266 



NATURE 



[April 20, 191 



.systematic lines. Such action has be<?n taken by organiiia- 

 lions similar to theirs — for example, the Agricultural 

 Kducation Association of Great Britain and the Breeders' 

 Association of America. The Of)portunity seems a good 

 one for the Australasian Association to associate itself 

 with questions of practical importance to the agricultural 

 industry. 



.Agriculture has to run upon more scientific lines, and 

 the farmer must be even more of a trained producer than 

 in the past. There must be a change in the relations of 

 the man of science and the farmer. They must become 

 more and more co-workers, and have many more interests 

 in common. Hence there must be some half-way meeting- 

 place, and he could think of no more suitable institution 

 than the experimental farm proj)erly equipped and rightly 

 conducted. These farms should be controlled by trained 

 men. They should also be properly equipped — laboratories, 

 \vorkr<x>ms, special implements, and special conveniences. 

 Mr. .Angus suggested the establishment of a Central Re- 

 search Station on tlie lines of the great institution at 

 Rothamsted. Failing that, the establishment of a Federal 

 Research .Station, properly equipped and staffed by the very 

 best men the Commonwealth could provide, would meet the 

 case. 



In Section H, dealing with engineering and architecture, 

 Mr. Elwood Mead, chairman of the Victorian State Rivers 

 and Water Supply Commission, submitted a paper on the 

 conservation of water in Australia. In two-thirds of this 

 continent, said Mr. Mead, it is doubtful, seeing that the 

 average annual rainfall is less than 20 inches, whether, 

 with the most economical usage, enough water can be 

 conserved to permit of all the land being occupied or all 

 the mines worked, and it is certain that wasteful or 

 improvident use will mean that large areas of fertile and 

 fruitful soil must for ever remain barren. The Common- 

 wealth Government should, he said, move in the matter, 

 and if that is not feasible, then there should be concerted 

 action by the States. Among the questions this investiga- 

 tion would deal with were the source, the extent, and the 

 probable permanency of underground supplies. In Queens- 

 land alone the wells which tap this underground reservoir 

 have a length of more than 310 miles, and had cost above 

 2,ooo,o(X)/. Nearly 2000 bores had been sunk there. 

 Prof. Gregory had estimated that in 1903 the wells of New 

 South Wales discharged about 22,000,000 cubic feet a day, 

 and those of Queensland 63,000,000 cubic feet. Since that 

 time the number of wells and the discharge had increased. 

 Much of this water is wasted, the prevailing practice being 

 to allow the water forced to the surface to escape. Con- 

 sequently there is loss by soakage and evaporation. 

 Seriously, Australia should consider whether it is wise to 

 allow this waste to continue. 



That the supply is not unlimited, said Mr. Mead, need 

 not be argued. Not only is it limited, but it is less than 

 will be needed for domestic and stock purposes alone. 

 Artesian supplies could not be expected to provide for it. 

 Just how limited the supply was, and how lonc the flow 

 would continue, were the vital questions. Should the con- 

 clusions of Prof. Gregory be correct, the exhaustion of 

 Australia's underground reservoir was inevitable, and it 

 would go out like a snuffed candle. 



The presidential address in Section I was delivered by 

 Dr. W. P. Norris, Commonwealth Director of Quarantine, 

 on " Public Health Ideals." Dr. Norris quoted some 

 striking examples of disasters brought about bv man's 

 blind dealings with nature. But this rashness, this 

 capacity for experiment and adventure, is the very essence 

 of progress ; and, finding he has suffered, man has sought 

 to know more of the world in which he is placed that he 

 may save himself. .As his knowledge gathers in volume 

 and becomes precise and ordered, so the beginnings of 

 sanitary science are reached. Man has already furthered 

 his own evolution considerably, half-unconsciously, and 

 for his personal advantage. Science seeks to discover the 

 all-powerful, the all-mighty, the abiding, the permanent, 

 the eternal, in and behind things. There can be little 

 doubt but that to-day man is within reach of real and 

 abiding knowledge, and that if he but has the will, the 

 earnestness, and high seriousness necessary, he may enter 

 into his kingdom — the Regnum Hominis of which' Bacon 

 believed, and of which Rav Lankester has more recenth- 



NO. 2164, VOL. 86] 



told in hiu Romanes lecture. Science (!'••■ - •^— -' '•' 

 assumption of his kingdom by man as . 

 order that he may make good his posi: ^ u 



of living things, and avoid the holocaust* of tite p.i^:. 



