73 



May 22. 



Rev. B. LLOYD, D.D., Provost, T. C. D., President, 

 in the Chair. 



Rev. James Horner, D. D., was elected member of the 

 Academy. 



Professor Mac Cullagh read a letter from Joseph S. 

 Moore, Esq. on the Australian instrument called kilee or 

 boomerang, so remarkable for the course that it takes when 

 thrown in the air. It is a flat piece of wood of a hyperbolic 

 form, about 2\ inches broad, perfectly plane on one side, 

 and slightly convex on the other. A right line joining its 

 extremities is about two feet long, and the middle of this 

 right line is distant about a foot from the middle of the in- 

 strument or the vertex of the hyperbola. When properly 

 thrown, it makes a circuit, returns, passes close to the per- 

 son who threw it, and even goes behind him, and then at- 

 tempts to return again before it falls to the ground. It is 

 curious that such a missile should have been invented by 

 savages, for, as far as we know, it is found only among the 

 natives of New Holland. It is said to be called kilee on the 

 western, and boomerang on the eastern coast of that country. 

 Some of these kilees had been sent to Mr. Moore from the 

 Swan River, and though he was unsuccessful in throwing 

 them, he succeeded with others which he caused to be made 

 of the same general form, but much more curved than the 

 originals. The dimensions given above are those which he 

 found most convenient. The following is an extract from 

 Mr. Moore's letter : 



" The natives throw them with the convex edge against 

 the air ; their movement is then from left to right. But the 

 way in which I have succeeded was by taking the missile by 



