Wellington Philosophical Society. 7 



" Ordeiicus Vitiilis " (Book v, chap, ix) contains the following lines in reference 

 to this comet : — 



History's ancient annals fix 

 The year one tliousand sixty-six : 

 Then a tiriy conict wtiiilcd, 

 Dreadful oiiicn, round tile world. 

 As the time when En<;land's lord 

 PVU before the Norman's sword. 



— Forester. 



Henry of Huntingdon, in concluding his account of William the Conqueror's 

 reign, writes, — 



VVliat thoiish, like Caesar, nature failed 



To give thy brow its fairest grace ! 

 Tiiy brigJit career a comet hailed. 



And with its lustre wreathes tliy face. 



— FORKMTKK. 



On one of the first coins struck by William I there appears a star, and 

 authorities consider it possible that this star was a representation of the visit of 

 this comet, and was adopted as a distinguishing mark for that issue of the coinage. 



('/(Of haul /s/o/ic/.s. — I still hope that we may be able to organize an expedition 

 for the purpose of studying the natural history of the Chatham Islands. At the time 

 when I first brought this before you w'e were unable to get the co-operation of the 

 other scientists in New Zealand, mainly because they were engaged in working up 

 the material which they had accumulated in the visit to the Auckland and Campbell 

 Islands ; and you will no doubt have seen the two volumes which have been issued 

 by the Philosophical Institute of Canterbviry containing an account of the expedi- 

 tion and the scientific results. We must all join in the congratulations which have 

 been offered to the editor, authors, and printer on the satisfactory result of their 

 labours. I hope it will not be long before we shall have a volume of the same 

 character on the Chatham Islands. 



Lihrari/. — And now a few words with regard to a matter which requires atten- 

 tion in the affairs of the Society itself. We have in this room a very considerable 

 number of books, and we subscribe as a Society to about twenty periodicals, and 

 I think we should take steps to make provision for the proper binding of the 

 numbers as soon as the year is complete. I think we have not expended any money 

 in this direction for some considerable time. A year or two ago I was fortunate 

 enough to get some binding done by the Government in the library in general, 

 and possibly some of these periodicals may have been bound at that time; 

 but it would be better if there were some general instructions to the effect 

 that a certain amount of money should be expended on binding in each 

 year. You may recollect that last year I drew your attention to a scheme 

 which I had under discussion for the purpose of making the libraries of 

 the branch Institutes available to students. There has been a good deal 

 of correspondence on the matter, and there are some points still to be decided 

 upon : but one of the main objects of the scheme has been attained, and it is now 

 possible for any member of this Society to borrow from any of the other libraries, 

 if they happen to possess it, any book that is not in this library that may be 

 required by the member for the purpose of scientific research. This arrangement 

 is, of course, subject to certain restrictions which are absolutely necessary, and 

 which no reasonable person would dream of objecting to. The other main point 

 which has not yet been settled is the question of a joint card catalogue. This 

 entails preparation by an expert, and should be as far as possible uniform. The 

 question of the cost has not yet been settled, and I am trying to find the cheapest 

 and best way out of the difficulty. This catalogue should be compiled on the same 

 basis by all libraries, and, although this may appear to be a simple matter, it 

 has its difficulties. It is only, however, when this catalogue is satisfactorily made 

 that we can proceed to consider the question of how far we can effect economies 

 in the pui'chase of books. This is not, apparently, a burning question at the present 

 time, as I find that the expenditure on books is not very great, the average number 

 of new volumes added being small. I am more than ever convinced of the necessity 

 for some united action, and more particularly with regard to scientific journals. I 

 am frequently asked for the loan of volumes containing papers of importance in the 

 leading periodicals ; but in many cases we do not possess a complete set. This is 

 to be regretted, as, though the libraries housed in this room have had exceptional, 

 opportunities during the last forty years, members have been unable to utilize their 

 privileges to the best advantage, there being no regularly trained librarian, the care 

 of the books having to be undertaken by the Museum officials. It is time that this 

 was brought to an end if the library is to fulfil its functions properly. 



