158 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION A. 
With this end in view I propose to point out in this address 
certain branches of astronomy and terrestrial physics which, in 
my opinion, have the strongest claim to the immediate con- 
sideration of the scientific workers of the Australasian colonies 
and, in some cases, to the encouragement and support of their 
Governments. 
In astronomy, as practised in Australia, it is necessary to 
distinguish the work of the fixed Observatories, maintained at the 
public expense, from that of the private or amateur astronomers. 
The National Observatories, of which there are four in Aus- 
tralia, namely, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth—this last 
having just been established—equipped as they are with fine 
instr uments, modern apparatus and appliances of the best work- 
manship attainable, with their staff of assistants, their extensive 
libraries, their financial resources, and their facility of communi- 
cation with the scientific world, possess the best conditions for 
carrying on work of a fundamental character, methodically con- 
tinued from day to day, and from year to year, on a relatively 
large scale, with the highest degree of precision attainable with 
the most perfect means, “for the eradual but steady accumulation 
of long series of observations and records intended to serve the 
purposes of working astronomers of the present and of the future, 
or to form a part of general undertakings in co-operation with 
other Observatories of the world. 
Such, in fact, is the nature of our main contribution to 
astronomy. 
But in this respect the Australian Observatories, and probably 
others, are looked upon as silent, isolated, and uninteresting 
organisations, little understood, and much underrated by the 
general public. 
They are, however, fortunately or unfortunately, called upon 
to discharge many other functions which bring them into a close 
relation with the every-day life of their respective colonies. These 
other non-astronomical functions are principally concerned with 
local requirements for the service of the community, and absorb 
no less than two-thirds of their total strength, the other third 
being stolen by astronomy out of that part of a solar day during 
which the public is asleep, and leaves the astronomers to do what 
they please. I believe that in the mind of most people the 
existence of the Observatories is justified only by those two-thirds 
of their activity, and this is a danger which cannot be overlooked 
by those who guard the interests of pure science. Such condi- 
tions debar our colonial Observatories from engaging in the more 
attractive and more speculative parts of astronomical research, 
and make it necessary that our available astronomical strength 
should be devoted almost solely to observations and preparation 
