LISP 



PROCEEDINGS Y^ a*^ . 



OF THE 



LINNEAN SOCIETY 



OF 



NE^^^ south: ^W^i^EES. 



WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31st, 1915. 



The Fortieth Annual General Meeting, and the Ordinary 

 Monthly Meeting, were held in the Linnean Hall, Ithaca Road, 

 Elizabeth Bay, on Wednesday evening, March 31st, 1915. 



ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. 



Mr. W. S. Dun, President, in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the preceding Annual General Meeting (March 

 25th, 1914) were read and confirmed. 



The President delivered the Annual Address. 



PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



On this occasion, the fortieth anniversary of the Society's first 

 Meeting, we assemble under the shadow of the great crisis 

 in human affairs, which developed so unexpectedly last August, 

 and the end of which is not yet; though the outlook, while still 

 serious, is hopeful. We certainly were in the dark, at the outset, 

 as to its real significance. But we have had so much enlighten- 

 ment since then, that we are now able to understand that the 

 great war which is convulsing Europe, and is so profoundly dis- 

 turbing the rest of the world, is, at bottom, the clash of national 

 ideals, aims, and aspirations of an antagonistic and irreconcilable 

 character. One of many bewildering aspects of the Tragedy of 

 Europe in Arms is the way in which Universities, men of science, 

 theologians, philosophers, and other intellectuals, on the other 



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