Art. XIX. — R<'i>urt of the (Johvuut/^e of the Rof/ai Society 

 of Victoria, consistiru/ of Professucs Kernot, Lyle, 

 and Masson, and Messrs. Ellkrv, Love, and White, 

 appointed to arrainje for the rarrnliKj oat of the 

 Gravity Survey of Australasia. 



To THE Royal Soc^etv of Victoria. 



Gentlemen, — In laying befoi-e you tliis, the Second 

 Annual Report, your Committee has much pleasure in 

 informing you that the work of the Survey has now 

 commenced. The penduhuns and other apparatus lent by 

 the Royal Society of London — of whicli a description is 

 appended — -have been received, and ei'ected in a cellar at the 

 Observatory, kindly phiced at the disposal of the survey hy 

 tlie Government Astrononiei". Tlie observing telescope sent 

 with the apparatus ])rovt'S to be somewhat inconvenient, 

 and it is projXKsed to employ a different arrangement. The 

 stand for tlie air-])um]) was badly packed, and found to be 

 broken on its ariival ; otherwise the instruments were 

 in \'ery fair order. It is ])roposed to devote the next few 

 months to a careful examination of the effects of temperature 

 and i»ressure on the times of oscillation of the pendulums; 

 such an investigation being rendered especially necessary 

 by the very considerable changes of temi)erature to which 

 the instruments may possibly be exposed in tlie course even 

 of a single set of swings. The values of the temperature 

 and pi-essui-e coefficients for the pendulums numbered (4) and 

 (1821) were worked out for the purposes of the Indian 

 Survey; but the constants of the third pendulum, numbered 

 (11), have not yet been determined. General Walker 

 assumed them for the pui-pojjes of tlie Greenwich and Kew 

 observations (lately completed) to agree with those of the 

 other two ; but your Committee is of opinion that the 

 matter requires further investigation. 



The question as to the construction of a new pendulum 

 has received a o-ood deal ot attention fiom your Committee 



