sirC.Todd ADELAIDE AND VICINITY 311 Royal Observatory at Greenwich, and it may be mentioned that while in this service he was one of the earliest observers of the wonderful planet Neptune. The discovery of this long-concealed world was a oreat triumph of the reasoning methods of inductive logic. P>om the hour of his admission to the observatorial service, Sir Charles labored unrelaxingly. lo such j)roficiency did he attain in a few years that he attracted the notice of the Astronomer-Royal, who evinced satisfaction at the success of his early career. After seven years of faithful and student-like devotion to the foundation sciences of the Observatory, he left the service of that institution to accept the post of Assistant-Astronomer at Cambridge to the late Rev. Professor Chalice. In this great scholastic arena. Sir Charles (then plain Mr. Todd) pursued his investigations amidst an elevated mental atmosphere, and his operations in the laboratory proved him to be a scientist of unusual ability. The ardent young astronomer next accepted the offer of .Sir G. B. Airy (then Mr. Airy), the late Astronomer-Royal, of the position of Assistant-Astronomer at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. P'or a year Sir Charles held this position, when the position of Superintendent of Telegraphs and Government Astronomer for the Province of South Australia was offered to him through the Astronomer-Royal (the late Sir G. B. Airy). This appointment was accepted, and he left England in July, 1855, to undertake his new duties. It may fairly be said that Sir Charles Todd practically inaugurated the electric telegraph system in South Australia. Under his skilful superintendence connecting wires were constructed through different parts of the Province, and a well-woven network of electrical communications was spread over it in a comparatively short period of time. The enthusiasm and willing enterprise of the Government enabled him to carry out this work with less of the hindrance and difficulty which usually retards developmental work of a scientific kind. The value of the new system soon became generally recognised ; and it was seen that Sir Charles had initiated a successful policy of extending communications throughout the Province, which was to develop with the growth of time. His greatest achievement, and that with which his name will ever be associated, is the construction of the Transcontinental Telegraph line from Port Darwin to Adelaide. Western Europe had done her ample share in this utilitarian venture. She had brought the cable through submarine depths to the shores of North Australia ; and there it lay waiting for the enterprising spirit of Australia to join ends. South Australia supplied the necessary finance and enthusiasm, and under Sir Charles Todd's personal survey and superintendence, the line was successfully laid, across the desert and through the bush, from top to bottom of the Continent. Many are the stories that are told of the great privations and vicissitudes endured by those who carried out the work of erecting the line through the little-known interior wastes. But the personal stimulus of the indefatigable Sir Charles animated the workers, while his capacity as an organiser facilitated their laborious and dangerous task. Sir Charles had ridden across the stretch of 2,000 miles now spanned by the wire, and inspected the route throughout, thus qualifying himself for directing the undertaking. On its completion in August, 1872, amid the congratulations of England and
