Jan. 29, 1885] 



NA TURE 



301 



of the New South Wales and Victorian branches, are invited. 

 Among the subjects to be discussed are the necessity of defining 

 the exact meaning of the geographical term Australasia, the 

 compilation of a reliable work on the geography of Australia for 

 Australian schools, the exploration of New Guinea, and the dis- 

 covering and defining of the exact boundaries of what may now 

 be termed British New Guinea. 



ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA F&R THE 

 WEEK 



1885, February 1-7 

 (For the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at 

 Greenwich mean midnig'it, counting the hours on to 24, is here 

 employed. ) 



At Greenwich on February 1 

 Sunrises, 7I1. 40m. ; souths I2h. 13m. 53'2s. ; sets, l6h. 47m. ; 

 decl. on meridian, 16" 58' S. : Sidereal Tine at Sunset, 

 ih. 35m. 

 Moon (2 days past Full) rise;, l8h. 22m.* ; south-,, ih. 23m. ; 

 sets, 8h. 12m. ; decl. on meridian, 8 J 21' N. 



Occupations of St in by tiie Moon 



5 •• 



Saturn, February 1. — Outer major axis of outer ring = 44"'5 ; 

 outer minor axis of outer ring = 2o"'i ; southern surface visible. 



February I, 7I1. — Jupiter in conjunction with and 4° 9' north 

 of the Moon. 



St TENCE IX VICTORIA 



THE President of the Royal Society of Victoria devoted a con- 

 siderable portion of the presidential address contained in the 

 last published volume of the Society's Transactions to a review of 

 the progress of science in the colony. It might at first sight be 

 supposed that, in young communities like those of the Western 

 States of America or of our own Australasian colonies, the 

 struggle to develop their resources to the utmost, which occupies 

 . every one, anf the total absence of a leisured class, would be 

 an insurmountable obstacle to scientific work, or indeed to work 

 of any kind for its own sake. But the numerous and valuable 

 publications which we constantly receive from scientific societies 

 formed among young English-speaking communities all over the 

 globe — in Japan, China, the Straits, Ceylon, Australia, Canada, 

 the United States, the Cape, and many other places — show that 

 this impression is wholly incorrect, and that the members carry 

 with them into scientific work the energy and perseverance 

 which they exercise in their ordinary avocations 



The first sign of progress which Mr. Ellery had to chronicle in 



his address was that the Royal Society had grown too large for 

 its building, and consequently the more spacious rooms of the 

 Melbourne Athenaeum had to be selected for the annual address. 

 The number of members has increased annually, and the finan- 

 cial condition of the Society is satisfactory. During the year 

 under review there has been "a vigorous and healthy progress," 

 but the young body, having outgrown its juvenile garments, 

 must provide itself with more capacious ones in the shape of 

 considerable additions to the Royal Society house. In the 

 several national scientific and technical departments the year has 

 been one of active labour, and their progress, in common with 

 that of the Society, has been considerable. There is, the Presi- 

 dent reports, an undoubted and general increase in the desire 

 for knowledge in the various pure and applied sciences, and 

 especially as applied to technical training and to the daily re- 

 quirements of life. New societies for the prosecution of study 

 and research, moie especially in the natural sciences, have come 

 into existence in the provinces, and the older societies and 

 schools are increasing in their influence and usefulness. The 

 School of Technology and the technological museums at Mel- 

 bourne are growing rapidly. An example of the great economic 

 benefits of such institutions was afforded during the year under 

 review by the opening of a new trade between Victoria and 

 * India wholly on account of the knowledge derived in Melbourne 

 from the museum collection of Indian woods, and it is antici- 

 pated that a like result will accrue from a collection of colonial 

 economic woods sent to Calcutta. In Ballarat and Sandhurst 

 the schools of mines are important centres of teaching in the 

 arts and in applied and natural sciences. In Melbourne itself 

 the Medical and Pharmaceutical Societies, the Microscopical 

 Society, and especially the Field Naturalists' Club, have par- 

 taken in the general progress. 



The President then comes to the question of what has actually 

 been done in Victoria during the year towards the advance of 

 natural science. The fir-t person referred to in this connection 

 is Baron Mueller, to who e research is due a large proportion of 

 what is known of Australian botany. He succeeded in getting 

 the Colonial Government to purchase for the Botanical Museum 

 the collection of Dr. Sanders of Hamburg, a leading authority 

 on alga;, and on European and North African botany. Valuable 

 additions, illustrative of the flora of the western coast districts of 

 Australia, were made to the same museum, which has really been 

 formed by Baron Mueller himself from his collections, extending 

 over nearly forty-four years. Among new publications of the year 

 were additions to the "Fragmenta Phytographia Australis," a 

 continuation of the " Systematic Atlas of the Eucalypti," a new 

 edition of a work on "Select Plants for Industrial Culture," 

 and " A Systematic Census of Australian Plants. " A second 

 volume of the vegetable fossils of the auriferous drifts was com- 

 pleted, and in its pages are described and compared most of the 

 fossil fruits of the Pliocene period. A vast field of investigation 

 still remains in the fossil foliage of the Miocene deposits. With 

 a reference to the work of the Melbourne Observatory during 

 the year the president closes that portion of the address with 

 which we are specially c incerned here. At the end of the 

 addres he argues that the Royal Society is broad enough in its 

 con-tituti jn to embrace all sciences, and that, therefore, various 

 sections in connection with it should be formed rather than new 

 societies for each science. The community is not, he thinks, 

 yet large enough to maintain, in an effective state, a number of 

 scientific societies ; and if all in Victoria interested in the pro- 

 gress of science, or engaged in her various byways, were to unite 

 together, n it only w <uld more useful work be done, but the work 

 would be more valuable, on account of being subjected to a wider 

 criticim. All the colonial scientific societies combined would 

 form a strong body, capable of fostering and even subsidising 

 scientific research. In one respect, perhaps, the wheels of the 

 Society might run more sm iothly. The volume (a rather small 

 one) of the Transactions for 1883 was not issued till May 30, 

 1884, and was not delivered in London until more than six 

 months later. 



THE KILIMANJARO EXPEDITION 



A T a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society held on 



- rt - Monday night, Mr. H. H. Johnston gave a description of 



his visit to Kilimanjaro, on the slopes of which he spent more 



than five months in the summer and autumn of last year. 



Mr. Johnston began by explaining the circumstances in which, 

 as appointed leader of the expedition projected by the joint Kill- 



