xcviii REPORT — 1869. 



I may have been tcdioiis to the many scientific men to whom the subject is 

 already perfectly familiar. Yet the contemplations which it opens out to us 

 are so exalted, and the proof which it affords of what can be accomplished 

 by the union of diiferent branches of science is so striking, that I hope I 

 may be pardoned for occupying yoiir time. I cannot, however, leave the 

 subject of Astronomy without congratulating the Association on the accom- 

 plishment of an object which originated with it, and in the promotion of 

 which it formerly took an active part. It was at the Meeting of the Asso- 

 ciation at Birmingham in 1849, under the presidency of the Eev. Dr. Robinson, 

 that a resoliition was passed for making an application to Her Majesty's 

 Government to estabhsh a reflector of not less than three feet aperture at the 

 Cape of Good Hope, and to make such additions to the staff of that obser- 

 vatory as might be necessary for its effectual working. This resolution met 

 with the hearty concurrence of the President of the Council of the Royal 

 Society, who suggested that the precise locaHty in tlie Southern hemisphere 

 where the telescope should be erected had best be left an open question. 

 This modification having been adopted by your Council, the application was 

 presented to Earl RusseU, then First Lord of the Treasury, by representatives 

 of both bodies early in 1850. A reply was received from Government to 

 the effect that though they agreed mth the Association as to the interest 

 which attached itself to the inquiry, yet there was so much difficulty attend- 

 ing the arrangements that they were not prepared to take any steps without 

 much further enquiry. This reply was considered so far favourable as not to 

 forbid the hope of success if the apphcation were renewed on a suitable 

 opportunity. The subject was again brought before the Association by 

 Colonel (now General Sir Edward) Sabine, in his opening address as Presi- 

 dent at the Belfast Meeting in 1852. The result was that the matter was 

 again brought before Government by a Committee of the British Association 

 acting in conjunction with a Committee of the Royal Society, by means of an 

 application made to the Earl of Aberdeen. By this time the country was 

 engaged in the Russian war, in consequence of which, it was replied, no 

 funds could then be spared ; but a promise was given that when the crisis 

 then impending was past, the matter should be taken up, a promise which 

 the retirement from office and subsequent death of Lord Aberdeen rendered 

 of no avail. 



But though failing in its immediate object, the action of the British Asso- 

 ciation in this matter has not remained fruitless. A few years later the 

 subject was warmly taken up at Melbourne, and after preliminary corre- 

 spondence between the Board of Visitors of the Melbourne Observatory and 

 the President and Council of the B-oyal Society, and the appointment by the 

 latter body of a Committee to consider and report on the subject, in April 

 1864 a proposition was made to the Colonial Legislature for a grant of 

 £5000 for the construction of a telescope, and was acceded to. Not to 

 weary you with details, I wiU merely say that the telescope has been con- 

 structed by Mr. Grubb, of Dublin, and is now erected at Melbourne, and in the 

 hands of Mr. Le Sueur, who has been appointed to use it. It is a reflector 

 of four feet aperture, of the Cassegrain construction, equatorially mounted, 

 and provided with a clock-movement. Before its shipment, it was inspected 

 in Dublin by the Committee appointed by the Royal Society to consider the 

 best mode of carrying out the object for which the vote was made by the 

 Melbourne Legislatnre ; and the Committee speak in the highest terms of its 

 contrivance and execution. "We may expect before long to get a first instal- 

 ment of the results obtained by a scrutiny of the southern heavens with an 



