26 



Anniversary Meeting . 



[Nov. 30, 



into two, and which uiay exhibit three forms of action. — In Paleontology 

 we haye Professor Owen's paper on the earlier Australian traces of that 

 wonderful class of animals (the marsupials) which connect ancient 

 Oxfordshire with modern Australia ; Professor Williamson on the or- 

 ganization of certain fossil plants ; and the Eeport by Mr. Prestwich on 

 the exploration of Brixham Cave, referring in some measure to the 

 habits of former man as well as former wild beasts. — In Oceanic science, 

 the Report by Dr. Carpenter on the currents in the neighbourhood of 

 the Straits of Gibraltar (in sequence of preceding papers) embodies im- 

 portant facts, and has raised some discussions. Alluding only by a 

 word to the discoveries of deep channels in the bottom of the sea and of 

 water of different temperatures in them, I think it right to state, as my 

 opinion, that the flow of surface-water from the places of high tempe- 

 rature, and the return of deep water to the same, are certain in theory 

 and are supported by observation. — Mr. Stone's determination of the 

 velocity of sound is free from the effects of a long-prevailing error (the 

 combination of two senses), and is probably one of the best yet made. — 

 In Astronomy our communications are rich : Mr. De La Eue and his 

 fellow labourers have continued their researches upon the influence of 

 Planets on the Sun ; Mr. Huggins has employed the telescope, wisely 

 provided by a former Council of the Society, and the spectroscope, on the 

 spectra of Encke's Comet and of the nebula of Orion (leading us more 

 and more distinctly to the idea that these bodies are gaseous and in some 

 measure self-luminous), and on that astonishing result of modern science, 

 the measure of the approach or recess of the " fixed " stars. It is a 

 striking thing to see the stars of a constellation so well known to every 

 one as is "Charles's Wain" separated into two classes, of approaching 

 and receding ; and also to find that the same separation is indicated by 

 the characters of their proper motions. An investigation of the value 

 of the coefficient of aberration, when the star is viewed through a tele- 

 scope whose tube is filled with water, may have served to remove some 

 doubts on the optical theory of aberration, and to allay some anxieties on 

 the reduction of astronomical observations. 



I think that the opinion of the scientific world would be, that the 

 proceedings of the Society during the past year will bear comparison with 

 those of any other year. 



Before closing my Address^ I think that I may employ a few sentences 

 in noticing some of the steps which have been made in science in the 

 world exterior to the Society. In Geography, the most exciting of all 

 is Mr. Stanley's discovery of Livingstone, and the intelligence of the 

 explorations made by him and other travellers in South Africa. But 

 they tend greatly to sharpen our curiosity on other points. Are the 

 lakes which have been visited so many independent lakes, or are several 

 of them portions of one great lake ? Do these mighty waters reach the 



