Page 9 Advertisements Column 1

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 230, 7 February 1885, Page 9

■ .. „., r , . r --. ;^. ; - : „ . --, The 'foll6AyiTi|- report iwill be Jaidibefore'nextj Session of i Pai»Mafhe'nt ':'-—• *.> v-'V^yo.-i'.r.o") '• s '■""""' '-'■" : '" ; " ! ' r " :vJ '" l MiC MAci^DAir;' &&.'& Yo;rkE'Stiv^fW-(}EAAU ' "'• ;>l1 ; l! '' Ai •' • l ' M ;• - Sib,— . .., „. ■-■■■''■■-'"■_' [ '-• '- • '"'',',', '\. "' "'V ■•';•"";•■"' '■• VjV '; ■■ ' ;■;- ; ■ ""-■■'i. '• l 'l:"h'ave 'thY l^nor 'iti* Report in accordance -witK;''your memo.j /dated circl ■August,' '188^,' I to^ 'Sydney l; .per s.s. Hin'emoa '(which 'was'' specially 'detailed' by' the (jrovernme'nt 11 for" this 'important' service) to initiate a series -of 1 observations for the purpose of eliminating, any ei;ror in myprevipus pbseryatipns-^.taken somewhat hurriedly in ' Sydney, in the", year iISSo-^-'for d^terimning tliQ ,'Vper^p'nare!qii^^^ liussell andljenahanj a's, detailed in '.pape^ '. '-' 2. . In prder. to,, pro vide, as far "as. ,, possible against any' delay, owing to, insufficient! equipment,, l took the precaution to, procure! (by requisition) the following officers : ?"' . ,' / ,(f. ; , Mr .Duncan' S|c Allistei^ F,irst ; Assistant, fonneidy, .Chief.. Computer to the : Afftronpnier Koyal, .Grreenwich } ..and.'H.JLi.H..the King of the Belgians, 'also corresponding member to the; Jioyal Mathematical So'piety.' ' '' "' ' ; ":■ -ir.if ■■> . , , b., Mr Norman McLeod Douglas Chalmers, Second Assistant^ : late Secretary to '%lie Koyal Statistical Society, and Consulting '.Calculator, Royal E'ngineersy : : '■ '■■'■ c. Mr. ■ Alexander Gordon, First Clerk and Accountant ;' and' Messrs. James Mclntosh and Donald. Blair, Assistant Clerks. ..... d. MrJ Adam Grant, F.R. A. S.', Chief Time Recorder ;' and Messrs. Hugh Slither-, land and Hector Chisholm, Assistant. Time Recorders.' ■' : : : • ••; .:; ■ c. A detachment of ten men of the Royal N.Z. Sappers and Mihersj under ' the command of Lieut. Donald Nicholson. N.B. — TheteW men were all natives of North 1 Britain, hence of superior intelligence. . I deemed it desirable to take the above sappers' and miners in order that the foundations of the. Sydney: Observatory should /be rehdefe'd perfectly free from oscillatory or undulatory movements during the., critical moments of . observation, as on the occasion of my previous visit, during' lßß3^ I had detected an error of no less than '017 of a second, produced by this cause during the 1 passage of a heavily-laden waggon along the adjacent street. This error may perhaps appear of small moment to the ordinary mind untrained in the exiict sciences, but' when 1 state that it would, if uncorrfected, give rise to an erior of no less than ; 42 ' miles : 16 chains ' in computing the distance between our planet and Sirius, its : great 'importance will "'be duly : appreciated even by the uneducated mind. f. The labouring gang, consisting of 4 stonemasons, 2 bricklayers, 4 carpenters, , and 2 platelayers, besides 10 ordinary labourers, with their requisite tools/ all ft niade of .. .the best Taranaki steel, English goods being so inferior as to be unreliable from a scientific point of view. N.B. — As these men were merely intended to. work. under the personal . supervision of. the Sappers Corps, natives of England' were not necessarily „ excluded, nor even (to a limited extent) natives of Ireland; ■, ,i. ; -./ y. Mr. Sergeant O'Driscoll and four full privates of the N.Z. Armed Constabulary Force. .N.8..— 1t w.as thought necessary that these men should be in attendance for the , double purpose of over-awing the. Sydney larrikin element and of keeping the mosquitoes from annoying myself and the other observers whilst engaged in the exceedingly delicate^ manipulation of our instruments. Note— lii this connection r'abstaiiieel from taking any. . personal attendant of my own, influenced by motives of due regard to 'economy— my devotion to science being such as to render me careless'bf. mere personal disebnifdrts. . 3. (Sept. 12th) Having, duly arrived in Sydney as per date given, I lost no time in placing myself in communicatioh with His Excellency. the .Governor^ of ; New; "South ,'^ales,: with the. Honorable the Premier, with the 'Surveyor-General, with. His Worship the Mayor of' Sydney, 1 and with the heads of the different scientific bodies in; that. Colony,.. by all of , whom a high sense was expressed of the noble lib'eraiity of. the Government, pf New Zealand in , all'matters appertaining to science, and of the self-sacrifiping devotion, .which impels so many of' Scotia's sons in our Colony to relinquish all imere strivings after material, wealth in order; to ''- promote the. welfare of mankind by observations and enquiries such as are now under review. 4. ■ (Oct. 29th) Considerable' delays- were experienced in getting 'the foundations of Sydney Observatory 1 securely 1 adjusted, iii testing v the .yarious . instruments and appliances belonging to the expedition, and finally in; getting the same into i proper, position ; but at length', by the unwearied energies of my staff, .all was in readiness- for the commencement of actual observations on the' date hereby given. , ■ . , . , . „ , •■;•■.