6 
about five miles, passing through the site of the statue alluded to ; 
and it is proposed to sink a similar line of pits next year about twenty 
miles lower down the river, passing through the site of the obelisk 
of Heliopolis. Above sixty persons were employed in the operations 
at Memphis. The plan, as proposed by Mr. Homer, was, through the 
intervention of the Hon. Charles Augustus Murray, Her Majesty’s 
late Consul- General in Egypt, submitted to the Viceroy, and met with 
the most ready acceptance. He gave directions to his government 
that every assistance should be afforded for carrying on the proposed 
researches; he appointed an able engineer officer high in his service, 
M. Hekekyan Bey, to conduct them, and ordered that the whole 
expense should be defrayed by his government. Such enlightened 
liberality on the part of His Highness Abbas Pacha justly entitles 
him to the gratitude of all cultivators of science. 
The other researches alluded to on the last occasion are proceeding 
satisfactorily, but there is nothing which seems to call for especial 
notice at present; I will therefore at once proceed to give some 
account of the steps which have been taken by your Council for the 
advancement of science in another direction. 
In the history of individual sciences we perceive there have been 
always successive periods of activity and repose. In Astronomy, for 
many years we have had a period of activity. Physical Astronomv 
has achieved perhaps its greatest triumph within the last few years 
in the discovery of Neptune ; and the discovery of the numerous 
Asteroids and Comets is evidence that Practical Astronomy has kept 
pace with it. Within the same period the nebulous contents of rbe 
Southern Hemisphere have for the first time been made known to us ; 
we have now a catalogue of the highest excellence, with an ample 
guarantee for its accuracy in the zeal, ability, and experience of Sir 
John Herschel. 
That catalogue will be a record for future ages, leading probably 
to the detection of change in the wonderful objects revealed by the 
telescope, and so giving a clue to the mysterious laws wliich rule 
the remote universe. 
The Cape observations were not long before the woidd when some 
astronomers expressed a desire that it should not be left to posterity 
to turn them to account, but that some effort should be made to 
employ them in the service of the present generation. It was sug- 
gested, that with such an admirable ■working list, much might be ef- 
fected ina short time. Acomparisonof theNorthern and Southern cata- 
logues had led many to believe that the same instrument had effected 
more in the Southern than in the Northern Hemisphere. M hethci 
that had been owing to a better atmosphere, or whether the objects 
themselves were more remarkable, in either case it 'U'as reasonable 
to expect that an instrument of great power wmuld do more in a 
well-selected situation in the Southern Hemisphere than in these 
islands ; and on that account alone there seemed to be grounds for 
a well-founded hope that interesting discoveries would be made ; 
but there were other grounds. 
In the present state of Nebular Astronomy, the best prospect ve 
