644 Proceedings. 



argued that such an important problem as that involved in the Newtonian 

 theory should never have been accepted as proved without experimental 

 demonstration. After entering fully into Newton's and Laplace's theories, 

 Mr. Falkner stated that the hypotheses assumed that the path of a body 

 propelled in free space by an impulse, or travelling tangentially at uniform 

 velocity, and attracted to a centre with a force varying inversely as the 

 square of its distance from that centre, is an ellipse of which the attracting 

 centre is in one focus (or a similar conic section), and an orbit similar to 

 the planetary and cometary. This assumption he denied, and affirmed that 

 the path of a body subject to an impulse, or its equivalent, moving in free 

 space, and subject to any central force, is such a figure that the attracting 

 point is in its centre, or at the intersection of its axes. He supported this 

 affirmation by viewing the assumption in its extremes, and endeavoured to 

 show it as contradicting the axiom that "action and re-action are contrary 

 and equal," and explaining his own conclusions and their agreement with 

 the results of his experiments. He then reviewed current graphic methods, 

 and pointed out where he considered the errors had been made, and 

 explained and discussed the apparatus. 



Mr. M. Chapman contended that the matter was not one that could be dealt with 

 by experiment, but must be dealt with by mathematical investigation. He could not 

 believe in Mr. Falkner's results for a single instant. 



The Chairman expressed a hope that Mr. Falkner would not upset the " Nautical 

 Almanack." 



Mr. Falkner then advanced the statement that astronomy really rested on Kepler's 

 laws, and not on Newton's explanations of them, the most important of which, like so 

 many previous problems in dynamics solved deductively, when put to the test proved quite 

 erroneous. 



2. " New Cuttle Fish," by T. W. Kirk. {Transactions, p. 283). 



3. " List of Sertularians collected in Wellington," by T. W. Kirk. 



4. " Abnormal Colouring in the Kokako," by T. W. Kirk. 



(1.) Glaucojns xvilsoni. — The first notice of albinism in New Zealand 

 representatives of this genus will be found on page 154 of Dr. Buller's 

 " Birds of New Zealand." The specimen is a partial albino shot by Mr. 

 H. H. Travers at the foot of Mount Franklin, and is of the usual colour 

 with the exception of a few white feathers on the neck, head, back, and 

 one or two partially white in each wing. 



(2.) Glaticopis cinerea. — An albino of this species was caught on the 

 Eimutaka Eange in 1877, and kept alive for several months by Mr. G. 

 EUiotte, proprietor of the Pakuratahi Hotel, during which time it became 

 quite tame, and would, I am informed, feed from the hand. The whole 

 of the plumage was ^7itre ivliite, the eyes and wattles jJM^^•, the latter being 

 very small. 



