THE chairman's ADDRESS. 913 



and the present prosperous state of its affairs, that so far from 

 faHing into a state of decay, numerically or otherwise, the Society 

 is still vigorous and flourishing, and will, I have no doubt what- 

 ever, in due course follow the recent example of its great English 

 prototype, the Linnean Society of London, and celebrate its 

 centenary anniversary in a manner befitting the occasion. 



In each of the Australian colonies, with the exception of 

 Western Australia, at the present time there is and has been for 

 a more or less lengthy period at least one Scientific Society. 

 Now I believe it to be a fact that those who are especially 

 interested in these societies, and who ai'e called upon to watch 

 over their welfare, have at least one experience in common, and 

 that is that at some time or other they are called upon to 

 consider, individually or collectively, why it is that, having regard 

 to the steady increase of population, and to the great value of 

 the work done by such societies, there does not seem to be some- 

 thing like a proportional increase in the number of those who 

 show a practical interest in the progress of our Scientific Societies. 



From its large extent, its long and complete isolation, and the 



correspondingly intei'esting characters of its archaic fauna and 



flora, and yet withal from the facility of access through increased 



settlement to its most remote districts, its being solely under the 



beneficent rule of one enlightened nation, the minimal amount or 



entire absence of danger to be apprehended from malarial 



climates, from wild beasts, and from hostile tribes, an unrivalled 



opportunity is ottered of working up completely and satisfactorily 



the fauna and flora of one of the great tracts of the earth's 



surface under the most favourable circumstances, and with greater 



certainty and ease than is possible, under present conditions, in 



the case of almost no other portion of the globe of equal extent. 



Already this has been done for the phanerogamic portion of the 



flora, as well as for the vascular cryptogams, so that we have it 



on the best authority that the " Flora Australiensis 



is the first flora of any large continental area that has ever been 



finished." Much, of course, remains to be done in the matter of 

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