Herechel, the only son of Sir William, to 

 complete his father's labour of extending 

 the survey to the southern heaTens. He 

 undertook, with this object, a journey to 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and sojourned 

 there for the years necessary to complete 

 the great work. As the result of the la- 

 bours thus inaugurated, there are now 

 3,000 or 4,000 nebulse known to tis, and 

 with every improvement of the telescope 

 fresh adddtions are made to the list. 



Comets formed the next subject illus- 

 trated. Photographic slide® were shown 

 of Swift's comet of 1892. In the photo- 

 graphs of comets the stars had a remark- 

 able appearance. Instead of being round 

 dots, as in other photographs, they all ap- 

 peared like a number of short arrows 

 pointing in one direction. The reason of 

 this was the rapid motion of the 

 comet among the stars, which comipelled 

 the photographer, in order to keep the 

 comet still, to represent the stars as mov- 

 ing. The length of each streak repre- 

 S'enting a star indicates the distance and 

 direction of the comet's motion. 



The process by which a comet's tail was 

 developed, and the materials of which it 

 is composed, were next discussed. 



Some further photographs -vrere shown 

 of the sun and of the spots on his surface, 

 and the lecturer concluded by remarking 

 on the fascinating character of the stiidy 

 of astronomy, and the labour which had 

 been expended upon it from the earliest 

 ages. 



The student of this subject finds an an- 

 swer to many question*, but as he studies 

 he finds that many more questions arise, 

 which remain unanswered. Whence 

 comes the fascination? Why is it that 

 we, who are of yesterday, delight in the 

 contemplation of such vast periods of 

 time, of number, and of distance — such 

 a boundless exhibition of force and gran- 

 deur? Surely, the answer must be "The 

 heavens declare the glory of God." 



A hearty vote of thanks was accorded to 

 the lecturer. 



The Chairman announced that at the 

 next meeting Mr. J. W. Beattie would 

 give a lecture, illustrated, on the East 

 Coast of Tasmania, as visited by Tasman. 

 At the September meeting Mr. A. Mault 

 would read a paper on the timber iud^us- 

 try. At the October meeting the secre- 

 tary (Mr. A. Morton) would probably 

 have some notes of his visit to Canada. 

 That woiTld be after his return from Vam- 

 couver, and, no doubt, he would have 

 something interesting to say with regard 

 to his visit. 



Mr. Nat. Oldham operated with the 

 lantern slides illusitrating Mr. Kings- 

 mill's lecture. 



AUGUST 26. 



Owing to the inclemency of the weather 

 the meeting to be held this evening was 

 postponed to September 9th. 



