REPORT OF COUNCIL. XVll 



lectures were delivered in the following towns : — Cape Town. 

 Stellenbosch, Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Germiston. 

 Modderfontein, Boksburg, Krugersdorp, Heidelberg, Durban, 

 Maritzburg, East London, Grahamstown and Port Elizabeth. The 

 lectures were a phenomenal success, and for the first time have been 

 self-supporting. The Council has in former reports pointed out 

 the great educational value of these South African lectures and all 

 that they mean in the intellectual life of a comparatively new 

 country. Sufficient to say that they are now assured from year to 

 year, and care will be taken to bring to this country only distin- 

 guished scholars. It may be of interest to mention that Professor 

 Thomson's lectures will be published about Christmas under the 

 title " Darwinism and Human Life ; the South African Lectures 

 for 1909." 



A series of six lectures on subjects of general interest given by 

 Specialists in South Africa at the Transvaal University College, 

 Johannesburg, was initiated by a committee of the Association, 

 supported by a grant from the Witwatersrand Council of Education, 

 and these are open to the public on payment of one shilling. The 

 lecturers and subjects were as follows : — 



Professor Fouche, " Early Colonists of the Cape " ; Mr. R. T. 

 A. Innes, " Modern Telescopes " ; Professor J. Purves, " Camoens 

 and the Epic of Africa " ; Professor A. Lord, " Tradition Dogma 

 and Experiment in Morality " ; Dr. R. A. Lchfeldt, "Scientific 

 Study of the Production of Wealth " ; and General Aston, " A 

 proposed Military School for South Africa." The first four of these 

 have already been delivered, and the latter two will be given on 

 the 30th October and 27th November respectively. Your thanks 

 are due to the Council of Education for the grant which enabled 

 the series to be inaugurated, and to Dr. R. A. Lehfeldt, who under- 

 took the organisation of the lectures with the co-operation of a 

 local committee. 



7. Report of the Grahamstown Meeting, 1908. — ^This was 

 published and distributed last February. The Council desires to 

 place on record its thanks to Professor S. Schonland, who acted as 

 Chairman of the Publication Committee and Editor, and to his 

 coadjutors. The promptitude with which this report was published 

 was ver}? gratifying. 



8. Transvaal Observatory. — In May a deputation, consisting 

 of Mr. T. Reunert, Mr. F. C. Dumat, Mr. Raymond, Mr. W. 

 Schumacher and Mr. W. CuUen, waited on the Minister of Lands 

 (Transvaal), the Hon. J. F. B. Rissik, M.L.A., with regard to the 

 provision of a powerful telescope for the Transvaal Observatory. 

 The Minister was very sympathetic, and the Council has since 

 learned with gratification that the Transvaal Government has 

 ordered a 26-inch visual refractor for the Observatory. The 

 telescope will be the second largest of its class in the British Empire, 

 being exceeded in size only by the 28-inch visual refractor at 

 Greenwich. It will be remembered that the foundation of the 

 Transvaal Observatory in 1903 was the result of a petition to the 

 Government of the day by this Association in 1902. 



9. Standing Committees.- — The following Standing Committees 



