(c) This question was considered from the standpoint of the older universities of England. The author contrasted the value of the science schools of Oxford and Cambridge with similar schools in American universities. He deplored the want of true perspective evidenced in the former schools and the too great differentiation of the theoretical from the practical. Only by the breaking down of this artificial barrier can the older universities compete with the broader schools of newer universities.

(d) The equipment of the laboratory, metallurgical testing works, and general control of the plant were briefly discussed.

In conclusion, the author expressed his consciousness of the brief manner in which he had outlined the scope and utility of the metallurgical laboratory, but he is confident that the establishment of a central department on the lines laid down, and maintained at the cost of all the mines, would furnish abundant justification for the optimistic views which he holds as to the value of the metallurgical laboratory to the gold-mining industry of the Witwatersrand.

3. Notes on Economic Problems in Metallurgy on the Witwatersrand. By S. H. PEARCE.

This paper consisted of a discussion of the broader principles of metallurgy involved, under various headings:

1. Sorting. Under this heading a plea was made for a more systematic sampling of the quartzite adjacent to the reef matter mined, in order to avoid discarding 'waste from the sorting tables which carries payable values in some cases.

2. Milling. This subject included discussion of the fineness to which the ore should be reduced, both by the stamp mill and subsequent regrinding by the tube mill, and concluded that the marked increase of duty with the coarsest mesh used indicates probable development in this direction in the future.

3. Amalgamation.-This section pointed out the advantages of amalgamation prior to cyanide treatment, and that the percentage recoverable by this method is largely dependent upon the fineness to which the ore is reduced.

4. Concentration. This section gave the reasons for discarding mechanical concentration, by reason of the high extraction possible from the pyritic portion of the ore by cyanide treatment after regrinding.

5. Slimes Treatment. Various methods of slimes treatment were discussed, and the local advantages of the decantation method were shown, as compared to those processes in use elsewhere.

In conclusion, the advantages of the proposed 'all-sliming' of the ore were compared to the present method of separate sand and slime treatment; and modi fications of plant design were given, which appear to show a saving of nearly half of the present cost of installing the reduction plant.

4. On a Radio-active Substance Discovered in the Transvaal.
By R. LEWIS COUSENS, M.I.E.E.

The author described the experiments which he had conducted with an alluvial ore, consisting principally of pit clay with sand, and leaving on concentration a heavy deposit of black iron sand and other minerals, and which tended to prove that the ore contained a radio-active substance. The radio-activity of the ore was tested by means of the electroscope, by photographic methods, and by proof of the ionisation of the air in a bottle containing some of the concentrates. The results, together with the results of chemical treatment of the concentrates, pointed to the presence of radium in the ore, although apparently both uranium and thorium were absent. The author suggested tentatively that the radium may have been produced from titanium, which is present in the form of rutile in the concentrates.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1.

The following Papers were read:

1. The Soils of the Transvaal from their Chemical Aspect.
By HERBERT INGLE, F.I.C.

The results of the analyses of some seventy or eighty samples of soil, collected from various parts of the colony, were given, together with details as to the methods employed in their collection and examination.

A discussion of the results and of the general conclusions to be drawn from the material already obtained was also included.

A comparison was made between European and Transvaal soils, with reference to their composition, and especially to the interconnection of their chemical composition and fertility as indicated by field experience.

It was shown that to take English standards in judging of fertility from chemical analysis may lead to erroneous conclusions in the case of tropical or subtropical soils, and that, given a sufficient supply of water, a soil of apparently poor quality from analytical results may yield luxurious crops under the favouring conditions of growth existent in this colony.

2. Pretoria Rain and its Content of Combined Nitrogen.
By HERBERT INGLE, F.I.C., F.C.S.

The rain falling in Pretoria since February 1, 1904, has been collected, and measured, and its content of nitrogen existing as ammonia and as nitrates and nitrites has been determined each week.

The results were given both in parts per million of rainwater and also in weight of nitrogen per unit area grammes per hectare and pounds per acre. Compari

sons with English and other determinations were given.

The results showed that the amount of combined nitrogen brought down in the rain in Pretoria is considerably greater than the average amounts in Europe. Certain relationships between the richness in nitrogen and the total rainfall each week are observable.

3. A Fuel of the Midland Districts of South Africa.
By E. H. CROGHAN.

The region known as the Midland Districts is dry and treeless, with a scarcity of rainfall. The better part of this region is suitable for sheep-farming, being sparsely covered with bushes, the foliage of which constitutes the chief food of sheep and cattle. These bushes are very hardy, and have an enormous root system, penetrating to a great depth. They are of great nutritive value, as they contain a comparatively large quantity of digestible carbohydrates, principally starch.

These carbohydrates are associated in the plant system with potash compounds; therefore we also find a large quantity of potash in sheep excreta.

This manure accumulates in considerable quantity in the kraals (a sort of paddock near the homestead).

The farmer has no use for this manure as such, because he has no water for irrigation, and gets a very insufficient supply from his wells. In some parts of the sheep districts it is a well-known fact that the drought is often so severe that the lambs are killed to save the ewes.

The farmer therefore only uses the dung as fuel. He has it dug out and cut into bricks, somewhat resembling those made of spent tan, which in some Continental countries are similarly used as fuel. The ashes are thrown aside, and frequently accumulate as small mounds near the homestead.

These ash-heaps, as well as the manure itself, are of great economic value, more particularly for heavy, clayey soils.

The Cape farmer obtains a fair supply of guano from the Guano Islands along the coast, and if he were to supplement this with ashes of sheep dung, thus supplying the necessary potash (guano being principally of a nitrogenous and phosphatic nature), he would secure an excellent manure for raising all kinds of grain and root crops, especially potatoes.

