184 Royal Society of Victoria, 



The President then vacated the chair, which was taken by Mr. 

 White, Vice-President, and gave an account of the early history 

 of the Brennan Torpedo. This invention had been purchased by 

 the Imperial Government for £110,000. The President had 

 acted as the inventor's consulting engineer, and he explained by 

 means of a model the method of its propulsion at the rate of 25 

 miles an hour for more than half a mile. The first trial satisfied 

 every expectation. It could be turned right or left by the same 

 means that efi'ected its progression. The trials in Melbourne 

 were satisfactory, and the torpedo was then taken to England 

 and subjected to various tests during nearly seven years before it 

 was purchased. The President could not say why — since the sale 

 — a full description, with drawings of this torpedo had been 

 suffered to appear in Engineering of 24th June and 1st July. 



Mr. Blackett commented on the extraordinary fact of the 

 publication of the secret, which had been carefully kept until 

 after the sale. 



Mr. Blackett then read " A Note on Some Determinations of 

 Chlorine in the Water of the Yarra." 



Discussion ensued, in which Mr, White, Mr. Ellery, Mr. 

 Griffiths, the President, and Mr. Blackett took part. 



Mr. A. W. HowiTT then read his paper, " On Certain Meta- 

 morphic and Plutonic Bocks at Omeo." After a question from 

 Mr. Griffiths, to which Mr. Howitt replied, it was resolved thdit 

 the paper be printed at once. 



The reading of Baron von Mueller's "Description of a 

 Victorian Haloragis," was postponed, and the meeting adjourned. 



Thursday, 8th /September. 



Present : the President, Professor Kernot, in the chair, and 

 twenty members and associates. 



The President reported that the Council had considered the 

 proposal of the Field ^Naturalists' Club to reserve Wilson's 

 Promontory as a national park, and recommended the Society to 

 co-operate with the Field Naturalists' Club in urging its reservation 

 upon the Government. A large scale map of the Promontory, 

 presented by Mr. W. H. Steel, C.E., was laid upon the table. 



Baron von Mueller recommended that a portion of South-east 

 Gippsland should also be reserved. He had travelled all over it in 

 1853, and he thought that the native plants and animals should 

 be preserved from destruction by the proposed reservation. Part 

 of the Promontory was then occupied by stockholders. 



The President said that the Council had consulted a gentleman 

 who had recently been all over the Promontory, and found that 



