Africa. Part of the antimonite produced in the
Murchison Range is converted by roasting and volatilisation into
white antimony oxide, which is used as a substitute for white lead.

Graphite.

Reference to the accompanying tables shows that the graphite
industry is making steady progress, and it is encouraging to
find that practically the whole of the South African requirements
of the mineral are now being met by the Transvaal (Graphite
Company, who are exploiting a deposit situated 20 miles east of
Groot Spelonken Siding, in the Zoutpansberg district of the
Transvaal. t

* Cf. Wagner, P. A. : S.A. Jouni. hidu^tries. May, 1918.
^ S.A. Jotirn. Industries, February, 1918.

presidential address section b. 59

Iron Oxide.

The material under this heading is used in the manufac-
ture of mineral paints, the production of which has become an
industry of some importance.

Iron-Ore — Iron.

As a result of conditions due to the war South Africa is
at last about to enter the ranks of the world's iron producers.
Two small blast furnaces are actually on the point of being
blown in, and two others are expected to be in operation within
the next two or three months ; so that what was considered a
few years ago as being without the bounds of commercial prac-
ticability will shortly be an accomplished fact. The sedimentary
iron ores of the Pretoria series and Karroo system afford the
bases of all four ventures. The furnaces already completed are
those of the Pretoria Iron Mines, Ltd., and of the Transvaal
Blast Furnace Company, Ltd. The former company propose
smelting in a 50-feet furnace, with coke prepared from Dundee
coal, a mixture of siliceous and " clay-band " ores from the
lower portion of the Pretoria series. The siliceous ore, an
arenaceous ootltic ironstone,* in which most of the iron is pre-
sent as martite, assays from 40 to 54 per cent, of iron, and from
14 to 22 per cent, of silica; sulphur and phosphorus being both
very low, and titanium present in traces only. The " clay-
band " ore assays from 50 to 55 per cent, of iron, from 7 to 9
per cent, of silica, and from .5 to .6 per cent, of pho.sphorus.
Both types of ore can be very cheaply mined, and are available
in enormous quantity, millions of tons of the siliceous ironstone
being actually in sight.

Limestone from Taungs, in Bechuanaland, is to be used
as flux. The furnace has a capacity of from 12 to 15 tons of
pig iron per diem.

The Transvaal Blast Furnace Company, who have erected
a 50-feet blast furnace at Vereeniging in connection with the
Union Steel Corporation, intend smelting a very pure bedded
magnetite ore, found in the Transvaal Coal Measures on the
farm De Roodepoort, No. 67, 7 miles east of Ermelo.

x^s there is very little information on record regarding the
iron ores of the Transvaal Coal Measures, it may be noted that
they occur irregularly interstratified with the almost horizontal
sandstones of the Ecca series in Ermelo and Middelburg dis-
tricts, t The beds are up to 6 feet in thickness — the average
thickness being about 18 inches — and occur at varying distances
above the coal seams, sometimes resting directly on them. They
are in the form of attenuated lenses and consequently imper-

* CA Wagner. P. A,, and Stanley, G. H. : S.A. Min. Journ. (1917),
/uly 14 and 28, and August 4 and 18.

t Cf- Henderson, J. McC. : Proc. Geol. Soc. S.A. (1909). 21.

6o PRESIDENTIAL AI)l)Ri:S.> SECTIOX I!.

sistent ; the quantity of ore available — in comj)arison with the
reserves in the Pretoria beds — being small.

The ore is thinl}- laminated and ranges in character from
soft brown limonite, through compact red haniiatie to dense,
hard fine-grained magnetite, the last being a product of the
metamor])hisn] of beds of limonite and haematite by sheets of
dolerite intrusive in the coal measures. The ore to be smelted at
Vereeniging is of this type, occurring almost immediately below
a sheet of dolerite.

It is the purest iron-ore yet discovered in Soutli Africa,
assaying from 66 to 69 per cent, of iron and from .5 to 1.5 per
cent, of silica. Suljjhur and phosphorus are low, and it is quite
free from titanium. The tonnage in sight, however, is not very
great.

A third Transvaal company, proposing to undertake the
production of iron and steel, is the Locale and Industrielle
Maatschappij of Pretoria, who have leased a large area of the
Pretoria town lands adjoining the lease of the Pretoria Iron
Mines, Ltd.

The other blast-furnaces referred to are in Natal, one at
Wentw^orth, a suburb of Durban, and the other at Sweetwaters;
near Maritzburg.

The former is being erected by the Iron. Concrete, and
Asbestos Company, of Durban, and the latter was put up many
years ago by Mr. S. L. Green. A preliminary attempt, recently
made, to utilise this furnace failed, but I understand that after
certain alterations have been carried out a further attem])t is to
be made.

In both instances sedimentary iron-ores from the Ecca beds
of the Karroo system are to be smelted. That for the Wentw^orth
furnace is being quarried at Elvarston, while at Sweetwaters it is
proposed to use a mixture of local ore and Ermelo magnetite.

The progress of these smelting ventures, at least two of
which are merely the forerunners of far more ambitious projects,
will be watched with the greatest interest, as it is generally
recognised that an established iron and steel industry would be
of the utmost benefit to the whole of South Africa.

Prospects are very hopeful, as the South African demand
for iron and steel is well over 50.000 tons i)cr annum, and is
almost certain to increase.*

The dimensions to which the industry will ultimately attain
depend largely upon the success of the eftorts that are to be made
as soon as practicable at Pretoria, to smelt the rich titaniferous
magnetites of the Bushveld complex. The available reserves of
these ores are practically inexhaustible — I estimate them at least at
2.000,000,000 tons — and if they could, as suggested 'by Stanley,!
be smelted on a large scale in admixture with the siliceous ore

* Cf. Stanley, G. H. : S.A. Journ. Industries. December, 1917.
t Cf. Journ. Cheiii. Met. and Min. Soc. S.A.. November, 1909, and May,
X910.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION ]!. 6l

of the Pretoria series — of which I estimate that there are some
1,000,000,000 tons available — using cheap non-caking Transvaal
coal as fuel. South Africa should be able to export iron and steel
in competition with the great iron-producing countries of the
world.

Iron Pyrite.

Owing to the increasing difificulty of obtaining adequate
supplies of sulphur fron] Sicily and the United States, a consider-
able proportion of the sulphuric acid requirements of the large
explosive companies and other indnstrial concern'^ is now manu-
factured from pyrite mined, or obtained as a by-product of gold-
mining, in the Transvaal. The available reserves of the mineral
are considerable, and, as the acid can be made more cheaply from
local pyrite than from imported sulphur, there is every prosj^ect
of pyrite-mining becoming one of the permanent industries of the
country.

Kaolin.

Since the closing-down of the pottery at Olifantsfontein,
between Germiston and Pretoria, the only use to which kaolin
has been put in South Africa is the manufacture of whiting,
distempers, and wall paints, " Blanco," and the like. The prin-
cipal producers are the Sienna Paint Company, of Durban, who
obtain their kaolin from a deposit near Padleys Station, on the
Durban-Maritzburg railway.

Lead.

Small pockets and veins of galena occur and have been
worked at many localities in the Dolomite of the Transvaal
system in the Transvaal and on the Kaap Plateau. The mineral
is also found in fissure veins in the Pretoria series and in the
Waterberg sandstone formation, of which several are being
exploited.

At the present time the lead output of the Union is derived
mainly from a vein in Waterberg sandstone, in the Blaauwberg
Range, in the northern part of the Zoutpansberg district of the
Transvaal, and from occurrences in the Dolomite.

There is little prospect of any considerable increase in
production.

A plant for the production of white lead from cerussite has
been erected at the Edendale lead mine, to the north of Hatherly.

Zinc.

There is no production of zinc or zinc ores in the Union at
present. The only important deposits hitherto discovered are in
the Malmani division of the Transvaal, near Ottoshoop, where
lead and zinc ores occur partly in the form of pipes and partly
in the form of disseminations in the Dolomite of the Transvaal
system. In 191 4 a concentrating plant was erected at the Blane-
Witkop Mine, jjnd was worked for a short time, but it was found

62 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION V..

impossible to dispose of the concentrate at a remunerative price
owing to the fact that, at that time, smelters in the United
Kingdom and the United States, had more ore than they could
deal with. x\bout 200 tons of concentrate, averaging 50 per cent,
of zinc, were produced.

Arsenic.

Within the past six months a promising start has been made
to produce white arsenic locally, this material being extensively
used in the manufacture of arsenite of soda for sheep and cattle
dips, insecticides, and the like. The output for the first four
months of 1918, amounting to 6.185 tons, valued at £619, came
from the Stavoren Tin Mine, where massive arsenopyrite occurs,
together with cassiterite, scheelite, copper pyrite, and other
minerals.

A plant for the production of white arsenic is also being
erected at the Consort Mine in the Barberton district. Here
arsenopyrite is associated with gold.

As some £80,000 worth of arsenite of soda is annually con-
sumed in the Union, the prospects of the industry appear very
hopeful.

Magnesite.

The Union has considerable resources of magnesite, but
owing to the low price of the mineral it is at present only being
worked at Budd's Mine, near Malelane, in the Barberton district.
The output of the mine amounted in 1917 to 781 short tons,
valued at £2,050.

The production of magnesite may be expected to increase
with the expansion of the local steel industry, but there is little
prospect of estabHshing an export trade in it.*

Manganese.

The manganese output, recorded in the table for 191 7, came
];art]y ifrom a vein deposit in the Magaliesberg quartzite, near
Derdepoort. and partly from an occurrence which is being ex-
ploited on the farni Daniels Rust, 12 miles north of Krugersdorp.

Here the manganese occurs as nodules, up to 12 inches in
diameter, composed of a mixture of pyrolusite and psilomelane.
These are scattered indiscriminately through residual clay,
resulting from the weathering of the dolomite of the Transvaal
system. The nodules average about 47 per cent, of metallic
manganese. The deposits appear to be of considerable extent,
and can be cheaply worked.

A somewhat similar occurrence is being opened up at Rand
Gate, near Randfontein. At this locality, however, the man-
ganese content of the nodules is lower than on Daniels Rust.

Within the last week a promising deposit of this nature has

* Cf. Wagner, P. A.: S.A. Joiirii. [)idusfries. March. 1918.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION B. 63

also been discovered on the property of the Randfontein Central
Gold Mining Company.

Mica.

The pegmatites of the so-called Mica Belt, in theLeydsdorp
division of the Transvaal, yield muscoviate mica of excellent
quality, of which there is a small but steady production. Efforts
are being made to establish an export trade in the mineral,
which is in great demand at the present time for aeroplanes and
the condensers of wireless stations. Limited quantities are used
in South Africa for electrical purposes, and there is a small mica
factory in Johannesburg, where mica lamp-chimneys, stove-fronts,
and micanite sheets are made.*

Soda.

The soda production of the Union, amounting m 1917 to
5,674.75 tons, value at £29,192 is derived from the remarkable
salt-panf on the farm Zoutpan, 25 miles north-west of Pretoria.

Hitherto operations have practically been confined to thin
layers of nearly pure trona, but enormous quantities of soda are
also available in the mud underlying and interbedded with the
trona layers. This has been proved to a depth of over 200 feet,
and averages about 15 per cent, of NaoCog. A plant for the
preparation of pure soda from the mud is at present being erected,
and if it proves successful the future of the industry will be
assured for many years to come.

Talc.

Almost the whole of the talc production of the Union comes
from the Verdite Mine, near Noordkaap Station, in the Barberton
district of the Transvaal, "in the neighbourhood of which there
are other considerable deposits. There is also a small production
in the Krugersdorp district of the Transvaal, and in Zululand.

The talc of the Barberton district deposits has been proved
to be well adapted to the manufacture of paper and rubber. As
it can be cheaply mined, and the railage to Delagoa Bay is only
3s. 6d. per ton, it is confidently anticipated that a large export
trade in it will be established after the war.*

Tungsten.

The small output of tungsten recorded in the table of mineral
production comes from the Stavoren Tin Mine, in the Olifants
River tin-fields. Several tons of scheelite were also recovered
in 1917 from a deposit in the neighbourhood of Leydsdorp, but
this is not being worked at the present time.

* Cf. Wagner, P. A. : S.A. Journ. Industries, April, 1918.
t For a description and plan of the Salt Pan see Wagner, P. A. : Proc.
Geol. Soc. S.A. (1917), 30-38.

t S.A. Journ. Industries, June, 19 18.

64 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION B.

No workable occurrence of wolframite has been found in
the Union, though the mineral occurs in association with cassi-
terite in certain of the mines of the Waterberg tin-fields, and in the
quartz-lodes on the farm Annexe Langverwacht, near Capetown.

Lime.

A recent survey* has shown that the Union has very
considerable resources of limestone, though the largest deposits
unfortunately are rather unfavourably situated with regard to
the principal industrial centres.

The most important occurrence being worked at the present
time is that near Taungs, which is estimated to contain 7,000,000
tons of high-grade limestone. There is also a considerable
deposit near Potgietersrust, in which the limestone has resulted
from the de-dolomitisation of the normal dolomite of the Trans-
vaal system. f

Pure cave limestone occurs in the Dolomite at many localities.
Until recently deposits of this type supplied the greater part of
the pure lime used in the cyanide works on the Witwatersrand,
and they still make an important contribution to the total output.

Fairly considerable quantities of " blue " lime obtained from
"burning" ordinary dolomite, are produced at Irene, Olifants-
fontein, andjDther localities. It is used principally for building
purposes.

Arenaceous surface-limestone is very largely employed for
the manufacture of cement.

Rock Phosphate.

There has now for nearly two years been a steady output of
crushed rock phosphate from the deposits at Saldanha Bay. These
are of great extent, $ readily accessible, and capable of being
cheaply worked ; and are without doubt destined to afford the
basis of a very important industry. The phosphate, an intimate
mixture of aluminium and iron phosphates, has been formed
mainly by the phosphatisation of granite and quartz porphyry
detritus, and to a less extent by the phosphatisation of these rocks
in situ. Though almost completely insoluble in ammonium citrate,
it has practically demonstrated that the phosphate, if finely
ground, has a very beneficial effect when applied together with
finely-ground lime to soils poor in phosphorus, and to sour soils;
the phosphorus being doubtless rendered assimilable by the agency
of soil bacteria. It was early realised, however, that its efficiency
as a fertiliser could be greatly increased by rendering the phos-
phoric acid more soluble and several processes to effect this have

* Cf. Wybergh, W., and Du Toit, A. L. : The Limestone Resources of
the Union, Geological Survey Memoir, No. 11, Union of South Africa.

t Cf. Young, R. B., Trans. Geol. Soc. S.A.. 1916. p. 57.

+ Cf. Du Toit, A. L. : Report on the Phosphates of Saldanha Bay.
Memoir No. 10, Geological Survey, Union of South Africa.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION B. 65

been devised. When one or the other of the processes has been
successfully applied, there should be a big increase in the output.

There is also a small deposit of the more valuable calcium
phosphate or phosphorite in the neighbourhood of Saldanha Bay
on the Hoetjes Bay Peninsula, and this encourages the belief
that further deposits of phosphorite remain to be discovered in
this locality or along some other section of the littoral. As the
soils of the Union are, generally speaking, very deficient in phos-
phorus, any discovery of this nature would be of the utmost
importance.

Another source of rock phosphate investigated by Du Toit*
are the phosphatic nodules occurring in the Upper Ecca shales in
the Weenen area and other localities in Natal. These contain
from 20 to 30 per cent, of phosphoric acid, and have been proved
experimentally to have considerable fertilising value when finely
ground.

( )wing to their irregular and sparing distribution through
the shale, operations will perforce have to be confined to the mere
collecting of the nodules set free by weathering or still partially
imbedded in the matrix. Du Toit is of opinion that there is
enough of this material scattered over the Weenen area to enable
a mill to operate with a small output for some time. With the
experience gained it is suggested that other localities, such as the
neighbourhood of Tadysmith, might with advantage be investi-
gated.

Chert.

Chert, suitable for lining tube-mills, has a wide distribution
in the Dolomite formation, and is won in the neighbourhood of
Frederikstad. in the Potchefstroom district of the Transvaal.
Owing to the introduction pf steel and composite liners, the
demand has fallen considerably, the output for 191 7 having
amounted tO' only 180 tons against 604 tons in 1913.

Gypsum.

This mineral is principally used in South Africa in the manu-
facture of Portland cement, in which it acts as a retarder.

There are important deposits at Ngbevu, in the Tugela
Valley, in Natal, on the farm Vrede, in the Boshof district of the
Orange Free State, and on the farm Bestpan, near Kimberley.

The demand for gypsum is limited, and there is no likelihood
of any great increase in production in the near future.

Kieselguhr.

Kieselguhr occurs as an earthy deposit in the beds of certain
pans in the Amsterdam district of the Transvaal ; also near
Krugersdorp, and in Griqualand West.

* Cf. Du Toit, A. L. : The Ecca Prosphates of Natal. S.A. Journ.
Industries, January, 1918.

66 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION li.

It is used in admixture with asbestos for covering boilers and
steam pipes, and for preparing brass and metal polish. There was
a small production of the mineral in 191 3, but, so far as I am
aware, none of the deposits are being worked at present.

Salt.

The salt industry of the Union continues to make steady
progress, though very little is heard of it, and information
regarding recent progress is difficult to obtain. The whole of the
output, amounting at the present time to nearly 60,000 tons per
annum, is derived from salt-pans, most of which are located on
the Dwyka tillite or shales. The supply of salt, which owes its
origin to a process of natural concentration, is constantly
replenished, and the pans, as pointed out by Rogers and Du Toit,*
are undoubtedly among the most valuable assets of the country.

For the actual production and refining of the salt, solar
evaporation in shallow pans is generally relied upon. This system,
while very economical, has the disadvantage that the output is
dependent on weather conditions, being greatly diminished during
the winter months, when very little evaporation takes place. To
remedy this, some of the salt companies have of recent years
supplemented their evaporating ponds by furnace-heated pans,
which enable a fairly steady output to be maintained all the year
round.

Cement, Clay Products, and Siructukal Material.

The value of the output of the industries under this heading
amounted in 1917 to £877,934, an increase of £255,941, compared
with 191 3. This is due largely to the great expansion of the local
cement industry, which is now supplying the whole of the rapidly-
increasing South African requirements. The Union has three
large cement factoreis, and the erection of two others is con-
templated.

The clay and pottery industries have also made very satis-
factory progress, the cutting-ofT of oversea supplies having given
a great impetus to the production of roofing tiles, stoneware, and
fireclay goods. There is also a magnificent opening for the local
manufacture of electrical insulators, sanitary ware, and crockery,
and the ceramic industry appears altogether to be capable of very
considerable expansion.

The great shortages of bottles has led to the establishment of
a bottle factory at Dundee, in Natal. The glass is obtained by
melting broken bottles. The actual manufacture of glass is,
however, also to be undertaken shortly, sand for this purpose
being available at several localities.

It is to be hoped that this and other industries that have
come into existence as a result of the existing conditions, will be

* Cf. The Geology of the Cape Colony, p. 478.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SIXTION H. 6/

adequately protected after the war, when it is probable that
dumping on a colossal scale will be attempted.

Future Discoveries.

The future of the mineral industry of South Africa, in so
far as it is dependent on deposits actually known or worked at
the present time, has already been discussed at some length in
the foregoing review. It remains to consider what prospects
the country offers in the matter of fresh discoveries. In dealing
with this interesting subject, it will be useful to divide the Union
into a number of mineral provinces — ^^that is, natural divisions,
which by virtue of the geological or physiographical conditions
prevailing within them yield, or may be expected to yield, certain
minerals.

Those having even a passing acquaintance of the geological
features of the Union will realise that this scheme, if rigorously
carried out, would involve the discrimination of a large number
of areas, many of which, in addition to being ([uite unimportant,
could, owing to their small size, not be shown on the accompanying
map.

For this and other reasons it is proposed to adopt the
following nine-fold division, though it in nearly every instance
involves the inclusion in the individual provinces of rocks of
different geological age or of widely separated areas of the same
formation : —

( I ) The Witwatersrand-Ventersdorp Province.

( 2 ) The Karroo Province.

(3) The Transvaal Sj^stem Provinces.

(4) The Bushveld Province.

(5) The Old Granite-Swaziland System Provinces.

(6) The Copper Region of Little Namaqualand.

(7) The West Coast Province.

(8) The Cape System Province.

(9) The Kalahari Region.

The boundaries of the provinces, except where actually
determined by geological boundary lines, are largely arbitrary.

The Witwatersrand-V'hnti'ksdokp Province.

The Witwatersrand-Ventersdorj) Province embraces a con-
siderable extent of country in the Southern Transvaal and
adjacent territories occupied or underlain at comparatively shallow
depth by the rocks of the Witwatersrand and Ventersdorp
systems, which for the purposes of the present address have been
grouped together. It includes a fairly considerable area of
Karroo rocks to the east and south-east of Boksburg, narrovN
strips of dolomite to the west of Randfontein and to the south-
east of Klerksdorp. and has also for convenience been made to
embrace the area of older granite to the north of Johannesburg,

68 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION B.

and several areas of older granite and Karroo rocks in the South-
western Transvaal.

Including as it does the greatest gold-field and the two
greatest alluvial diamond fields in the world, this is easily the
most important of the nine divisions, contributing about 80 per
cent, by value of the total mineral output of the Union.

In addition to gold and diamonds, it yields silver, coal,
asbestos, building-stone, quartz, talc, and a considerable variety
of clays.

As regards future discoveries, the possibility of locating
further outcrops of the Main Reef, or areas underlain by it, will
doubtless continue to act as a powerful incentive to prospecting
and boring within the tract of country over which the Witwaters-
rand beds are known to extend.*

On the whole it does not appear likely that the productive
area of the Rand gold-field will be very materially added to,
either to towards the east, south-east, or west. It is possible,
however, that some of the work now being carried out in the
Heidelberg area may bear fruit, and that the faulted continuation
of the Main Reef zone will eventually be located beneath the
Dolomite to the south-west of the Randfontein group of mines.
There is also a remote possibility that a " Farther "' East Rand
may await discovery below the coal-measures of the Bethal and
Middelburg districts, but this systematic deep-boring alone can
decide.

In regard to the Venterskroon and Klerksdorp gold-fields,
the outlook is not very hopeful. The prospecting and boring
operations carried out in the former area some years ago, under
the direction of Dr. Corstorphine, render it practically certain
that the Main Reef zone does not exist in the Witwatersrand
beds as developed within it.

In so far as the Klerksdorp district is concerned, it still
remains to be proved whether or not the Main Reef zone is
represented, and, until the complex geological structure of the
area has been more completely unravelled, it will hardly be
possible to do this. Some geologists have identified Buffeldoorn
Reef, until recently worked by the Quest Gold Mining ( onipany,
with the Main Reef, but the correlation rests on rather a slender
basis.

In any case, the disappointing results obtained from the
exploitation of this ' reef " indicate that, if it is the Main Reef,
the latter is verv th'n and patchy in the Klerksdorp district.

Coal. — Fairly considerable quantities of coal are produced
from the coal-measures overlying the Witwatersrand beds and

* The most easterly exposure of undoubted Main Reef zone hitherto
located is on, or more correctly speaking, beneath the farm Droogefontein-
No. 447, on the Far East Rand ; the most westerly, in the south-western
corner of the claim-holaing of the South Randfontein Deep, on the Wefet
Rand; and the most southerly, on the farm Platkopje, No. 63, 16 miles
south-west of Heidelberg.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION B. 69

Dolomite on the Far East Rand, but the generally superior
quality of the coal found farther east, combined with the improved
railway facilities, have tended of recent years to diminish the
amount of coal mined in the area

There is little probability of any important coal-bearing
areas, other than those known at present, being located within the
province.

Diamonds. — The whole of the Witwatersrand-Ventersdorp
Province falls within the Diamond Belt previously defined, and it
is not unlikely, therefore, that important pipes and dykes of
diamondiferous kimberlite await discovery within it.

The Karroo Province.

The Karroo Province, occupied by the sedimentary and
igneous rocks of the Karroo system and dykes, sills, and laccolites
of dolerite intrusive in them.* is by far the most extensive of
the mineral provinces, embracing over one-half of the area of the
Union. In the value of its mineral production it is second only
to the Wtiwatersrand Province, the supremacy of which it will
doubtless eventually rival.

It is not only the great repository of the fuel-wealth of the
country, but includes the most productive section of the Diamond
Belt. Apart from coal and diamonds, its mineral products include
salt, iron-ore, rock-phosphates, fireclay, and other clays, gannister,
building-stone and gypsum. Gold has also been found. f Potential
sources of mmeral wealth are natural gas, oil and alum shale, and
the magnetic copper-nickel deposits of Griqualand East.

The Copper-Nickel Deposits of lusisiva, Tahankuln, and
l^onki, in Griqualand East. — These deposits are similar in many
respects to those of Sudbury in Canada, at the present time the
principal source of the world's supply of nickel. The ore-bodies
occur J at the lower contacts of great cakes or basin-shaped masses
of gabbro-norite, merging downward into picrite§, which have
been shown by Du Toit to be the remnants of a vast sill intrusive
in the lower division of the Beaufort series. The lower surface
of this sill appears to have undulated considerably. The existing
gabbro masses represent the parts filling the hollows, the inter-
vening dome-like connections having been removed by denudation.
The principal ore-minerals are pyrrhotite chalcopyrite and pent-
landite, with smaller amounts of bornite and niccolite. Platinum

* It has also been made to embrace the broad belt of Cretaceous and
Tertiary rocks along the coast of Zulnland, and several inliers of Older
Granite and rocks belonging to the Transvaal and Waterbera; systems
to the south and south-west of Prieska.

t At Cekkers Kloof, near Cradock, where the gold occurs in asso-
ciation with prehnite.

t Cf. Du Toit, A. L. : The Geology of the Transkei. an Explanation of
Sheet 27 (Cape). Geological Survey, Union of South Africa (1917) ,
18-27.

