XXIV 



Herschel. the only son of Sir Wil'iaiTi, to 

 complete liis father's labour of extending 

 the stirvey to the southern heavens. He 

 "undertook, with this object, a journey to 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and sojourned 

 there for the years necessary to ooniplete 

 the great -work. As the result of the la- 

 bours thus inaugurated, there are now 

 3,000 or 4.000 uebuljie known to "us, and 

 with every improvement of the telescope 

 fresh additions are made to the list. 



Comets formed the next subject illus- 

 trated. Photographic slides were shown 

 of Swift's comet of 1892. In the photo- 

 graphs of comets the stars had a remark- 

 able appearance. Instead of being roxind 

 dots, as in other photographs, they al! ap- 

 l^eared like a number of short arrows 

 pointing in one direction. The reason of 

 this was the rapid motion of the 

 comet among the &tars, which comnpelled 

 the photographer, in order to keep the 

 comet still, to represent the stars as mov- 

 ing. The 'en'gth of each streak repre- 

 senting a star indicates the distance and 

 direction of the comet's motion. 



The process by which a comet's tail was 

 developed, and the materials of which it 

 is composed, were next discussed. 



Some further photographs w^ere shown 

 of the sun and of the spots on hi« surface, 

 and the lecturer concluded by remarking 

 on the fascinating character of the studiy 

 of astronomy, and the labour which had 

 been expended upon it from the earliest 

 ages. 



The student of this subject finds an an- 

 swer to many questions, but as he studie« 

 he finds that many more questions arise, 

 which remain unanswered. Wheni'-e 

 comes the fascination? Why is it that 

 we, who are of yesterday, delight iu the 

 contemplation of such vast periods of 

 time, of number, and of distance — siicli 

 a boundless exhibition of force and gran- 

 deur? Surely, the answer must be "Th« 

 heavens' declare the glory of God." 



A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to 

 the lecturer. 



The Chairman annoimced that at the 

 next meeting Mr. J. W. Beattie would 

 give a lecture, illustrated, on the East 

 Coast of Tasmania, as visited hy Tasman. 

 At the September meeting Mr. A. Mault 

 would read a paper on the timber indti»- 

 try. At the October meeting the secre- 

 tary (Mr. A. Morton) would probably 

 have some notes of his visit to Canada. 

 That would be after his return from Van- 

 couver, and, no doubt, he would have 

 something interesting to say with regard 

 to his visit. 



Mr. Nat. Oldham operated with the 

 lantern slides illustrating Mr. Kings- 

 niill's lecture. 



AUGUST 26. 



Owing to the inclemenc.y of the weather 

 the meeting to be held this evening waa 

 postponed to September 9th. 



