March 24, 1898.] 



NA TURE 



493 



sanitary science and hygiene, mental science and education. 

 Reports of some of these papers appeared in the Sydney Daily 

 Telep-aph, and from a large number of cuttings which Prof. 

 Liversidge has sent us the following abstracts have been 

 obtained. 



President's Address. 



Prof. A. Liversidge, F.R.S., the Secretary and newly-elected 

 President of the Association, delivered an inaugural address on 

 the evening of January 6. The address was a survey of the 

 objects and work of the Association, and a brief statement of 

 the more important questions with which chemists have lately 

 been concerned. The work of the International Catalogue of 

 Scientific Literature was referred to, and the hope was expressed 

 that Australasia would do something to assist the cataloguing of 

 scientific publications. Reference was made to the fact that 

 the Imperial Institute in London was becoming an institution 

 for the advancement of science. It was now ftilfiUing its in- 

 tended objects, and was becoming a most valuable means of 

 disseminating a knowledge of the products and manufactures of 

 the Indian Empire and the Colonies ; not only of a commercial, 

 but of a scientific value. Dealing with the chemistry of the 

 ancients, Prof. Liversidge said they might include amongst the 

 recent advancements of science the six important volumes 

 recently published by Prof. Berthelot, of Paris (Perpetual Secre- 

 tary of the Academy of Science and sometime Minister for 

 Foreign Affairs). Referring to the report of the Committee 

 appointed by the London County Council to inquire into the 

 teaching of chemistry, Prof. Liversidge remarked that Australia 

 at present imported most of its scientific men, but it was time it 

 set about educating its own in greater numbers, and providing 

 greater facilities and better equipped laboratories than the exist- 

 ing ones. The prosperity of a country very largely depended 

 upon the advance of science amongst the people and the more 

 or less practical application they made of each science. Students 

 required to be taught not only the principles of science, but also 

 how to observe, how to use their hands, and to reason and think 

 accurately, and to gather their information from various sources ; 

 for there were but few, if any, text-books so well written as to 

 be of equal value in all parts. And especially should they have 

 time and opportunity for some original or research work, in 

 order that they might enlarge the borders of knowledge, and 

 contribute something, however small, to the common stock. 

 Mere training and teaching for a degree was not sufficient ; post- 

 graduate work was essential if they wished to turn out scientific 

 men, who would be able to advance Australia by developing its 

 resources and improving the conditions of life. It was not 

 (Sufficient to merely instruct in the facts and principles of scieptific 

 knowledge. It was most important also to impart scientific habits 

 of thought and methods, especially with the object of making new 

 investigations or researches, so that the student might in tijrn be 

 able to teach something more than he ■ himself was taught or 

 learnt from books. With regard to recent work in chemistry. 

 Prof. Liversidge referred to the discovery of argon and helium, 

 and recent work on the liquefaction of gases. He also made 

 brief references to the manufacture of artificial diamonds and 

 other gems, the diffusion of metals, the phenomena of Rontgen 

 radiation, agricultural chemistry, and other subjects of interest. 



Astronomy, Mathematics and Physics. 



Astrottomy and Terrestrial Physics. 



Mr. P. Baracchi (Government Astronomer of Victoria) 

 selected the subject of " Astronomy and Terrestrial Physics" 

 for his presidential address. He pointed out certain branches 

 of astronomy and terrestrial physics which, in his opinion, had 

 the strongest claim to the immediate consideration of the scien- 

 tific workers of the Australasian Colonies, and in some cases to 

 the encouragement and support of their Governments. After 

 referring to the present observatories in Australia, Mr. Baracchi 

 said it was very necessary for their observatories to be extremely 

 careful with their available astronomical energy in order to 

 turn it to the best possible account, and it should be employed 

 solely in the preparation of data, which were demanded of^them, 

 as the most valuable contribution they could give to astronomy 

 at the close of the present and commencement of the next cen- 

 tury. Sidereal astronomy was well advanced in the Southern 

 Hemisphere ; indeed, it was said ten years ago that they were ahead 

 of the Northern Hemisphere in point of exact star catalogues. 

 In all other respects, however, their knowledge of the Southern 

 Hemisphere was deficient. The course before them was clear. 