§ These rocks represent a special phase of the widespread Karroo
dolerite.

70 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION li.

is also present. Assays of several ounces to the ton have been
recorded, but the average platinum content of the ore appears
to be between ^ dwt. to i dwt. per ton.

The ore clearly owes its origin to a process of gravitative
differentiation, and it is believed that ore bodies very much larger
than any hitherto exposed await discovery on the concealed floors
of the basins or cakes. Thus, the mineralised zone, on which
most exploratory work has been done at Insiswa, is in all prob-
ability only the eastern edge of a great lens-shaped mass of ore
underlying the Insiswa Mountain. The same applies to the Tonti
and Tabankulu occurrences, and as the massifs are of very great
size — ^that forming the Insiswa Mountain is ten miles in diameter
— it will be seen that the area offers enormous possibilities. Some,
indeed, see in it a second Sudbury.

Apart from the value of its metallic contents, the ore is of
value as a potential source of sulphur.

Petroleum. — The Karroo Province contains the only area
in the Union — namely, the so-called Folded Belt, along its
southern margin — within which some, at any rate, of the requisite
conditions for the formation and concentration of petroleum in
commercial quantities are satisfied.

The prospects of finding oil in the Folded Belt are, as has
been pointed out elsewhere,* not very hopeful, because, if
present, it is probably so deeply buried as to be beyond com-
mercial accessibility, but the possibility of its being struck none
the less exists.

Oil-Shale. — There are extensive deposits of oil-shale in the
Ermelo and Wakkerstroom districts of the Transvaal, and in the
Utrecht and Impendhle divisions of Natal, and equally extensive
deposits are said to exist in the north-eastern portion of the
Orange Free State. . The deposits are likely sooner or later to
form the basis of an important industry.

Natural Gas. — Natural gas has so far only been struck in
considerable quantity on the farm Gruisfontein, in the Heidelberg
district of the Transvaal, f where it was encountered at a depth of
540 feet, beneath a dolerite sill, which acted as an impervious
cover. Cunningham Craig| is of opinion that there may be other
isolated and irregular reservoirs of gas in the area, and also
considers that the Fauresmith district of the Orange Free State
and the Folded Belt of the Karroo system offer favourable con-
ditions for the occurrence of gas.

Diamonds. — The discovery of further workable occurrences
of Kimberlite within the Karroo Province may be predicted with
confidence, the neighbourhood of Kimberley and the north-

* C/. S.A. Journal of Ivdustries, October, 1917.

t Dr. Du Toit inforrhs me that an important strike of natural gas
was made some months ago near Dannhauser, in Natal.

X Report on the Petroleum Prospects in the Union of South Africa.
Pretoria, 1914, P- T9.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION Jl. /I

eastern portion of the Boshof district of the Orange Free State
holding out the greatest promise.*

The Bushveld Province.

This region coextensive with the Bushveld igneous complexf
yields a great variety of useful and valuable minerals, all derived
by differentiation or other processes of natural concentration
from the Bushveld granite and allied rocks.

The following metals and minerals have been or are being
worked: Tin, copper, arsenic, bismuth, tungstem, lead, J^old,
silver, molybdenite, and trona.

Of the important mineral deposits within the area, that
have not as yet been worked, but are receiving attention at the
present time, mention may be made of the occurrence of high-
grade haematite on the farm Kromdraai, south-east of Settlers — a
replacement deposit along a zone of fracture in felsite; the
chromite deposits on the farm Jachtlust No. 333, 50 miles south-
south-east of Pietersburg ; and the copper-nickel deposits on the
ifarm Vlakfontein. No. 902, west-south-west of the Pilandsberg,
in the Rustenburg district.

The Vlakfontein deposits are in the form of irregular masses
of nickeliferous pyrrhotite containing varying amounts of copper,
developed along fairly well-defined parallel zones of fissure in
pyroxenite belonging to the marginal phase of the Bushveld
Igneous Complex. The zones have been followed over a con-
siderable distance, and are being opened up by means of shafts
and tunnels. The Vlakfontein ores contain small amounts of
platinum, and it is of interest to recall that platinum is also
present in the remarkable stratiform segregations of chromite
occurring at much the same horizon in the basic margin of the
Bushveld laccolite.

Thus a series of samples of chromite taken by me to the
south-east and south-west of Turfgrond Station, in the Rusten-
burg district, assayed up to 1.5 dwts. of platinum and .15 dwt.
of osmium and iridium per ton. Here, as in certain other areas
where the chromite has been tested, the platinum metals, unfor-
tunately, are not uniformly distributed through it, and the
average values obtained by sampling were not sufficiently high
to warrant the exploitation of deposits, either as a source of
platinum or chromite.

Having regard to the enormous extent of the deposits — they
crop out intermittently over a distance of fully 400 miles — it is
quite possible, however, that some sections of the chromite
" layers ' will be found to contain platinum in profitable quantities.

The chromite itself, as previously intimated, is being opened
uj) on the farm JachtkiPt, situated 50 miles south-south-east of

* Cf. The Diamond Fields of Southern Africa, p. 4.

t For convenience it has also been made to include the VVaterberg
Plateau, and the igneous and sedimentary rocks of Karroo age underlying
the Springbok Flats.

~2 I^KESIUENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION H.,

Pietersburg, where there are two distinct layers of the mineral,
averaging six feet and 12 inches in thickness respectively. The
main layer averages 39 per cent, of chromic oxide, and it is
believed that this can easily be brought up to 42 per cent, by
hand-picking.

The principal mineral product of the Bushveld Province is
tin. which, as already stated, has a very wide distribution. Con-
ditions known to be favourable to the occurrence of the metal,
moreover, exist over extensive areas, as yet but imperfectly pros-
pected, and it may safely be predicted, therefore, that many
important cassiterite deposits will, in the course of time, be
discovered within it. The same applies to most of the other
metals previously mentioned, and the Bushveld Province appears
altogether ^ be an area of exceptional promise from the point
of view of future discoveries.

The Transvaal .Snstem Provinces.

These are t\vo in number. The more important, marked A
on the accompanying map, takes in a large tract of country in
the Central and Southern Transvaal ; and the other, marked B,
the greater part of Griqualand West.

They are occupied mainly by the rocks of the Transvaal
system, but for convenience both have been made to include fairly
considerable areas of sedimentary and igneous rocks belonging
to the Waterberg system, the Transvaal region in the Pretoria
and Middelburg districts, and the Griqualand West region along
its western margin.

The Transvaal region of the Transvaal .System Province
ranks third in point of output among the various provinces.

It includes the Premier Diamond Mine,* the Pilgrim's Rest
and Ottoshoop goldhelds, the gold mines on the Black Reef, in
the Southern and South -Western Transvaal, the asbestos occur-
rences of the Lydenburg district, and the extensive deposits of
iron-ore in the Pretoria series, and is clearly destined for many
years to be an important source of mineral wealth.

It also produces lead, pyrite, manganese, blue lime, fluorspar,
and slate, and contains the only economically-important deposits
of zinc hitherto discovered in the Union. Silver, copper, and
cobalt have been worked, and potassium nitrate, cinnabar, f and
lead vanadate fQiind within it.

The great variety of its mineral products, the fact that these
occur at such widely-separated localities, and the uniformity of
the geological conditions prevailing over great areas render the
prospects of future discoveries within the province distinctly
bright.

* The Premier Mine, tliough almost completely surrounded by felsite,
belonging to the Bushveld complex, lies well within the limits of the area
occupied by the Pretoria series.

+ Tn the Malmani district at Ottoshoop.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION B. 73

It is a practical certainty, for example, that further workable
deposits of gold and asbestos remain to be found in the Ly den-
burg district, and that many occurrences of lead and zinc await
discovery in the Western Transvaal, while the possibilities of
gold mining in that region cannot by any means be said to have
been exhausted.

In so far as the Central Transvaal is concerned, most of the
epigenetic mineral deposits occurring in the Transvaal system
appear to be related genetically to the Bushveld granite and allied
rocks, and it is the portion of the province falling within the
sphere of influence of the intrusive activity of the Bushveld
complex that thus holds out the greatest promise.

As the province includes a considerable part of the Diamond
Belt, there is also a possibility of further discoveries of Kim-
berlite pipes and dykes within it.

II. — The Griqualand West region, as already indicated, is
far less important. Its mineral products include asbestos, lime-
stone, lead, and alluvial diamonds. It also contains enormous
deposits of iron-ore that may some day be of great importance.
Potassium nitrate, which occurs as thin veins in and as an encrus-
tation on the shales and slates of the Pretoria series, and also in
angular fragments as a scree deposit, has a wide distribution to
the north and north-east of Prieska. The mineral is believed to
have been derived by a process of nitrification from the excreta
of rock-rabbits, bats, and the like. Up to the present efforts to
work the deposits have not met with success.

Some very promising occurrences are said, however, to have
been discovered recently, and a company has been formed in
Johannesburg to exploit them. The results of its activities will be
awaited with interest.

Further discoveries of lead, zinc, and asbestos may be
expected within the province.

The Old Granite, Swaziland System Provinces.

Under this heading are included four large disconnected
areas occupied by the rocks of the Swaziland system, or their
supposed equivalents, and old granite and gneiss intrusive in them.
The areas are numbered I, II, III, and I\' on the accompanying
map.

I. — Embraces the whole of the Northern, North-
western, and B>astern Transvaal, Swaziland, and portion of
Northern Natal.

II. — Includes portions of Griqqualand West, and of the
Ma f eking division of the Cape Province.

III. — Includes an elongated tract of country in Natal
and Zululand, occupied partly by the granite and rocks
belonging to the Swaziland system, and partly by Table
Mountain sandstone, which it was found more convenient
to group with these rocks than with the Karroo beds.

74 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION li.

IV. — Takes in almost the whole of the Calviiiia and
Kenhardt divisions of the Cape Province, the southern and
western portions respectively of the (jordonia and Prieska
districts, and a portion of little Namaqualand.

Of the afore-mentioned, 1, which includes considerable areas
of Waterberg sandstone and a small patch of Karroo rocks, is by
far the most important.

It is a region that stands unrivalled in the variety of mineral
resources. These include gold, copper, silver, antimony, tin. lead,
corundum, graphite, magnesite, talc, timgsten. arsenic, pyrite.
mercury, mica, ornamental stones, salt, and limestone.

By virtue of the geological conditions prevailing t)ver large
areas, prospects of future discoveries — particularly of gold and
copper — are very hopeful, and as regards latent potentialities,
it is probably the most promising of the various provinces.

Further discoveries of gold may be expected in the Rarberton
district, where, according to Hall,* the contact belts of the De
Kaap and Crocodile Poort granite massifs merit particular atten-
tion; also the Murchison Range and surrounding area. As
regards copper, the neighbourhood of the Messina Mine appears
to ofier the greatest possibilities, though deposits of the metal
have been found at a number of widely separated points in the
North-Eastern Transvaal.

The north-western and extreme eastern portions of the area,
which are virtually unprosjiected. will also doubtless be the scene
of many future discoveries.

II. — This area, occupied for the most part by granite and
gneiss, includes three belts of ancient schistose and sedimentary
rocks, belonging to the Kraaipan series, which have many features
in common with the rocks of the Swaziland system. A number
of auriferous veins were opened up in the Kraaipan series at
Madibi and Kraaipan some years ago, but proved disappointing.
No other mineral deposits have hitherto been found. In view,
however, of the similarity in geolgical conditions to those pre-
vailing in the goldfields of Southern Rhodesia and in the
Barberton district, and of the fact that the greater part of the
area has not been prospected, it can hardly be doubted that
further gold occurrences remain to l)e discovered.

III. — Gold has been mined at a number of localities in this
province. Asbestos and talc are being quarried on a small scale,
and tin. copper, graphite, and mica have alsc^ been worked.

Results on the whole have been disappointing, but the area
is generally regarded as offering considerable possibilities in the
matter of future discoveries. According to Hatch, t there are
large areas within it that should be the home of many deposits

* Memoir No. 9, Geological Sunry. Union of South Africa, pp. 322,

329-

t Cf. Report on the Mines and Mineral Resources of Natal, p. 15.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION H. 75

of metals, such as ,^old, iron, and copper, while the pegmatites
that vein the schists of the Swaziland system, near the margins
of the granite intrusions, are favourable to the occurrence of
tin, molybdenite, and mica.

IV. — This area is occupied by granite and gneiss, except
along its eastern margin, where there is a broad belt of metamor-
phosed sedimentary and igneous rocks, belonging to the Kheis
esries — correlated tentatively with the Swaziland system.

The only important mineral deposits hitherto discovered are
the lenses of pyrite, in part cupriferous, that are being opened up
at the Areacheap Mine, tojhe north-west of Upington.

Copper-bearing quartz veins occur in gneiss in the neigh-
bourhood of Pella on the Orange River, and copper in the form
of malachite, chrysocalla and copper glance is also found in
quartz veins on the farm Toekomst West, on the Molopo. about
five miles south of the Keetmanshoop railway.

These occurrences, while not workable, serve to indicate that
copper is widely distributed.

The greater part of the region is still a terra incognita in so
far as the prospector is concerned, and certainly seems to merit
more attention than it has hitherto received.

The Copper Province of Little Namaqualand.

This province, occupying a fairly considerable extent of
country in the north-western corner of the Cape Province,
embraces two distinct mineral areas,* namely, ( i ) a northern
region characterised by veins containing native copper and
copper sulphides in a gangue of quartz, carbonates, felspar, and
chlorite. None of these are being worked at the present time.
The Kodas and Numees Mines, situated in the mountainous
country near the Orange River, yielded considerable quantities
of high-grade ore in the seventies of last century. Transport,
however, offered insurmountable difficulties, and they were closed
down after a time.

Both mines are said to contain considerable reserves of ore,
which will doubtless be exploited as soon as the area is rendered
more accessible by the constrijction of roads and railways, when
other workable deposits will also doubtless be discovered.

(2) A southern region, embracing about 2,000 square miles
in the middle of the Namaqualand division, characterised by the
presence of dykes and irregular intrusions of a genetically con-
nected series of igneous rocks — ranging from mica-diorite at
Ookiep, through norite at Tweefontein, to hypersthenite at Naba-
beep — which contain as primary constituents varying amounts of
copper sulphides ; the country rock being gneiss.

No fewer than 344 distinct intrusions have hitherto been
located and mapped, and others in all probability await discovery.

* Rogers, A. W. : The Copper Deposits of Little Namaqualand, Proc.
Geol. Soc. S.A., 1916, pp. xxi-xxxiv.

76 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION B.

To date over £22,500,000 worth of copper has been produced
in this region.

This area also yields corundum and merchantable mica, and
columbite, beryl, and spodumene occur in the pegmatites of the
Steinkopf district.

It is thus evidently highly mineralised, but is unfortunately
handicapped by its inaccessibility, its arid character, and the
lack of transport facilities.

The West Coast Region of the Capf. Province.

This includes a strip of country running along the west coast
of the Cape Province from Cape Point to the mouth of the
Orange River.

It is occupied by rocks belonging to the Nama system,
granite, and porphyries intrusive in them, recent calcareous
deposits and sands, and for convenience has been made to embrace
several areas of Table Mountain sandstone.

Its mineral products include tin, rock-phosphate, building-
stone, clays, limestone, and niineral-water.

Among other economic minerals that occur, but have not
hitherto been discovered in workable quantities, mention may be
made of wolframite, arsenopyrite, molybdenite, and gypsum.

In the matter of future discoveries, rock-phosphates and tin
appear to hold out the greatest promise. Du Toit's investigations
of the phosphate deposits of Saldanha Bay render it highly prob-
able thatsimJar occurrences, not onlyof aluminous rock-phosphate,
but of phosphorite, are to be found along the coast, and the whole
of the littoral between Table Bay and the Orange River mouth
appears to be worthy of careful investigation. As regards tin,
it would be remarkable indeed if further workable deposits of
that metal do not await discovery around the margins of the
great intrusions of granite in the Western Province, while the
newer granites of the Van Rhyn's Dorp district and Tittle Nama-
qualand offer possibilities in the same direction.

The Cape System Province.

The Cape System Province embraces practically the whole
extent of country in the southern and south-western districts of
the Cape Province occupied tjy the rocks of the Cape and Creta-
ceaus systems, and the important inliers of the Nama system in
these.

The area is singularly deficient in metallic mineral wealth,
which is probably due to the almost complete absence of igneous
rocks within it.

The only important occurrences of metallic minerals hitherto
discovered are the veins and deposits of manganese ore in the
Table Mountain sandstone series in the Western Province, the
alluvial gold deposits of the Millwood fields, in the Knysna

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION B. "JJ

district, and the deposits of argentiferous galena found many
years ago at the Maitland Mine, to the west of Port Elizabeth.

Of the manganese deposits, only three, according to Welsh,*,
are of any extent, and of these only one is really considerable,
containing possibly about 500,000 tons of ore. The exploitation
of this particular deposit, however, would hardly be feasible,
because it happens to be the site of the Caledon hot springs and
sanatorium.

In the Milhvood goldfield, situated in the Outeniqua Moun-
tains, steeply folded shales and sandstones, believed to belong to
the Table Mountain sandstone series, are traversed by auriferous
quartz-veins, carrying pyrite, blende, galena, and sometimes
siderite.

The occurrences are not worthy of exploitation, the small
quantities of gold won on these fields being all alluvial.

Natural gas and petroleum may exist beneath the anticlines
into which the fossiliferous Bokkeveld beds have been thrown
between Touws River and Montagu, but it is a remote possibility.

The most promising potential sources of mineral wealth in
the area are the occurrences of limestone, belonging to the Nama
system, that occur in the inliers already referred to. A deposit
of this nature is to form the basis of a large cement and lime-
works at Robertson, and the possibilities of another inlier between
Hankey and Port Elizabeth are being investigated with a view to
establishing cement works in that neighbourhood.

The dolomite limestone of the Cango area will also, no doubt,
eventually become of importance as a source of " blue " lime.

The clays and shales of the Cretaceous Uitenhage series
are made into good tiles, pipes, and bricks at several localities.
The formation also contains beds of lignite of inferior quality,
but efforts to utilise this material have not so far proved suc-
cessful.

Certain sections of the southern coast of Cape Province,
included in the area, appear to be worth prospecting for rock
phosphate.

The Kalahari Region.

The Kalahari Region embraces the portion of the Kalahari
falling within the Union. No important mineral deposits have
been discovered within it, which is hardly a matter of surprise,
seeing that, in addition to being practically waterless, the greater
part of the area is covered with a deep mantle of sand and surface
limestone that completely obscure the underlying rocks.

The only economic minerals hitherto discovered in the
Kalahari region are potassium nitrate and kieselguhr. The
former occurs in the Matsap salt-pan, but apparently not in
payable quantities. Kieselguhr is found in the Witkop pan in

* Cf. Welsh, A. B. : Report on Manganese in the South-West Districts
of the Cape Proz'ince. Dept. of Mines and Industries, Union of South
Africa, 1917.

78 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION B.

Gordonia, and also in some of the pans on the Grlqiialand West
side of the Kalahari.

Great stores of mineral wealth may be locked up in this
tract of country, but there is little probability of any important
discoveries in the near future.

Conclusion.

In concluding this brief and necessarily imperfact survey of
the potential mineral resources of the Union, I would remind you
that Africa has ever been a land of surprises.

All things considered, it is improbable that any discovery
rivalling in importance that of the Kimberley diamond mines or
of the Witwatersrand goldfield remains to be made, but there
is no knowing what may be in store ; and when it is remembered
that the past decade has witnessed the discovery of the asbestos
and corundum deposits of the Northern Transvaal, the phosphate
occurrences of Saldanha Bay, two small diamond mines and a
number of promising deposits of tin and other metals, and that
vast tracts endowed by nature with geological conditions favour-
able to the development of mineral wealth are as yet virtually
unattacked by the pick of the prospector, you will, I think,
agree with me that there is every warrant for the most sanguine
expectations in regard to the future.

Section C— BOTANY, BACTERIOLOGY, AGRICULTURE,

AND FORESTRY.

President of the Section : C. E. Legat, B.Sc.

WEDNESDAY. JULY lo.

. The President delivered the following address : —
TIMBER SUPPLIES AND FORESTRY IN THE UNION.

The Union is almost entirely dependent for its timber sup-
plies on importations from abroad. In this respect its position
is similar to that of Great Britain. Both countries are very
poorly wooded. A recent return shows that the area of wood-
land per head of population in the United Kingdom is 0.067 o^
an acre. If the native population is included, the figure is prac-
tically the same here, viz.,- 0.07. Calculated on the basis of the
white population alone, the South African figure is more favour-
able, viz., 0.32 acre. But there is an important difference be-
tween the position in Great Britain and here. The woodlands
of the United Kingdom are cultivated forests, and as such more
productive, and they are comparatively accessible to roads and
railways. In South Africa, on the other hand, the forests are
wild, and considerable areas are far removed from roads and
rail, so that the present direct utility of much of them is very
small.

For the past thirty years or more there has been a growing
public opinion in Great Britain that something should be done
to place that country in a more independent position in regard
to its timber supply. For the five years previous to the outbreak
of war the country's timber bill had been on the average about
£37,000,000 per annum, and the local production insignificant.
Commissions and committees were appointed at intervals to go
into the matter, and they made recommendations, but nothing
very concrete resulted. Now the war has brought home to the
Government and the country most forcibly the unsoundness of
the national position in regard to this question. At a time when
shipping was most urgently required for other purposes there
was no alternative but to earmark a large amount to transport
this essential war material, even though it involved reduced
rations for the people. During the years 1915 and 1916 the
imports of timber absorbed 7.000,000 nett tons of shipping, and
cost £74,000,000, or £37,000,000 in excess of the pre-war value.
The Prime Minister, in his speech of February, 191 7, on the
submarine menace, emphasised that the saving of this tonnage
was a vital necessity, and that to effect it, it would be necessary
to fall back on the country's own timber resources and to arrange
with the French Government for some of their forests to be
placed at Great Britain's disposal.

In view of this state of affairs the appointment of a Forestry
Sub-Committee of the Reconstruction Committee " to consider
and report upon the best means of conserving and developing
the woodland and forestry resources of the United Kingdom

8o PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C.

having regard to the experience gained during the war "' was not
surprising.

This Sub-Committee has now reported. One of the con-
clusions arrived at was that " the war has disclosed no demand
which could ncit have been satisfied by timber grown in this
country." In other words, Britain's neglect of forestry cost the
country £37,000,000, and seriously impaired her war efficiency.
Another conclusion was : " Forests are a national necessity ; the
country must have them, even though (they yield less than the
current rate of interest on the capital invested. The whole sum
involved is less than half the direct loss incurred during the years
1915-1916 through dependence on imported timber."

I have thus referred to the position in Great Britain for the
lesson seems wholesome, and one which this country, being in
much the same position as Great Britain, can assimilate with
advantage, especially when it is remembered that our timber
has to come a distance of 6,000 miles, whereas Great Britain ha.>
practically at its doors in Norway, Sweden, and France large
supplies to draw on.

The lack of an adequate timber supply has not been felt
as acutely in the Union as in Great Britain, but there can be no
doubt that the industrial expansion and general development of
the country has been seriously handicapped by it.

Before the outbreak of war the following were the prices
of pine timber per cubic foot ;

Deals, 2s. 3d.; flooring, lis.; ceiling, los. 6d. To-day they
are: Deals, 9s. yd.; flooring, 24s. yd.; ceiling, 27s.

Under the circumstances, it is not to be wondered that no
building is being done which can possibly be avoided. The popu-
lation is, however, increasing, and consequently the demand for
houses is increasing. Rents have risen accordingly, and thus
timber shortage has had a considerable influence on the increased
cost of living.

To take other examples: In 1914 sleepers for railway pur-
poses cost 6s. 2d. each. To-day the Administration has to pay
9s. to los. Wood is required for the marketing and distribution
of many articles produced m the country, such as fruit, cheese,
jams, soap, candles, boots, dynamite, etc. The cost of the wood
is reflected in the price of the articles, and so all through the
community has to pay higher prices owing to the absence of
an adequate South African timber supply. The Union is only
on the threshold of its agricultural and industrial development,
and in proportion as that expands so will the need for timber
expand, for experience shows that increased consumption of
timber goes hand in hand with the progress of a country. In
1910 Germany had over 54,000 square miles of forest, and yet
imported 27 per cent, of her consumption ; France had 37,000
square miles, and imported 6 per cent. The shortage oif timber
is felt now, but under similar circumstances in 50 or 100 years'
time it would be felt still more. Though one sincerely hopes
that war will not again recur, it is a possibility ; and, as the
countries on which we now depend for wood may be involved^

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C. 8 1

supplies may be entirely cut off, thus leading to complete or par-
tial dislocation of industrial life.

Apart from that aspect of the matter, there is the considera-
tion that the world's consumption of timber is rapidly increasing,
and prices have risen considerably in recent years. Between
1895 ^^<^ 1913 ^^6 increase in Great Britain amounted to 33 per
cent. It would therefore seem only prudent that this country
.should take steps to see that its future is provided for in this
respect, and I think it may be of interest to this Association if
the position of the Union in regard to forestry and timber supply
is placed before it.

