12 
President's Address. 
survivor was King, a brave young soldier, formerly in the 
Indian army, and who having tended Burke and Wills to 
their death, and preserved their papers with a faithful devo- 
tion and constant heroism worthy of the Victorian Cross, 
was found living in a deplorable state among the natives. 
The Government and Parliament in voting a public 
funeral for the leaders who fell, and £4,000 to erect a monu- 
ment to their honour as well as any other mark of respect 
that could be suggested, and granting the survivor King a 
pension of £180 a-year for life, have shown a noble spirit of 
appreciation of the services of the explorers ; and I trust, after 
what I have said, that it will be clearly seen that for the 
misfortune at the close of the Expedition no shadow of 
blame directly or indirectly can attach to the Exploration 
Committee of the Royal Society. 
Passing now to the consideration of Victorian scientific 
works not immediately under the control of the Royal 
Society, though for the most part carried on by officers or 
members of our body, I will first refer - , as connected with 
the highest branches of exact science, to the Astronomical, 
Magnetic, and Meteorological Observatories directed by our 
Honorary Secretary, Mr. Ellery, in the early advancement 
of which by the Government our Society played an important 
part. 
In 1856, Professor Wilson brought under the notice of this 
Society the important discoveries in Stellar astronomy 
which had been made by Lord Rosse. The great optical 
power which he had brought to bear on the double and 
multiple stars, and on the nebulae, had revealed features in 
the constitution of these systems, opening up wide fields for 
tlie investigation of the student of physical astronomy. 
One of the most important points in connection with the 
subject at that period was the marked difference in the 
appearance of many of the nebulse, as seen in Lord Rosse’s 
telescope, from their appearance in telescopes of lower 
power. lie pointed out that the southern heavens are pecu- 
liarly rich in objects of this kind, and that the only observa- 
tions which had been made were those of the two Herschels, 
at the Cape of Good Hope, with telescopes of power far 
inferior to that which modern mechanical skill places within 
the reach of the astronomer. 
The Royal Society of Victoria appointed a committee to 
take steps for inducing the Government to furnish the requi- 
