Cretaceo - Tertiary of survey - notes on paper by Alexander McKay., 1887 - 1888

This series contains a notes prepared by Professor Thomas for lectures and laboratory classes between 1883 and early 1900s. During this period Thomas was the only lecturer in geology at Auckland University College and he was also responsible for teaching biology and agricultural science.

The material in this series has been arranged into five sub-series which reflect the way geology was taught by Professor Thomas. In 1894, for example, the geology course for undergraduates comprised of a one year course with two lectures a week and attendance at the laboratory twice a week. Lectures were divided into three areas of study: the history and object of geological study, including rocks and minerals, volcanoes, earthquakes and “secular movements” of the earth’s crust; palaeontology, including the examination of “classes of plants and animals found in the fossil state” and “their bearing on the theory of Evolution”, and lastly the chronological classification of rocks, geological eras and the geology of New Zealand. The hands on laboratory classes focussed on the identification and study of a wide range of rocks, minerals and fossils. Researchers should note that a number of the scientific names used by Thomas to classify fossils are now obsolete.