For industrial or domestic purposes these ashes may be used for the production of potassium carbonate, which can be employed in making soft soap, since fat, tallow, and beef suet are also by-products on most farms.

As potassium carbonate is, so to speak, the starting-point in the production of all potash compounds, its uses are many, one being the formation of cyanide of potash, employed largely in gold extraction.

SECTION C.-GEOLOGY.

PRESIDENT OF THE SECTION.-PROFESSOR H. A. MIERS, M.A., D.Sc., F.R.S.

The President delivered the following Address at Johannesburg, on Tuesday, August 29:

IN opening the proceedings of Section C in its first visit to South Africa, and speaking first on behalf of those who are visitors, I think I may justly claim that to no Section of the British Association can this visit be more interesting or even more exciting than to us; we enter for the first time a country whose geological features and history, and whose mineral productions, have long aroused the keenest interest among European geologists and mineralogists.

We have followed the discoveries and discussions of South African writers; we have read your views and have become familiar with your terminology; we have heard the reports of those who have visited the country, either as travellers or with the special object of investigating its geological problems or mineral resources; and, indeed, ever since the Geological Society of London received the historic papers of Andrew Geddes Bain, the father of South African geology, many of the memoirs of your own geologists have been communicated to European societies and journals; we have looked from afar with yearning eyes upon this alluring country; and at length we have found ourselves upon its shores.

It has not been given to many of us to see those great pioneers of South African geology whose work was done in the days before amateurs and experts could come out for a few weeks or months to take a hurried survey of the country; but their enduring labours, which have laid the foundation of all subsequent work, are well known to us, and it is not necessary for me to do more than mention the familiar names of Bain, Wyley, Stow, Atherstone, Sutherland, and Dunn. Of these only the last named survives; but when one remembers that his maps of North Cape Colony and of Orange River Colony have served as the basis of the maps now in use, one is reminded how recent is the whole history of South African geology, and how much was achieved in so short a time by these early workers.

It is exactly one hundred years since John Barrow wrote the concluding words of his Travels in South Africa' which first directed attention to the geology of this country; it is only fifty years since Bain sent home the manuscript of the classic papers to which I have already alluded.

Since their days many have been the scientific visitors to the country who have remained here for longer or shorter periods, whose works have made us familiar with its problems and have contributed to their solution; the names of Cohen, Draper, Exton, Gibson, Green, Griesbach, Passarge, Rubidge, Sawyer, Schenck, and Seeley recall some of the most substantial scientific work which has been done either by visitors or residents. Several others who, without visiting the country, have by their researches in Europe helped to unravel the problem of South African

stratigraphy were enumerated by Dr. Corstorphine in his interesting and exhaustive Presidential Address last year.

If we must regret that we never had the opportunity of seeing the great pioneers and the earlier workers, we may rejoice that we have been able to meet those who are now actively engaged in continuing their labours; the period of cursory visits and fragmentary essays is closing and the era of deliberate and systematic surveys is beginning; we now look for authoritative information to the Cape Survey inaugurated by Dr. Corstorphine in 1895 and so ably continued by his successor Mr. Rogers; to the Transvaal Survey begun by Dr. Molengraaff in 1897 and auspiciously revived under Mr. Kynaston; and to the Natal Survey which Mr. Anderson has so successfully directed since 1901. I hope that it will not be long before there is no part of South Africa outside the direct supervision of a systematic and well-ordered survey.

There is perhaps some danger lest in a developing country, where the commercial possibilities are prominently before all eyes, the immense importance of such surveys should be overlooked, and lest it should be thought that what appears to be purely scientific research may be left to take care of itself until the mineral wealth of the country has been explored. I cannot enter too emphatic a protest against such a view; how closely the two interests are knit together must be apparent to anyone who reflects that the nature and sequence of the more northerly formations which have yielded coal, diamonds, gold, and metalliferous deposits can only be studied in the light of the more intelligible geology of Cape Colony and Natal. It is, moreover, immensely to the advantage of South Africa that you have intimately connected with the mining industry geologists of such training as Doctors Corstorphine, Molengraaff, and Hatch, who have all gained valuable experience upon geological surveys.

I may now, perhaps, cease to speak merely as a representative of the visitors and identify myself more closely with the Section as a whole; for the most gratifying feature of this meeting is that it is not merely a visit of strangers who are enjoying your hospitality, but that with Section C of the British Association is fused Section B of the South African Association, so that for the time being we are all colleagues; and even such vexed questions as the correlation of the rocks of the Transvaal or of Rhodesia with those of the Cape, or the origin of Banket, or of Blue Ground, or the extension of the Main Reef Series (perhaps it is no longer necessary to include the problem of the Dwyka conglomerate) can be discussed by us on the spot as members of the same body inspired by the same earnest desire for truth.

I began these preliminary remarks by asking that I might be regarded as the spokesman of the visitors, and therefore represented myself as a geologist visiting the country for the first time. I must, however, make a frank confession. Not only is this my second visit to the country, but I have not even any claim to be called a geologist. My training and experience have been such that upon many of the questions which must be most interesting to this Section I am not competen. to form an opinion or to appreciate properly the evidence. I must, therefore, crave your indulgence if in this Address I refrain from discussing any of the problems of surpassing interest which naturally engage the attention of those who are occupied with the study of South African geology. It would indeed be an impertinence for me to do so.

I venture, however, to hope that the frontier between geology and mineralogy is so ill-defined-if indeed a scientific frontier can be said to exist-that the thoughts and occupations of one who has confined himself to the study of minerals, and that rather in the laboratory than in the field, are not alien to the interests of Section C.

Experimental Geology.

A somewhat lamentable aspect of modern science is the vast array of unor ganised facts which are awaiting co-ordination; this is too often because they have been amassed without any definite idea of the purpose which they may serve; con