34 



ASSOCIATIONS, SCIENCE. 



ASTRONOMY, PROGRESS OF. 



thiopology " as his address, advocating its study 

 and commenting on the advantages offered by 

 British New Guinea and its outlying groups of 

 islands for its pursuit. The following papers 

 were then read : " Bibliographical Report " ; 

 ' Story of Tu and Rei " and " Women's Omens," 

 by Rev. Dr. Gill; " New Britain and its People," 

 by Rev. B. Danks; " Sydney Natives Fifty Years 

 Ago," by Rev. W. B. Clarke; "Samoa and the 

 Loyalty Islands," by Rev. S. Ella ; " Notes on 

 the Tannese," by Rev. W. Gray ; " The Loyalty 

 Islands," by Kev. S. M. Creagh; " Malekula Cus- 

 tom," by Rev. W. Legatt ; " Anqityum Custom," 

 by Rev. J. Lawrie : " Group Marriage and Rela- 

 tionship" and ''The Nair Polyandry and the 

 Diere Piraruru," by Rev. L. Fison ; " The New 

 Hebrides," by Rev. D. Macdonald ; and " The 

 Origin of the Sense of Duty," by A. Suther- 

 land. 



H. Sanitary Science and Hygiene. The pre- 

 siding officer of this section was Prof. W. II. 

 Warren, who holds the chair of Engineering in 

 the University of Sydney. His address dealt 

 with the development of sanitary science and its 

 application to present experiences both in cities 

 and towns and in dwellings. The following 

 papers were read : " Cremation," by T. James ; 

 " House Ventilation," by P. Hurst Seager ; " The 

 Etiology of Typhoid," by E. O. Giblin ; " Physi- 

 cal Education in Schools," by Miss Violet Mac- 

 kenzie ; " Notes on a Grease Interceptor," by W. 

 S. Cook ; ' Sewerage of a Seaside City," by A. 

 Mault ; " On Some Matters relating to Public 

 Health," by C. E. Barnard: ''Diseases commu- 

 nicable from Animals to Man, illustrated by 

 Microscopic Slides," by A. Park; and "On the 

 Modes of Infection in Tuberculosis," by E. 

 Hirschfeld. 



I. Literature and Fine Arts. Prof. Edward 

 E. Morris, who has the chair of English, French, 

 and German Languages and Literatures in the 

 University of Melbourne, was the president of this 

 section. His address had to do with education, 

 and he advocated fewer universities but increased 

 teaching facilities. The following papers were 

 read : " The Heralds of Australian Literature," 

 by T. A. Browne ; " Some Aspects of Australian 

 Literature," by Alexander Sutherland ; " Among 

 the Western Highlands of Tasmania," by W. C. 

 Piguenit; "Popular Errors about Art and Art- 

 ists," by J. R. Ashton ; " The Province of the 

 Amateur in Art," by C. H. Dicker: "The Au- 

 thorship of Shakespeare's Plays," by F. J. Young ; 

 " Shakespeare and Bacon," by C. M. Tenison ; 

 " Secondary Education in Australia," by P. 

 A. Robin ; " Elementary Science in Primary 

 Schools," by J. Rule ; " The Scientific Method of 

 studying Languages," by R. T. Elliott ; " The 

 Rationale of Examinations," by F. J. Young; 

 " The Modern Lyric from a Musical Standpoint," 

 by Miss E. Mills; " Tennyson's Poetic Rhythms," 

 by H. R. Webb; "The Australian Decorative 

 Arts," by J. R. Tranthim-Fryer; and "Forma- 

 tion of Home Reading Union," by the Bishop of 

 Tasmania. 



J. Architecture and Engineering. This sec- 

 tion was presided over by C. Napier Bell, of 

 Greymoutn, New Zealand. His address was gen- 

 eral, and described the more prominent of the 

 recent developments in engineering science with 

 their special suggestiveness to Australia. Papers 



with the following titles were read : " Building 

 and Architecture ; a Definition and a Vindi- 

 cator," by Alan C. Walker ; " The Truthful Treat- 

 ment of Brickwork," by A. North ; " On the 

 Making of Hydraulic Lime and Mortar," by A. 

 O. Sachse ; ' Primitive Construction of Houses," 

 by Edward Dobson: "Railway Extension and 

 Break of Gauge," by A. Stuart; "Water Sup- 

 ply of Rural Towns of Tasmania," by C. W. 

 James; "City Surveys," by D. M. Maitland; 

 and " Fronts of Buildings in Brickwork v. Port- 

 land Cement," by W. W. Eldridge. 



Entertainments. During the meeting the 

 following evening lectures were delivered : On 

 Jan. 8, " The Rise and Growth of the British 

 Empire." by Dr. Robert Giffen ; on Jan. 11, " The 

 Great Sutherland Waterfall," by C. W. Adams ; 

 and on Jan. 13. " Early Hobart," by J. B. Walker. 

 On Jan. 12, a concert was given by the Musical 

 Union ; also garden parties were given, on Jan 7, 

 by Sir Robert G. C. Hamilton ; on Jan. 9, by 

 Henry Dobson ; on Jan. 13, by the Bishop of 

 Tasmania ; and on Jan. 15, by R. C. Read. On 

 Sunday, Jan. 16. a science sermon, " From Man 

 to Nature and from Man to God," was delivered 

 by Rev. George Clarke, Vice-Chancellor of the 

 Tasmanian University. 



Next Meeting. The fifth annual meeting 

 of the association will be held in Adelaide, South 

 Australia, in 1893, at a time which was left to be 

 fixed by the officers and committee in Adelaide. 

 For that occasion the following officers were 

 chosen: President, Prof. Ralph Tate ; Vice- 

 Presidents, Sir Robert G. C. Hamilton, Baron 

 Ferdinand Von Mueller, Sir James Hecror, Al- 

 bert Norton, and H. C. Russell ; General Secre- 

 taries, E. H. Rennie and W. H. Bragg; and 

 Local Treasurer, F. Wright. 



ASTRONOMY, PROGRESS OF, IN 1892. 

 The astronomical discoveries of the past year 

 have been numerous and important, as the fol- 

 lowing resume will show: 



The Sun. Although the present is only the 

 second or third year of the sun-spot maximum 

 cycle, yet the number and enormous dimensions 

 of some of the groups and isolated spots, often 

 visible to the naked eye, have excited much 

 popular as well scientific interest in solar phys- 

 ics. Astronomers were greatly surprised at the 

 immense size of a sun spot which appeared in 

 September, 1891, though it was but a pygmy in 

 extent when compared with that of February, 

 1892. The latter was for several days conspicu- 

 ously visible to the naked eye. To record its 

 history from its inception to its final disappear- 

 ance after five axial rotations of the sun would 

 occupy more space than this limited article will 

 allow. Though called a sun spot, it was. in 

 reality, an aggregation of fifty or more separate 

 but contiguous spots, which seemed to have been 

 thrown out from the center in wild profusion as 

 if by an explosion. At its maximum, on Feb. 8, 

 it is doubtful if there ever has been seen so grand 

 a spectacle on the sun's face. As 450 miles at 

 the sun's distance subtends an angle of but 1", 

 and as the spot was 5' 30" 148,500 miles in 

 length, and 3' 15" = 87,750 miles in breadth, it 

 follows that it must have covered an area equal, 

 in round numbers, to 10,000,000,000 square 

 miles, concealing ^j- of the sun's visible hemi- 

 sphere. During its visibility it drifted in lati- 