•- ' 5. It would perhaps be tedious in this report to give all the observations in detail; 'but I enclose them herewith for the information of your Government; merely remarking that the.' notes made fill 105 reams of foolscap, 17 record books, and 2 journals. I make' : no ; doubt that these documents, will be eagerly scanned and carefully studied by the many distinguished scientific men and leaders of mathematical research in the various Colonial centres. N.Bi — ,■ This, of course, implies that they be printed; in condensed form arid .'supplied gratis to all the. Colonial public libraries. It might be desirable also that an abbreviated edition should be published for the; supply pf the public schools of New Zealand. .1 merely offer this as a suggestion, but make no doubt, that the Government will act upon it as furthering the great .cause of science. „ . . ' 6. My observations were steadily prosecuted on every night of fitting atmospherical conditions until the prolonged strain 6n my mental powers (and the near .approach of the Christinas vacation) warned me to return to New Zealand. The worthy captain of the Hiriemba obeyed my summons with a^promptitude which is most creditable to him, and 1, together with the members of the expedition, left Sydney on Dec. 18th amidst the congratulations of all the savants of that enlightened city upon the successful termination of our arduous and most interesting labours, which have not only served to draw the two leading Colonies of the Australasian Group into closer embrace, but will, I make no doubt, also tend to hasten that Federation which we are all looking forward to as the great goal of our hopes. 7. Summarized, the final results of the expedition may be stated as follows, viz.—: . a. It will be remembered that in my former report under date Ist July, 1884, I gave the correction for "personal equations" as follows (recorded, in seconds) :— "L. observes after A., *075. ; R. records after signal, *3415. ; A. records after signal, •4465.;" and the adopted "personal equations" were: — " A.— R.=-00s. ; A.— L.== -|-'07b.» . ■ ■ ' .. b. My recent calculations enable^tne to correct the foregoing in terms as follow, viz.: — "L. observes after A., -061025.; 11. records after signal, '399875.; A. records after signal, '413825. ;" consequently the " personal equations " filially adopted are : — " A.— R.=019835. ; A.— L.='069825." . :c. The final result of my calculations as given in my report, Ist Jan., 1884 (see cl p. 24, Appendix to Journals, House of Representatives, N.Z.) was :— rDifference of longitude, Sydney — Wellington: Diff.=lh. 34min. 16-985secs.-|-, —20s. I have now the . honour to correct the above as follows, viz. : Diff.=lh: 34iriiri ! . 16 t 9846732815ec.-|-, -198545. This discloses a discrepancy with my former result of -0003267195., an error of somewhat serious magnitude, but. which, as I have already explained; was in a great part due to the defective construction of the foundations of Sydney Observatory. The above . points to the urgent necessity for paying the greatest possibble attention — in conjunction with the strictest economy — to minute details in all observations to be undertaken in the ... , future by any pfthe able officers of your Department.'. 7 ',\ . . .-.'...■ ' : : d. s I would here -take the opportunity of pointing put that, in order that our Cplony should be enabled -to -maintain- -the proud position she has lately held in the. van, of scientific research, it is absolutely necessary that the Government should procure . . without delay a.telescope of. first-class capacity, say one-fourth (^th) greater diameter „,( than that known- as! Lord Ross's; also a 21iinch Azimuth/ arid a few other first-class .1 instruments as more particularly specified in the' list appended hereto^ahd marked :q4V; c. I have" the > honor to inform you that should the above suggestion meet' /'ybiir views, I shall be willuigTrrin. the paramount interests of scieriee-^to proceed to* Europe, without any increase >of .my present .'emoluments beyond reason abletrayelHng allowances^ to seet he above made' urider my own' immediate supervision. •■ -• . ... ... f. 1 may say that the importance to. master mariners of tlie of my recent observations can' hardly be over-estimated. For example, to give a single instance 1 : Doubtless if the captain of the s.s. /Tararua had been supplied "witfr thoroughly /reliable maps in terms of the > Geodetic Operations of 'our Department, instead of having had to /depend upon. plans furnished by . the British Adnliralty [based on the crude methods which'haVe beeii hitherto considereclgood enough for the British Islands, but which are now quite obsolete in view of the enlightened system adopted in Pur Colony^ he would, probably have steered -05s. more; to the eastward, and thus avoided by '4987 of acliain the rock upon which his ill-fated vessel struck. " ! ,</.■ In conclusion, I have to. record, niy grateful thanks to His Excellency the Governor of New South VVales, to the Honorable the Premier, to the Surveyor-General, and to His "Worship the Mayor of. Sydney, as alsoto the heads 'of the:;scientific ! bbqie*s r of. that city for tthe valuable assistance. rendered to the expedition. ivl'. ' ,!/..', . "" . '"' " ' '„',. I have the honor &c^ " • *.. o '.'""■':']...■:'..'*'. :'■."'....■■'■ ' / . , . c.: i MACAi3xiiryG,A.s:' : -i:jv| '■ p.s.^lt, may perhaps be as well, to mention that the entire I 'cc/st of ;the ; exj^editipM am6iiuted:,'ae i 'per jvouehers 'appended Hereto and marked b5 s td^he' cbm'parativelyit^&iiife