8 president's address. 



of his fruitful labours in this part of the world at the outset 

 ox his scientific career, more than seventy years ago, and of 

 the important additions to a knowledge of the flora of Tas- 

 mania and Australia, to which these mainly contributed. 

 Upon the completion of his medical studies. Sir Joseph, then 

 Dr. Hooker, entered the Royal Navy, and, as Assistant-Sur- 

 geon and Naturalist, he was gazetted to the "Erebus," one 

 of the two ships which left England, in command of Captain 

 Sir James Clark Ross, in September, 1839, under the auspices 

 of the British Government, "for the purpose of investigating 

 the phsenomena of Terrestrial Magnetism in various remote 

 countries, and for prosecuting Maritime Geographical Dis- 

 covery in the high southern latitudes." The annals of this 

 justly celebrated expedition, which has been described as 

 "one of the most brilliant and famous of all voyages of dis- 

 covery that have ever been made," are both extensive, and 

 very complete. Captain Ross's programme, as carried out, 

 comprised three successful attempts to reach high southern 

 latitudes, during three successive seasons, starting from a dif- 

 ferent base each time — first from Hobart, next from New 

 Zealand, and then from the Falkland Islands. The route 

 selected by the Commander, in carrying out his plans, gave 

 the botanist the opportunity of collecting and observing the 

 floras of the most important insular areas contiguous to An- 

 tarctica. Three mouihs in 1840, and again three months in 

 the following year, were spent in collecting Tasmanian plants. 

 On the way from Tasmania to New Zealand, the "Erebus" 

 and "Terror" called at Port Jackson, remaining from 14th 

 July to 5th August, 1841, and, in Dr. Hooker's own words, 

 "a considerable herbarium was formed, chiefly in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Sydney and Botany Bay." The botanical results 

 of the expedition eventually took shape as "The Botany of 

 the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discoveiy Ships ' Erebus ' and 

 'Terror,' 1839-43, under command of Sir James Ross, with 

 over 500 coloured plates, in six volumes, royal quarto, 1844- 

 60." This fine work comprises three Sections, of which No. 



