NA TURE 



[January 30, 1908 



possible in climatic conditions, nor has the purely 

 scientific aspect of the question been neglected, for 

 simultaneously with the document to which we have 

 already referred, the New Zealand Government has 

 just issued a detailed " Report on a Botanical Survey 

 of Kapiti Island," by Dr. L. Cockayne, a botanist 

 who is already w^idely known for his researches on 

 the New Zealand flora. This e.xhaustive and pains- 

 taking piece of work deals with the physical 

 geography and climate of the island, and with the 

 introduced plants and animals, as vi'ell as with the 

 indigenous flora. The latter is treated under the 

 headings of the various plant-formations — classified 

 as forest, shrub, coastal, meadow, and rock-forma- 

 tions — and much attention is devoted to ecological 

 problems. The suitability of the island as a plant 

 and animal sanctuary is discussed, and lists are given 

 of the native and introduced plants. This report, 

 again, is illustrated by numerous excellent photographs 

 taken by the author. 



The interesting monograph which we have thus 

 briefly summarised is a good example of the activity 

 and enthusiasm with which the representatives of 

 natural science in New Zealand are carrying on the 

 good work initiated by such pioneers as von Haast, 

 Hutton, Hector, Kirk, BuUer, and Parker, to mention 

 only some among those who have already passed 

 away from the scene of their labours. 



Arthur Dendy. 



LIEUT.-COL. R. L. J. ELLERY, C.M.G., F.R.S. 

 T lEUT.-COL. R. L. J. ELLERY, whose 

 ■*— ' death we announced on January i6, was for 

 many years the director of the Williamstown and 

 Melbourne Observatories. To review his career 

 is to recall the history of astronomy in Aus- 

 tralia, so intimately was he connected with its 

 progress. When he took up work as Govern- 

 ment Astronomer in a rising colony, the instruments 

 at his disposal were small, and the funds avail- 

 able for promoting astronomical research neces- 

 sarily limited. The e.xtension witnessed in the last 

 forty years is due in no small measure to his 

 initiative, and not the least of his services was to 

 induce the colony to recognise the claims of science 

 and to make more liberal provision for its needs. 

 By his efforts arose the new observatory at Mel- 

 bourne, and by his activity it became the centre for 

 the prosecution of much useful work. There, too, 

 at his instigation was mounted the four-foot reflector, 

 at the time of its erection the most powerful instru- 

 ment in the southern hemisphere. This instrument 

 was much used for the examination of Herschel's 

 nebulae, but in a new society, intent upon material 

 progress, such a telescope was perhaps of even 

 greater use by the interest it aroused in science 

 generally. It served as a permanent reminder of the 

 progress of science, and of the necessity of meeting 

 its demands. For as the colonies enlarged, the 

 claims of science required increasing support. In 

 climatology. Col. Ellery's powers of organisation 

 were invaluable. Not only did he collect the neces- 

 sary information which indicated the more valuable 

 localities for settlement, but gradually issued isobaric 

 charts and storm warnings, at first applicable to the 

 coast, but afterwards, as other colonies joined in an 

 uniform scheme, published daily weather charts ex- 

 tending over the whole continent. Terrestrial mag- 

 netism was another subject he pursued with great 

 eagerness, and geodesy, including pendulum experi- 

 ments and longitude determinations, also claimed the 

 attention of the staff. In a word, the observatory was 

 the centre of enterprise and activity, encouraging the 

 scientific spirit in many directions. 



NO. 1996, VOL y^l 



Forty years ago, the condition of meridianal 

 astronomy in the southern hemisphere was in a 

 backward condition, and naturally much attention 

 had to be paid to the determination of star places. 

 1 wo standard star catalogues were issued from the 

 Melbourne Observatory under Col. Ellery's direction, 

 and, in addition to this special work, zone observa- 

 tions on a large scale were carried out. Taking part 

 in the work of the International Star Chart has 

 increased the meridian measures very considerably, 

 since the observatory has loyallv assisted others in 

 providing the positions of guiding stars, where 

 required, and for the final reduction of the measures 

 on the photographic plates. Both in 1874 ''"d 1882, 

 -Australia furnished a number of stations for the 

 observation of the transit of Venus, and particularly 

 on the former occasion the late director was instru- 

 rT.ental in providing suitable equipment, and assisted 

 the general programme very materiallv. 



Col. Ellery retired from the office of director in 

 1895. Some portion of his leisure he devoted to the 

 preparation of a history of the beginnings and growth 

 of astronomy in Australia, and in various ways he 

 was prominent in promoting scientific interests. He 

 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1873, 

 was a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and 

 of many colonial societies for the promotion of 

 scientific aims. 



NOTES. 

 In the Henry Sidgwick memorial lecture at Newnham 

 College, Cambridge, on January 25, Mr. Balfour spoke on 

 decadence, and remarked that progress is with the West 

 and with the communities of the European type. " If 

 our energy of development," he is reported to have said, 

 " were some day exhausted, who can believe that there 

 remains any external source from which it can be renewed? 

 Where are the untried races competent to construct out 

 of the ruined fragments of our civilisation a new and 

 better habitation for the spirit of man?" He answered 

 his own questions with the assertion that such nations do 

 not exist. But Japan has been steadily assimilating what 

 is most important in European civilisation for some years 

 now, and her system of education is every year approach- 

 ing in efficiency anything the West has to show. In the 

 contingency of which Mr. Balfour spoke, it is easily con- 

 ceivable that a people with a genius for development, such 

 as Japan has shown, may take naturally the place of 

 superiority and develop a system which is a distinct 

 advance on any civilisation the world has yet known. 

 Men of science will be pleased with Mr. Balfour's tribute, 

 in the latter part of his lecture, to the achievements effected 

 by science and to the extent science has assisted human 

 development, but they will at the same time remember 

 that the Government of which Mr. Balfour was the leader 

 assisted scientific work no more than other Governments. 

 Statesmen are eloquent in praising scientific work and 

 methods, but few of them have sufficient courage of their 

 expressed convictions to make adequate provision for the 

 extension of natural knowledge which is the life-blood of 

 the modern State. 



We regret to see the announcement of the death of Sir 

 Thomas M'Call Anderson, regius professor of medicine in 

 the University of Glasgow Since 1900. 



Mr. Morris K. Jesup, who died last week, bequeathed 

 2oo,oooZ. to the American Museum of Natural History for 

 its collections. Mr. Jesup' was president of the museum 

 for twenty-five years ; his name is familiar to anthro- 

 pologists, and naturalists- generally, as that of one who 