During 191 3 — the last normal year— the Union imported
over 15^ million cubic feet (15,617,000) of unmanufactured
timber, valued at just short of one million pounds sterling
£980,000). Over and above that £252,000 worth of manufactured
timber was brought into the country, of which the cubic contents
are not known, but which, at a conserv^ative estimate, may be
placed at about two million feet. Thus the total timber .importa-
tion in 1913, exclusive of furniture and one or two other items,
was about 17 J^ million cubic feet, worth rather less than 1%
million pounds sterling (£1,232.000).

Of this amount nearly 90 per cent, was coniferous timber,
that is to say, the soft timber derived from the class of trees
known as pines, spruces, and firs.

It may be of interest to note that Sweden furnished practi-
cally half our requirements, Norway about i/5th, while the
United States, Canada, and Russia were mainly responsible for
the balance, in the order they are mentioned.

I do not suppose the most pessimistic person would question
that agricultural and industrial expansion during the next fifty
years will be on such a scale that the timber requirements of the
Union will be at least double what they are now. The estimate
is certainly conservative, and a timber consumption of 35 million
cubic feet per annum, of which 30.000.000 cubic feet will be pine
timber, is a safe assumption.

Now, what is the Union's present equipment to meet this
probable demand?

If reference is made to the last report of the Forest Depart-
ment it will be seen that the total area of forest reserves on the
31st Alarch, 1917, was rather over 1.000,000 morgen, of which
747,000 morgen were classed as demarcated and 252,000 as un-
demarcated. It might be as well to explain what is implied by
the terms ' demarcated " and " undemarcated." " Demarcated
forest " is any area, not necessarily wooded, of which the boun-
daries have been defined, and which, after certain preliminaries
into which it is unnecessary to enter now, has been declared by
the Minister in the Gazette to be demarcated. Forest land once
demarcated cannot be alienated without the consent of both
Houses of Parliament, and the penalties for offences on such land
are more drastic than in the case of undemarcated forests. All
forest areas imder more intensive management, or which it is
desirable to safeguard from alienations are, as far as possible,

82 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS- -SECTION C.

demarcated. Demarcation is a useful weapon for the Depart-
ment because it is not unusual for forest reserves to be " Naboth's
vineyards " to the general public, and even to other Departments.
" Undemarcated forest " embraces Crown land set aside as
a forest reserve with the approval of the Minster of Lands, and,
to quote the Forest Act in so far as the protection and utilisation
of forest produce is concerned, includes —

(I ) Outspans and commonages situate on Crown land, e.g.,
Burnshill Commonage, Frankfort Commonage ;.

(2) Crown land on which forest produce exists, e.g.,
wooded Government farms in the Waterberg district ;

(3) any other land of which the Crown retains a right to
the trees, timber, and other forest produce.

The Department's control over such undemarcated areas is
much less complete than in the case of demarcated forests, and
therefore when circumstances allow, and it is otherwise desirable,
demarcation is efifected.

One million morgen is a very large area, and certainly if it
were all under forest the country would be in a sound position.
Unfortunately, that is far from being the case. Large tracts
consist of steep, rocky, mountainous country carrying few, if
any, trees, and quite unsuitable for planting, either because the
climatic conditions are unfavourable or because the country is
too remote, inaccessible or broken. Examples of such reserves
are the areas on the Zwartberg Mountain range in the Laings-
burg, Prince Albert and Oudtshoorn districts, stretching from
the BufTels River to the Willowmore and Uniondale boundaries,
having an area of 109,497 morgen.

It may be asked how these areas fall to be administered by
the Forest Department. The answer is simple. The Irrigation
Department for the past ten years has recommended that the
Government should retain control of the mountain tops and
sides in the catchment areas of the rivers of the country in the
hope that ultimately it may be possible to check veld burning
and maintain and encourage the growth of the natural vegetation,
thus assisting to prevent erosion and flooding, and to conserve
the flow of rivers and streams on which the country depends
for irrigation. It was felt that if sold such mountain lands
would fetch the most paltry sums, and later on, in the national
interest, it might be necessary to acquire them again. The
Forest Department had convenient machinery for locking uj)
these lands by demarcation, and they were accordingly handed
over to it. I am sorry to say circumstances have not, so far,
allowed of much being done to realise the objects for which the
reserv^es w^ere made, but when normal times return greater pro-
gress may be possible.

Coastal reserves and drift sands form a considerable percen-
tage of the forest reserves (80,000 morgen) as the prevention,
reclamation, and control of drift sands fall within the scope of
the Forest Department's duties. Only in exceptional cases do
these reserves carry a crop of wood, and when they do poles and

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION C. 83

firewood for local consumption are the principal products. Much
of the reserves is grass veld, and all that is required is the regu-
lation of grazing to maintain the surface cover and to avoid the
exposure of the sand surface to the wind.

In other cases, e.g., at Port Elizabeth, Bellville, Rerste River
and Strandfontein, costly works have had to be undertaken to
fix the sands. The reclamation work at Port Elizabeth took 20
years to carry out, and cost i6o,ooo.

Another large tract of forest land, aggregating 100,000
morgen (83,000 morgen demarcated, 17,000 undeniarcated) is
the Cedarberg, on which are found the Cedar forests. These
forests hardly fill the popular conception of what a forest should
be, for the trees composing them are sparsely scattered among
the boulders of the precipitous mountain sides, and their flat,
spreading tops do not meet and form canopy, so that heaths and
other sour veld vegetation are free to flourish between them. In
form the old Cedars, botanically known as Callitris arboreci, look
exactly like the Cedars of North Africa (Ccdrus atlantica). which
grow in a similar rocky country and within the snow belt. These
Cedar forests have been carefully conserved and fire-protected
'for the past 25 years, and there is abundant natural regeneration.
The trees grow to 60 feet in height and 5 feet in diameter. Un-
fortunately, even old trees are very susceptible to damage from
fire, and all over the mountains may be seen specimens from
which the bark has been burnt long ago, but which, on account
of the great durability of the wood, remain otherwise almost
intact.

The occurrence of this tree is interesting. It is only found
on the Cedarberg, between 3.400 and 4,800 feet above the snow
line, and is absent from the Winterhoek, where similar climatic
conditions exist. Lister is inclined to believe that the difference
in the geological formation between the two localities sufficientlv
explains the distribution, but the general appearance of the sur-
face soil in the two places is much the same. The timber which
has a strong cedar odour is not of general economic importance,
and is used locally principally for fence posts. In the past it
was used for planking, and is still to a small extent, though the
sale of timber is now entirely confined to dead trees. The out-
put of this vast area during the year 1916-1917 was only 1,151
cubic feet. These reserves, extensive though they are. will
never appreciably afi'ect the timber position in this country,
though, if fire protection continues to be successful, they will
greatly increase in value. C)wing, however, to the occurrence
of Buchu on them, their conservation is meantime carried out
with financial profit to the country.

Thus a big percentage of the forest reserves consist of waste
lands, most of which will never be of any value for afiforestation.
What proportion is plantable is not known, for no close investi-
gation or survey to ascertain this has vet been made. The matter,
however, is not one of urgency, as there is at present sufficient
accessible ground to occupy the attention of the Department.

Of the large total of forest reserves, the area of dense indi-

84 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS —Sl'XTION C.

genoits forest belonging to Government is only about 200,000
morgen, and besides that there are 35,000 morgen under planta-
tions. There is probably 25,000-50,000 morgen of private forest.
If the indigenous forest were as productive as a plantation, were
accessible, and produced timber of a kind that could be generally
used like imported pine, that area would suffice to meet our pre-
sent needs as well as our requirements during the next fifty
years, but that is far from being the case.

The indigenous forests are found along the south and south-
east coastal belt, and on the slopes of the mountain ranges falling
within 100-150 miles of the sea, though in the Transvaal and in
parts of Natal they penetrate further inland. They generally
have a south or south-eastern aspect. In the Western Province,
where there is a purely winter rainfall, the forests are small and
detached, being mostly confined to sheltered kloofs, but as one
travels east the forests become more frequent, and between
George and Humansdorp the largest continuous stretch of forest
in the Union is 'found. There the rain falls all through the year.

In the Eastern Province, the Transkei, Natal and the Trans-
vaal the rainfall is entirely a summer one, yet in general character
the forest differs little from that found in the west.

Some new species come in, and the percentage of each
species present differs somewhat, but the variation is hardly so
marked as might be expected, considering the forests range from
34° S. Latitude to the Tropics in 23° S. Latitude.

The indigenous forest is essentially a mixed forest, that is
to say, it consists of a large number of species growing together,
the composition oi the mixture varying according to the district,
elevation, soil and climate. Some species seem to appear in the
forests almost wherever forests occur ; such are Beukenhout
{Rapanca melanophelos) and Vlier {Nuxia florihunda). Others,
again, are less accommodating. Keur {Virgilia capensis) con-
fines itself to the coastal area from the Cape to Port Elizabeth,
and seems to avoid the summer rainfall zone. Kamassi (Gonioma
kamassi) is abundant in the Knysna forests, and is found occa-
sionally along the coast as far as East London. It does not.
however, occur in the Transkei, Natal, nor, I believe, in the
Transvaal. It is reported, however, to occur in Rhodesia. The
true South African Box (Buxus macozmni) is absent from the
Knysna forests, but is fairly abundant at Alexandria and near
East London, and in one or two Transkeian forests. Else-
where it is missing. Stinkwood (Ocofea bullata) occurs in the
Cape Peninsula. Knysna, Transkeian, Natal and Transvaal
forests, but seems most vigorous in Knysna. In the Eastern
Province it is practically missing from the forests, though when
the Pirie forests were recently worked an isolated group of fine
Stinkwood was discovered. Though Stinkwood and Sneezewood
(Ptaeroxylon utile) refuse to meet at Knysna, and hardly know
one another in the Eastern Province, they grow to great perfec-
tion side by side in the Transkeian forests along with Yellows-
wood. The Yellowwoods {Podooarpus thunhcrgii and P. elun-
gata) are foimd to a greater or less extent in the larger proper-

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION C. 85

tion of the dense forests, but the Falcate Yellow wood (P. falcata)
is peculiar to Pondoland and Natal.

The distribution and occurrence of our forest trees is a
most interesting study, and one which has been little touched on
as yet. The field is a wide one, and should afiford plenty of
scope for investigation to members of the increasing band of
botanists now in the Union.

The forests are managed under what is known as the " Selec-
tion System." Generally in this country one notices pine and
gum plantations are clean felled, and are either regenerated by
planting or from seed on the ground or from coppice shoots.
In the indigenous forests under Government control, on the
other hand, clean felling is avoided and only the mature, over-
mature and depreciating trees, or trees which for sylvicultural
reasons should be felled are removed, and their place is taken
in time either by self-sown seedlings or coppice growth. A
forest worked under this method looks to a layman viewing it
from outside as if it had not been worked. Trees of all ages,
from one year old to the oldest, are constantly represented over
the whole area and, theoretically, the work of selecting trees for
cutting extends at all times over the whole forest. In practice,
however, the forest is divided into series, and further into sec-
tions, which are gone over in turn, so that cutting returns to the
same section after 40 years.

Systematic management was introduced into the Cape forests
in 1883 by a French forester, the Comte de Vasselot de Regne,
whose services were obtained for that purpose by the Govern-
ment. The broad principles he laid down were sound, but his
ideals have scarcely been attained for various reasons. The data
on which he worked were necessarily of the sketchiest nature,
the forests were in a highly abnormal condition, and trees, which
in the interest of the forests should have been removed, were
unsaleable, and left to encumber the ground and prevent the re-
growth of a better crop.

It will take a very long time before the forests reach a nor-
mal state, and, meantime, the urgent need is a careful study of
the sylvicultural requirements of the different species compris-
ing the forest, for without more knowledge than is at present
available, progress in forest management is not hkely to be
rapid or sure.

In Natal till Union there was never a settled forest policy,
and the forests were worked spasmodically without much system.
In the Transvaal before the Boer War there was little attempt
at control or conservation, and most accessible forests were
worked out. Since then most of the forests have been closed.

Of all the species of trees in the indigenous forest the only
ones that produce timber that can be regarded as a substitute
for imported pine time are the Yellowwoods.

The Yellowwoods attain large dimensions, the largest of
any trees in the forest. There are three kinds — the Real, the
Bastard, and the Falcate. The Real Yellowwood grows 80 to
100 feet in height, and occasionally to 7 feet in diameter. The

86 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C.

Bastard grows even larger. It will reach ,80 to 120 feet in height
and a diameter of 9 feet, with a clear trunk of 40 to 80 feet ;
but more usually the diameter does not exceed 3 to 4 feet.

Yellowwood timber is rather harder and heavier than Pine,
but is much stronger and greatly superior in appearance, and is
comparatively free of the heavy knots found in most imported
wood. Apart from that it is excellent for beams, rafters, tiooring,
and ceiling. The beams, floors, ceilings, and doors of many of the
old homesteads at the Cape are of Yelloww^ood. Yellowwood
creosotes well, and it has been largely used on the South African
Railways for sleepers, close on 3,000,000 having been supplied
from Knysna during the past 30 years. Generally speaking, the
other kinds of timber are only suitable for special purposes, such
as furniture-making and wagon-building. Some, such as Stink-
wood, White Els, Red Els. and Beukenhout, are of great beauty.
Stinkwood is well-known throughout the country as a furniture
wood, and it is also valued for wagon construction. Though it
has been used for planks and beams it is too valuable and scarce
for such work. It is fortunately one of the quicker-growing
species, and the re-growth in the Knysna forests is good. Sound
trees are, however, rare. It will grow 3 to 5 feet in diameter,
and 60 to 90 feet high. Assegai, White Pear, and Ironwood are
greatly sought after by wheelwrights, and of late years Iron-
wood has found a ready market on the Rand for stamp blocks.

Sneezewood is very hard, heavy, strong and durable. It is
much appreciated by engineers for bridge-building, but large-
sized timber is now scarce. It grows 50 feet in height and 2 in
diameter. It is chiefly used as a fence pole, and the tree is split
or sawn up into suitable dimensions for the purpose.

But all these trees have limited use compared with Yellow-
wood, and, as I said before, that is the only kind which can be
used in place of imported deals. In most of the forests in
which it occurs Yellowwood preponderates, and is readily pur-
chased where facilities for cutting and marketing exist. .\t
Knysna during 1916-1917 52 per cent, by volume and 30 per cent.
of the total output of 336.000 cubic feet was Yellowwood, and
during the same period, when the total output of all the Govern-
ment indigenous forests was approximately one and a half
million cubic feet, over 600,000 cubic feet was Yellowwood. In
the Eastern Province, the Transkei. and Natal 40 to 75 per cent.
of the exploitable unworked forest is of this species.

As the result of the roughest of calculations — data on which
to base a reliable estimate being absent — I should say that
possibly all the forests of the Union — demarcated and undemar-
cated and private — together contain about 75,000,000 cubic feet
of Yellowwood of exploitable size, or ju.st about five times as
much as the annual importation of softwood in 1913. The esti-
mate, I believe, to be a liberal one, but it serves to show how
restricted the timber resources of the Union are. Under present
conditions it would not be a ct>mmercial proposition to place one-
third of that timber on the markets of the Union, even if from a
sylvicultural point of view it were permissible ; for many of the

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SFATION C. 87

forests are far removed from road and rail or carry but a few-
trees to the acre, or for social reasons it is inexpedient to accelerate
their exploitation. As the country opens up, more forests will
be tapped, but at present many are of purely local value. To
meet the existing shortage of wood the Department has placed
more than the normal supply of Yellowwood on the market, and,
should circumstances warrant, still more will be done in that
direction. The stock of timber referred to is the accumulation
of centuries, and if it could be removed it would take genera-
tions to replace. In considering how far the indigenous forests
can go towards meeting our timber requirements when once
they are in a normal condition, it is important to arrive at ?;ome
idea of the rate at which the forests produce Yellowwood timber.
I regret to have to admit our information on this point is scanty,
for investigations on this and kindred matters have received very
little attention.

However, McNaughton. who for many years was Conser-
vator at Knysna, made some careful computations during the
course of preparing a working plan for the Sourflats forests. He
arrived at the conclusion that on an acre of forest of first-class
quality the annual increment of all s]>ecies amounted to approxi-
mately 31 cubic feet. Of this 31 cubic feet 21 cubic feet were made
up of valuable species, mainly the two Yellowwoods, Stinkwood,
Assegai, White Pear, Iron wood, Kamassi, and a few others of
less importance, and the balance of 10 cubic feet, of inferior
species, unsaleable for industrial purposes, and useful only for
fuel. The two Yellowwoods contributed .3 of the increment
of the valuable species, or 6.3 cubic feet per acre per annum.
These figures are probably not very wide of the mark.

Now. adopting that figure it will be seen that, if all the
forests of the Union were of equally good quality as the Sour-
flats forest, and every year only the amount of timber were
felled that was produced, the annual out-turn of Yellowwood
would reach 6.3 X 400.000=2,520,000 per annum. It must,
however, be remembered that a certain projxvrtion of the dense
forests of the Union are devoid of Yellowwood, are inaccessible,
and that much Yellowwood forest is inferior to Sourflats. Under
those circumstances it is probably not safe to assume that a
greater output than one and a quarter of a million cubic feet
of Yellowwood per annum could be looked for, when once the
forests have been brought into a normal condition, a process
which will take a very long time. No doubt as further experience
is gained of the native forests and more intensive management
becomes feasible, the total annual increment might be consider-
ably enhanced ; so that a somewhat greater supply of Yellowwood
would be forthcoming, especially if steps were taken to foster
the better species. But even under the most favourable circum-
stances, it is quite clear that the outptit of the indigenous forests
of the Union are entirely inadequate to provide much more than
5 per cent, of the probable future requirements of the
country for- softwood timber, and softwood timber, as I pointed
out before, comprises 90 per cent, of the timber consumption

ob PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C.

of the Union. If the Union is not to continue importing timber
for ever, and to remain dependent on other countries for its sup-
plies, it must form adequate artificial forests. There is no other
remedy. The Forest Department has realised this position for
many years, and the matter was prominently brought to the
public notice by Hutchins when he was Conserv^ator at the Cape
between 1896 and 1906. The subject was then regarded as the
meritorious fad of a few enthusiasts, but of late years the pro-
paganda work of the Comte \'asselot de Regne. Lister, Hutchins.
McNaughton, and other pioneers has begun to bear fruit, and is
reflected in the better provision made by Parliament nowadays
for afiforestation. It will no doubt be suggested by some that,
as South Africa is so poorly wooded naturally, it would seem
risky, to say the least of it, to embark on afforestation. If the
country were adapted for the growth the trees would have been
there.

Luckily it is jx>ssible to meet this theory with facts. Exotic
trees producing softwood of the kind this country requires are,
and have been, grown in plantation form to maturity or to com-
mercial size under varying conditions. Why it is that large
tracts which are capable of aft'orestation with exotic trees are
devoid of natural forest is a matter for speculation, and one for
which it is difficult to find a satisfactory solution. I know of
many places in the Cape Province where the Cluster pine, as
long as fires are excluded, spreads itself vigorously and matures,
yet on the same ground there is no vestige of a native forest ex-
cept in the deep kloofs, nor has there ever been any since the
first Dutch settlers arrived in the country. These are places. tot>,
where there is a heavy regular seasonal rainfall. I have in mind
the valley of the Berg River, Genadentlal and the Cape Peninsula.

Other people maintain that if plantations are required they
should be composed of native trees, as native trees having grown
for centuries in South Africa must be better suited to its climatic
conditions. This attitude seems entirely reasonable, but what
I have just stated rather disposes of it. Native trees, at least
nf the more valuable kinds, such as Yellowwood. seem to require
a certain degree of shade and shelter, at any rate in early youth,
to establish themselves, and as this is generally almo.st entirely
absent on the class of land that has to be planted, they cannot
well be used for afforestation. Planted on bare hillsides exposed
to the full effect of sun and wind they would, if they lived, make
such slow progress that the cost of cleaning and cultivation would
remove any prospect of them proving a profitable crop. In
selected sheltered bottom lands it is no doubt possible to raise
small groves successfully, but for general commercial afforesta-
tion native trees must be ruled out.

It being admitted that it is possible to grow in this country
a large proportion of the timber now imported or of timber to
replace it. it remains to inquire what area should be afforested
to carry this object into effect, and what has so far been done in
that direction in the past, and what it is planned lo do in the
future.

I'RKSIDKNJ lAI. ADDRESS SECTION C. St)

Before going further it might be as well to explain that cer-
tain classes of timber will always have to be imported, for they
cannot be grown in South Africa. Such kinds are Teak,
Mahogany. Ash, Hickory, and Walnut. Pitch Pine may also have
to come from abroad, though experimental plantings of this
species seem to indicate that it may be possible to cultivate it in
some parts of the Union with success. These kinds, however,
form only a small percentage of the total imports, and do not
materially aifect the general question of growing our own tim1)er
su])plies.

I previously estimated that the annual consumption of
timber in the Union in 50 years' time will be 35,000,000 feet.
Now, an acre of pine plantation can be expected to produce 100
cubic feet of timber per annum. Measurements taken in this
country show that that amount is often exceeded, e.g., the yearly
increment of a stand of P'mus itisignis 29 years old at Tokai was
275 cubic feet, and of a 30 year old stand of Cluster Pine also
at Tokai was 157 cubic feet, but to be on the safe side, and taking
good and bad stands together, 100 cubic feet per acre seems to
be a safe figure to adopt. If it is assumed that five out of the
35,000.000 feet of timber is made up of hardwoods and other
kinds that cannot be grown in South Africa, it will be necessary
to plant about 300,000 acres to produce the balance.

Up to the present the total area afiforested by Government is,
in round numbers, 70,000 acres, of which 21,000 belong to the
Railway Administration. Of the 70.000 acres a considerable
proportion cannot be regarded as of a nature that will serve to
meet the general timber requirements of the country. For in-
stance, the bulk of the plantations in the Transkei, amounting to
over 7,000 acres, consist mainly of Wattles and Eucalypts grown
especially to meet native wants, and to relieve the strain on the
indigenous forests. Again, the jjlantations in connection with
the drift sands at Port Elizabeth, aggregating 5,000 acres, are
only useful as fuel reserves. Other plantations, such as some
of those in the Transvaal and the Free State, will serve to pro-
vide only local needs for fuel, poles, and rough farm material
for which, owing to the treeless character of the country, a good
demand exists. A considerable area of plantations in all the
Provinces has been experimental, and there have naturally been
failures, and the result.s, as far as timber production is concerned,
can be disregarded.

If due allowance is made for all these circumstances, and
deducting the land under hardwood plantations, the area <tf
plantation which can be expected to produce pine timber is con-
siderably curtailed, and does not amount to more than 30,000
acres. Thus only a small beginning has been made in the desired
direction.

Though I have laid considerable stress on the prime imjx>r-
tance of a softwood timber su])ply, it should not be overlooked
that the consumption of hardwoods is hkely to reach considerable
proportions. Hardwoods are used largely in railway work,
especially for sleepers. The length of railway now open is

90 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C.

9.500 miles. That will probably be doubled in 50 years, so that
if there is a sleeper to every yard, a mile of track will contain
4,400 cubic feet; and the railway system of 19,000 miles, 19,00 X
4400 = 83,600,000 cubic feet

If the sleepers were all hardwood, and renewed every 15
years, the annual consumption of timber per niile would be 293
cubic feet, and for the whole system 5,567.000 cubic feet. Assum-
ing that a Eucalypt plantation yields 200 cubic feet per acre per
annum (and measurements show that this is a reasonable figure)
the Railway Administration would require 27,834 acres of plan-
tation to meet their requirements for sleepers alone. Hardwoods
are used for many other purposes besides sleepers, and therefore
their cultivation should not be neglected. Probably the Union
will be able to absorb in 50 years' time the product of 50,000
acres.

The Cape Province was the pioneer in plantation work in
South Africa. The first Government plantation was started by
Lister at Worcester in 1876, and consisted of Blue Gum
(Eucalyptus globulus). The plantation, 72 acres in extent, was
grown under irrigation, and it was formed with the idea of pro-
viding fuel for locomotives. It was. however, sold in 1892-1895
to De Beers for mine timber, and yielded a profit of £4,338 (ex-
clusive of interest charges). The re-growth was sold during
1916 and 1917, and the plantation finally disposed oif to the
Municipality, the second rotation having yielded a nett return
of £2 I OS. per acre per annum. Encouraged by the success at
Worcester, plantations on a larger scale were started in 1883 ^^
Concordia, Knysna, in 1884 at Tokai and Kluitjes Kraal, and
in 1889 at Fort Cunynghame in ihe Eastern Province. Different
kinds of trees from all over the world were tested at these cen-
tres, as well as difl:"erent methods of sylviculture. Little was
known then of many of the trees experimented with, and infor-
mation on the subject in the absence of adequate literature was
difficult to procure. Sylvicultural practice which had proved to
be successful in other countries was found by bitter experience
to fail here, e.g. in 1884 it was considered unnecessary to kill
ofif the natural veld as a preparation for planting. The conse-
quence was the young trees died wholesale, and it was only when
the approved European method was jettisoned that success re-
sulted. Planting espacements were often wide, 20 feet apart
each way, but there is evidence in the shape of underplantings
in some of the old stands of trees that the foresters of those days
early realised their mistake.

Among the trees planted was Pinus insignis. There was a
specimen of it growing in the Gardens at Cape Town, and the
Conservator (Lister), attracted by its appearance, thought he
would test it on the slopes of Tokai. He did so, and the trees
then planted succeeded so well that it was possible recently to
arrange for their sale. Many of the trees are now over 100
feet in height and 2 feet 6 inches in diameter.

