PUKSIDENTS ADDRESS. iJ 



iii., "Flora Tasmaniae, with an Introductory Essay on the 

 Flora of Australasia," issued in 1853-60, most directly con- 

 cerns Australian botanists. 



This great monograph is still indispensable for reference, 

 because of the beautiful illustrations, and also because it takes 

 account of the more important lower Cryptogams. The Introduc- 

 tory Essay, a philosophical treatise dealing with tlie characters 

 and relations of the Australian flora, and cognate matters, is 

 still a classic, which is not likely to be superseded. On the 

 completion of his extensive and laborious study of this flora, 

 Mr. Bentham, in the preface to the last volume of the Flora 

 Australiensis (1878), says — "With regard to Geographical 

 Distribution, I can only repeat that recent discoveries and 

 the additional data collected have generally confirmed the 

 principles laid down by J. D. Hooker in the admirable Essay 

 prefixed to his 'Flora Tasmaniae,' and that it is only in minor 

 details that corrections or additions have now to be made 

 to it." Thus we cannot forget that Sir Joseph Hooker was 

 the last in the succession of the great English botanists and 

 collectors, who visited Australia, and whose contributions to 

 a knowledge of the flora were published before the first 

 volume of Mr. Bentham's "Flora Australiensis," made its 

 appearance (1863). 



If I make no reference to the important events which have 

 transpired of late, or are now transpiring in Antarctica, it is 

 because, not being a geographer, I am unable to add any- 

 thing to the newspaper reports, supplemented by Professor 

 David's illuminating commentaries' 



In the interval since Mr. Lucas delivered his admirable Presi- 

 dential Address "On the Relations of Science and Government," 

 just four years ago, we have had some gratifying evidence of the 

 recognition by Australian Governments, and especially by the 

 Federal Government, that Science is the natural ally of the Go- 

 vernment, and can be wisely and advantageously utilised. Last 

 year, by arrangement with the Universities of Melbourne and 

 Sydney, Professor Baldwin Spencer, Professor Gilruth, and 



