146 FOUNDATION AND EARLY WORK 



R.S. TAS. 



"Land, in relation to the peculiar character of the soil and 

 "climate." There is no record of any other paper being 

 read, however, and the. proposed development of the 

 Society was not carried into effect until after the appoint- 

 ment of Dr. Milligan as Secretary, in 1848. 



The Tasmaiiian Society, 1843-1848. 



In November, 1843, Sir Eardley Wilmot resigned the 

 office of President of the Tasmanian Society, and Sir John 

 Franklin was unanimously re-elected. (52) 



Mr. Abbott's note book records that on 7th March, 1844, 

 a proposal was received by the Royal Society from the 

 Tasmanian Society seeking amalgamation, and that the 

 Royal Society subsequently determined that it could not 

 entertain the proposal. 



The Tasmanian Society seems about this time to have 

 retired to Launceston, where its most active member, Mr- 

 R. C. Gunn, resided. No. 9 of the Tasnia?iian Jouriial, 

 published about April, 1845, (53) contains the minutes 

 of meetings held at Launceston from June^ 1844. to March, 

 1845. At the meeting of 4th June, 1844, the Rev. J. P. 

 Gell resigned the office of Secretary, and Mr. Gunn be- 

 came Secretary in his place. 



The Society met "in a private and domestic way," (54) 

 writes Mr. Gunn. It continued to attract membeTS of 

 considerable distinction, and papers of great value were 

 contributed to its journal. The journal was published 

 quarterly from April, 1845, to January, 1847, and after- 

 wards half-yearly until January, 1849. The second volume 

 (1843-6) and the third and last volume (1846-9) were pub- 

 lished in Tasmania by Henry Dowling, of Launceston, and 

 in London by John Murray. To the end the Tasmanian 

 /ournai, under Gunn's editorship, maintained the high 

 standard of its early numbers. In type, in paper, in 

 illustrations, in its record of discovery, in the distinction 

 of its contributors, it is safe to say that the earliest of 

 Australian scientific journals has never since been sur- 

 passed in the Southern Hemisphere. 



Efforts continued to be made to reconcile the two socie- 

 ties. The Tasmanian Society applied in 1846 for a share of 

 "the amount voted for the advancement of science" (mean- 



,„(5^^ ^%^- ^^^" ^° H^s Excellency. Mr, C. J. Latrobe, 26th November. 

 1846.— €.S.O., C.B., volume 225, No. 795. 



(53) No. a, at an interval of at least 12 months after No 7 had been 

 published late in 1844 or early in 1845. Nos. 8 and 9 were printed 

 at the office of the Lavncesfon Examiner: 



(54) Letter to Mr. Latrobe. 26th November, 1846 



