28 Notes on the Great Meteor of June 8th, 1878. 



Now from Mr. Christian Ogilvie, at Omeo, I received a 

 very interesting account of the meteor as seen in the Omeo 

 district by numerous observers, and here also the explosion 

 was localised at the mountain called the " Brothers." Two 

 observers, five miles from the mountain, in different direc- 

 tions, describe it " as if the 'mountain had hurst," and " like 

 the crash of an enormous falling rock, followed by 

 thunder" 



It is not probable, I think, that there could have been two 

 explosions of this meteor, but that whoever witnessed the 

 apparition and heard the explosion, estimated it to have 

 taken place in his immediate vicinity, although there can 

 be little doubt that the meteor was at no time during its 

 appearance within 80 or probably 100 miles of the earth. 

 Observers at Seymour describe having seen the meteor 

 burst, though no sound, of course, reached that district. 



Akt. X. — The Perception of Colour. 

 By James Jamieson, M.D. 



[Read ITth October, 1878. j 



A FEW months ago, in a short communication to this 

 Society ("Photographs on the Retina," 11th April, 1878), I 

 endeavoured to give an account of what was then known of 

 the properties of the colouring matter called retina-purple. 

 More extended observations have tended to establish further 

 the importance of photo-chemical processes in the act of 

 vision. That the retina contains colouring matter, capable 

 of undergoing rapid changes under the action of light, and 

 that pictures of objects can be printed on the retina by help 

 of it (optograms of Kiihne), would alone be sufficient to 

 suggest its functional importance. The well-known per- 

 sistence of visual impressions, i.e., the fact that after 

 looking at an object, especially a bright one, we can still 

 see it if the eye is immediately closed, the outlines 

 gradually becoming less distinct till the picture fades away, 

 is best explained by the alternate destruction and 

 restitution of the retina-purple by light and in the dark. 

 Boll has found the colour of the human retina deeper and 



