PROCEEDINGS’ OF ‘THE’ SECTIONS. 
SEcTION A. 
ASTRONOMY, MATHEMATICS, AND 
PHYSICS. 
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 
By P. Baraccut, F.R.A.S., Government Astronomer, Melbourne. 
(Delivered Friday, January 7, 1898. ) 
AsTRONOMY and terrestrial physics are, among others, branches 
of knowledge for the advancement of which it is necessary that 
every civilised country should contribute its share of scientific 
activity. The study of astronomy embraces the entire vault of 
the heavens, and the physical conditions of our terrestrial globe 
can only be fully investigated by the observation and interpreta- 
tion of phenomena occurring over the whole extent of its surface. 
In these respects, the isolated position of our colonies in the 
Southern Hemisphere imposes upon us the responsibility of obtain- 
ing and supplying data for the progress and completion of general 
researches and undertakings in which the rest of the world has 
already done, or is doing, its part. We have not been idle, and: 
looking back on the scientific work and enterprise of these 
colonies in the past we may, not unnaturally, feel inclined to 
think that we have done a great deal in a short space of time and 
among the distracting influences and first necessities of colonial 
development ; but if we consider what yet remains to be done, in 
view of modern requirements, and in order to be able to reach, 
and keep pace with, the more advanced workers, most of us will 
feel oppressed and perplexed by the innumerable demands that 
will be made upon us in the immediate future. 
Of these demands, even of the most important of them, it is 
well to be conscious that we can only attempt to satisfy a few, 
and for this reason it becomes necessary from time to time to 
decide as to their relative urgency in order to concentrate our 
efforts in the accomplishment of what seems most desirable 
according to circumstances. 
