A Recent Rhyolite-ash with Sponge-spicules and Diatoms in Malaya

Extract

In 1928 the owner of the Tanjong Perak Rubber Estate, Dr. H. Trail Skae, noticed a white, porous, and friable rock near the Estate buildings and took specimens that were ultimately sent to the Geological Survey Department for report. The rock proved to be entirely new to British Malaya and of great interest, while in view of its complicated composition I suggested in a local publication that it should be called “Vitrite”. Dr. Skae registered the name “Vitrite” as a trade-mark for this rock, which has possible uses in commerce, but it has since been discovered that the word was used during the war by a Dutch firm for a particular kind of glass used in electrical work, so the name has to be abandoned, and the only attempt I have ever made to inflict a new name on petrologists has been signally defeated.