69 



become extinct, although the altered conditions might 

 gradually give rise to a new Fauna and Flora. We maj 

 then console ourselves without indulging in such flights of 

 imagination as those so fitly pourtrayed by Lord Byron in 

 his poem " Darkness " : — 



" I had a dream, which was not all a dream. 

 The hright sun was extinguished, and the stars 

 Did wander darkling in eternal space, 

 Eayless and pathless, and the icy earth 

 Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air. 

 Morn came and went — and came, and brought no day." 



In concluding this brief paper I will mention a subject 

 with which the Society is acquainted. Mr. Le Sueur, who 

 had charge of the large Melbourne telescope, in his report 

 to the Royal Society, London, — and contained in the Pre- 

 sident's address— makes the following statement relative to 

 the star and Nebula 77 Argus :— " The Nebula around 77 Argus," 

 says Mr. Le Sueur, " has changed largely in shape since Sir 

 J. Herschel observed it ; I believe the Nebula lies nearer to 

 us than the fixed stars seen in the same field." Mr. Le Sueur 

 also states his belief that the star -n shines with the light of 

 burning hydrogen, and thinks that the star has consumed the 

 nebulous matter near iv. 



Without endorsing this opinion of Mr. Le Sueur, it is 

 something to know that the fluctuations in the star r? and 

 its Nebula have another authority, notwithstanding there 

 is pending a correspondence on several questions set forth on 

 the altered features of v Argus with a view to obtain a 

 solution, and a closer agreement between the drawings made 

 at Hobart Town, and those made at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and in India ; which, under the circumstances I believe to be 

 impossible, as no two very dissimilar instruments will show 

 nebulous matter alike— to detect small fluctuations will re- 

 quire patient watching over a length of time, with one and the 

 same instrument (a standard) similar to the 18-inch reflector 

 used at the Cape of Good Hope by Sir J. Herschel. 