The presidential address in Section J, mental sti.iK- and' 

 education, was delivered by the Rev. E. H. Sugd«n, i 

 spoke of music as an instrument of education. 



The principal resolutions passed by the council of 

 association were the following : — 



Magnetic Observatories. — " In view of the gr»;it s 

 tific importance of continuous magnetic observ 

 selected stations, the council most strongly 1. 

 establishment of magnetic ob.servatories at Perth 

 Darwin, to supplement the long-continued and 

 valuable magnetic work of the .Mellxjurne Ot' 

 The council learns with gratificaticMi that the r> 

 the forty years' observations of the Melbourne O!. . 

 is now completed, and would earnestly request tha*. 

 Victorian Government authorise the printing of 

 results." The foregoing resolution to be brought to ih4| 

 notice of the Commonwealth, Victorian, and VVesterii 

 Australian Governments. " 



Seismological Equipment. — " That the council dir<'Ctt 

 the attention of the Governments of Western A"--''- .i-». 

 South Australia, New South Wales, and Victor 

 desirability of increasing and improving the sei^: 

 equipment of their respective observatories, in order u> 

 fulfil such modern requirements as are represented, for 

 example, in the first-order seismolc^ical station in the St. 

 Ignatius College Observatory at Riverview." 



Physical and ChemicdTTData. — " That a committee, f on* 

 sisting of Prof. Masson, Prof. Warren, Prof. Laby, ,md 

 Dr. Love as secretary, be appointed to cooperate with the 

 International Commission for the collection and annual 

 publication of all determinations of physical, chemical, 

 crystallographic, and engineering constants, and th.r 

 sum of 25/. be granted tow-ards the work of the < 

 mittee." 



Meridian Observatory. — " That the Australasian .A«socia» 

 tion for the .Advancement of Science respectfully directs 

 the attention of the Government to the following resoli*> 

 tion, which was passed at the International .AstrographMI^ 

 Conference held in Paris in 1909. This resolution the 

 association most strongly supports." Resolution referred 

 to : — " Considering the very small number of obser%"atori 

 in the southern hemisphere organised for work of hi 

 fundamental precision, it is very desirable in the intere 

 of science that a meridian instrument of the most modei 

 type should be installed in Australia." 



Teaching of Elementary Geometry. — " That, pursuartf 

 to the provisions of the resolution carried in Brisbane with 

 regard to the teaching of elementary geometry, a com- 

 mittee, consisting of Prof. Carslaw, Mr. Lucas, Mr. R. H. 

 Roe, with Mr. P. Board as secretary, with power to ad 

 to their number, be appointed to carry out the instruct!' 

 contained in the last half of the Brisbane resolution." 



Yass-Canberra Observatory. — " That the council of 

 A.S. express its gratification of the action taken by t 

 Commonwealth Government in regard to the creation 

 an observator>- at Yass-Canberra, and would recommend 

 that in order to comply with the request of the Inter 

 national Union for Solar Research, brought before the 

 council at the Brisbane meeting in January, iqoq, such 

 observatory be designed to fill, amongst other requ' - 

 ments, those of a solar observatory." 



Australian History. — " That in the opinion of this 

 association it is desirable that the governing bodies of th<? 

 public libraries in Sydney. Melbourne, .Adelaide, Brisbane, 

 Perth, and Hobart, should communicate with the Secretary* 

 of State for the Colonies, asking that duplicates of the 

 despatches that passed between the Governors of the 

 colonies and the Secretaries of State up to a date fixed 

 upon by the Secretary of State should be placed under 

 their charge, and that a copy of this resolution be for- 

 warded to the secretary of each of the libraries afore- 

 mentioned." 



Australian .Aborigines. — " That the general council be 

 requested to communicate with the State Premiers, direct- 

 ing their attention to the advisability of adooting a uniform 

 method of spelling .Australian place-names." 



" That the system of orthography for native names of 



