CHAPTER XL 



THE STATION AND SCIENCE 



If the pastoral life in ancient Chaldaea begot the science 

 of Astronomy, we may almost say that in Australia it 

 has engendered Meteorology. The minute care shown 

 in collecting records of rainfall, when every drop of 

 rain is registered as if it were golden, and the unceasing 

 endeavours to generalise the observations and arrive at 

 laws or cycles, are the direct offshoot of the pastoral in- 

 dustry. One of the greatest meteorologists, Mr. Clement 

 Wragge, whose services were too lightly dispensed with 

 during a period of necessary retrenchment, and have 

 never since been again sought, was himself, qua meteoro- 

 logist, largely a product of one of the great pastoral 

 States . 



The science of Geology has been advanced by the 

 search for artesian wells to replenish the pastures and by 

 the theories originated to account for them. Professor 

 Gregory's many volumes are remarkable equally for 

 their scientific depth and their popular style of pre- 

 sentment. 



Some speculative advances are still more notable. 

 Many of the men and not a few of the women who 

 took up with the feeding of sheep and the herding of 

 cattle in the wilds or the solitudes of Austraha and 

 New Zealand were persons of culture, and would have 

 moved, or actually had moved, in refined circles. When 

 they also possessed talent, they were readily induced to 

 devote such leisure as they had to the writing of books 

 and in more than one instance to the composition of 



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