120 President's Address 



bined with otlier causes, has so limited the supply from that 

 part of the world, that the establishment of this plant in 

 other localities has become an absolute necessity. 



The immense consumption of quinine and other products 

 of the cinchona bark, in India and tropical climates especially, 

 and the great commercial value which these materials have 

 attained, have resulted in the formation of extensive 

 plantations in the Neilgherry Mountains, which have 

 thriven beyond expectation. I have no doubt many of you 

 will recollect Dr. Markham's expedition into the cinchona 

 forests of South America, in order to obtain plants and seeds 

 for those plantations, and the gTeat difficulty and danger he 

 incurred in getting those he collected to the seaboard. 



In astronomy, meteorology, and magnetism, our Observa- 

 tory has kept its accustomed watch. During the past year 

 its efforts have been principally directed to the completion 

 of a catalogue of stars — now in the printer's hands — which 

 includes most of the work done at Williamstown prior to the 

 removal of the Observatory from that place to Melbourne, as 

 well as the publication of the astronomical work for the 

 years 1863, 1864, and 1865. 



Some years ago,Dr. Argelander, the director of the Observa- 

 tory at Bonn, completed the task of surveying the northern 

 heavens, and forming a catalogue of all stars down to the 

 ninth and tenth mag-nitude, thereby giving the positions of 

 nearly half a miUion stars. The completion of this 

 undertaking foi-ms one of the greatest practical achievements 

 in modern astronomy. The Royal Astronomical Society of 

 London, fully alive to the value of this work, determined to try 

 to get a survey of the southern heavens, on the same 

 elaborate scale, by British means, and J&naUy this honourable 

 task was allotted to the Boyal Observatory at the Cape' of 

 Good Hope, the Madras Observatory, and the Melbourne 

 Observatory. The preparations necessary for commencing 



