xxii President's Address 



Several small telescopic cornets have been observed during 

 the year. 



An interesting theory is propounded by M. Faye in the 

 Comptes Rendus. He explains the comparatively uniform 

 temperature of the globe without climates or seasons in 

 early geologic times, by supposing that the earth was then 

 warm with its own heat, while the sun was a vast and 

 barely luminous group of meteors. 



The past year has not been a very eventful one in 

 astronomical circles. Steady work and gradually increasing 

 efficiency have characterised it, rather than novel and 

 startling discoveries. 



ENGINEERING. 



No very remarkable engineering work has been initiated 

 or cornpletedjduring the past year. The Great Forth Bridge 

 in Scotland slowly progresses, but years must elapse before 

 it is completed. With its huge girders, spanning 1600 feet 

 without a support, it will be at once the most gigantic as 

 well as the most original structure in the world. 



A structure of a type not uncommon in America, but new 

 in Australia, has been erected by the Victorian Railway 

 Department over the River Werribee, and will shortly be 

 ready for traffic. It is about a quarter of a mile long, and 

 125 feet high from the water level. 



The Panama Canal progresses slowly. It is an enor- 

 mously more difficult work than that at Suez, owing to hilly 

 ground, Hooded rivers, and the unhealthy climate. It will 

 be many years before we can hope to send our mails and 

 passengers through it on their way to Europe. 



In December, 1883, I submitted a brief paper to the 

 Society, in which I pointed out that, in view of the ascer- 

 tained laws of Thermodynamics, the possibilities of improve- 

 ment in our best steam engines were very limited, whereas 

 in the case of the gas engine they were enormously wider, 

 and that therefore the gas engine, which even then was 

 superseding steam under certain special conditions, might be 