South Africa owes a great debt of gratitude to these pioneers
of forestry — Harison. Comte Vasselot de Regne. Hutchins, Lister.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C. 9^

and Heywood — who, in spite of lack of funds, of adverse criti-
cism, failures and want of encouragement, quietly and unobtru-
sively added an acre here and an acre there, and paved the way
for forest extension on a large scale. The Stone and Cluster
Pines had been naturalised in the Western I-'rovince before the
Government plantations were started, but those valuable species
the Canary Island and Ingisnis Pines were practically tmknown.
Many different kinds of Eucalypts were experimented with, and
as experience was gained it became possible to discard some and
fit others into the zones best suited to their requirements.
Eucalyptus corynocalyx, the Sugar Gum. R. diver skolor, the
Karri, and E. rostrata, the Red Gum. were useful introductions
of that period. E. marginata, the Jarrah, was also tested, but the
results have no't proved sufficiently satisfactory to warrant ex-
tended cultivation. Prior to the Forest Department taking up
the trial of the then unfamiliar species the Blue Gum was prac-
tically the only Eucalypt cultivated in the Union, and many fine
specimens can be seen at homesteads all through the country,
its popularity being greatly enhanced by its rapid growth and
general hardiness.

The work of the past 40 years has made it possible to
decide at least for the winter and all-the-year-round rainfall
areas of the Cape Province, which species of trees, particularly
conifers, are mo.st suitable to grow, and to allocate to such
species within certain limits the conditions needed for their best
development. A great deal has still to be learned about these
exotics, but enough is kno\\'n about their requirements to justify
them being planted on a large scale in the areas referred to. In
the summer rainfall areas of the Eastern Province and the
Transkei the situation is not so clearly defined, and there is some
element of risk in extension which is absent in the west. Greater
care is called for in choice of species and of sites for planting,
and until some of the plantations reach maturity this will remain
the position. On the other hand, planting is mainly confined
to the natural forest zone, where conditions can be expected to
to be favourable, and results so far attained indicate that certain
species can be counted on to reach a commercial size, if not large
dimensions.

The Cluster Pine and Insignis Pine, which are so at home
in the winter and all-the-year-round rainfall zones, though they
do well in favoured spots, are prone to disease, and their place
in the Eastern Province mountains would seem to be taken by
the Chir Pine {Piniis longifolia) from India, and perhaps by the
Canary Island Pine.

Some Mexican species are now under trial, but are too young
to give any reliable indication of their possible future value.
The Portuguese Cypress and, in parts, the Deodar, flourish on
the mountains, and in the kloofs the common Oalc and the White
Poplar grow remarkably. Certain Eucalypts appear much at
home, and magnificent groves of Blue Gum of 120 feet in height
serve to show what may be expected of younger plantations.

92 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C.

In the Cape Province commercial afforestation propositions
are confined to the coast and coastal mountains in the natural
forest zone, though trees and small plantations to provide for
local needs can be grown in selected places in all but the most
arid parts.

In Natal forestry under Government auspices has had a
chequered career. A most excellent forest policy was laid down
in 1889 by H. G. Fourcade in a careful report, but unfortunate!
after a feeble attempt to put it into practice under a German
forest officer it was abandoned. After the Boer War the sub-
ject was again taken up, and steps taken to conserve what was
left of the indigenous forests ; further, plantations were started
at Cedara, Empangeni, and on a smaller scale at other centres.
During the period of retrenchment in 1907 the young Depart-
ment which had sprung up was seriously affected, and till
Union and some time after progress was slow. Even now the
total area of Government plantation in Natal and Zululand is
only a little over 2,500 acres, but this is being regularly added to.
As is well known, there is no Province in the Union where more
tree planting has been done by private enterprise than in Natal,
and this probably explains why so little has been accomplished
in this direction by past Governments.

There are about 250,000 acres of wattle plantation in Natal,
and on many farms are to be seen fine plantations and collection
of exotic trees. The planting of hardwoods has been and is
most in favour, and the Rand has reason to be thankful that so
much was done in this way in former years, for Natal has been
a fruitful source of supply for the timber it requires.

Pines, generally speaking, have given disappointing results.
Possibly this is due to wrong kinds having been planted. The
species most favoured have been Pinus insignis and P. pinaster,
but it is doubtful if these are climatically suited to Natal condi-
tions any more than they are to the summer rainfall areas of
the Eastern Province and the Transvaal. It is likely more satis-
factory results will be obtained from other kinds, such as Pinus
longifolia, the Chir Pine, on the hills av/ay froiii the coast, and
from species such as P. mistralis, P. tacda, and P. mitls, both on
the coast and the hills. Specimens of some of these pines are
thriving in Natal, but records of trials that may have failed are
unfortunately lacking.

Natal is likely to become highly industriahsed in time, and
the need for softwood timber will be strongly felt, and this
pK)int must be kept in view in determining the future policy of
the Department, and an effort made to extend the planting of
Conifers.

Before the Boer War Government afforestation in the
Transvaal was confined to one Eucalypt plantation near Pretoria,
which was planted by contract in 1896. After the war Govern-
ment plantations ancl nurseries were started in various parts of
the Province, and since the capabilities of the country for affores-
tation were so little known much work of an experimental nature

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION C.

was undertaken. In 1903 the Government of the day secured
the services of D. E. Hutchins to report on forestry in the Trans-
vaal. Hutchins found the mistake made in the Eastern Province
and Natal being- repeated, and that in spite of the difference in
climatic conditions the same trees were being planted in the
Transvaal as in the Cape. He recommended a radical change in
policy, and urged, among other things, that the Transvaal should
draw on the rich forest flora of Mexico for its trees, as Mexico,
of all countries in the world, most resembled the Transvaal in
climate. This policy was adopted, but great difficulty has all
along been experienced in obtaining the required seeds on
account of the chronically disturbed state of Mexico and subse-
qently the war.

The first importations were made in 1907. To obtain these
seeds it was necessary to send a collector specially from the
United States. The expedition was satisfactory, and led to the
introduction into the Union of two Pines from Northern Mexico
— Pinits arizonica and P. cngelmanni or. as it is perhaps more
correctly named, P. macrophylla. The results have so far
amply justified Hutchin's predictions. These species are being
tested often imder very adverse conditions alongside the species
that have hitherto been grown in the country, and in every case
are more reliable in growth and hardiness. It may be of interest
to give here some particulars of their growth under plantation
conditions.

Locality.

Espace-

ment in

Feet.

Age in
Years

Height

in
Feet.

Diameter Breast

Height in

Inches.

Pinus arizonica.

Belfast Arboretum...

4x4

5-4

Jessievale ,,

4x4

Ermelo ,,

4x4

4-8

Pinus engehnanni (syn. macrophylla).

Belfast Arboretum..,

4x4

4.4

Jessievale ,,

4x4

Ermelo ,,

4x4

4-3

About the same time some Pinus montezitmce transplants
were raised, and a year later some P. leiophylla. Then followed
some P. montezumcc var. hartzvegli, P. montezunKe var. lindleyi,
P. patula, P. teocote, P. lumholtsii, P. hnvsoni, P. oocarpa var.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C.

microphylla, P. chihuahuana, P. pseudostrobus van tenui'foHa Siud
pseudostrobus. To give an idea of the growth of some of these
have made I give a ifew further figures.

Locality.

Espace-

ment in

Feet.

Age in
Years.

Height

in
Feet.

Diameter Breast

Height in

Inches.

Pinus leiophylla.

Belfast Arboretum...

4x4

6-3

Jessievale „

4x4

4-8

Woodbush ,,

Pinus iHontezumce.

Belfast Arboretum...

4x4

Jessievale „

4x4

Woodbush ,,

Pinus pntula.

Belfast Arboretum ..

4x4

3-3

Jessievale ,,

4x4

4-0

Woodbush ,,

2-5

Some of the Mexican Cypresses, such as Cupressus benthami
and C. lindleyi, were also obtained, and two kinds of Oak (one
Quercus reticulata, the other unnamed), and Juglans rupestris, a
Walnut. Hutchins also advocated the cuhivation of some Indian
species, particularly Deodars and Pinus longifolh, and, as far as
circumstances have permitted, these have been given trial.

From what I have said it will be gathered that afiforestation
in the Transvaal is not, and cannot in the nature of things be, in
such an advanced state as in the oldest Province of the Union,
and that it will take years before it will be possible to assign
with certainty to each of the various types of country the tree
or trees best suited to it. I would lay stress on this point for
many strenuous advocates of afforestation lose sight of it and
think that planting can proceed on a wholesale scale without risk
of failure, which is far from being the case. If it were not for
the fortunate circumstance that timber even of comparatively
small dimensions is saleable for mining and otlier purposes it

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C. 95

would be a question whether an even more cautious poHcy than
is now in vogue should no't be adopted.

Hutchins's recommendations, however, have been amply justi-
fied as far as it is possible to judge at present, and if it were
feasible to obtain seed of the kinds that have done best, the
Department, through its nurseries, would encourage their culti-
vation. Till the war is over nothing can be done in this direc-
tion, and even then much will depend on how Mexico settles
down. Even in the ten years the Department has been dealing
with these species a a good deal has been learnt about their sylvi-
cal characters, and in the next twenty it should be possible to use
them with considerable assurance. -By that time it should be
possible to get seed locally, and thus the progress of afforestation
in the Northern portion of the Union would receive an impetus
such as is at present impossible. Just as in the Cape Province
the Cluster and Insignis Pines have acclimatised themselves, so
in due course I anticipate that some of the Mexican Pines, such
as Pinus arisonica,, P. montesmncc, and P. nvacrophylla, together
with P. longifoUa from India will take hold in the Transvaal.

In the Transvaal, as in Natal, the cultivation of hardwoods
is more advanced than that of Conifers. Certain areas of the
Transvaal, such as the warm, moist Eastern slopes of the
Drakensberg, grow Eucalypts of the best timber-producing varie-
ties excellently, and in most parts a Eucalypt of some kind or
other can be, cultivated for mining purposes. But the coal fields
of the Transvaal cannot be divorced from industries and, indus-
tries require coniferous timber, and, as in Natal, the Department
has to keep this point in view in shaping its policy. The Trans-
vaal is an inland country, and therefore its need for a local timber
supply is more important even than it is for the coastal Pro-
vinces. The extent of Government plantations in the Transvaal
is 7,600 acres.

In the Free State 'before the Boer War there was no organ-
ized forest work. Shortly after the Government test plantations
and nurseries were opened at various central places.

Generally speaking, the conditions in the Free State for
afforestation are unfavourable, but good work was done by
Carlson, the Cape Forest Officer appointed to take charge of
afforestation, in spite of many difficulties and much discourage-
ment in ascertaining the most suitable species to plant under
different circumstances and the best methods to employ. The
success of some of the plantations, particularly the one at Har-
rismith, has been remarkable, and the object lesson afforded by
Government plantations has undoubtedly led to increased plant-
ing by the general public, which is one of the principal objects
the Department has in view, especially in that Province, for other
portions of the Union are more favourably situated for afforesta-
tion on commercial lines. Millions of young trees have been
distributed from the Government nurseries in the Free State
(and for that matter in the Transvaal) during the past 15 years,
and anyone familiar with these Provinces after the Boer War

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION C.

and now must remark the advance that has been made. Some
of the species now under trial in the Transvaal are also being
tested in the Free State, and it is possible some of them will
ultimately turn out to be valuable introductions.

As the farms in the Free State become reduced in size, tree-
planting will become more general, and the movement that has
been taking place in the past 15 years may be expected to become
intensified.

Now as to 'the steps which are being taken to provide for
the future timber requirements of the Union: during 1915-16
and 191 6- 1 7 the areas afforested were 2,384 and 2,655 acres,
respectively. At that rate of progress it would take more than
100 years before the acreage which I have estimated would be
required to replace our present importations would be planted.
The Government, appreciating the position, decided during last
Session of Parliament to provide money on the loan estimates
(^50.000) to permit of a programme of extension being em-
barked on. This has now been initiated. In deciding on the
localities at which to commence operations the factors taken into
consideration have been suitability of soil and climate for the
species to be grown and reasonable accessibility to rail or port.
The places at which Government has sanctioned operations being
started are : —

Name of Area.

District.

Area available

for
Afforestation.

Acres.

Funds to be

expended

during 1918-19.

Tollberg and 1
Geelhoutboomberg )

George ...

6,000

3,000

Groenkop

,, ...

10,000

3,000

Buffels Nek

Knysna ...

8,000

3,500

Farleigh

)) • • •

2,000

3,500

Witte Els Bosch ...

Humansdorp

12,000

7,000

Hankey

24,000

7,000

Isidenge

Stutterheim
Total

2,000

3,000

64,000

In addition to these, schemes for Natal and the Transvaal
■are still under consideration.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION C. 97

It may be thought that it would be advisable to push on with
one or two schemes and finish them rather than scatter opera-
tions over several centres, but there would be obvious difficulties
in concentrating all the labour required at one or two centres
and in arranging for ploughing by contract and departmentally.

It will be noted that all the schemes now sanctioned except
one are in districts bordering the South Coast, where rain falls
all the year round. The plantation sites are on the southern
slopes of the mountain ranges. The labour employed on the
work will be mainly white. The principal species to be grown
in the plantations will be Piiins iiisiguis. P. pinaster and P.
canariensis.

Pliu's insigfiis^ the Insignis Pine, is a rapid grower, and
produces a greater volume of wood per acre per annum than
any other pine. From 12 to 15 years it is large enough to yield
boxwood, and at 30 years it reaches a height of 100 feet with
a diameter of from 18 to 24 inches. The total yield of two
stands of 29 years of age at Tokai were 7,972 and 7,721 cubic
feet per acre, which shows a mean annual increment per acre of
275 and 266 cubic feet. The gross money yields were in 19s. 7d.
and £10 9s. lod. per acre per annum, respectively, the timber
being sold standing. The costs of formation and tending are
not known, but even granting these amounted to a high figure,
such as £20. and reckoning compound interest at 4 per cent., a
rough calculation will show the credit balance is still large. The
sales, of course, took place under war conditions, but, even
allowing for that, a good margin of profit could be counted on,
especially as nowadays planting is not likely to^ exceed £io-£i2
per acre, and more satisfactory crops could be obtained. At
40 years of age a fully-stocked wood of Insignis Pine on good
soil should yield 10.000-12,000 cubic feet of timber per acre.

The wood of Phius insignis is not strong or durable in con-
tact with the ground. It is practically free from resin, and being
tough, is useful for fruit-boxes. It is also' a good wood for
match-boarding, ceilings, joinery, packing-cases, and generally
for any purposes where strength and durability are not required.

Pin us pinaster, the Cluster Pine, is a hardy species. Its
timber is useful for flooring, rafters, joists and general car-
pentry. It is rather resinous for fruit-boxes, but is excellent
for packing-cases. When creosoted it makes a good sleeper.

Pinus canariensis, the Canary Island Pine, produces a hard
and durable pine timber. It grows faster than Cluster Pine, but
slower than P. insignis. The wood works well and has a nice
grain. It is a good timber for building and constructional pur-
poses generally.

To break up the masses of Pines into sub-compartments and
protect the boundaries against fire, deciduous trees like Oaks and
Poplars, as well as Blackwoods and some Eucalypts will be
planted according to the nature of the soil.

At Isidenge. Canary Island Pine and Chir Pine will be the

98 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C.

species mainly used. The kloofs will be planted with Oak and
Poplars.

Tollberg and Groenkop are within ten miles of the George-
Mossel Bay Railway. Buffels Nek is five miles from the term-
inus of the South- Western Railway leading^ to the port of Knysna,
from which it will be possible to distribute wood to Durban.
East London, Port Elizabeth and Capetown, should the railway
at George not be extended to Knysna in 50 years' time, which
however, is unthinkable. Farleigh lies about 12 miles by road
from Knysna, but the extension of the railway to Knysna would
reduce road transport by about two-thirds. Witte Els Bosch
is at present 18 miles >from the railway at Assegai Bosch, from
which extension can in due course be expected. The afforesta-
tion contemplated there, if persevered with, would of itself
largely justify construction.

The Hankey area is served by the narrow gauge railway
running from Port Elizabeth to Loerie River. Isidenge is about
14 miles from the main Eastern line, but the road communica-
tions are good, and bearing in mind the prospect of the develop-
ment of mechanical transport, it is not thought the distance is
excessive.

From Revenue funds two other large schemes have been
inaugurated during the last two years, both in connection with
the employment of poor whites. One is at French Hoek, in the
valley of the Berg River, and the other at Jonkersberg, on the
southern slopes of the Outeniquas. The latter adjoins on its
eastern boundary Tollberg and Geelhoutboomberg, so that when
the two schemes are complete there will be a continuous stretch
of artificial forest on the southern slopes of the Outeniquas, from
Brak River in the west, to Montague Pass in the east, a di.stance
of at least 20 miles. The scheme of afiforestation here and at
F'rench Hoek will be on the same lines as those already men-
tioned, the same species of trees being employed. The area of
plantable ground at French Hoek has not yet been accurately
determined, but is likely to amount to 5,000 acres.

When in addition to the work now being done all these
schemes are fairly launched, it should be possible to advance
at the rate of 8,000-10,000 acres per annum as long as funds
are forthcoming.

In the course of this address I have endeavoured to place
before you the salient features of the position in regard to
timber supplies and forestry in the Union. The position is one
that calls for earnest consideration by all who take an interest
in the welfare of this country. While the forest reserves in
the Union amount to a respectable total, the actual area of
forest capable of producing timber suitable for general use is
very restricted, and the best possible annual output that can be
looked for is almost negligble in comparison with the country's
needs. Unless, therefore afforestation is seriously tackled, this
country, like Great Britain, will always have to depend on the
favour of other countries for its timber supplies. Apart from

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION C. 99

the ({uestion of (ler..;ice, that is a state of affairs which is aUo-
gether unsound and to be avoided. In spite of the more exten-
sive use of iron, steel and concrete in recent years, the amount
of timber used throughout the world is rapidly increasing
without any corresponding increase in the forest area.

South Africa, unless it augments its own timber resources
— and that it can and should do^ — will have to look forward to
competing with countries more favourably situated geographi-
cally for some of the world's surplus timber, and will be forced
to buy, whatever the price, or else helplessly have to see its
industries strangled or paralyzed for lack of an adequate local
supply of this prime essential of industry. In this connection it
is interesting to recall, especially in this golden city, what Evelyn.
the famous English forester, wrote more than 250 years ago.
Referring, of course, to England, he said: *' Since it is certain
and demonstrable that all arts and artisans whatsoever must
fail and cease if there were no timber and wood in a nation
(for he that shall take his pen and begin to set down what art.
mystery or trade belonging any way to human life could be
maintained and exercised without wood will quickly find I speak
no paradox), I say when this shall be well considered, it will
appear that we had better be without gold than without timber."

Bearing in mind what the position is in regard to this vital
question, it is a matter for satisfaction that a strong forward
move has now been initiated in aft'orestation. The country, if
it is wise, will see that the move is continued.

Section D.— ZOOLOGY, PHYSIOLOGY, HYGIENE,
AND SANITARY SCIENCE.

President of the Section: Prof. E. J. Goddakd, B.A., D.Sc.

THURSDAY, JULY ii.

The President delivered the following address : —

To decide on a special topic for a IVesidential Address,
which, despite its specialised character, would appeal to all is a
difficult matter, and in attempting to discover such a topic I was
led to see that this occasion demanded really a survey of the
status of Zoology and the means obtaining in this country for
the development of the various branches of zoological research.
The fact that the Zoological Section makes its debut at this
meeting of the Association has guided me in this direction,
particularly so since the conditions obtaining in the world at
the present day have stimulated interest in researches whose
economic value and importance is patent to all, and even in such
as in many cases were hardly appreciated in pre-war days. This
sudden realisation, or rather appreciation, of the fact that there
is a direct relationship between Pure and Applied Science, may,
in its embryonic phase and its youthful lack of perspective, lose
sight of the fact that this apparent discovery is just what the pure
scientist has been attempting for years to unravel before the eyes
of the modern world, hungering for that appreciation which was
his due, and for that encouragement which our Governments
have been loath to give. Already we find a Technical and Scien-
tific Connnission in existence in this country, and we should seize
the occasion to point out that such a Commission (which is cog-
nisant of the value of scientific research in general), while bound
to suggest and open lines of research which will lead to greater
production within this country, is equally strongly bound to
encourage scientific research even where the object in view may
be of so abstract a nature that the mind of the modern commer-
cialist can perceive no direct economic return therefrom. For,
after all, the value of the work of any such Commission will be
measured, not by this generation alone, and not by the actual
number of lines of research which it has opened, but rather by the
extent to which it has itself encouraged and led our governing
bodies to develop the spirit of research — be it concerned with
afifairs patently of economic importance or apparently abstract or
abstruse. The extent to which they succeed in this will be a true
measure of their work, for it will be a measure of the ability of
the country in future to deal with fosterings not yet patent to us,
but which must continually arise de novo. It seems to me that
this is the outstanding defect throughout the British Empire,
namely, that we have continually dififerentiated between so-called
Pure and Applied Pesearch. and have given a half-hearted

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION D. 101

support to the latter division, almost entirely refusing support to
the former. Such a policy has been almost fatal to research,
for, despite the attitude of governing bodies, the scientist con-
cerned in research which has a patently economic value will admit
that it is impossible to draw a line of division, and further, that
so-called Applied ^Science is directly dependent on Pure Science.
Consequently, the progress made is comparatively small. The
present world-confiict has demonstrated to us all that in such
matters Germany was leading the way. The organisation charac-
teristic of that country appreciated the way in which the whole
was constituted, and realised the value of each unit. There we
find a whole-hearted Government support given to all that may
be called scientific research, and accompanying this policy a rapid
progress. In ever}- branch of Science — Pure and Applied — we
must admit thoroughness and minuteness. It is only by adopting
such a scheme that we can hope to advance, missing nothing by
the way. This amounts to the encoiu-agernent of the spirit of
research. Cultivate such, and then the rest is assured. Lhnit the
lines of research — for arbitrary choice of certain branches for
encouragement spells limitation — and then vv-e are lost. " Orga-
nisation and Thoroughness " should be our motto.

l^erhaps the subject of Zoology is that, or one of those,
development of whose research is most likely to be overlooked.
There are a few divisions of the subject which have a patent
economic importance, and these are just those which receive some
attention at the hands of Government experts. Such divisions
are Entomology. Protozoology, etc. Yet these are not supported
as they should be, if the work is to be done thoroughly and scien-
tifically, and, further, tiiat work is far too localised. VVe have in
this country a number of universities, museums, and Government
departments, the stafifs of which are actively engaged in zoological
work. Progress is made under extreme difficulties, and although
much has been accomplished, can we say that it approaches what
might be expected from such a number? Routine work inten-
sified by understaffing, and lack of literature, combine to militate
against research work. More important still, there is very little
attempt towards co-ordination.

It is time that we made up our minds to attack seriously and
scientifically the zoological problems in this coimtry, and
further to encourage South Africans to take their share in that
work. In glancing over the spheres of work in which research
is being attempted in this country, it is noteworthy that nearly all
the main divisions of the animal kingdom are receiving some
attention. It is, indeed, most fortunate that there is little over-
lapping. Protozoa, Ccelenterata, Phatyhelmintlies, Polychseta,
Oligochieta, Hirudinea, Nematoda, Crustacea, Myriapoda, Insecta,
Arachnida, Pisces, Amphibia, and Reptilia are all being investi-
gated. Much of this work is purely systematic, but it is the first
and essential step towards a deeper knowledge of the zoological
problems of this country. I am sure that workers in all these

I02 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION D.

groups will agree with me that there should be much greater
co-ordination. We require to know, not merely the various
species represented in this country, but the distribution in detail
of each species. To no worker should this appeal more than to
the parasitologist and veterinary.

Anyone interested in zoological problems will realise that
systematic zoology must play a very important and basal part,
and that broad generalisations will lack support unless they have
been built up in full cognisance of the systematics of the group
or groups concerned.

The mere description of new species or genera at the present
day fails to attract many zoologists, but all will recognise the
necessity for the description of all existing forms. Many no
doubt will see in such descriptions the corroboration of morpho-
logical generalisations, interesting information bearing on prob-
lems in heredity, genesis of species, distribution, palseogeography,
phylogeny, or possibly the key to a classification not before possible
owing to our ignorance of the existence of intermediate forms.
To all zoologists the completion of a census of the fauna of
South Africa will appeal as a necessary and ideal task, for the
reasons above mentioned. The carrying out of such, however,
will demand the labours of more zoologists than are at present
available in our universities, museums, and Government depart-
ments, and thus directly and indirectly demands greater financial
assistance. In inaking any such request I think we, will all feel
that it devolves on us to demonstrate that, beyond the great
necessity for such a zoological survey in elucidating the fauna (jf
South Africa, there is a direct economic side, and again to indicate
the means by which such a survey can be carried out.

Perhaps no country in the world possesses more interest for
the parasitologi st th an Southern and Equatorial Africa. The pro-
tozoologist has here a life work, and continues to discover new
forms and find the clue to life-history cycles. He soon realises
that what is known of South African parasitic Protozoa repre-
sents but a small part of what remains to be known, and that
patient work, with encouragement, will lead to results that may
yet be appreciated from the direct,ly economic standpoint. The
protozoologist is concerned not merely with the morphological
characters of his protozoon, but also with its life-history, and this
demands a specific census of a great number of other grou|)s.
Hence from this standpoint alone we can furnish a very strong
case for a complete zoological survey. It will, I think, a])peal to
all that this knowledge merely will not furnish us with a scienti-
fically complete record. We need really a detailed distribution list
of each particular species, both of host and parasite. It is only by
possessing such information that we can set to work to encounter
scientifically any trouble due to parasitic iforms that may arise
at any time. This concerns not only parasites which are endemic,
but also specific hosts which may act as intermediaries for exotic
forms which may arrive. Further, much interesting work of a

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTlUN D. IO3

Statistical nature has been initiated in connection with such para-
sites as the germ of malaria, and such is dependent to a large
extent on our knowledge of the distribution of anopheles. A
detailed knowledge of the latter form, tor example, may be
needed ere long, as there is every possibility that malaria will
atlect much wider areas than m pre-war days.

