IV PKOCEEDINGS, APRIL. 



diagrams showed that no time of high water on the day of new or full 

 moon could be fixed, although Captain Oldham mentions 8h. 15min. 

 He pressed on the Society the need of cooperating with the Marine 

 Board in the taking of observations. The force and direction of the 

 wind also had an influence that must be noted. The highest tides 

 occurred with the wind blowing from north and north-easterly points. 

 The barometer also should be noted, as a fall of lin. in the barometer 

 meant a rise of 20in. in the sea level. He also suggested that the 

 Marine Board be asked to get their lighthousekeepers to keep a 

 register of the high and low v/ater times, 



A DESIRABLE CHANGE. 



Mr. W. Benson read a paper in which he pointed out that the work 

 of the Society had and was rendering practical and substantial benefits 

 to the colony at large, but was of opinion that it might be made 

 of still greater interest and value. There were two classes amongst 

 the members, first savants or specialists, and secondly those who had 

 not thoroughly studied any special subject. So far as the meetings of 

 the Society were intended for the interchange of notes upon new dis- 

 coveries, the reading of papers prepared by savants and specialists 

 was natural and proper, though he doubted whether those who 

 merely heard them read could gain as full a knowledge of their con- 

 tents as they could by studying them in the Society's printed proceed- 

 ings. Opportunities for self -instruction in all local branches of science — 

 local geology, botany, natural history, and the like — were very few 

 compared with what had been provided for English students. Here 

 text books hardly existed, and English works were in many cases unsuit- 

 able. He would therefore ask the Society to consider whether means 

 could not be devised for affording icstruction of a more elementary 

 and general kind, and he did not know of any other organisation so 

 well qualified to do the work. He wished the rising generation to 

 become more interested in the physical history of their native land, 

 its fauna, flora, and so forth. The taste for such studies when once 

 acquired rarely left a man, and developed afterwards along the lines 

 of his peculit,r preference, and thus the whole field of scientific enquiry 

 became gradually occupied. He proposed for consideration the desir- 

 ability of initiating courses of popular lectures on scientific subjects, 

 under the auspices of the Society, not restricted to members, but open 

 to all. He would like to see the Museum made use of on all occasions 

 where its cabinets could be used as illustrations. Another thing which 

 might be attempted in connection with the Society, was the forma- 

 tion of a Field Naturalists' Club. One other matter which might 

 well interest the Society was the introduction of local science primers 

 for school use. His chief desire was to supplement rather than subvert 

 the work of the Society^ For years science stood apart, its affairs were 

 assumed to be above the popular understanding, but that had all 

 been changed, and in Huxley, Tyndall, and many others they saw 

 men of the highest scientific rank taking the lead in bringing their 

 chosen studies home to the minds of the masses ; consequently the 

 Society need not fear that anything it might do would be infra dig. 

 He hoped the love of science for its own sake would suffice to 

 induce one or more of their savants to lecture, and permit the ex- 

 periment to be tried. If the Council of the Society could keep an 

 open eye for any opportunity that might arise to interest the public, 

 and especially the young, he had faith that good results would follow. 



NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



The Secretakt drew attention to a rare bird that had lately been 

 shot near Muddy Plains. It was commonly known in Australia as the 



