144 Proceedings, &c. t for 1883. 



Mr. Ellery said that the remarkable sunsets which had recently 

 been seen all over the southern hemisphere were attracting much 

 attention in the scientific world. The peculiar red glow which 

 accompanies these sunsets first appeared after the great volcanic 

 disturbance at the Straits of Sun da, hence the theory has obtained 

 some currency that this phenomenon is due to extremely fine 

 particles of volcanic dust ejected by the volcano and held in 

 suspension in the upper strata of the atmosphere ; but it seems 

 most improbable that such a small volcano should have caused dust, 

 or particles of any kind, to be diffused over the whole of the 

 southern hemisphere. The spectroscopic examination of these 

 sunset glows points strongly to the existence of moisture, in a very 

 ratified form, scattered through the upper regions of the atmo- 

 sphere. By the ordinary prismatic action of such a layer of vapour 

 the peculiar tints witnessed in these phenomena are readily accounted 

 for. 



Mr. Ellery then read a paper entitled ' ' Notes of an Interesting 

 Fact in Connection with the Early History of the Electric Telegraph." 

 He then stated that it was his intention to propose, at the next 

 meeting of the Society, that Dr. Davy be elected honorary member 

 of the Society, as a slight recognition of his valuable services in the 

 discovery of the means of utilising electricity for telegraphic 

 purposes. 



Dr. Davy was not the first patentee of an instrument for the use 

 of electricity for telegraphic purposes. Messrs. Cooke and Wheat- 

 stone had obtained their patent in 1837, a year before he took out 

 his ; but some years previously Dr. Davy had exhibited working 

 models of his inventions. When Cooke and Wheatstone applied 

 for their patent Dr. Davy lodged a caveat. The matter was 

 referred to Professor Faraday, who decided in favour of Dr. Davy ; 

 but before the contest was properly ended Dr. Davy was compelled 

 by private affairs to leave England, and he abandoned his claim, 

 being deterred by the prospect of expensive litigation. Mr. Ellery 

 considered that Dr. Davy was the first who practically applied 

 electricity to telegraph purposes. That he was the first inventor 

 of the relay, no one who reads the evidence can doubt. 



On the motion of Mr. Blackett, a sub-committee was appointed 

 to consider the means to be adopted in recognition of Dr. Davy's 

 great services to the cause of science, that sub-committee to con- 

 sist of Mr. S. W. M'Gowan, Mr. J. Cosmo Newbery, Mr. C. R. 

 Blackett, Professor Kernot, and Dr. Wilkie. 



Mr. Ellery then read his paper on the " Rainfall Map of Victoria 

 for 1882 — a Contribution to Australian Meteorology." 



Mr. Sutherland then read a paper on "The First Discoverers of 

 the New Hebrides,'' describing the voyages of De Quiros in search 

 of Terra Australis. 



