Abstract
WE have received the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria for the years 1870, 1871, and 1872, the issue of which has been delayed by the withdrawal of the Government grant in 1868, but through the liberality of the present Government We are glad to hear that the financial state of the Society enables the present report to be printed. We have read with great pleasure the addresses of the president, Mr. Eilery, showing that scientific knowledge is gaining ground fast in Victoria. Mr. Eilery tells us of the work at the Observatory, and that the positions of 38,305 stars have been established up to 1870. In 1868 the great reflector of 4 ft. diameter was mounted, and Mr. Eilery says that although his hopes were not fully realised, the telescope, if it does not excel, equals every other of its size. Mr. Le Sueur appears to have attacked η Argus and its surrounding nebula as early as possible, and in February 1870 he informs the Society that the spectrum of η is crossed by bright lines corresponding to C D E F and one beyond F, probably Hy: the principal line of nitrogen was also seen. He therefore concludes that hydrogen, nitrogen, sodium, and magnesium are indicated. No dark lines seem to have been seen with certainty, although they were suspected. Mr. Le Sueur says: “We seem driven to the conclusion that the star consists of a solid nucleus, a gaseous envelope cooler than the nucleus producing the dark lines, and a second envelope hotter than the nucleus accounting for the bright ones.” We hope we shall not be quite driven to this conclusion of a solid nucleus, which seems highly improbable. A large influx of hot hydrogen or nitrogen from the nebula or other source might be sufficient to reverse the dark lines, and as this would heat the original photosphere more intensely its absorption would be reduced, accounting for the reduction in intensity of the black lines. In January 1874 we find that Mr. Macgeorge examined this star and found no bright lines, and further, that a distinct nebulosity surrounded the star, which in December 1869 appeared, according to Le Sueur, on a black background. Mr. Macgeorge furnishes several drawings of the nebula surrounding η which show a vast change in the shape of the mass. In 1838 η was involved in dense nebula, while in 1869 it was seen on a bare sky. The further drawings by Mr. Ellery and Mr. Le Sueur are scarcely recognisable as- being made from the same nebula, so vast appears the changes; in one instance the difference between two drawings shows a motion of the gas, if motion it be, of 6,000,000,000 miles a month. We have known comets' tails or jets to have a motion comparable to this—so perhaps some similar cause is acting here. Mr. L. Sueur appears to have carefully examined the spectrum of Jupiter with the Melbourne reflector, but with no very decisive results, the absorption-lines appearing constant across the slits, which leads him to infer that the light from the different parts of the visible surfaces had passed through not widely unequal thicknesses of atmosphere, or that the least thickness was sufficient to produce a maximum absorption. Mr. Ellery has been trying paper paraffined, instead of waxed, for photographing the continuous records of magnetic and other phenomena, thereby shortening the sensitising and developing by more than an hour; but he has found that by using plain paper some four hours are saved. The process he uses is a slight modification of Crooke's. A large number of enhydros or water-stones were found at Beechworth in 1864. On the granite rock near Beech worth is a Silurian outlier of sandstone, intersected with veins of blue quartz, and in the widening of these veins the stones appear. They lie in nests lined with scales of chalcedony and fine clay. Mr. Dunn describes the enhydros as consisting of chalcedony, irregular in form, bounded by true planes varying in colour, from yellow and opaque to quite colourless and transparent, and their size from 5 in. diameter to the size of a split pea. The contents of the stones appear from analysis by Mr. Foord to consist of water slightly mineralised with chloride and sulphate of sodium, magnesium, calcium, and a soluble form of silicic acid. Mr. Macgeorge has been at work observing the small stars near Sirius. We copy his diagram of these stars, all of which require large optical means to render them visible: the position of Alvan Clarke's comet in January 1865 is given as 77°63', and that of Lassell's companion 163° 89'. We are glad to see papers on the colonial timber trees, discussing the suitability of certain trees to the climate. Amongst our English trees that thrive there, are the oak, elm, ash, walnut, willow; the larch, pines, and poplars, however, seem unsuited. The red and blue gums and the black-wood seem to be amongst the most useful indigenous trees. The poisoning of water and air in Melbourne has also been occupying the attention of the Society, and Mr. Gibbons furnishes the report with several well-executed micro-photographs of the water from sewage, and drinking water from the Yan-Zean reservoir, in which forms of life appear in abundance. Numerous other papers of interest appear in the report, and we must congratulate the Society on so good a show of research.
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S., G. TRANSACTIONS AND PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF VICTORIA . Nature 11, 91–92 (1874). https://doi.org/10.1038/011091a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/011091a0
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