10 Anniversary Address. 



Scientific bodies of Great Britain. Mr. Jevons was a member 

 also of this Society. 



The papers on Scurvy, by our excellent Treasurer, and that on 

 Mortality, by one of our Secretaries, whose careful reasoning it is 

 pleasant to follow, will prove that our pursuits are not confined 

 to aids of wealth or questions of physical science, but that the 

 public health and social advancement find able advocates among 

 our members. 



The last paper in the volume under notice, by my learned col- 

 league the Government Astronomer, is of a curious character* 

 There is in it a combination of concentrated knowledge and 

 minute observation. It touches the theory of vibrations, which 

 has a wide field and is destined hereafter, we may believe, to lead 

 to important practical discoveries, explaining many hidden phen- 

 omena. Mr. Smalley is conducting some very important mea- 

 surements connected with the G-eodesic survey, not far from Lake 

 George ; and he has only recently returned from the settlement 

 of the true Boundary line between New South Wales and South 

 Australia, in which he has, in combination with our friend Mr. 

 Todd, of the Adelaide Observatory, and Mr. Ellery, of Victoria, 

 taken part in some intricate calculations. One fact, incidentally 

 mentioned in Mr. Todd's report, struck me much when I read of 

 it. The observer determined that the velocity of the galvanic 

 communication between Sydney and Adelaide was at the rate of 

 11£ (11250) miles per second. This is at the rate of 40,500 

 miles per hour. At this speed a communication would reach 

 London in twenty minutes, so that the words of Oberon can be 

 realised by our telegraphists : — 



" We the globe can compass soon 

 Swifter than the wandering moon." 

 literally performing the act of Puck in the Midsummer's Night's 



Dream : — 



"I'll put 

 A girdls round the earth in forty minutes. ' 



When I think of these abridgments of time, I feel that we 

 waste it often very wantonly, and, perhaps, with this acknowledg- 

 ment, I ought to waste no more of yours to-night ; but though 

 such fairies as Mr. Cracknell, such brownies as Mr. Russell, and 

 such sprites as Mr. Todd, can whisk a message across a hemis- 



