president's address. lit 



still auutlier quotatiou. this time a cliai-ai'ter-sketch from an artiflf entilic-il 

 "The Man Out Back," published in the Sydney Daily Telegraph of December 

 29th, 1900. '•Times have changed, and a certain type of the old Australian 

 pioneer has well-nigh gone. He was one who did things in a large way, and 

 usually made his fortune. He was an interesting character, and his methods, if 

 primitive, were eft'eetive. Rough in speech, jjlain of dress, fond of hard work, 

 with long hours and simple food, he was yet genial in company. In business, 

 he was usually hard and stern, and he was especially noted for his shrewd dealings 

 in money-matters. He lived to make money, and any hindrance that stood iu 

 his way was brushed aside by his strong personality. 'A pound saved is as good 

 as two pounds made,' one that I knew used to say. He succeeded, and accumu- 

 lated money, and, what is more to the point, stuck fast to it. 'You'll have to leave 

 your wealth behind you, and whoever gets it will probably spend it recklessly," 

 I said to him once, with a frankness that did not displease him. 'Well,' he 

 answered with a hard laugh, 'if those who come after me get lialf as much 

 pleasure in spending it as I have had in making the money, I'll be pierfectly 

 satisfied.' When he took up '250,000 acres in the back country, he was content 

 with a poor dwelling-place. A shelter from the rain was almost the main con- 

 sideration. He dill not believe in making improvements. 'Eat out the country, 

 and then move elsewhere, was bis motto. 'If they want you to make improve- 

 ments, throw up the country,' he said. In time of drought his sheep were dying 

 for want of water and feed. 'Let them <lie; it doesn't pay me to feed them. I 

 can buy plenty more when the rain comes. That's the way to make money.' " 



What is amiss with the sentiments expressed in the extracts quoted? They 

 are wrong in at least two I'espects. Firstly, they are views of Man's relation to 

 Nature based ui)on self-interest, that is upon his money-making in.stinct — the idea 

 that it may l)e cheaper and less trouble to take chances, even if it results in 

 drought culling the flocks and herds, than it is to learn how to prevent it; and 

 that "That's the way to make money." And, secondly, they take no account 

 whatever of the complemental, scientific side of what droughts are, of what they 

 mean, and of the part they play in the economy of Nature, and of Man's concern 

 with them from this point of view. 



Man needs rest after strenuous work, whether physical or mental; and I he 

 physiologist can give a scientific explanation of the need of it, and of the 

 result of it. 



The land also periodically needs a rest or sweetening, and the biologist can 

 give a scientific explanation of the need of it, as well as of the result of it. It 

 is a matter of expeiience, that the year after a drought breaks np. is a bumper 

 year for crops and herbage. 



Nature has adopted two ways of resting and sweetening the land, and. at the 

 same time, of generally clearing up and putting things in order, getting rid of 

 weaklings and undesirables, and putting species, that have got out of bounds, back 

 into their proper places. These are, (1) annually recurring, hard winters, as in 

 the extra-tropical countries of the Northern Hemisphere, the hardness varying with 

 the latitude. This may be distinguished as the winter-sleep or resting of the 

 land. And (2) periodical droughts in the subtropical countries of the Southern 

 Hemisphere, like Australia, Subtropical South America, and South Africa, which 

 liave mild winters, not severe enough to give the land a thorough rest or sweetening. 

 The arrears accumulate imtil, sooner or later, the drought comes, puts things 

 straight again, strikes a balance, and makes way for a new start, the onset of 



