SOCIETY FOR IMPERIAL CULTURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18451, 30 April 1928, Page 15

SOCIETY FOR IMPERIAL CULTURE.

Mr A. K. Anderson. M.A., vice president. took the chair at the first meeting of the Society for Imperial Culture on Saturday night, in the absence of Professor Shelley. There was an unusually large attendance. Palms, large bowls of chrysanthemums, hydrangeas and dahlias, with autumn foiiage, eft'ertivelv decorated the hall, and vivid touches of colour were introduced by masses of scarlet geraniums on the chairman's table and brilliant hued marigolds in jade green pottery bowls on the white mantel shelves. Before the lecture was given by Dr D. M'Leod, of Canterbury College, a delightful programme of instrumental music was much enjoyed, Mr Bernard Barker, with the violin, contributing solos by Tartini-Kreisler and Sarasate. He. was accompanied by Mr Claude Williams. A string quartet, composed by Miss Dorothy Filkins, in support oi the main theme of her composition for voices and strings which _ won the £SO prize given by the society, was p laved in public for the first time by Mr Barker, first violin, Dr J. Hight, second violin, Miss Nellie Ellwood, ’ecllo, and Mr T. Dent, viola. «k-aixuiau. in speaking of Pro-

lessor Shelley’s absence, said that he had done much for the society, and the honorary secretary, Mrs Claude Sawtell, was asked to write a letter conveying the best wishes of the members to Professor Shelley for his speedy recovery.

Dr M’Deod said that he would prefer to call his subject “A Talk on PresentDay Views of the Structure of the Universe. rather than a lecture, and he would illustrate his remarks with lantern slides. Astronomy, he continued, was the oldest and one of the most fascinating oi the sciences. Owing to the assault of the human mind upon the secrets of nature, and by a long series of observations and mathematical calculations, it was now placed on a sure foundation and ranked as a positive science. The improvement of telescopes and scientific apparatus and the wonderful advance in photography had played a large part in the study. The charts and diagrams displayed were intensely interesting, especially those of globular clusters, the impact of stars and the nebulae. The complexities of space, chaotic and primordial, were dealt with. The vast computations of time and space, the arithmetical calculations of the speed of light, staggering in their immensity, were touched upon, and the systems within systems, worlds within worlds in the making, explained. All these ap-

peared understandable, stupendous though the theories were, when depicted on the screen in the form of diaSr The’ ordinary eye, said the lecturer, can see only five hundred stars, but through a telescope fifteen hundred millions are visible Even their colours are discernible, and by the colours their motion towards us or away can be determined. In answer to a question, Dr M Leod ] explained the nature of a meteorite cr falling star.- He went on to say that, though there was no direct evidence that life exists only on our own planet, it may be that Mars is also the home of life The modern theory of the structure of the solar system was interesting if not conymeing, when aeons ago all was without form and void,” and solar systems were, formed by the condensation and cohesion of nebulae or formless masses of gaseous matter. Mr Douglas Suckling sang Ihe Dreams” (Rubinstein), “Pleading” (Elgar) and “Serenade” (Schubert) and in response to an encore, \ou in a Gondola ” ( Coningsby-Clarke). His sister played the accompaniments. \ comprehensive vote of thanks tq the lecturer, the musicians and the Municipal Electricity Department for the use of the lantern was proposed bv Mr Walter Cresswell, seconded by Air E. G. Thomas and carried unanimously- Supper was handed round.