678 president's address. 



On the morning of the 22nd September last at a quarter to 5 

 o'clock I was roused from my sleep by the ringing of the large 

 bell of the Garden Palace, and on looking out from the verandah 

 to ascertain the cause of such an unusual disturbance, I at once 

 perceived, to my amazement and horror, a small tongue of fire 

 issuing from the side of the great dome, which you know was 

 situated nearly in the centre of this spacious building, and under 

 which the whole of our ill-fated volumes were arranged. This 

 small tongue of flame, fanned by the wind, then blowing a gale 

 from the westward, and fed by an abundant supply of dry and 

 well-seasoned timber, of which the building was mainly con- 

 structed, rapidly enlarged into a huge, raging, and fiery furnace. 

 So furious indeed was this mass of fire that I observed sheets of 

 the corrugated galvanised iron being torn off the roofing and 

 hurled aloft to a considerable height. Several of these, caught 

 by the gale, were carried across the wide expanses of Elizabeth 

 and Eushcutter Bays, while portions of others, passing over 

 Darling Point, were even found at Glenyarrah, the grounds of 

 the late Hon. S. D. Gordon. In less than three-quarters of an 

 hour from the time I first saw the fire, the whole of the vast 

 range (upwards of five acres) of the beautiful Exhibition 

 Building and all its valuable contents were reduced to a heap of 

 burning ashes, and thus perished within these few minutes every 

 work on Natural History that we possessed, several hundred 

 pounds worth of volumes of transactions, and every record of our 

 meetings. Our pecuniary loss, irrespective of that portion which 

 it will be difiicult ever to replace, cannot be estimated at less 

 than £3,000. 



Suffering under such a deplorable mishap it is soothing for us 

 to feel that the sympathy incited by our misfortunes among our 

 fellow labourers in science was universal and sincere, as testified 

 by the many letters of condolence and offers of assistance which 

 have already been received. It is a grateful task for me, as 

 your President, to return thus j)ublicly our hearty thanks to 



