278 Canadian Record of Science. 



very attractive in the simplicity of this theory of the con- 

 stitution of matter which has been advocated by Sir Wil- 

 liam Thomson. He illustrates it by likening the form of 

 atoms to smoke rings in the atmosphere, which were they 

 only formed under circumstances such as above described, 

 such vortex atoms must continue to move without chang- 

 ing form, distinguished only from the surrounding me- 

 dium by their motion. As long as the original conditions 

 of the liquid exist they must continue to revolve. Xothing 

 can separate, divide or destroy them, and no new units can 

 be formed in the liquid without a fresh application of crea- 

 tive impact. The doctrine of the conservation of energy 

 is a second powerful instrument of research that has de- 

 veloped within our own times. How it has cleared away 

 all the old cobwebs that formerly encrusted our ideas about 

 the simplest agencies that are at work around us. How it 

 has so simplified the teaching of the laws that order the 

 conversion of internal motions of bodies into phases which 

 represent light, heat, electricity, is abundantly proved by 

 the facility with which the mechanicians are every day 

 snatching the protean forms of energy for the service of 

 man with increasing economy. 



These great strides which have been made iu physical 

 science have not as yet incited much original work in this 

 colony. But now that physical laboratories are established 

 in some degree at the various college centres, we will be 

 expected, ere long, to contribute our mite to the vast store. 

 In practical works of physical research we miss in New 

 Zealand the stimulus the sister colonies receive from their 

 first-class observatories, supplied with all the most modern 

 instruments of research, wielded by such distinguished as- 

 tronomers as Ellery, Russell and Todd, whose discoveries 

 secure renown for their separate colonies. I am quite pre- 

 pared to admit that the reduplication of observatories in 

 about the same latitude, merely for the study of the hea- 

 venly bodies, would be rather a matter of scientific luxury. 

 The few degrees of additional elevation of the South Polar 

 region which would be gained by an observatory situated 



