xvi President's Address 



kindred to our own. At the Observatory the usual work in 

 astronomy,, meteorology, &;c., has been carried on without 

 interruption. The great telescope has been occupied with 

 its special work — observation of the southern nebulae — and 

 it continues to perform satisfactorily. I regret to say, how- 

 ever, that the drawings of the nebulae already observed, and 

 which were being lithographed at the time of my last 

 address, are not yet published. The scheme of inter- 

 colonial meteorology, concerning which I spoke at some 

 length last year, is being gradually improved, and, since the 

 completion of the Western Australian line, our weather tele- 

 grams embrace the whole of the south coast of Australia, 

 from King George's Sound to Cape Howe. The undertaking, 

 however, labours under a great disadvantage in these 

 colonies as compared with Europe and America, inasmuch 

 as the precedence and prompt despatch which is conceded 

 to weather telegrams in those countries has not yet been 

 secured for ours. In October last telegrams from America 

 and England were received at the Observatory, requesting a 

 look-out for supposed satellites of Mars. Diligent search 

 was made with the great telescope, whenever the weather 

 was favourable, but with no decided results, and it is doubt- 

 ful if either of the satellites now known to exist was seen 

 at our Observatory. This failure was somewhat unaccount- 

 able, as subsequent news informed us that the brightest of 

 the two satellites had been seen by much smaller telescopes 

 than our reflector. It may be stated, however, that, owing to 

 an interruption in telegraphic communication, the telegram 

 referred to was delayed fourteen days. Mars was rapidly 

 increasing his distance from us, and after the message was 

 received a period of cloudy weather still further delayed 

 our search until the planet had receded enormously from 

 the position in which its satellites were discovered, or 

 subsequently seen by any except the most powerful tele- 

 scopes. 



