16 president's address. 



with natural history. Discussion leads to clarity in our ideas, 

 and assists in formulating our scientific conceptions. During 

 last year, we had some discussion on the characters of hybrids. 

 The discussion was brief, but it helped us to understand better 

 how we were to recognise hybrids in the plants around us We 

 should not be always waiting for those in Europe to lay down 

 the principles on which we are to work. These are problems 

 which can be studied more readily in Australia than elsewhere. 

 The separation of Australia from the other great land-masses and 

 its isolation for long epochs have affected the characters of our 

 animals and plants. I hope that our Council will promote dis- 

 cussions of the general questions to the stud}" of which contri- 

 butions are made in the monographs of our Members. Two 

 such discussions might well be arranged each year. 



If I have spent some time in making more precise my concep- 

 tion of the essential f«^atures of scientific work, I have been 

 desirous of ensuring that there is no misunderstanding upon this 

 point. We are now in the fourth year of the insensate war 

 which is devastating more and more of Europe. We recognise 

 that we must utilise our resources t)f men and material in the 

 most economical and advantageous manner if we are to emerge 

 victorious from the struggle. We have learnt that it is our duty 

 to give the best of our manhood in the prime of life for the 

 service of our country, not counting what the sacrifice ma}" 

 involve personally. AVe give our savings to provide for the cost, 

 which shows still a tendency to increase to a greater daily ex- 

 penditure. We endeav^our to do what we can in personal service 

 to assist in defeating our enemies. We have heard much of our 

 duty to our country, but we ha\e heard very little of the duty of 

 the Government of this Commonwealth to use men, money, and 

 training to its full extent. I suppose that no one asserts that 

 this war has revealed the ability of tlie Government to place 

 each man and woman whose services have been put at its dis- 

 posal in the position in which the training and experience of the 

 individual can be fully employed. I have looked along this table 

 from month to month and thought how few of our Members are 

 utilised in ways in which their special ti-aining can be of service 