Quite recently Bilharzia has made its appearance in many
areas within the Union, and unless the greatest precaution is
exercised, will spread throughout this territory, ihis state of
altairs, when we realise at the same time our comparative ignor-
ance of the specific nature of tlic numerous riatyhelminthes in
this country, and needless to say, their life-history, necessitates
a detailed census of the Mollusca, both from the specific and dis-
tributional standpoints. We have several workers in this group,
but they have not the time nor opportunity under present condi-
tions of even attempting any such serious task. Such workers
need an army of trained collectors. To quote one outstanding
example, it may be pointed out that we are ignorant of the life-
history of the tapeworm affecting the ostrich. Such work neces-
sitates much patient labour, and can be carried out only with
relief from an excess of routine work and Government assistance.
Under any circumstances it will occupy many years, but a start
must be made, and 1 feel strongly tliat we should now plead for
the initiation of such. What has been said in reference to the
Trematoda and Cestoda applies equally well in the case of the
Nematoda. Great attention to these parasites is encouraged by
European, American, and Australian Governments, and tnere is
equal need in South Africa. We want to know much more of
the structure and life-history of South African forms, and
especially of their life-history. This is necessary if we are to
attempt a scientific control over parasites affecting stock. The
important part played by insects and ticks as intermediate hosts
in tiiis country is known to all, and I think it unnecessary to ask
for support in suggesting the urgency of a census of these
forms.

I have mentioned a few groups, the economic significance of
which will no doubt appeal to all. But we must bear in mind that
other groups have an equally strong claim, and some may yet
claim greater attention, such as Myriapoda, UligochcCta, Hiru-
dinea, etc. In fact, it becomes at once dogmatic and unscientific
to attempt to differentiate, although it must be granted in the
present state of our knowledge that certain groups have the
stronger claim. It would be better, however, to work towards the
ideal, and follow the scientific path by instituting a complete
zoological survey.

A recently-published bulletin of the United States Depart-
ment of Agriculture presents the results of the second annual bird
count in the United States, carried out in 1915. It is based on 315
reports, from every State in the Union except Utah and Nevada,
and shows a gratifying agreement with the results obtained in the

I04 PRESIDENTIAI, ADDRESS SECTION D.

previous year. " When an enumeration of birds was suggested,'",
says the author, " the project was the subject of much good-
natured banter and some criticism from those who declared the
scheme utterly visionary," but these animadversions were based
upon the misunderstanding of methods to be employed and the
objects in view. The average bird population of that part of the
North-Eastern United States devoted to agriculture has been
determined with sufficient accuracy to furnish data having various
practical and scientific applications, and some useful general
information has been obtained in reference to the rest of the
counti"y. The average in the North-Eastern States is about 800
pairs of birds to the square mile. It is not yet possible to estimate
the population of each species, except for a few of the com-
monest and most widely distributed, such as the English sparrow
and the robin, for which the reports are sufficiently numerous to
permit an approximate estimate. The most elaborate report
received in 1915 was that of the Campus of Cornell University.
Its 256 acres were divided into six blocks, and the survey of each
was made by a different person, the whole being in charge of
Professor Allen. The densest bird poi^ulation was found on a
small private estate near Washington, D.C.,with 135 pairs nesting
on five acres, and the most varied population in the bird sanctuary
and park, known as Woollen's (iarden, near Indianapolis, wuth 62
species on 44 acres." I quote this as illustrating the efiforts of
the American Government. In that country a great deal of
attention is now being given to the study of Animal (Ecology and
animal communities. This most important study is necessary if
we are to attempt to comprehend the significance of " Balance in
Nature." The ruthless destruction of certain types of animals,
notably birds, the importation of an exotic pest, have many times
demonstrated the existence of such a " balance." This is very
patent in the case of insect pests. Our experiences in this country
with the Australian wax scale is a case in point. An understanding
of this balance necessitates a knowledge of Animal Oncology, the
prelude* to which must be a more or less complete census of our
species, and their distributions. Other countries have realised this,
and South Africa should fall into line.

But independent of the directly economic aspect, such a
survey would enable us to deal more effectively with the origin
and distribution of our fauna. Botanists have realised that the
.scientific basis from which we must orientate in grappling with
the problem of distribution is oecological, and a great amount of
research is accomplished already in that direction. The claim is
equally strong to the zoologist. There are portions of our fauna
— particularly terrestrial invertebrata — which are practically
unknown. The same state of affairs exists in regard to the distri-
bution of our littoral shallow-water and deep-water marine
forms. As we are living to-day in a time when the generalisations
in any one science are so markedly overlapping those of other
sciences, the necessity for a deeper knowledge of faunal distri-

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION D. IO5

butioiis in this country — terrestrial and marine— should ai)peal
strongly. For South Africa possesses great interest to the zoo-
geographer. The history of our fauna cannot be elucidated, nor
the true relationship to other parts of the world indicated satisfac-
torily until such data as a survey would supply are accessible.
Many of the generalisations accepted at the present day are based
on meagre information, and will no doubt be revised. Localised
surveys of certain groups which appear to possess some special
interest to zoogeogra])hers have been attempted, but naturally
are far from having any character of completeness.

The fauna of the Bokkeveld beds, and the fauna and flora of
the beds of the Karroo Basin, suggest close relationships in
Devonian, and in late Palaeozoic and earlv Mesozoic times with
South Africa and India, and possibly even more directly with the
Antarctic Continent. There is much evidence supporting the idea
of a late Palaeozoic and earlv Mesozoic Gondwanaland, but
this evidence can by no means be regarded as conclusive. The
existence of such a land mass is of great importance to the geolo-
gist working in the Southern Hemisphere ; and the acceptance of
such must fundamentally affect the problems of dvnamical
geologv in this hemisphere. The student of zoogeography must
also take into consideration the significance of such a land mass
in attempting to elucidate the meaning of the present faunal
distribution. Further, if such be the case, we might exr)ect that a
deeper knowledge of present faunal distributions in this country
might be reflected on the problem of Gondwanaland. We might
reasonably hope for the discovery of forms i^reserved on our
mountains, and descendants of a stock derived from Gondwana-
land.

So far the little survey work attempted has been successful
in finding generic representatives of Phreodrilid Oligochfetes,
and the peculiar Crustacean — Phreatoicus. The former grotip
occupies an important intermediate position between Microdrilid
and Megadrilid Oligochceta, and enjoys a circumpolar distribu-
tion, being found in South America, South Africa, Australia. Tas-
mania, and New Zealand. The peculiar habitat — the forms
occurring on mountains or adopting a semi-parasitic habit on
hosts endemic to the particular area — strongly support the idea
that they are the remains of an archaic stock which probably once
occurred throughout Gondwanaland. Phreatoicus enjoys a cir-
cumpolar distribution, and is highly sjiecialised. Further search
may yet unearth such archaic forms as Anaspides. which so far
has been found only in the mountains of Tasmania. From these
remarks I think it should be clear that a detailed zoological survey
will furnish not only information of direct economic value and
data of interest to zoological research, but will help materially
towards developing a positive position on the part of zoologists ir
rep-ard to the generalisations accepted by many geologists,
which are of the greatest importance to geological research in
general.

106 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — -SECTION D.

We have now to consider the means by which a survey can
be carried out. It is quite clear that the present staff of zoologists
available within the Union cannot undertake such a survey with
the hope of completing it. Systematic collections must be made
by trained zoologists, and the work of the various zoologists
co-ordinated. 1 have already stated that there is a most fortunate
distribution of the various groups among the workers in this
country, and assisted by systematic collectors and other workers
a great deal can be accomplished. In addition to university,
museum, and Government departmental zoologists, there are a
number of private investigators engaged in research, and the
services of the latter could be relied on for investigation and
collation of data in connection with their special groups.

With the appointment of a number of young trained zoologists,
the country could be mapped out into areas, and each of these
systematically investigated. This will offer special opportunities
for South Africans anxious to assist in elucidating the fauna of
their own country.

At the present time we lijid that Zoology, as a subject, has
not the same attraction for the bulk of our Science students at
the Universities, except in the case of medical and agricultural
students, as have those sciences which will assist them in the
teaching profession. In this way there can be little doubt that
many who would show aptitude for zoological work are lost. A
limited number of scholarships are offered by the Government for
students anxious to undertake Entomology and Veterinary
Science. In this connection I would suggest that scholarships
should be made available for those anxious to prosecute zoo-
logical work, and that the services of such candidates be enlisted
in connection with the proposed survey. The details of any such
scheme as suggested must await the acce]:)tance of such a pro-
posal.

I trust that 1 have in this address the support of the
Zoological Section, and that they feel with me the importance of
a Zoological Survey of South Africa.

Section E.— ANTHROPOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY, NATIVE
EDUCATION. PHILOLOGY, AND NATIVE SOCIO-
LOGY.

President of the Section : — Rev. W. A. Norton, B.A., B.Litt.

FRIDAY, JULY 12.

The President delivered the followinsf address :

AN OUTLINE SKETCH OF RESEARCH INTO THINGS
NATIVE, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE
BANTU AND THE WORK OF THIS ASSOCIATION.

It seems natural that a presidential address from time to time
should summarise the progress made hitherto, and I therefore
propose, after sketching very lightly the field of this section and
the workers in that field of the past, to treat in more detail of
those subjects which have occupied the meetings of the section
since its separation from Section D, and former papers which
would have been contributed to Section E. had that section then
existed. Finally, to draw attention to subjects crying for solu-
tion, and the possible bearing of that solution on the whole of
our field.

Section E is intended to be the native section (not that the
members of it are native, except in so far as a large and in-
creasing number of us are African-born), but in the sense that
it has, with becoming modesty, taken all the Sciences for its
province which have to do, specially or immediately, with natives.

According to the programme of the last two annual meet-
ings, the subjects of Section E are Anthropology, Ethnology,
Native Education, Philology, and Native Sociology. It is true
that the Philology is not specifically Bantu, or even African, but
I notice that philological papers like that of Professor Nauta
on French literature were wont to be taken with the educational
subjects, which now, we are glad to see, have a section to them-
selves.

For two years now, Section E has been in the same condi-
tion, the subjects of which tended before unduly to crowd with
papers Section D — our parent section — which has now, therefore,
the time to discuss that useful bird, the ostrich, and other matters.
I called my paper " A Sketch of the Field and of the Workers
contributing directly or indirectly to the subjects of our section.,"
This will, I hope, make it clear that my treatment will be neces-
sarily rapid. I shall skip over regions and centuries like a hart
upon the hills ; but I would ask you at the end to draw with me
a definite conclusion.

Obviously all African explorers would be alone too large a
scope to treat of, or even to I'ist, in a paper of this sort, so I will

I08 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION E.

confine myself mainly to modern South African workers, or
workers in the Southern half of Africa.

II.

I have no intention of treating in detail the various English
and other travellers who made the civilized world acquainted
with the different lands of Africa, or even those of the present
Union.

We will not linger over the Portuguese writers, their brave
missionaries and warriors, who have been so exhaustively treated
of by Dr. Theal, except to mention, from the side of philology,
the work of Dias, the Jesuit, on Angola, and of Brusciotto on
Congo, published in the seventeenth century at Lisbon and Rome
respectively. Purchas, in the early seventeenth century, touches
lightly on South Africa: Peter Kolbern made known the un-
pleasant manners of the Hottentots in German, Dutch and Eng-
lish in the early eighteenth century.

We had a train of visitors — Sparrman, Paterson, Thunberg,
Stavorinus, and Le Vaillant, who, himself romantic, reminds us
of his ingenious parodist, the greater romancer, Damberger, with
his extraordinary fiction of a journey from the Cape, through the
Kaffirs, to Timbuctoo. Percival and Barrow arrived at the be-
ginning of the eighteenth century. Burchell, Campbell, Lichten-
stein, Latrobe the Moravian in the 'teens ; Thompson in the
twenties, Owen, Arbousset, Casalis in the thirties, Methuen in the
forties, Smith in 1850, left us accounts of their pilgrimage. Bor-
cherd had begun his by 1801, but did not publish till '61.

Time would fail me to tell the tithe of those who since have
followed in their train — of the lands and tribes they visited — of
the observations they made — of the sciences and nationalities
they represented. They are a great cloud of witnesses, many
of them worthy to rank with the pioneer ex])lorers of West an'l
Central Africa, with Park, Barth, and others in the former, with
Bruce, Burton, Speke, Grant, Stanley, the unfortunate Tinne
ladies, Petherick, the Bakers, Sweinfurth, in the Nile basin; and
in East Africa, with Rebmann, Krapf, and a host of others ; ad-
ministrators like Gordon, hunters like Oswell, and the late heroic
Selous ; explorers and scientists like Holub and Miss Mary Kings-
ley ; missionaries like Du Plessis in recent times, and earlier Dr.
Moffat, whose son, Mr. John Moffat, is still happily with us — a
fount of information about the Bechuana and the days of Loben-
gula. These, in North and South, helped, in one way or another,
in less or greater degree, to open up the mighty continent which
we inhabit. One name, of course, stands out above them all for
universal travel, many-sided interest, and appeal to the native
'mind, for his magnificent character, his imperial determination,
his grit and patience — the immortal name of Dr. David Living-
stone.

In spite of the intelligible but regrettable opposition of the
London Missionary Society, which would have chained the Pro-

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION E. IO9

metheus of Central African discovery to the mission station of
Kuruman or Mabotsa (over there among the Bakgatla, vi^hom
I also, a few years ago, was teaching) , he braved alone the perils
of river, swamp, and forest, of slave-trader and barbarous chief,
and came safely through, where Stanley, with an army, found op-
iposition at every turn. He became the typical opener up of
Africa, whom his mission would have used to teach a few Bech-
uana. When will missions and when will governments learn to
know and use their men ?

Further than the crying and historic case of Livingstone,
I cannot venture to speak of other denominations than my own;
but of that I am bold to say — for truth is better than dear friends
— the failure of thoise responsible for the training and equipping
of the minds of our missionaries for their task, linguistically and
ethnologically — the failure to use them when they have equipped
theniselves, fills me oftentimes with grief, despair and shame.

You may think that this is too strong language, and more-
over not a concern of this Association, nor of any but the mis-
sionary societies. This I deny. The missionaries, as a class,
are in closer touch than any other European, with the native, i.e.,
with the bulk of the population of this country ; and I consider
that their effectual training and the moral (I do not say religious)
training of the native which depends upon it, is a very serious
matter for the community in general.

In Nigeria I was told by an administrator that missionaries
who are not ethnologists are not encouraged by the Government
for fear of complication with the Mohammedans. No one desires
such an attitude here, but the fact is very significant. Nor can
our governments escape blame for the lack of training of Admin-
istrators.

If I may quote Mr. A. E. Griffiths in a recent paper on the
South African Undergraduate : —

" The part our undergraduate has to play in the administra-
tion of native affairs has received no consideration from our
University or Ministerial Authorities. The fact that South Africa
looks among the rising generation for the future rulers of
her native races is not yet understood. There exists, apparently,
no correlation between University work and preparation for na-
tive administration ; at least, we have no specific University
course — no professorial chair of native languages." (And that is
still true in spite of one advertised last year.) " No national
school of administration. . . . Are we surprised that our
undergraduate has given this — the first of South African fields —
no serious attention?"

in.

Mommsen has said of Scipio Africanus that in his quiet
chamber he no less died for Rome than if he had fallen beneath
the walls of Carthage. Thus (may we not say?) the scholar
Lepsiiis, for example, in addition to his labours for European
scholarship, did more for African missions by his phonetic

no PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION E.

system than many missionaries have done. The figure of
Livingstone kneeling dead by his camp bed in Ujiji — dead for
Africa and its tribes, for the removal of the plague spot of the
world, the slave trade — touches the mind with its peculiar
pathos ; but there is another name I would mention, who gave
his life for Africa, though, like Scipio, he died at home; who
gave it in studies of portentous magnitude and effect. The
mind reels at 'the thought of the 80 note-books of Bushman lore,
still (alas) in manuscript only, with which Dr. Bleek's indus-
try has endowed the South African library. What African
philology owes to this scholar and his family passes telling; one
of that family survives, as, I believe I am right in saying, the
only Bushman scholar in the world. Bushman paintings and
engravings are a special care to a learned lady of this Associa-
tion, but firsthand knowledge of their language depends upon a
single life; and again we must lament the lack of interest which
South Africa has taken in things Bushman, her unique contribu-
tion to philology, and the history of primitive art.

I cannot conclude this part of my subject without a reference
to that veteran historian of equal industry, Dr. Theal, whose
contribution to South African literature it would be presump-
tuous of me to praise, especially as he too, thank God, still sur-
vives.

One is thankful that here the succession is not entirely
broken, as younger historians are present to carry on the torch.
It is, strangely enough, upon a Rhodes chemistry chair that
Elijah's mantle seems to have fallen.

Other sections may consider it unsuitable and even im-
proper to carry introspection to such an extent as to make past
contributions to itself the subject of a presidential paper. But
Section E, at least, need feel no squeamishness in this regard,
and for this reason — ^that (though the papers of all the sections
doubtless contains original research into branches of science
which have been worked for decades, if not for generations)
some of the founders of ethnology are still with us, and the
scientific study of the natives of this country and their language
is still very much in its infancy, or (shall we say?) in its embryo
stage ; and this Association, especially in Sections D and E, may
venture justly to say Pars magna fui. This is my apology for
proceeding to mention some of the contributions which it has
made to the scientific study of South Africa on the native side.

IV.

Mr. Hammond Tooke. as early as 1905, directed the atten-
tion of the Association (soon after her birth) to the subject of
uncivilised man south of the Zambesi, which in 1820 he divided
into five groups, viz., the Zulu-Xosa, Gvvamba. who tekesa (as
the Zulus say) in their speech, the Kalanga, Chwana, and
Herero — which last were identified as possibly the Mazimba of
early Portuguese writers. Mr. Tooke followed up this essay

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION E. Ill

outside the pages of our journal with notes on the Bantu of the
loth century as described in extracts from the " Golden
Meadows of Mas'udy," and these were published by the African
Monthly in 1907.

I had originally intended to discuss the early geographers
and explorers of Africa in connection with this paper, but to
avoid undue length, have already read those pages as a separate
paper before my section. In them I drew attention to the fact
of the great importance of philology in regard to all research
into the testimony of the early and present writers about our
country. I cannot doubt (and in this I find I have the agree-
ment of Dr. Theal), that much material still remains to be dis-
interred : not only from the libraries and other hiding places of
the West, but also from Oriental sources ; and, for the interpre-
tation and use of such authorities, philology will be indispensable
— not only knowledge, and in so wide a field, necessarily com-
parative knowledge, of Semitic and other groups made use of
in ancient geography and kindred subjects, but also comparative
knowledge of the dialects of Africa, which will certainly throw
much light upon the records of the past, as can be seen, for
example, in the case of Mas'udy, whom I treated in my ex-
cerpted pages, alluded to above ; but to this point I will again
return.

I have, in the other paper, used Mr. Tooke's work on the
Arab geographer as a starting point for a resume of the earlier
writers on Africa. I may now use his paper before your Asso-
ciation in 1905 as a starting-point for the later and contemporary
work with which I am in the briefest outline to deal. It is, of
course, as I said before, impossible to attempt to mention, not
to say appraise (even if the present speaker were worthy to do
so), all the recent work upon native Africa or South Africa.
I can but endeavour to say a few words about our debt to some
of those writers who have come in any way before our Associa-
tion.

Let me begin by paying a tribute to the industry and effec-
tiveness with which our President in this section last year —
Mr. Roberts — largely in conjunction with Mr. C. A. T. Winter,
has set before us the results of their research into the tribes of
the Northern Transvaal. Would that he were here to-day to
assist our deliberations, though we must not grudge his services
at the seat of war. We will hope that his presence in Europe
may procure the publication of his papers in a more permanent
form than the present, and we shall look forward, please God,
to a speedy return of him and all our heroes. I need not specify
his manifold work here, nor that of Mr. J. A. Winter. The
latter contributed in 191 2 the " History of Sekwati," the " Tradi-
tions of Ralolo." the "Praises of the Chiefs," and "Circum-
cision among Sekukuni's Folk," followed in 1914 by his " Men-
tal and Moral Capabilities of the Natives." Mr. Junod, to travel

112 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION E.

further East, contributed in the same year an arresting paper on
the " S.E. Natives in the i6th Century, and has since produced
a most valuable contribution to the ethnology of the same field
in his two volumes upon the " Thonga." Mr. Garbutt has written
of Rhodesia, and compared the custom of Egypt and the South ;
Mr. Dornan not only writes on native poisons (a subject which
the President of Section B last year has also made his own), but
has further had the courage to enter the lists, and that from the
side of native tradition, in that delicate question which, from
time to time, shakes Africa — I mean the Zimbabwe origins,
which have been discussed in our Transactions, in the past, by
no less an authority than Mr. Hall. While very willing to join
with the Oxford Professor in claiming more culture for past
generations of natives than we in this sub-continent are always
ready to grant, I feel that so weighty a question may not, till
the end of the chapter, be settled ; but the very fact that claims
and counterclaims of date range over some two millenia, not
only in the case of African Zimbabwe, but even in that of British
Stonehenge, shows how very little way we have gone in settling
the sciences of anthropology and ethnology, and how very little
encouragement is at present given, either by government or the
public. But there are economic sciences considerably more inti-
mate and pressing, not always, perhaps, to my own, but to the
public mind, to which are made the masterly contributions of
my other Vice-President, Mr. Kingon, especially within his own
sphere, the Transkei. I note that he apparently sides with the
presidential address of my predecessor in doubting of the
weighty warnings, which a veteran authority on the Eastern
lands, like Mr. Maurice Evans, gave us, as regards the likelihood
of real competition between white and native workers, in case
of a labour-market free from the present artificial restraints of
law and custom ; a subject of peculiar interest at the present
juncture. I note another difi^erence of opinion between one of
the writers last mentioned and Dr. Loram in his book, so full of
valuable statistics, on the education of the native, and ask, " Is
it, or is it not, the fact that they, at the age of puberty, become,
any more than whites, mind atrophied ?

VI.

There are grave questions, and evidently at preseiU it is
hopeless to expect anything but disagreement among the doctors.
If we turn to the missionaries we find the same disagreement,
but here the shocking neglect of professional training on the
physchological side for dealing with foreign nations oft'ers very
largely the explanation. Let me give an example of a moot
point among us; the majorities in our missionary synods and
conferences have legislated against the traditional manner of
native customs like circumcision, with a minority protest, to
which I confess that, after study, I incline. What has struck
me is the very little vahd evidence that most missionaries have

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION E. II3

to offer of the essential character and moral effect (in the wider
sense) of the rites, and how very little dispassionate study is
given to the matter. (My own discoveries I ventured to sub-
mit to you some years ago, as did Mr. Roberts for the Trans-
vaal recently).

Early missionaries had to make a decision before the birth

of ethnology, and that they did fearlessly, according to their

light, however much their own immediate success was hindered.

It may be that then was the time for trenchant severance from

an evil inevitable legacy of past abuse.

But now, I cannot help feeling, the native suffers grievous
loss of very much needed discipline, through the uprooting of the
landmarks of immemorial sanction, and I hope it may not be
too late to save some part of the structure of what is now recog-
nised, among serious students, as a highly respectable ethnic sys-
tem, in the face of the obvious failure of the effect to Euro-
peanise.

Pray do not think me a Julian endeavouring to galvanise a
twice-dead heathenism ; it is just because I believe that true re-
ligion should find room, in most cases, for the pre-Christian
Ethic, and build upon it, that I regret the complete (and, I fear,
largely needless) ruin of the sanctions of the Bantu past. The
fact, which I emphasize again and again, is that we have too little
study of that past and its meaning, on the part of those who
have to guide policy, both in Church and State ; and even the
academic world is not allowed to contribute as it should to the
solution of the native problem. Academics themselves are now
awake to the need, but only partially, even they. I shall not for-
get the surprise of a Professor of a South African University
College, who was very deeply interested in totemism, when he
discovered from me, for the first time, that the totemists were at
his gate, as I called a native lad to him and asked him what he
danced — that is to say, his seboko. or " totem." I am only say-
ing in much oif this what Mr. Roberts said last year at greater
length and with greater effectiveness : " The work of the Chris-
tian missionary requires very special training, and, until this fact
is recognised by the churches, the results of their work among
the Bantu are bound to be disappointing and more or less of a
failure. The fault lies with those in authority. The training
should include the study of comparative ethnology." Note the
" comparative !" No true philology or ethnology can be other.
This is a practical matter, not an academic. If we break an arm
we choose a first-aider to help us, rather than one who says he
has the love of heaven or of mankind, if it has not led him to
learn duly the science of giving first aid, by studying bones and
muscles : a study which seems to the layman academic. So must
we study native cult and custom if we would best commend our
own.

Dale, of Zanzibar, was able to tell some Moslem teachers
that the text they were quoting was not in the Koran but in a

114 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION E.

commentary upon it ; they marvelled that he knew their own
books better than they did themselves. We want more men
trained thus fully for their special work ; then should we find
no lack of trained administrators and missionaries as experienced
contributors to ethnology, far better than the scientific visitor
who has not the confidence oi the particular tribe.