NO. 1482, VOL. 57] 



Celestial photography, astronomy of position, and fundamental 

 investigations for the improvement of both these branches 

 should be the chief objects of their endeavours in 

 the present and immediate future. Other branches of 

 astronomical research must be left, and recommended to 

 the amateur astronomers of the Colonies. The best ser- 

 vice that could be rendered to astronomy by the amateurs 

 would be to direct their efforts to a class or classes of observ- 

 ations which could not be made by observers in the Northern 

 Hemisphere. With regard to terrestrial physics, there were 

 certain subjects which derived their great importance not only 

 from purely scientific considerations, but from their more or 

 less direct bearing upon material interests, from the fact that in 

 very recent years and at the present time they had been taken 

 up with renewed vigour and determination in the hope of im- 

 proving our knowledge on many points which still remained 

 unexplained. Prominent amongst these was terrestrial mag- 

 netism, from a knowledge of which it was hoped would be 

 gained a solution of some of the riddles which were now un- 

 explained. It was recognised that the main question to which 

 future efforts should be directed was to expand and coordinate 

 magnetic work done all over the world for obtaining a more 

 correct and complete knowledge of the distribution of terrestrial 

 magnetism and of its variations. The establishment of an 

 observatory in the interests of this science was a duty which 

 New Zealand owed to the scientific world.^ 



Cloud Heights and Velocity 



A paper on "The Measurement of Cloud Heights and 

 Velocity" was read by Mr. P. Baracchi. The year 1897 had 

 been called by some writers on meteorological subjects " the 

 cloud year," on account of the systematic observations of clouds 

 which were carried on in nearly all the civilised countries during 

 that period under a scheme laid out and finally agreed upon in 

 all its detail by the International Meteorological Committee at 

 its Upsala meeting in 1894. The object of the scheme was to 

 obtain more uniform and comprehensive data to serve as the 

 basis for the further study of atmospheric conditions, as indi- 

 cated by the forms and movements of clouds. After a brief 

 reference to the methods adopted in Victoria for securing 

 results anticipated by the scheme, Mr. Baracchi said there were 

 now some 20,000 observations ready. For the determination of 

 absolute height and velocity a pair of stations for simultaneous 

 observations were established, one being on the grounds of the 

 Melbourne Observatory and the other on the roof of Parliament 

 House at a distance of 6820 feet bearing. After consideration 

 he adopted the photographic method, which had been success- 

 fully employed at the Kew Observatory some years ago. The 

 absolute height and velocity of a cloud could, provided it was 

 suitably situated, be determined from two photographs of it 

 taken simultaneously with two cameras placed at a distance of 

 from a few hundred yards to one or two miles from each other, 

 the cameras being in all respects equal and rigidly mounted, so 

 as to point accurately to their respective zenith, namely, having 

 their collimation , axes truly vertical. Under good conditions 

 the highest clouds could be measured within 500 feet and the 

 lower within 50 feet. 



The Source of Periodic Waves. , 



Mr. H. C. Russell, F.R.S. , Government Astronomer of New 

 South Wales, read a paper on "The Source of the Periodic 

 Waves, sometimes called Earthquake Waves, which reach 

 Sydney from time to time." He stated that these waves were 

 recorded very frequently in Sydnej", and had the same period as 

 the waves known to be caused by earthquakes — that was 

 about twenty-six minutes from crest to crest ; but it was shown 

 that only about i per cent of them originated in earth move- 

 ments, and that 60 per cent originated in Bass' Straits, when the 

 meteorological condition known as a low pressure arrived at 

 that part of Australia. The effect of low barometers was to 

 cause a rise in the sea level, to provide for which currents set in 

 along the south and east coasts of Australia, which, meeting in 

 Bass' Straits, produced waves, and set them going in Tasman 

 Sea, whence they were recorded on the Sydney and Newcastle 

 tide gauges. It was also shown that at least another 10 per 

 cent, of these waves originated in Tasman Sea by the action of 

 heavy gales. That was, in all, 70 per cent, of the periodic 

 waves originated from meteorological disturbances, and probably 

 the remainder were due to these causes, although the connec- 



