160 
NATURE 
| Fuxe 30, 1870 
of the Statistical Society for June 1866, p. 282), I endea- 
voured to show that it was only the excessive difficulty of 
determining the character of the functions involved, which 
prevented economy from taking the mathematical form 
and standing proper to it. There is little doubt as to 
the principles of the subject ; but when we try to put them 
into figures, the data are found to be so deficient, compli- 
cated, variable, and subject to disturbances of all kinds, 
that any hope of accuracy soon dies away in most cases. 
In the above experiments I have attempted to determine 
the exact character of the functions connecting the ainount 
of work done with the intensity and duration of labour in 
certain simple cases. These cases, however unimportant 
in themselves, represent principles which have innume- 
rable applications in common life. 
W. STANLEY JEVONS 
THE NEW ZEALAND INSTITUTE 
Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Insti- 
tute, 1868. Vol 1. Edited and published under the 
authority of the Board of Governors of the Institute, 
by James Hector, M.D., F.R.S,, Wellington. (London : 
Triibner and Co.) 
UR brother philosophers at the Antipodes have set us 
an example that we should do well to follow in this 
country ; those who reside at head-quarters (Wellington) 
and who form the New Zealand Institute, having affiliated 
to themselves under a special Act of the Legislative 
Government, the various other societies engaged in similar 
pursuits that exist in the New Zealand Islands ; and who 
in consequence transmit their papers, or abstracts of them, 
to the Institute for incorporation in their Transactions. 
It is to such an organisation as this that we must look for 
relief from the overwhelming pressure of miscellaneous 
scientific literature under which the British naturalist 
now groans. Nomatter what branch of science he affects, 
or in how narrow a groove of it he walks, the number of 
Transactions, Proceedings, Journals, &c., with which 
he must keep az courant, is the great obstacle to his pro- 
gress ; and if he at all takes a broad view of his science, 
he must be content that it should be a superficial one, and 
increasingly so as new societies and journals spring into 
being. 
The rules and statutes of the New Zealand Institute 
appear to be under parliamentary control, and have little 
analogy with the charters of our free-born societies :—they 
were published in the Mew Zealand Gazette of March 9, 
1868, and the following is a summary of them :— 
Art. 1. Any society desirous of incorporation must 
consist of twenty-five or more members, and subscribe 
50/7. annually for the promotion of the branch of know- 
ledge it professes. 
Art. 2. Incorporation ceases on the failure of these 
conditions, 
Art. 3. Any such society must expend either one-third 
of its annual revenues in or towards the support of alocal 
library or museum, or one-sixth of its revenues to the ex- 
tension and maintenance of the museum and library of 
the Institute. 
Art. 4. Failure of this condition is followed by cessa- 
tion of incorporation. 
Art. 5. All papers read at such societies shall be re- 
garded as communications to the Institute, and be pub- 
lished by it, under the following regulations :— 
(a) The publication shall consist of a current abstract 
of the proceedings of the incorporated societies, and of 
papers read before them; and shall be entitled ‘ Trans- 
actions of the New Zealand Institute.” 
(6) The Institute has the power to reject papers, but 
(c) must return them. (d) A proportional contribution for 
the cost of publishing the Transactions may be demanded 
of the societies in respect of the papers they contribute ; 
and (e) a proportional number of copies of the Transac- 
tions will be sent to each society ; which may also (/) have 
as many copies as it pleases, at cost price. 
Art. 6. Funds and properties derived from the socie- 
ties shall be vested in the Institute, and applied by its 
governors to public uses. 
Art. 7. The incorporated societies shall conduct their 
own affairs, making their own bye-laws, &c. 
Art. 8. Certificates of incorporation are granted upon 
application and compliance with the foregoing conditions, 
under the seal of the Institute. 
The museum and library of the Institute are under the 
management of the Board of Governors ; the laboratory 
is under the exclusive management of the manager of the 
Institute. 
The governors are nine in number: the official ones are 
the Governor of the Colony, the Colonial Secretary, and 
the Superintendent of Wellington ; joined to six men, 
eminent for their scientific attainments or love of science ; 
amongst whom are Dr. Hector, who is likewise manager, 
and the Hon. Col: Haultain, who is likewise hon. secretary 
and treasurer. There are four affiliated societies: the 
Wellington Philosophical Society, the Auckland Institute, 
the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, and the West- 
land Naturalists’ and Acclimatisation Society. 
With regard to the contents of this first volume, it 
opens with a capital purpose-like address from the 
Governor, Sir. G. Bowen, which is followed by a series of 
papers, for the most part of very great scientific value and 
interest, and which give a very favourable idea indeed 
of the spread of scientific knowledge in the Colony, and 
the number of earnest workers it contains. ; 
Of these, those comprising the Transactions contain no 
fewer than twenty-two articles on Geology, Physics, 
Botany, Ornithology, Applied Sciences, Wave and Earth- 
quake phenomena, &c. ; these are followed by thirty-nine 
papers and verbal descriptions of scientific phenomena ; 
and these again by ten essays of great research and merit, 
respectively entitled :— 
“On the Geographical Botany of New Zealand,” “On 
the Leading Features of the Geographical Botany of the 
Provinces of Nelson and Marlborough,” ‘“ Remarks on 
a Comparison of the General Features of the Flora of 
the Provinces of Nelson and Marlborough, with that of 
Canterbury,” “Sketch of the Botany of Otago,” “On 
the Ornithology of New Zealand,” “On the Botany, 
Geographic and Economic, of the North Island of New 
Zealand,” “On the Cultivation and Acclimatisation of 
Trees and Plants,” ‘On the Geology of the North 
Island of New Zealand,” “Short sketch of the Maori 
Races,” “ On the Maori Races.” 
The last of these is the result of the life-long labours 
of one of the most accomplished and industrious of the 
early missionary settlers in the North Island, Mr. Colenso ; 
whose botanical researches have been as important as his 