If we were thus learners as well as teachers, how many
solecisms in translation, how many mistakes in policy we might
avoid, which alike proclaim our systems alien (externally, though
not fundamentally). We have no difficulty in realising the point
with our fellow white-men. We know that we must enter into
their lives, and the more thoroughly, that is, the more scientifi-
cally, the better. We do not need to live all their lives, as we
need not, nor are able, to live a native's, but we need to study
the lives scientifically, alongside of the language, and until we
do so we deserve to be ousted by others who will.

One day I happened to mention the names of some of his
ancestors to the son of a chief of the Batlokoa who was visiting.
In a few weeks three pages of foolscap arrived filled with a
neat though elaborate genealogy which I could largely verify,
and which went back nearly 30 generations (probably something
over 600 years). There was confidence established, and the
native shyness broken down by an interest shown in their his-
tory. As a high government official points out in Mr. Hollis's
excellent book on the Masai, a genuine interest in the native
mind and language is one of the most hopeful ways of avoiding
even punitive expeditions.

If all that I have said is true of the missionary, surely it is
true also, if not more true, of the administrator and his assis-
tants. How true also it has been in this war that often all has
depended on such intelligence and staff work, and indeed the
principle has long been recognised in the navy, so far as the
encouragement of language study is concerned ; yet a recent num-
ber of the English Rczneiv gives a case of a loss at sea costing
the country £3,000,000, due to ignorance on the part of an
officer of the distinction in sound between German and Nor-
wegian. I could give many examples of similar mistakes in
native tongues, often laughable enough, but too frequent to be
amusing, seeing the estrangement which their cause in the long
run brings between ruled and ruler, teacher and taught.

VII.

This is the case with us English in the matter especially of
philology, in spite of the fact that the science deals with speech,
the prerogative of man alone, the chief interpreter of the mind,
and therefore the chief interpreter of man to man. Yet this is
the science which we carefully avoid. Though near a century
and a half has gone by since the derided discovery of Sanscrit
as the key to European tongues, instead of Hebrew or what not.
philology is still commonly considered a mark of the faddist, or

PKE'^IDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION E. II5

the wide-sundered metiers of the philologist, necessarily compara-
tive, and the linguist, whether polyglot or idiomatist, are con-
fused. It is not realised that the philologist does not claim to
be an expert on every tongue as spoken, which indeed were quite
impossible, 'but can yet throw light, as perhaps no one else
can, on the meaning of the idioms within the family he studies,
and often far beyond ; for, once again, let us recall it, speech is
the key to the main gate of psychology.

I may illustrate this failure to realise the position of the
philologist by the si;rprise and sometimes indignation I have met
with from the speaker of a dialect, whether European or native,
when one presumes to suggest a derivation for a personal or place
name. The non-philologist bystander, even of intelligence, is apt
to endorse the unfavourable verdict; but a concrete illustration
from an English place-name will shew the unreasonableness of
this attitude. I spent some years upon the Trent bank in the
combined parish of Kelham and Averham (pronounced A'erum),
near Newark. The spelling of both names suggested a home
originally; but of what? The Domesday " Calune " was rejected
as the mishearing of a Norman scribe, but a chronological listing
of the forms, in which the names occurred, revealed the fact
that 'the spelhng was a fallacy of association in both cases, and
phonetic script made plain that the local pronounciation preserved
the Anglo-Saxon locative phrase, all but exactly, which describes
the place as "set cellum and atherum " (gen plur : forms), i..e.,
" at the springs and watercourses." The native Notts villager
had preserved the sotmd all those generations, but all his re])eti-
tions could not have guided him to the meaning of the name
without philology. As an Englishman born and bred, with no
trace, so far as I know, of foreign blood in me, I deeply regret
that this simple bit of English philology was due to a German
scholar, who very probably spoke bad English, and might rouse
our indignation or amusement at his temerity, if we did not
understand the use and purpose of the philologist, his distinc-
tion from the linguist, and his practical value, nevertheless, to
the same. Why need we be so behind in matters of such sim-
plicity? It reminds me of a certain front of a war where inter-
cepted enemy wireless messages were being passed to head-
quarters and uselessly filed, while the freely offered services of
an experienced decipherer were refused.

May I venture to suggest that we see this same weakness
reflected in our own association, and even in Section E. Many
useful papers appear dealing with the customs of different tribes
or with their dialects, but how little comparative work is done
on the one or the other over any wide field. It may be thought
that this is due to the time not having yet arrived — but this is
not so, for the Berlin Orientalisches Seminar, and the Hamburg
Kolonial Institut (only recently at last followed by our London
school of Oriental languages), have long been working under
the guidance of ?\Ieinhof on the comparative study of Bantu,

Il6 PRESIDENT] AI, ADDRESS SECTION E.

and have produced results which stand the test of practical
application to individual dialects, as I myself have often proved.
(I beg to refer to my paper on South African language study
in 1914.)

It is just that co-operation which we need in the
future between the idiomatist, who knows something of
comparative philology, the philologist, who knows some-
thing of the idioms, and the ethnologist, who knows,
as too often he does not, something considerable of
both. Our present enemies have taken the forehand and
advantage of us by securing this co-operation in the past.
They do this by Government endowment and publication of re-
search, instead of waiting, as we too often do, till we have broken
the heart of the researcher by leaving him to the tender mercies
of the publisher, who at his peril rises above the demands of
the inanes voces populi. Of university presses, it is true, we
reap better things ; would that somebody would endow in this
way our new universities here.

Again, to illustrate from Meinhof 's work : Endemann in
Sesuto ; Hahn, Brincker, Kolbe, and \^iehe in Herero, etc., are all
laid under contribution by him for comparative purposes, and
are themselves often highly alive to the need and importance of
comparative work, and hence of a sound phonetic, in which again,
doubtless owing to the abominations of our English spelling, we
are ourselves but beginners. Steere, however, was in East Africa
an exception; in Swahili, Yao, Nyamwezi, Shaimbala and Konde,
he is acknowledged by the Germans as a match, and has a digne
successor in the truly venerable Archdeacon Woodward, of
Zanzibar, who has, if 1 remember aright, recently brought out
his sixth African grammar. To the scholarship of Mr. Madan.
senior student of Christ Church, was due a Swahili dictionary
and Testament.

Would that the tradition of learned students after the pattern
of Bishops Colenso and Callaway, for example, had been better
kept amongst our missionaries here in South Africa, or adminis-
trators found with interest in their people equal to the production
of books upon them, such as those of Sir H. Johnston, the
Lugards, Routledge, and Mollis of the Masai.

Let me pay a tribute to those who have (paved the path for
the comparative work of which I speak ; to the collections of Fr.
lorrend ; and, among idiomatic work, Kay's researches in Kaff-
raria ; Holden, on the Xosas in the 6o's (of whom and others
I am reminded by my kind friend the Parliamentary Librarian) ;
the Zulu labours of Fr. Bryant, those in Suto of the Paris Mis-
sion ; the magnificent and growing treasures of Kropif and his
continuators ; the Kaffir Bibles of Appleyard and others ; and
(last but not least) the many useful works of Mr. McLaren,
Mr. Scully, etc. ; and I beg to congratulate Miss A. Werner, more
especially, the Reader in Swahili at the London Language School,
on her persistent and increasingly successful efforts to make the

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION E. II7

soundest comparative work known to the English public, not to
speak of her own labours in many spheres of research. [To
those beginning their study of the subject I can recommend no
better book than her " Language Families in Africa," published
by the S.P.C.K., and her translation of Meinhof's lectures, pub-
lished by Dent.]

I have omitted the work of Tindall, Shaw, and some Ger-
mans, in Hottentot, as lying somewhat beside my main subject,
though extremely interesting philologically, and continuing the
treatment of one of the earlier South African problems attacked
by Peter Kolben and other officials of the Dutch Colony, who
took an interest in these neighbour tribes, worthy of more imita-
tion by modern administrators. I must not forget in this para-
graph to mention the great work done on the aboriginals, ethonolo"
gically, by the distinguished Director of the Cape Town Museum.

VIII.

For the future, it remains to get an adequate phonetic script
used in every language, including, let us hope, our own, even if
not adopted for ordinary publication in each : too often their
orthography has been inadequately, misleadingly, and contradic-
torily settled, even in allied tongues, and it is already too late to
expect a reformation ; witness the case of Sesuto and the Sech-
wana dialects, where the sounds and forms are almost identical,
though, of course, peculiar words occur in each special vocabu-
lary. The new literary languages, however, as published, are
trenchantly separated into Sesuto, Serolong, and Setlaping, this
being largely due to the dialects met with by each group of
missionaries, when they reached the publishing stage, being
stereotyped as standard, within their various fields. Had the
science of phonetics, through more adequate training, then im-
possible, reached the missionaries earlier, one consistent ortho-
graphy might doubtless have been adopted, followed by
translations containing the most expressive words and idioms of
every dialect, and giving (like our Authorised Version) a rich,
permanent, common standard of vocabulary and diction through-
out the whole of Central South Africa.

In case some of my hearers may be expert in Sechwana
dialects, I may explain that I found this statement on experience
in a Native Training College, containing representatives of some
score of tribes, who were asked to write, each in his own home-
speech, the simple sentences: —

" The chief has made a good law."
" He has not yet done it."

The experiment proved, as was expected, that the rea.1
vernaculars, unstandardized artificially by missionary translation,
faded into one another, like the colours of the spectrum, and of
the twenty versions of these short phrases scarcely two agreed.

Another desirable move is the introduction of comparative
grammars for European students of Bantu, like those of Latin

Il8 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION E.

and Greek now used in schools, having similar forms under like-
numbered paragraphs — an arrangement lending itself admirably
to Bantu, the dialects of which are so extraordinarily consistent.
This plan had been adopted, both in German and in English, by
Meinhof, for grammars, before the war. The grouping of
these dialects is a problem scarcely touched, which would be
greatly helped by such comparative methods ; the relation of
Bantu to Hamitic and to the Soudanese group might then
approach solution, and the place be found of the sundry Pygmy
dialects as well as of the remnants of Bushman. All kinds of
subjects standing between philology and anthropology would thus
more easily be attacked. Personally, I hope wide-reaching re-
sults from the study of those branches in which I am specially
interested, and have had the privilege of speaking about them
before you in the past, viz., native music and poetry, fauna and
flora names, star-names and place-naimes — these, having reference
to objective facts, observed by all the tribes, must certainly throw
new light, if widely enough studied, on the wanderings of the
peoples and on cultural borrowing.

In this connection we welcome the large increase of know-
ledge of native praise-songs and similar traditions, which this
section owes to Mr. Stuart, of Natal, and others.

Again, wide research into chief's genealogies would not be
difficult to record and compare, and would lead, as in my own
experience, to much access of knowledge about tribal history,
and so contribute to- that of Africa in general. The South
African Historical Society, now, I fear, suspended for the time,
show^ed this in the care Prof. Cory and others took to collect in-
formation, both from natives and Europeans.

An admirable illustration of the use of such work is pro-
vided by M. Ellenberger's book (and that of his translator. Mr.
McGregor) on the Basuto tribes, upon which French and Swiss
missionaries, both Catholic and Protestant, have settled with so
great effect for more than <So years, and number among them
scholars, in Suto^ and kindred tongues, such as M. Dieterlen and
M. Jacottet, the latter distinguished for his comparative and eth-
nological work.

I trust that the strong language I have used in this paper,
about a work which is very near my heart, and in which I was
actively engaged until March. 191 /, and the somewhat ex cathedra
manner, as it may seem, of my allusion to many such topics,
will not be misunderstood as overweening confidence : I know too
many old-experienced missionaries, who say, the longer they
work with natives, the less they feel they understand, for that.
The cause is. indeed, quite other : I am so weighted with the
imperfection of my own training, and the sense of the very little
way I and most have gone among the roots of native life, that
I am driven (after long being " meek and humble-mouthed "), by
saying unpleasant but true things, about such delinquencies, both
in missionary conclave, and crying upon the high places of the

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION E. I IQ

city, to do my little part to secure, if possible, that the next
generation shall be better trained than myself.

I yield to none in thankfulness for the mighty work which
both administrators and missions have done these many years
for this land, as has been testified by many in regard to the
latter, and cannot understand how men in general, if only for the
country's sake, can be apathetic to their efifectiveness. On the
other hand, it is clear that those responsible are awaking to the
lack of training, and even the word " phonetics " has been men-
tioned.

I would not, indeed, wish to be understood to say that no
one can be an administrator or a missionary, who is untrained
in the sciences I am recommending; I think the keenest and pro-
bably most effective European evangelist, for example, whom I
know, is one who does not know or want to know anything about
them. I am a profound disbeliever in education, in the conven-
tional sense, as a panacea for all ills, and if a man is to be a
m.ere evangelist (I use the epithet without disparagement) he
may very well dispense with much. But more and more, I be-
lieve, native evangelists should be relied upon to evangelize their
own people (as they can and will do far better than European,
knowing better their own wants) ; and so Livingstone himself
desired : thus setting the European free to teach the native
teachers ivhat they have not and cannot have, and guide the
general policy of the movement, in loyalty to all that is morally
sound, both for the individual and the social life. For this the
European leader must have, certainly, the best specialist training,
and not least in the psychology of nations, to which science both
philology and anthropology are undoubtedly ancillary.

Again, if this is true oi missions, it is true of administrators
also, that more and more they should be needed, in any healthy
political development, such as has been usefully tried under the
Glen Grey Act, not for ruling in detail, so much as for guiding
local govenment, with very much the same specialist training,
in many ways at least, as we have seen to be important in the case
of missionaries.

Some may have thought this paper unpractical. It is not
about gold or diamonds, unless we count the natives black ones,
as, for their value to the country, we well might. But a practical
question does emerge from our rapid survey of the opening up
of our land : — where is the South African ethnological bureau ?
Practical America has such an institution, elaborately studying
her few Red men and their history. India has her Stricklands,
with whom Kipling has made us familiar; but apparently in this
country such an institution is considered unnecessary, for no one
can suppose that its purposes are fulfilled by the Native Aflfairs
Department, admirable as its operations are, and we hear no talk
of anything further.

The dwindling Hottentots we leave to Dr. Peringuey, the
dead Bushman to the Bleek family and Miss VVilman ; but what

I20 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION F-.

of the masses of Bantu which swarm in our towns, and the
tremendous problems, social and political, which crowd about
them? Are they alone of no interest to the academic, of no
urgency to the sociologist, of no use to the politician (when not
driven by danger or agitation to consider them), that the sciences
of ethnology and philology, which open up their psychology, are
scarcely risen above the horizon of the learned world here, are
scorned as fads by the general public, mocked at by the poli-
tician, as unworthy of encouragement or support?

If meteorology and chemistry have to do with farming
(but how many farmers guessed of it, or knew the names of
such sciences 50 years ago?), then, surely, ethnology, philology,
and native psychology and sociology have to do with the safety,
good government, and progress of this country. It is not an
academic matter, but one of the most practical we ever touched.

Cease, I say, to play the superannuated farmer, when your
farm is the souls, bodies, and estate of the millions of this sub-
continent.

Section F.— EDUCATION, HISTORY, xMENTAL SCIENCE,
POLITICAL ECONOMY. GENERAL SOCIOLOGY,
AND STATISTICS.

President of the Section: — Professor T. M. Forsyth,

M.A., D.Phil.

FRIDAY. JULY 12.

The President delivered the following address :

The Section of oiir Association of which I have the honour
to be President at this year's meeting may not untitly be called
the Philosophical Section of the Association for the Advance-
ment of Science ; and when one who pro'fesses Philosophy as
his subject of study and teaching is given the task of delivering
a Presidential Address, it is also not unfitting that he should
try to say something about the relations between Philosophy and
Science, and the question whether Philosophy has any part in the
advancement of knowledge.

That a section of the work of the Association includes
Mental Science as one of its divisions indicates that the " ancient
quarrel '' between science and philosophy is in process of being
allayed. But the process is a slow one, and it is worth while
to do even a very little in the way of trying to make the two
seem less foreign to each other. To' some minds it seems more
important to distinguish philo.sophy and science than to relate
them. If the mind concerned is a scientific mind, this attitude
i? apt to take the form of denying to philosophy a place in the
system ctf knowledge altogether. It mav be exemplified, perhaps,
hy a remark which I remember reading in one of the books of
my own science teacher at Edinburgh, Professor Tait. After
quoting a pas.sage — on the nature of space, I think — ifrom the
philosopher Kant, he says : " The reader will have no difticalty
in distinguishing the truth from the metaphysics in this passage."
Taken just as it stands, this means that philosophy, as such, is
inherently false. When, on the other hand, the distinction
between philosophy and science is insisted on by a philosophical
mind, the attitude, even if it should be true and, moreover, not
at all meant to be depreciatory of science, is one that is apt,
in the first instance at least, still further to alienate the scientist
from philosophy. My own mind has always run rather in the
direction of bringing them together.

The first step towards bringing phi4osophy and science
together is the apprehension that science has not a monc^poly
of the experiential method, or the endeavour to keep true to
actual experience. Granted that philosophy has often erred
through hasty generalization and equally hasty application of
general principles to experiential details, it has none the less
always been its effort, when it has been true to itself, to express

122 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION E.

things in terms of, or through a logical process of inference
from, whatever principle seemed to state most succinctly and
most suggestively the essential nature of experience; and as
philosophy has progressed the ideal of getting everything ex-
pressed in terms of experience itself has become more and more
insistent, until to-day this may be said to be the character of
all living philosophical thought. William James, for instance,
calls the fundamental method or " way of thinking " of his
philosophy " radical empiricism," meaning thereby that what-
ever is real for us must enter in one form or another into our
experience, and whatever enters into um experience — whether
" things " or " relations " — must be taken as real/ Similarly,
Richard Avenarius has formulated the philosophic ideal or
principle of pure experience, i.e., that all interpretation of ex-
perience should be in terms of experience itself and not of non-
experiential hypothesis.^ Lastly, Shadworth Hodgson, a
philosopher whose work may be said to be the culmination of the
English or British tradition of experiential philosophy, and whose
method of thinking is not less exact and thorough-going than
that of the most patient scientist — a distinguished French savant
has said of his philosophical writing that it is so clear that we
can see him thinking — has given an analysis O'f experience in its
general nature'^ which is thoroughly in keeping with the stand-
point of scientific investigation, while dififerentiating this from
the distinctive attitude of philosophy. It is not my intention
to state even in outline such a " general analysis " of experience
■ — I have tried to do so elsewhere.* But I want to try to indicate
the standpoint of philosophy in relation to science. First of
all, however, I may perhaps be allowed briefly to illustrate what
is meant bv getting experience interpreted in terms of experience
itself, by reference to a question which happens to be a familiar
one to mvself, namely, that of the relation between body and
mind.\

From the general standpoint of science the body is simply
a portion of the material world, subject to its laws of cause
and effect, and itself the cause or " real condition " of the
appearance of mind. But however true this may be from the
point of view of the ascertainment of the general or objective
conditions of our experience, ])hilosophy insists that unless these
conditions can themselves be expressed in terms of experience,
we have still got an inadequate conception of the nature of body
and its relation to mind. If we ask what is the distinction in

^Essays in Radical Eiiifricism, p. 42 aiui fassini : The Mcoiiini^ of
Truth. Preface, pp. xii-xiii.

'Philosophic ah Denken der Welt genidss dent Priiizip des kleinsten
Kraftmasscs: Prolegomena su einer Kritik der reinen Rrfahrung, §§ 51 ff.,
y\ ff.

"The Metap:iv.uc of Experience, bk. i, ch. ii. etc.

* English Philosophy: A Study - / its Method and Gencr.'l Dei<clop-
ment, ch. i.x.

'Cy. my "Note'' on the subject in last year's Journal — Rcpt. S.A. Ass.
for Adv. of Sc: Stellenbosch (1917). 249.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION F. 1 23

actual experience between consciousness and its conditions, we
find that it is that between attention or concentration of effort
or individual interest and initiative on the one hand, and haibit
or mechanized tendency on the other hand. We have no right
to say, from the point of view of pure, i.e., immediate or concrete
experience, that mind is one thing and body another, that either
is more real or ultimately more causal than the other, or that
either could exist apart from the other. What we are entitled
to say is that our individual experience discloses to psychological
analysis the two poles or phases of habit and effort, automatism
and spontaneity. In other words, in actual experience there is,
on the one hand, the concentrated feeling or selective awareness
of things which we call consciousness, and which is the individual
being itse'if in the act of apprehending the circumstances or
environment to which its life has to be adapted at the present
juncture or with regard to its determinate behaviour ; and there
is, on the other hand, the mechanism of organized habit and
potentiality which we call the body, and which in its actual con-
crete character and constitution is the condition and at the same
time the instrument of the present manifestation of mind, and
develops further potentialities through every activity or
actualization of consciousness. Thus the body is just
the mechanism or organization of habits, tendencies, aptitudes.
avenues of impression and lines of action, which condition the
progressive or developing manifestation of consciousness, and
which is itselif continuously developed with the fuller realization
of individual activity. Body is habit or mechanism, conscious-
ness is attention or direction of effort. Such a conception enables
us, without in the least contradicting anything implied in the
detailed investigations of physics and ])hysiology, to unite in some
measure the results of science with the concrete facts of im-
mediate experience and the actual life of the individual, which
philosophy aims at interpreting. The working out of the implica-
tions of this conception may involve an ultimate reinterpretation
of the nature of what we are accustomed to call the material
v/orld ; but it is quite in keeping with the general attitude of
science, namely, that matter is known essentially as limiting or
conditioning the manifestation of mind.

What present-day philosophy is bent upon, then, is the
endeavour to interpret experience in its concrete character — to
get a way of stating things which shall show what they are for
our actual concrete experience. Through this lies the way to
the union of philosophy and science.

At the same time that philosophy is becoming more ex-
periential and therefore more scientific, science is becoming more
critical of its own procedure and import, and therefore more
philosophical. It is being more and more recognized that scientific
conceptions and principles, however well established by the most
thorough methods, are not direct statements of the nature of
reality or experience, but hypotheses that have approved them-

124 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION F.

selves as the best ascertained means of predicting or anticipating
experiences. A scientific law is a statement of condition and
consequence, or of the correlation of phenomena, such as enables
us to act or to get results in accordance with its formula, but
which cannot on that account claim to state in any definite way
the real nature of the things concerned. The efficiency of such
laws, as instruments of control, shows them to be partial expres-
sions of the nature of things, or to be not inconsistent with
reality, but they are one and all sym^bols or indices rather than
actual characterizations of reality. Similarly, it is being recog-
nized that each special science deals only with an abstract aspect
of things — an aspect " abstracted out of the full comprehensive-
ness of reality " ; and that, while the principles and laws of the
more abstract and general sciences are applicable in partial ex-
planation of more concrete spheres of experience, so that different
inquiries tend more and more in part to coincide and to inter-
penetrate each other, each science has nevertheless its own dis-
tinctive problems and concepts, its own plane of reality to
investigate — matter, life, consciousness, etc. — and that the dif-
ferences or peculiar nature of each sphere, though more or less
interpretable in terms of others, can in its essential character
be apprehended only 'by way of immediate acquaintance or actual
experience.

This critical attitude towards the fundamental conceptions
and procedure of science is prominent in the w'ritings of such
thinkers as W. K. Clififord, Ernst Mach, Henri Poincare, and
Karl Pearson ; and amid much that is toO' special and detailed
for the mere philosopher adequately to follow, much less to esti-
mate, there is a general trend of thought that connects interest-
ingly and significantly with the problems and the standpoint of
contemporary philosophy. A brief statement of some of their
main theses will make the position clearer.

Clifl:ord emphasizes that scientific thought is essentially the
application of past experience to new circumstances by means
of an observed order of events, and that its chief business, there-
fore, is to be the guide of action. Whatever be the particular
subject-matter of our knowledge, the character that makes it
scientific is that it enables us to act upon it with security and
confidence, to regulate our behaviour in accordance with this
knowledge.^

Mach shows that the (function of science is to give a descrip-
tion of the facts of experience in the most concise and compre-
hensive way, with the utmost economy of thought. By ascer-
taining the modes of the interdependence or interconnexion of
the several elements or aspects of experience, and by express-
ing these correlations in ever more general statements or
formulae, science is able increasingly to anticipate and thereby
to save or economize experience.^

^Lectures and Essays, "The Aims and Instruments of Scientific
Thought."

''Science of Mechanics, especially Introduction and ch. iv., sect. iv.

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION F. I25

Poincare affirms that all the fundamental principles of
science, including- even mathematical axioms and postulates, are
hypotheses suggested by experience and therefore not arbitrary,
but conventional in the sense of being not the only possible bases
for theoretical constructions, and giving certainty only within
the limits implied in their acceptance in preference to others.
They have an intuitive or experiential along with a conceptual
or constructive character, and their fertility proves them to be
in keeping with reality, but they have no justifiable claim to
finality.*

Karl Pearson contends, as against the tendency even of first-
rank scientists to objectify their definitions and conceptions, that
scientific notions express ideal limits to processes which begin
from sense-perception, but can never be carried to a limit in
actual experience. To take the very simplest case — " The fly-
leaf of this book," he says in his "Grammar of Science," "appears
at first sight a plane surface bounded by a straight line, but a
very slight inspection with a magnifying lens shows that the
surface has hollows and elevations in it, which quite defy all
geometrical definition and scientific treatment. The straight
line which seems to bound its edge becomes, under a powerful
glass, so torn and jagged that its ups and downs are more like a
saw-edge than a straight line." Similarly, the idea of distance,
as the length from one point to another, is a conception reached
as a limit to perceptual experience. So it is with all scientific
concepts. They are ideal symbols by which we describe, classify,
and formulate the characters or elements of immediate or per-
ceptual experience, and their validity lies in their power of
resuming past and predicting future experience. But what we
get in this way is not — at any rate, not directly — anything beyond
perception, anything underlying phenomena, such as matter in
motion or absolute space and time, nor anything that has actuality
in the phenomenal world, but a conceptual representation of ex-
perience, a means of describing the order of our sense-perceptions
or interpreting the perceptual changes which are the actual facts
of experience.'-*

Along with this criticism of ifundamental conceptions and
postulates in the work of the philosophical scientists there goes
as its correlate the recognition that the justification of scientific
concepts at the bar of philosophic doubt must consist in their
derivation from the facts or data of immediate or sense ex-
perience. This is the reverse of what has been the customary
or traditional attitude, though its truth may have been recognized
or even enforced by the greatest scier!.tific thinkers. For example.
Newton's general standpoint is not inconsistent with it ; and it
seems to have been a recurrent thought of, among others. Clerk
Maxwell. But the ordinary attitude is dififerent. It is con-
stantly assumed not only that well-established scientific laws and

^Science and Hypothesis, e.g., pp. xxiii, 70-1, Tio.
* Grammar of Science, pp. 197-9, 266-7, 287-8, etc.

