Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 1G9 



Thursday, December 12th. 



The President (Professor Kernot) in the chair. 



The minutes of the last meeting were read and confirmed. 



Tlie Rev. Lorimer Fison and Mr. Thomas Currie (Associate) 

 were introduced by the President to the Meeting, and signed 

 the Roll. 



The President announced that nominations should be 

 made before the 1st of March next for the offices of President, 

 Vice-President, Treasurer, Librarian, Honorary Secretaries, 

 and six Members of Council. 



The following were elected as Associates : — Mrs. Riddell, 

 Mr. John Steele Robertson, Dr. Joseph Ross, Mr. Leonard 

 Slade ; as Member, Mr. Theodore Fink. 



Dr. Neild, the Honorary Librarian, announced that ninety- 

 two publications had been received during the past month. 



The President stated that the Government had most 

 generously increased to a very suljstantial extent the annual 

 endowment to the Society, and in consequence, the Transac- 

 tions would in future be prepared in an elaborate and better 

 style than in the past. The new volume would be consider- 

 ably larger than any published hitherto, and it would be 

 issued during the ensuing month ot January. 



Mr. A. W. HowiTT, F.G.S., read a paper on ''The 

 Organisation of Australian Tribes." 



The Rev. L. Fison said that Mr. Howitt's paper was 

 specially important, because it showed that the aborigines 

 of Australia — the lowest order of savages — were not only 

 organised, but had a code of morals which was strictly 

 observed, breaches of it rendering the person committing 

 them liable to severe punishment. The system of group 

 relationship, which Mr. Howitt had explained, had been 

 found to exist not only amongst the aboriginals of Australia, 

 but amongst the Iroquois Lidians, and afterwards amongst 

 the tribes of India. He had himself discovered its existence 

 amongst the natives of the South Sea Islands. There were 

 certain occasions, however, notably in Fiji, when epidemics 

 were rife, on which certain tiibes recuri'ed to promiscuity as 

 a means of propitiating the gods. 



Mr. HowiTT, in reply to Mr. Dendy, said that ])romiscuity 

 in the cases of certain Australian tribes did not appear to have 



