12 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



town meeting in 1910. Professor Pearson outlined a scheme in 

 his presidential address to Section C, and shortly afterwards it 

 was announced that Dr. Bolus had presented his valuable her- 

 barium. The Council re-affirmed, in May. 191 3, its resolution 

 that " such an institution would greatly advance the scientific 

 and economic study of the vegetation of South Africa," and it 

 was announced at the Lourenqo Marques meeting in that year 

 that Parliament had sanctioned the scheme. 



In connection with the meteorite which was observed to 

 fall in the N'Kandhla district, Zululand. in August, 1912, and 

 which unfortunately has lieen lost to South Africa, a resolution 

 was passed at the 1913 meeting, asking the Government " to 

 pass legislation declaring that meteorites are Government pro- 

 perty, and that when found they should be delivered to the near- 

 est magistrate for transmission to the nearest museum under 

 Government control." The Secretary for the Interior, however, 

 replied that the proposal could only be considered if sufficient 

 reasons in support were sui)])lied. Dr. Juritz, who was present 

 at the joint meetings of the British and Australasian Associa- 

 tions in Australia in 1914, brought the question forward, and 

 the action of our Association was subsequently endorsed by the 

 Council of the British Association, which passed a resolution 

 " that in view of the fact tliat meteorites, which convey informa- 

 tion of world-wide importance, are sometimes disposed of pri- 

 vately, the Council be recjuested to take such steps as may initiate 

 international legislation on the matter." This resolution was 

 transmitted to the International Association of Academies, but 

 owinsr to the war, there the matter now rests. There is still the 



.... 



risk that such invaluable relics may hnd then- way mto the 

 hands of foreign dealers, to be retailed in small slices at enormous 

 prices. 



During the past year, c)n the initiative of Miss Wilman. 

 the Witwatersrand Council members pointed out tn the (x)vern- 

 ment the advisability of passing a law which would i)revent rare 

 fossils and ethnolo^ncal remains of national interest from leaving 

 South Africa, without the authority of the Minister of the In- 

 terior or -some responsible officer. It may be claimed by some 

 that such restrictions would not be in the general interests of 

 science, but similar regulations exist in .other countries, and 

 even Mexico prohibits the export o^ antiquities. 



The reptilian fossil remains which have recently been re- 

 moved from South Africa are hous'^d in the American Museum 

 of Natural History, New York, and are fully described in the 

 American Museum Journal of December, 191 3, and April, 1914. 

 It is stated that from fifty to sixty types have been added to 

 the fifty-two types of Permian reptiles already in the American 

 Museum, and an invidious comparison is made with the British 

 and Capetown Museums. " It is so I'ich in types," it is claimed, 

 " that it rivals the British Museum collection, while from a 

 spectacular point of view, it surpasses that collection, as well 