126 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS SECTION F.

principles are beyond question, and that scientific concepts, as
such, are the most certain and indubitable, but that reality and
the only reality consists in the things or entities which form the
general subject-matter of science. From this point of view what
is most real in the universe is such things as matter, molecules,
atoms, electrons, ether, whereas feelings, sensations, thoughts,
volitions are unreal or relatively unreal — they are only our
awareness or consciousness of reality. But from the philoso-
phical standpoint consciousness or actual individual experience
is the indubitable reality. Accordingly, if Dhilosophy and science
are ever to be brought together, some wav must be found of
interpreting consciousness or the conditions of consciousness and
the matter and so forth of the scientist in terms of each other
oi in their essential relations to each other. As Ber-
trand Russell says, " Men of science, for the most part,
are willing to condemn immediate data as ' merely sub-
jective,' while yet maintaining the truth of the physics
inferred from those data. But such an attitude, though
it may be capable of justification, obviously stands in need
of it ; and the only justification possible must be one which ex-
presses matter as a logical construction from sense-data. "^° And
again : " //; so far as science is verifiable, it must be capable of
interpretation in terms of actual sense-data alone. The reason
for this is simple. Verification consists always in the occurrence
of an expected sense-datum. Now if an expected sense-datum
constitutes a verification, what was asserted must have been
about sense-data; or, at any rate, if part of what was asserted
was not about sense-data, then only the other part has been veri-
fied.""

Now philosophy consists distinctively in the effort to begin,
in all inquiry, irom our actual or concrete experience. What
is most real, or at least most indubitable, for us is our immediate
experience — our sense-impressions and feelings, along with the
impulses or efforts which are their active expressions. Exper-
ience is always objective as well as subjective — awareness of a
content or object as well as a subjective or conscious process;
and the facts of experience, which form the basis equally of
philoso])hy and science, have throughout this double character.
What philosophy demands is that they be taken in this concrete
character and not turned into objects with no subjective aspect,
as though they could be anything in or for experience at all
apart from our awareness of them. Any abstraction or con-
struction from them must be so regarded as not to imply that
the things so reached are of a nature entirely different from the
data themselves. In other words, they must be actual or possible
contents of experience, continuous in their existence and nature
with the sense-perceptions which they are invoked to explain.

The need of explanation, i.e., of connexion or correlation.

Our Knowledge of the E.vternal World, p. loi.
P. 8i. Cf. Pearson, op. cit., pp. 53-4, 66-7.

PRESIDENTIAL ADliRl':.SS — SKCTK'M I'. 127

spring^s from an intrinsic feature of immediate experience,
namely, its endless variety and particularity, and the correspond-
ing complexity of its conditions. The sense-impressions of each
indixidual are in all cases and at all times different from those of
every other. Even when we are looking- at the same thing, for
example, the sight sensations of each of us are diff'erent. The
appearances of things differ with our point of view, with our
bodily organization and mental outfit, with the sensitiveness of
our sense-organs, etc. A thing is seen as of a different colour
according as it is reflected on the centre or the margin of the
retina, with the light in which it is seen, the state of the atmos-
phere, etc. A note in a chord sounds differently than when heard
alone ; and so on endlessly. Moreover, the s])ace sensations of
sight, of touch, and of hearing, even of the same individual at
the same time, are different spaces. So it is with the time sensa-
tions of each of us. But habitual exijerience leads us to co-
ordinate these different spaces and times, and through mutual
action and response we come to interpret the conditions of our
sense-impressions as consisting of a world that is common to
all of us and as lying in the relations between the things that
constitute this common world. It is here that science takes
its rise.

In order to describe the relations between things in a way
that is independent of any particular kind of sense-impression
or the sense-impressions of any particular individual, science
abstracts from all such diff'erences. and seeks to state in general
terms — " in a neutral universal fashion " — the nature of the
reality determining our experiences. Starting from the funda-
mental experience of change of sense-impression, along Avith
that of the togetherness or grouping of impressions — that is,
from experiences of time and space — science interprets the con-
ditions of changes in our sense-impressions as consisting in
changes of position, i.e., motion in things. For science, there-
fore, the various characters of our sense-impressions — the
several sense-qualities — are our mode of apprehending changes
o^f position or motions on the part of things or the elements of
things. Colours, sounds, pressures, odours, temperatures, etc.,
are our way of appreciating such changes according to their kind
or degree. For the purpose of stating the conditions of ex-
perience, i.e., of saying precisely what conditions will have such
or such consequences in the way of experience, science resolves
these into configurations of molecules, motions of ether, wave-
forms, or the like ; duration into a single onward-flowing time ;
and extension into a vast space in which things exist and events
or changes in things occur. But as experienced colour is visual
sensation, sound is auditory sensation, extension, shape, size,
position, even motion itself, consist in modes or relations of
tactual, visual, and muscular sensations. Similarly, such con-
ceptions as force, resistance, weight, body, are one and all, in
the first instance, actual sensations or sets of sensations. Force,
for example, definable as any condition or determinant of motion,

128 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS — SECTION F.

is actually known to us only in our own sensations of pressure
and effort. Again, " a body is a relatively constant sum of
touch and sight sensations associated with the same space and
time sensations."

But, while the origin of scientific concepts is to be found in
sense-impressions, the ideas directly expressing sense-impressions
lack the definiteness and precision required for scientific pur-
poses. Science proceeds by accurate measurement. Measure-
ment is in some degree possible by sense-'impression itself. Thus
the mere succession of sensations, and especially their character
and variety, give us a certain estimate of the lajise of time ; our
muscular sense gives us a rough estimate of weight or of the
intensity of any pressure or force. But, although such immediate
feelings of change, effort, etc., constitute our actual individual
experience of things, they are useless as objective standards of
measurement. They are incapable of defining relations as obtain-
ing between things belonging to a common world. They must
accordingly be expressed in terms suitable to exact inquiry.
Poincare says on this point : " We do not require a definition of
force; the idea of force is primitive; irreducible, indefinable;
we all know what is is ; of it we have direct intuition. This direct
intuition arises from the idea of effort which is familiar to us
from childhood." But " this immediate notion of eft'ort is of no
use to us in the measurement of force." " The important thing
is not to know what force is, but how to measure it. Everything
which does not teach us how to measure it is as useless to^ the
mechanician as, for instance, the subjective idea of heat and
cold is to the student of heat. This subjective idea cannot be
translated into numbers, and is therefore useless ; a scientist
whose skin is an absolutely bad conductor of heat, and who,
therefore, has never felt the sensation of heat or cold, would
read a thermometer in just the same way as anyone else, and
would have enough material to construct the whole of the theory
of heat."^- Mach puts this in almost identical terms : " The cir-
cumstances determinative of motion that are best known to us
are our own volitional acts — our innervations. In the motions
wdiich we ourselves determine, as well as in those to which we are
forced by external circumstances, we are always sensible of a
pressure. Thence arises our habit of representing all circum-
stances determinative of motion as something akin to volitional
acts — as pressures. . . . We are able, in a great many cases,
to replace the circumstances determinative of motion, wdiich occur
in nature, by our innervations, and thus to reach the idea of a
gradation of the intensity of forces. But in the estimation o'f
this intensity we are thrown entirely on the resources of our
memory, and we are also unable to communicate our sensations.
Since it is possible, however, to represent ez.'ery condition that
determines motion by a weight, we arrive at the perception that
all circumstances determinative of motion (all (forces) are alike

"Science and Hypothesis, pp. 105-6.

i'KKSlDKN'IIAl. AODRKSS — SliCTlON F. I 29

in character and may be replaced and measured by quantities
that stand for weight. The measurable weight serves us, as a
certain, convenient, and communicable index, in mechanical re-
searches, just as the thermometer in thermal researches is an
exacter substitute for our perceptions of heat."^^

Herein, then, lie the origin and significance of scientific
units and standards of measurement. As is well known, these
took their particular form, in the first instance, from facts of
habitual experience — the foot, the forearm, the heart-beat, the
bow-shot, the day's journey, etc. But the philosophical signifi-
cance cif this lies in the truth that only in our sense-impressions
have we direct experience of reality — the reality which science
aims at interpreting — and that scientific concepts therefore are
and must be to the end transcripts of sense-impression. In
pursuance of its effort to> interpret reality in the most concise
and comprehensive terms, science advances to ever-wider
generalizations of experience and the statement of laws of co-exis-
tence and sequence in more and more general formulae, until the
symbols it uses seem far away from, and to have little reference
to, the experiences from which they took their rise. By means
of such symbols or conceptual constructions it is able to form
a working thought-model of the universe by which to express,
as simply and completely as possible, the conditions of experience.
But its concepts remain descriptive formulae for phenomenal
occurrences or changes, i.e., ifor the order and connexion of our
sense-perceptions.

Accordingly, the road of advance — the way to union of the
philosophical and the scientific standpoints — lies in the further
analysis of sense-impressions, or, more generally, further elucida-
tion of the nature of immediate experience, and the more precise
and systematic derivation from these of the conceptions by which
it is sought to explain experience. The realization of this is to-
day common standing-ground to the experiential philosophers
and the philosophical scientists. It is the explicit attitude of the
philosophers whose conception of philosophical method I have
cited ; and it finds equal expression in the insistence on the part
of scientists when they incjuire into the foundations of science,
of the need of justifying scientific concepts by derivation from
sense-impression, and in their tentative suggestions in this direc-
tion. The chief example is Mach's Analysis of the Seusatwns,
with its concluding chapter on the influence of this investiga-
tion on the mode of conceiving physics. But there are also sug-
gestions in Poincare's Science and Hypothesis, in Ostwald's
Natural Philosophy, and in Bertrand Russell's Our Khok:-
ledge of the External World. Russell shows how some of the
main conceptions of science, such as the indestructibility of matter
or things, and a single time and space, might be stated in terms
of sense-data. He defines a thing as a certain series of aspects
or sensible appearances related to one another by continuity and

^^ Science of Mechanics, pp. 84-5.

I30 ]'KESlDliNTlAL ADDRKSS SECTION F.

causal connexion, which is ])recisely the sort of definition which
modern philosophy in general tends to give, and he indicates
how points and instants may be defined in a similar way." What
this implies is that there is no inconsistency but rather reciprocity
between the philosophical or psychological account of the actual
nature of sense-experience, so long as it is not combined with
uncritical assumptions, and the mathematical treatment of the
very same experience in terms of particles, points, and instants,
in spite of the non-existence of such entities; and that their
definition in terms of actual experience, i.e., as logical functions
of sense-data, is what is required to ])r()ve their applicability to
reality as a thorough-going exi^eriential i)hilosophy must con-
ceive it.

Tn a similar strain Russell's collaborator, Whitehead, in bis
little " Introduction to Mathematics," seeks to relate the funda-
mental ideas of mathematics to individual sense-experience. For
example, wdien dealing with co-ordinate geometry and speaking
of the origin O and the two axes OX, OY. he says : " From an
abstract mathematical point of view the idea of an arbitrary
origin may appear artificial and clumsy, and similarly for the
arbitrarily drawn axes. But in relation to the application of
matbematics to the events of the universe we are here symbolizing
with direct simplicity the most fundamental fact respecting the
outlook on the world afl^orded to us b}- our senses. We each of
us refer our sen>ible ])erce])tions of things to an origin which
we call " here "" : our location in a particular part of .space round
which we group the whole universe is the essential fact of our
])odily existence. We can imagine beings who observe all
phenomena in all space with an e(jual eye, unbiassed in favour
of any part. With us it is otherwise, a cat at our feet claims
more attention than an earthquake at Cape Horn, or than the
destruction of a world in the Milky Way. It is true that in
making a common stock of our knowledge with our fellowmen,
we have to waive something of the strict egoism of our own
individual ' here.' We substitute ' nearly here ' for ' here " ;
thus we measure miles from the town hall o:f the nearest town,
or from the capital of the country. In measuring the earth,
men of science will put the origin at the earth's centre; astrono-
mers even rise to the extreme altruism of putting their origin
inside the sun. But, far as this last origin may be, and even if
we go further to some convenient point amid the nearer fixed
stars, yet, compared to the immeasurable infinities of space, it
remains true that our first i)rocedure in ex])loring the universe
is to fix upon an origin ' nearly here." "'''

" O/' cif., lect. iv; cf. Poincare, pp. S5-7.

"A. X. Whitehead: " Iiitrodvctiuii to Matliciihitu\< ft-. ^^5-6. Com-
pare with this the reflexion characteristic of the ideas advanced hj' Clerk
Maxwell, which have hecomc familiar ones today, viz., that "a line is
not originally a mark on the hlackboard, whicli can equally he called BA as
AB, hut is the locus of a motion from A to B." Quoted from lloffding,
Modern Philosophers, p. iti.

i'KIiSIDliNTlAl. ADDKIuSS SECTION V. l^l

The significance of this conception is that "point" funda-
mentally means " here " ; " line " means '* from here " ; " instant ''
means " now " ; " unit/' " particle," or " thing " means " this " —
all of which imply the standpoint of the individual percipient
with his actual j^resent experience. Science is all derivative
from this, instead of this heing in any ultimate view an accident
or incident in the real world. Absolute or conceptual space and
time are constructions from the relative spaces and times oif
individual perceptual experience, i.e., fundamentally from visual,
tactual, and muscular sensations. Similarly, the i)rinciple of
continuity is formed from the experiential fact of differences
in the degree of dixersit}' Avith increase or decrease in the num-
ber of terms in a series of perceptible things or phenomenal
changes, the idea of absolute continuity being reached by regard-
ing the number of terms as inhnite. The principle of relativity
— that all phenomena are relative to the percipient or observer —
is a general and far-reaching expression of this same i)oint. In
general, science treats of ideal cases which are constructed by
abstraction from actual experience. To the laws of such ideal
cases experience approximates in proportion as it is less complex
and varied. But it is immediate concrete experience that gives
us direct apprehension of reality, our particular and individual
apprehensions of which it is the function of the indirect or
scientific conception to unify or correlate. Philosophy expresses
this fundamental truth in such principles as : " A thing is an ex-
perience that has been repeated." " A unit is an act of discrimi-
nation." " The root-idea of distance is fatigue." " The first
psychological meaning of object is oibstacle." All of these have
the same general import, namely, that things are fundamentally
inter])retable only in terms of actual individual experience.

The position, then, is this. The entities of scientific thought
are not reality. They are constructions devised to give a con-
ceptual representation of reality. Their purpose is to tran-
scribe perceptual experience in such a way as to enable us to
know as fully, exactly, and rajjidly as possible what to expect
under determinate conditions, "J'he criterion of this jjrocedurc
■ — the test of scientific constructions — is. on the one hand, their
own self-consistency, and, on the other hand, their applicability.
It is only by keeping to experiential terms or logical and veri-
fiable derivatives from these that science is able confidently and
successfully to anticipate or predict experiences. Scientific con-
cepts, therefore, are valid or have objective truth, not through
being direct statements of the nature of reality, but through
systematizing the facts of actual experience and j^redicting
resvdts that are afterwards verified by experience. It is in this
sense that science is able to " exi)lain " experience, namely, by
relating sense-im])ressions or other experiences to their conditions
in the common or objective world. That it accomplishes this
shows that its symbols or counters are trustworthy indices of
reality, that they " correspond " to realit\-. though they cannot
claim definitively to express reality.

1^2 PRESIDENTIAL ADbRESS^SECTION F.

Now philosophy has Hkewise no just claim to any full or
final expression of the nature of things. It is as worthless apart
from the detailed inquiries of science as science is apart from
the efifort of philosophy to unify — or (in Plato's phrase) to " see
things together " as one whole. But what it insists upon is that,
since immediate experience is our point of contact with reality,
the suggestions that arise from it are, equally with the construc-
tions of science, indispensable clues to the nature of things.
That interpretative concepts originate, and must he logically
derived, 'from immediate experience implies that any actuality
so reached must still be of the same general nature as this. But
this is just what philosophy says when it contends that reality
must be continuous with our experience. Whatever its ultimate
character or content, i.e., whatever it would be to experience
ultimate reality, it cannot be of a nature wholly different from
conscious experience— ^of which consciousness is only the aware-
ness. It is actualized for us only in our experience, and any
further actualization of it can only consist in further modes of
experience. Matter is a limiting conception. It represents the
material or stuff or substance or, better still, the nature of reality,
and therefore the unknown as conditioning our experience. But
the reality, though unknown in its character and content, must
be thought of as realizable in further or fuller experience. Thus
conceptual constructions as symbols of reality have a meaning
only as instruments — somewhat analogous in this respect to such
instruments as the telescope and microscope — which make pos-
sible the realization or the development of further modes of
immediate experience.^" In other words, reality is actually
realised for us only in experience, and can therefore be finally
interpreted only in terms of experience and as being continuous
with experience. Philosophy expresses this by saying that all
reality must be somehow akin to what we know as consciousness.

Philosophy, then, is not being false to the experiential
method, l)ut only Ijeing radical or thorough-going in the concep-
tion and use of this method, when it suggests that not only can
reality be known only by way of experience, but it can ultimately
consist in nothing but ex])erience. This ]>rinciple signifies that
reality or existence is meaningless apart from some kind or
degree of consciousness as its correlate, just as consciousness is
meaningless apart from something or another of which it is the
awareness. It implies, further, that the real meaning of the
economy of knowledge is that the function of knowledge, as the
guide of action, is to lead through action to further experience,
or that knowledge and action upon it — knowledge as enlightening

" Compare on this point Clifford's allegorically-expressed speculation
to the effect that " as the ph3sical senses have heen gradually developed
out of confused and uncertain impressions, so a set of intellectual senses
or iiisi^i^ltts are still in course of development, the operation of which may
ultimately be expected to be as certain and immediate as our ordinary
sense-perceptions.'' — Quoted from Sir F. Pollock's liiographical sketch
prefixed to the Lectures and Essays, where the allegory is instanced.

TKESIDKNTIAL ADDRICSS SKCTIOX V. 1 33

action and action as applying knowledge — are the inseparable
factors in the development of concrete experience itself. Lastly,
this principle means that the ultimate nature or reality of what
we are wont to call things must be analogous to what we know
in ourselves as experience. ]^Jore generally, everything that is
real must have some kind of inner hfe of its own. I shall con-
clude with a word or two on this last point.

If it is asked what there is in our actual experience to sug-
gest this conception, the answer is that, in a true analysis of
experience, things are known to us not merely as facts of which
we may l)ecome aware, but as entities of which we have to take
account in our practical life, and therefore as related to our
efforts and purposes. When we regard things in this way,
we find it impossible to think of them only as objects of know-
ledge, and not in some degree as subjects or centres of experience.
Things respond in different ways to different modes of treat-
ment on our part, and they exhihit differences oif quality through
adaptation or facilitation. They have their own ways and habits
and tendencies, their own attitude or point of view, their owai
conatus in suo esse perseverarc, as Spinoza put it. There is a
passage in F. C. S. Schiller's " Studies in Humanism "' ^' that ex-
presses this point in a quaint but suggestive way : " A stone, no
doubt, does not apprehend us as spiritual beings, and to preach
to it would be as fruitless (though not as dangerous) as preach-
ing to deaf ears. But does this amount to saying that it does
not apprehend us at all, anfl takes no note whatever of our
existence ? Not at all ; it is aware of us and affected by us on
the plane on which its own existence is passed, and quite capable
of making us effectively aware of its existence in our transactions
with it. The " common world " shared by us and the stone is
not, perhaps, on the level o:f ultimate reality. It is only a phy-
sical world of " bodies," and " awareness " in it can apparently
be shown only by being hard and hea\y and coloured and space-
filling, and so forth. And all these things the stone is, and
recognises in other " bodies." It faithfully exercises all the
physical functions, and influences us by sO' doing. It gravitates
and resists pressure, and obstructs ether vibrations, etc., and
makes itself respected as such a body. And it treats us as of a
like nature with itself, on the level of its understanding, i.e., as
bodies, to which it is attracted inversely as the square of the
distance, moderately hard, and capable of being hit. That we
may also be hurt it does not know or care. But in the kind of
cognitive operation Avhich interests it, viz., that which issues in
a physical manipulation of the stone, e.g., its use in house-
building, it ])lays its part and responds according to the measure
of its capacity."

Philosophy stands, therefore, for the recognition of the
suggestions or indications as to the nature of things which spring
from immediate experience — not only (from sense-impressions,

"P. 442 ~~ "

134 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRl'.SS SiaXloN F.

but from feelings, impulses, aspirations, instinctive or intuitive
awarenesses of any kind. A cautious philosophy, like a cautious
science, will not make confident assertions that go beyond the
limits of probable knowledge. 'But philosophy cannot admit that
the unknown reality must remain unknown. And the function
and justification of philosophy lie in the fact that without its
speculative ventures into the unknown, which are of the very
same nature as scientific hypotheses, although vaster and further-
reaching, knowledge could not advance for lack of inspiration
and impetus. It is in this spirit that a genuine philosophy of
experience suggests — as a hypothesis that arises from reflection
on the nature of our experience and from the inspirations of life
itself — that matter may, after all, be only mind in disguise, or
that what we call things must have an inner nature or being-
for-self which is not wholly different from our own. It is t'he
same feeling of our oneness with nature that leads science to
seek to reduce mind to terms of matter and philosophy to reduce
matter to terms of mind. It is only the double tendency, and
the gradual approach of the two through open-minded sugges-
tion and verification, that can lead to further truth. " We shall
then discover," says Mach, " that our hunger is not so essentially
different from the tendency of sulphuric acid for zinc, and our
will not so greatly different from the pressure of a stone, as now
appears " ;^* or as philosophy puts it from the other side, that
"if ' atoms ' and ' electrons ' are more than counters of phy-
sical calculation, they, too, know us, after their fashion. Not
as human beings, o!f course, but as whirling mazes of atoms and
electrons like themselves, which somehow preserve the same
general patterns of their dance, influencing them and reciprocally
influenced."'^-' Such conceptions, in ovu* present state of know-
ledge, seem unreal. But they are finger-posts on the way to
truth. At all events, they are better than the attitude expressed
(whichever way we take it) in the old saw:

" What is mind ? No matter.
What is matter? Never mind."

^^ Science of Media iiics. p. 464.
"• .Schiller. /(;<•. cit.

LIST OF PAPERS READ AT THE SECTIONAL

MEETINGS.

Section A. — Astronomy, Mathematics, Physics, Meteor-
ology, Geodesy, Surveying, Engineering, Architec-
ture, AND Irrigation.

MONDAY, JULY 8.

1. Address by Prof. J. T. Mokkison, M.A., B.Sc, F.R.S.E., President of

tlie Section.

WEDNESDAY, JULY la

2. Safety in winding operations : J. A. Vaughan, M.I.C.E., M.I.Mech.E.

3. A new type of accurate sundial or solar clock : J. Moik, M.A., D.Sc,

F.I.C.

4. A rapid approximate method of calculating the occultation of stars

by the moon (for the Central Transvaal) : J. MoiR, M.A., D.Sc,
F.I.C.

THURSDAY. JULY n.

5. The desiccation of Africa : the cause and the remedy : Prof. E. H. L.

ScHWARz, A.R.C.S., F.G.S.

Section B. — Chemistry, Geology, Metallurgy, Mineralogy,
AND Geography.

TUESDAY, JULY 9.

1. Address by P. A. Wagner, Ing.D., B.Sc, President of the Section.

2. The medicinal springs of South Africa — Supplement I : Prof. M. M.

RiNDL, Ing. D.

3. On the persistence of arsenite of soda in the soil : C. W. Mally, M.Sc,

F.L.S.. F.E.S.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10.

4. Note on the occurrence of a peculiar phosphate of aluminium in a

deposit of bat guano : B. de C. Maechand, B.A., D.Sc.

5. The determination of phosphoric oxide ; particularly in fertilisers,

soil extracts, and the like : B. ue C. Marchand, B.A., D.Sc.

6. Wasted South African resources : coal and its by-products : A. Kloot,

B.Sc. A.I.C.

THURSDAY, JULY 11.

7. Some experiments on the fate of arsenic in the animal body:

H. H. Green, D.Sc, F.C.S., and C. D. Dykman, M.A.

8. The behaviour of bacteria towards arsenic: H. H. Green, D.Sc, F.C.S.,

and N. H. Kestell, B.A.

Section C. — Botany, Bacteriology, Agriculture, and Fores-
Try

TUESDAY, JULY 9.

1. Some experiments in the rudimentary teaching of Botany: Rev. F. C.

KoLBE, B.A., D,D.

2. Some notes on a collecting trip to French Hoek: E. P. Phillips,

M.A., D.Sc. F.L.S.

136 LIST OF PAPERS READ AT SECTIONAL MEETINGS.

3. A note on the flora of the Great Winterhoek Range : E. P. Phillips,

M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S.

4. A note on the pollination of Cyanella capensis, L. : E. P. Phillips,

M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10.

5. Address by C. E. Legat, B.Sc, President of the Section.

6. Some photographic illustrations of South African vegetation : I. B.

Pole Evans, M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S.

7. The diagnostic characters of some superficial fungi : Miss E. M. Doiuci:,

M.A.. D.Sc, F.L.S.

8. Notes on the genus Balansia: Miss A. M. King, B.A.

9. Additions and corrections to the recorded flora of the Transvaal and

Swaziland. II: J. Burtt-Davy, F.L.S., F.R.G.S.

10. Walnut bacteriosis : Bacterium Juglandis Pierce : Miss E. M. Doidge,

M.A., D.Sc. F.L.S.

11. The bacterial blight of beans: Bacterium phaseoU Erw. Sm. : Miss

E. M. Doidge. M.A., D.Sc, F.L.S.

12. A preliminary investigation into a disease attacking young Cupressus

plants : Miss A. M. Bottomley, B.A.

13. Notes on the morphology and life history of Uromyces Aloes Cooke:

V. A. Putterill, B.A.

14. Some preliminary observations on unseasonable veld-burning; and its

possible relation to some stock diseases : A. O. D. Mogg, B.A.

15. The pepper-tree (Schinus molle) in its relation to epidemic hay fever:

Prof. G. Potts, M.Sc, Ph.D.

Section D. — Zoology, Physiology, Hygiene, and Sanitary
Science.

TUESDAY, JULY 9.

1. Problems of degeneration as represented by the ostrich : Prof. J. E.

DuERUEN. M.Sc, Ph.D., A.R.C.S.

2. The pure-line hypothesis and the inheritance of small variations : Prof.

E. Warren, D.Sc.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10.

3. The pineal body in the ostrich: Prof. J. E. Duerden, M.Sc, Ph.D.,

A.R.C.S.

4. Charts, photographs, and reports of the Rand Mines Sanitation

Department: A. J. Orensiein, M.D., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.

5. The moth fauna of Southern Rhodesia: A. J. T. Janse, F.E.S.

6. Note on the persistence of the right posterior cardinal vein in Xenopus

lecvis and its significance : R. J. Ortlepp, M.A.

7. Leucocytogregarines, and their occurrence in South Africa. Annie

Porter, D.Sc, F.L.S.

8. Some parasitic protozoa found in South African fishes and amphibians :

Prof. H. B. Fantham, M.A., D.Sc, F.Z.S.

9. Intoxication by gastrophilous larvae: G. de Kock, M.R.C.V.S.

10. Some South African snails and the Cercarise which attack them : F. G.

Cawston, B.A.. M.D., B.C., M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P.

11. Arc the Orthoptera and Neuroptera actual orders or conglomerations?

S. G. Rich, M.A., B.Sc

12. Are the Odonata of economic value? S. G. Rich, M.A., B.Sc. ^

13. On the eradication of venereal diseases : R. T. A. Innes, F.R.S.E.,

F.R.A.S.

14. Some features of the South African Odonata as a fauna: S. G. Rich.

M.A., B.Sc

tlSV OF PAPERS READ AT SECTIONAL MEETINGS. I37

THURSDAY. JULY II. ■ ..^^
55. Address bj' Prof. E. J. Goddard, B.A., D.Sc, President of the Section.

FRIDAY. JULY 12.

36. Crossing the North African and South African ostrich: Prof. J. E.
DuERDEN, M.Sc, Ph.D., A.R.C.S.

17. Drug treatment in Nuttalliosis of equines : G. de Kock, M.R.C.V.S.

38. Bovine contagious abortion in South Africa : E. M. RoBINso^f,
M.R.C.V.S.

iy. On certain changes in the external sex-characters of ostriches, occur-
ring: after removal of the reproductive glands; Sir A. Theiler,
K.C.M.G., D.Sc.. and D. Kehoe. M.R.C.V.S.

20. Discontinuous distribution in a few mammalian groups : T. F. Dreyer,
B.A., Ph.D,

\
Section E. — Anthropology, Ethnology, Native Education,
Philology, and Native Sociology.

TUESDAY, JULY 9.

1. The Natives of Natal in relation to the land: M. S. Evaxs, C.M.G.,

F.Z.S.

2. Native customs in relation to small-pox among the Ba-Ronga ; Rev-.

H, A. JuNoo.

3. The medicine-man in Natal and Zululand : Hon. Justice C. G. Jackson :

4. The Zulu witch-doctor and medicine-man: J. B. McCord, M.R.C.S.,

L.R.C.P.

5. Suggestions towards a better provision for the medical needs of the

Natives: C. T. Loram, M.A., LL.B., Ph.D.

6. Suggestion for the education of public opinion on native affairs : M. S.

Evans, CM.G., F.Z.S.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10.

7. The engraved rock of Loe, Bechuanaland Protectorate: Miss M.

WiLMAN.

8. Religious beliefs and superstitions of the Xosas : a study in philologv ;

J. McLaren, M.A.

9. Arts and crafts of the Xosas : a study based on philology : J. Mc-

Laren, M.A.

10. Some early geographers and explorers of Africa : Rev. W. A. Norton,

B.A., B.Litt.

11. Some unrealised factors in Native economic development: Rev. J. R. L.

KiNGON, M.A., F.R.S.E., F.L.S.

12. Does it pay to educate the Native? Rev. A. E. Le Roy.

13. Social conditions of Natives on the Rand : Rev. W. F. Hiix, M.A.

THURSDAY JULY 11.

i-|. The killing of the Divine King in South Africa: Rev. S. S. Durnan.
M.A.. F.G.S.

15. The traditional history and customs' of the Makaranga (Varozwe) :

E. G. How man.

16. Who built the Rhodesian ruins? W. H. Tooke.

17. Cattle as a factor in South African race relationships: Rev. J. R. L.

KiNGON, M.A., F.R.S.E., F.L.S.

18. The philology of the Native Language (Zulu and Xosa) : Rev. S. G. G.

AiTCHisoN, M.A., D.D.
ig. Place names of Africa, No. II : Rev. W. A. NokxoN. B.A., B.Litt.
20. The evolution of a Native administration ; Rev. J. R. L. Kingon.

M.A., F.R.S.E., F.L.S.

1^8 LIS'T OF PAPERS READ aT SEXTIO^AL MEETIN'GS. "

21. Central African folk-lore tales. Second Series : Rev. J. R. L. KiNGOif^

M.A., F.R.S.E., F.L.S.

22. Classification of Bantu place names: Rev. J. R. L. Kingon, M.A..

F.R.S.E., F.L.S.

23. More Sesuto etymologies : Rev. W. A. Norton, B.A., B.Litt.

FRIDAY. JULY 12.

24. Address by Rev. W. A. Norton, B.A., B.Litt., President of the Section,

25. The Natives in the larger towns : J. S. Marwick.

26. Some engraved stones of the Lydenburg District (North-East Trans-

vaal) : the occurrence of cup-and-ring markings in South Africa:
Dr. C. Pyper.

27. Native child-life: Rev. S. G. G. Aitchison, M.A., D.D.

Section F. — Education^ History, Mental Science, Political
Economy, General Sociology, and Statistics.

TUESDAY, JULY 9.

t. Reconstitution of the Union Senate : R. T. A. Innes, F.R.S.E.,.
F.R.A.S.

2. Decimal coinage: Prof. W. A. Macfadyen, M.A., LL.D.

3. Epic poetry in French literature : Prof. R. D. Nauta.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10.

4. Economic Natural History, and why it should be taught in schools ;

F. W. FiTzSiMONS, F.Z.S., F.R.M.S.

5. Purpose in education: H. C. Reeve, M.A.

6. The ethical principle of equity : Rev. S. R. Welch, B.A., D.D., Ph.D.

FRIDAY. JULY 12.

7. Address by Prof. T. M. Forsyth, M.A., D.Phil., President of the

Section.

8. Health problems in country districts, Transvaal and Orange Free

State: Jane B. H. Ruthven, M.D.. L.R.C.P., L.R.C.S.E.,
L.R.F.P.S., F.R.S.A.
0. Vicarious parenthood: a war suggestion: Mrs. F. McLaren.

10. Philological method of teaching classical declensions and conjuga-

tions : Rev. W. A. Norton, B.A., B.Litt.

SATURDAY, JULY 13.

11. War and the value of money: Prof. R. Leslie, M.A., F.S,S,

12. The kap-tent wagon : J. Y. Gibson,

139

THE PROGRESSIVE DESICCATION OF AFRICA
THE CAUSE AND THE REMEDY.

By E. H. L. SCHWARZ, A.R.C.S., F.G.S.

(With eight text figures.)

That Africa is drying up is a fact that is as apparent in
the north as in the south of the continent. In the north within
the historic period there was a vast population living where
now the desert sand drives over the land. In the south the
forefathers of the present generation have left records of
forests, lakes and running rivers where to-day there are
practically desert — or at least Karroo — conditions. The two
great central reservoirs, Lake Chad for North Africa and
Lake Ngami for South Africa, are the insignificant remnants
of vast sheets of water, the old terraces of which are still to
be seen like those of Lakes Lahontan and Bonneville, in
North America. Even within the short period during which
these regions have been visited by white men they have shrunk
very considerably. This drying up is due to the fact that
Africa stands at a great height above sea-level as a plateau,
with an elevated edge bordering the sea; this edge I shall
call the Coastal Rampart.* Inland, great rivers once
traversed the continent, yielding fertility to all the lands
adjoining, but the short coast streams, rising in the mountains
along the edge, having precipitous courses to the sea and
consequently great tearing or erosive power, have cut back
into the inland basin and have drawn off the waters. Then
the rain falling in the area of the inland plateau, instead of
collecting in rivers which flowed placidly through the continent
amid plains covered with luxuriant vegetation, was drawn off
in the rocky channels of the coast streams and was hurried to
the sea. This process is still going on and every year more
territory is gained by the coast streams at the expense of the
inland system. The study of the cause of the progressive
desiccation of Africa resolves itself, therefore, into a study of
the river svstem, which, as I shall show, consisted origfinally
of four main streams, three flowing from the centre northwards

* Livingstone, in his "' Missionary Travels." p. 474, describes how
on visiting Lake Dilolo on his return from St. Paul de Loando, he
came to regard Central Africa as an elevated trough, with a border
of mountain ranges. He was led awav from discovering the true
cause for the rivers being drawn away from this trough by a state-
ment bv Sir Roderick Murrhison. that the rents by which the rivers
escape have been suddenlv formed by volcanic upheavals. — President's
address, Royal Geographical Society, 1852,

-I40

THE DESICCATION OF AFRICA.

and one from the centre southwards; these I have called the
PROTO-Niger, the PROTO-Congo and the ProtO-Nile for the
northern tract, and the ProtO-ORANGE for the southern. The
remedy for this distressing state of affairs is the revival of the
great inland sources of supply for the rainfall of the interior,
the re-flooding of Lakes Chad and Ngami. While the scheme
for Lake Chad involves too much expense for it to be advocated
at the present time, the case of Lake Ngami is quite different.
The rivers supplying Lake Ngami are actually now being
stolen by the head-streams of the coastal rivers, and a quite
moderate weir across the Cunene River would turn the whole

Fig. I. — Map of Africa.
tSiiowiNG THE Original C'orR,SF:s of the Prixoipal Uivers.

THE DESICCATION OF AFRICA. 141

of the water coming down from the Angola highlands in a
southern direction into Lake Ngami, instead of rushing
uselessly to the sea. A second barrage at the outlet of the
Ngami depression, where the Chobe River filters into the
Zambesi River, would prevent the waters escaping and would
fiood thousands of square miles in the Ngami and Makarikari
depressions. From the evaporation from these vast expanses
of water the air throughout South Africa would receive a
most notable increase in moisture and the humidity of the
continent would be permanently increased. The surface of
water exposed when these depressions were filled was greater
than that of Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika; one can judge,
therefore, what an immense loss to the humidity of the
continent has ensued since these have been drained. According
to Chapman, the Makarikari dried up about 1820, leaving vast
quantities of hippopotami, crocodiles and fish which lived in
the lake, to perish, when they were devoured by vultures.
Even in Chapman's time (1852-4) the Chobe occasionally
flowed towards Ngami. The proposed weir at Ngoma on the
Chobe would have to be, according to data hitherto published,
which, however, are very uncertain, not more than 10-12 feet
high. That is, taking Ngami to be 3,117 feet above sea-level
and Kasungula at the Chobe-Zambesi confluence 3,084 feet ;
between Ngoma and Kasungula there are the Sebuba Rapids
formed by a bar of hard rock which crosses both the Chobe
and the Zambesi.

THE AFRICAN RIVER SYSTEM.

If one glances at the map of Africa, one is at once struck
by the extraordinary courses of the rivers. The Niger rises m
the coastal mountains of the south-western corner of North
Africa, goes north-east to Timbuktoo as if about to run
through the desert, then turns right round and enters the sea
on the very coast on which it commenced its course. The
Congo, likewise, begins by running northwards, then turns a
complete semi-circle and pierces the rampart of mountains on
the west coast, instead of following the low ground up towards
Lake Chad. The Nile is again peculiar in its course, and the
Zambesi and Orange alone seem to run straight from source
to mouth like normal rivers of the Amazon or Mississippi type^
but these appearances are, as we shall see, deceptive.

The second noticeable feature in the African map is the
prevalance of deserts like the Sahara and the Kalahari. There
is a very widespread misconception of the nature of deserts;
the Sahara, for instance, is not a waste of drifting sand as is
often imagined, but has an Alpine range of mountains, the
Tibesti Highlands, in the centre, and on either side are tracts

142 THE DESICCATION OF AFRICA.

which may be covered with drifting sand, the " Ergs," or
they may be just bare stony ground, the " Hammada," or,
again, they may be covered with pebbles, when they are called
" Serirs." The deserts are in actual fact seamed by great
water-courses or wadys; some of these, like the Igharghar,
north of Tasili, can be traced as gorges through the hills and
as deep river-beds in the flats, though no water now flows
down their channels, and in places sand dunes entirely
obliterate all traces of them. Prehistoric stone implements for
the grinding of corn are found all over the western Sahara,
and the ruins of cities of stone-built houses occur, as at
Taodeni, north of Timbuktoo, where settled life is no longer
possible. River fish of the barbel family are found in pools
in the Tasili plateau, far from any river now flowing. All
these facts go to prove that the deserts are of recent origin
and were at no very distant date fair portions of the earth's
surface inhabited by man. Paradoxically enough, the very
fact that the desert is over large tracts covered with drifting
sand is proof, according to Captain Courbis, of underground
moisture, which, by capillary attraction, rises through the sand
and binds the grains together; were there no ground moisture
the sand would all blow away as in the stony deserts or
hammada. For the same reasons Foureau considered the
Ergs, or areas of drifting sand, to be the broad basins of a
former river system.

The deserts and the peculiar courses of the rivers are
causally related, and we shall see evidence in the sequel to
show that the great African rivers originally ran through the
deserts, giving them the requisite moisture to make them
normal fertile regions, but that, owing to the diversion of these
rivers by others working backwards from the coast and
capturing the waters of the inland system, a large portion of
the continent has been bereft of its natural supply.

Before we begin the detailed evidence of the capture of
the several great rivers, there are a few fundamental facts to
be mentioned with regard to the topography of Africa, which
perhaps are not generally recognised, but which will help us
considerably in understanding this question of desiccation.

In the first place, Africa is divided into two halves, the
line of division being a great volcanic fissure commencing in
the Gulf of Guinea by the string of islands, Anobon, St.
Thomas, Price's Island and Fernando Po. Then inland, there
are the volcanic peaks of the Cameroons, Mt. Atlantica, south
of Yola, the Marra Hills in Darfur, and the volcanoes in the
Bayuda bend of the Nile, between Dongala and Khartoum.
The half of Africa north of this line lies for the most part
below 1,500 feet above sea-level and that south of this line
above 1,500 feet.

THE DESICCATION OF AFRICA. 1 43

On the east, from the Zambesi to Abyssinia, there is a
great stretch of very high ground traversed by rift-faults of
such recent date that they cut across and interrupt the rivers,
the courses of which had already been laid down. Here there
is a portion of the country to which the ordinary laws of
erosion and river development cannot be applied, and we must
leave this area out of consideration. Many of the lakes m
this area, indeed, have no outlet and all the drainage from
the country adjoining is absorbed in the basins lying in the
rift valleys. Lakes Tanganyika and Kivu have been tapped
by the Congo and Victoria, Albert, and Albert Edward
Nyanzas by the Nile. Lakes Rudolf and Stephanie are
drainless, and in the south. Lake Nyasa is drained by the
Shire. In Cape Colony, the volcanic lavas of the Drakensberg
have been thrown across the drainage from the main watershed
of the country and the upper courses have been turned and
the waters forced across this watershed as the Orange River.
The original lower courses of these rivers, the Bashee,
Umzimvubu, Umzimkulu and so on, run impetuously down
the steep slopes of the Drakensberg and straight to the sea.
So great is the velocity of the water flowing on such a steep
and so short an incline, that the erosion is very intense, and
these rivers on the coast side of the Drakensberg are eating
back into the mountains and are in reality trying to restore
the original water-parting. In Abyssina similar features are
exhibited ; the short coastal rivers are pitted against the inland
system, which, whether flowing into the Nile or Congo, have
to traverse the whole length and breadth of the continent, or
whether draining into basins without outlet, have far less
precipitous courses and consequently erode or wear down their
beds far less rapidly. In far future ages the original water-
parting will be restored, but the faulted mass is so broad that
at present we cannot recognise the plan as we can in the
Drakensberg. Africa is a great fault-block which has risen
recently, speaking in a geological sense, from the sea, much
as an iceberg rises when the top burden melts. The continent
of Africa is different entirely from the other continents, which
have as predominant features folded mountains. The folds,
contemporary with the African faults, form, as it were, two
concentric ripples round the fault block of Africa, the nearest
ripple being the Alps-Himalayan chain of folds of Europe
and Asia and the further ripple being the Aleutian Islands-
Rocky. Mountains-Andean chain of America. All the waters,
then, run from high tablelands, which, owing to the limited
time of exposure to the effects of river erosion, have not been
carved into the hills and valleys of the more familiar scenery
of Europe; the topography is said to be immature. The
rivers run in deep gorges separated by wide tablelands, and
they flow rapidly to the sea with water- falls or cataracts in

144 THE DESICCATION OF AFRICA.

at least some parts of their courses. This vigorous energy of
their flow has as a result an intense destructive influence on
the beds of the rivers, and erosion is more marked as a
trenching or downward cutting effect than as a lateral one,
such as we see in Europe, where alluvial valleys are the more
characteristic. The amount of sand and gravel carried by a
river depends on the energy of the stream, which is measured
by its velocity; the sand and gravel dragged along by the river
acts as a rasp that wears away the rocks, and hence the greater
the velocity the greater is the erosion. The greatest velocity,
and consequently the greatest amount of sand and boulders
borne by the streams is at the sources of the streams where
they commence in the hills. This portion of the rivers is, then,
enabled to arode its bed more rapidly than the lower ones,
and its action is called Headstream erosion. Headstream
erosion is the means by which the short, rapid coast streams
eat back through the heart of the coastal mountains and tap
the waters of the inland system, whose waters are more
sluggish. Headstream erosion has tapped the Niger and the
Congo, diverting their waters from the Sahara and leaving it
dry. Headstream erosion, again, has tapped the Zambesi
basin from the east and has diverted its waters, which once
flowed south-west through the Kalahari, and has turned it
into a desert.

Africa is such a homogeneous mass; its features are so
distinctive, different from those of other lands, yet the same
in character throughout the length and breadth of its enormous
extent, that an illustration taken from one part is an explana-
tion for any other area. The nature and effect of headstream
erosion, then, may be illustrated by a perfect small example
in Cape Colony and can be apphed to the elucidation of
problems in central and northern Africa. This example occurs
in the hills south of Grahamstown. A ridge of Carboniferous
sandstone forms the edge of a great tableland, 2,500 feet
above sea-level; to the south, the coast-shelf is a thousand
feet lower, and the ridge forms, as it were, the hardened edge
of a step in a gigantic staircase. On the north, a river scoured
a valley in which Grahamstown lies; it flowed east by south
and eventually entered the Great Fish River. The rivers on
the south of the ridge, heading in the thousand-feet cliffs of
a former sea-coast, have been working vigorously to breach
this rampart, and three gaps have been made in it. The flrst
two near Grahamstown, Howieson's Poort and Woest Hill,
have simply excavated large basins in the hills and are every
year stealing a little more from the northern drainage-area,
with its rivers running in beds with only moderate falls.
The third poort, however, is the Blaauw Krans, where the river
has actually pierced the ridge and captured all the eastward-
flowing water. The continuation eastwards is the Cap River,

THE DESICCATION OF AFRICA.

Fig. 2. — Capture of the Cap River by the Blue Krantz

(Blaauw Krans).

146 THE DESICCA-TION OF AFRICA.

which is now beheaded, and its natural head-waters find an
outlet through the Blaauw Krans gorge. The deviation is
the effect of headstream erosion; the fact that a stream flowing
eastwards in a natural valley made for it should turn abruptly
at right angles and pierce a high range of quartzite hills, can
have no other explanation, unless we have recourse to faults,
of which there is no evidence.

The coastal rampart of hills on the east coast, or on the
Gold Coast, is similar to that of the Grahamstown mountain
ridge, or Zuurberg. Substitute for the three streams, the
Kariega, the Kowie and the Blaauw Krans, the Sanaga
(Cameroons), the Ogowe and the Congo, or the Bandama, the
Volta and the Niger, and we see on a large scale what has
happened on a small scale near Grahamstown ; this fact, the
capture of the inland water-system by the smaller, but more
vigorously-flowing coast streams, is the great fundamental fact
which explains the alterations gomg on in the physical
conditions all over Africa.

I have referred to the phenomenon of headstream erosion
in the Grahamstown hills because I happen to live m that
town, and the example is compact and complete, but quite as
good examples occur in the western mountains, especially
north of Ceres and generally throughout Cape Colony. In
Oudtshoorn there is a further example of two parallel rivers,
the Olifants, running in soft Cretaceous rocks, and the
Kammanassie, running in comparatively hard Devonian slates.
Here we have the conditions represented by the Niger, which
flows in Cretaceous strata above the Bussa Falls, and its
tributary, the Kaduna, which, originally probably of equal*
extent to the Niger itself, having to erode its bed m hard
granite, progressed but feebly, while the Niger spread back
and absorbed the whole of the drainage behind the coastal
rampart. The Olifants River has similarly spread back and
worn for itself a great alluvial plain, while the Kammanassie
has lost much of its original drainage area and lies in a
narrow valley.

The topography of Europe, Asia and Africa was laid down
in the Eocene epoch. At the end of the Cretaceous period"
enormous changes took place ; the whole fauna of the world
was wiped out and new forms took their places. Among
vertebrates, for instance, the predominant type in the Cretace-
ous period was that of the reptiles, and in the Eocene the
modem mammalian types were introduced. Africa, which up
till then formed one continent with India, was riven by
gigantic faults, and the trough of the Indian Ocean was
produced. Round this fault-block the continents of Europe
and Asia became ranged, with the Alps-Himalayan chains as
the backbone. The destruction of life was related to these

THE DESICCATION OF AFRICA. 147

convulsions in the earth's crust, and we can reconstruct from
geological evidence a picture of what then went on. The
earth's crust was disturbed, was broken and crumpled, as if a
blow had been given it and the material were plastic like
modelling clay. The convulsions were not confined to a single
short period, but were spread over what would be regarded
historically as an immense stretch of time, and at the end
the world-segments, the continents and oceans, emerged more
or less in the broad outlines in which we now see them. The
movements continued during the Eocene period and altered
somewhat the original plan, but we can regard these as
supplementary. As a matter of fact, the barriers raised by
these later movements are definitely athwart an earlier
topography, and the rivers with which we are chiefly concerned
are busy removing them and restoring the earlier features. It
is on this assumption that the reasoning in the following pages
is based, but it would take us- too far from the subject in
hand to develop it fully. To put it concisely, the features of
the earth's surface, its topography, its rivers, hills, coast-lines,
etc., date from the dawn of the modern period, the Eocene;
these were on a different plan and had no relationship to the
topography of the earth's surface in earlier periods. That, in
the widest sense, is a sort of master-key to the understanding
of the present condition of affairs, and the changes that are
now going on are alterations of that original Eocene plan.
Individual terrains, when examined in detail, confuse this
prime conception, because we may find that the original
topographical features were laid down later than the Eocene,
or, may be, earlier, as in Cape Colony, and it would be more
strictly accurate to leave the period in which the stamp was
set indefinite : that a stamp was set and that its recognition
explains why the conditions in various countries are changing,
we shall see ample evidence in the sequel.

THE NIGER.

The Niger rises m the granite hills of Tembi Kundu,
2,764 feet above sea-level. These hills form part of
the coastal rampart which guards access to the interior
from the sea on the Gold Coast and which, indeed, is a
characteristic feature on the whole west coast as far as
Cape Colony. It is deeply canyoned on the sea-ward side
towards Sierra Leone and Liberia and the main watershed
has retreated inland under the action of headstream erosion
by the short, rapid rivers of the coast. Some of the heights
of the original crest, like Mt. Drouple, 9,750 feet, are left
isolated and far south of the watershed-

On the north, the Tankisso River, flowing from the sand-
s,tone hills of