OF THE SOCIETY. 153- 



1913. 



City-park. Later, the branch held its meetings in a room 

 in the Public Buildings. Some show cases were obtained 

 from the Society in Hobart, and a collection of specimens 

 of gpology and mineralogy was got together. (63) 



In 1857 the branch had about thirty members. Interest 

 waned, and there does not seem to be any reference to it 

 in the Society's Reports after 1860; but it is mentioned in 

 Walch's Almanac until 1878. 



The cases and specimens of the museum of the Northern 

 branch were afterwards bought by the Mechanics" Insti- 

 tute of Launceston. The collections were kept for a time 

 at the Public Buildings, but in 1885 or 1886 were moved 

 to the Institute. In 1887 the Victoria Museum and Art 

 Gallery was commenced, and on its completion the collec- 

 tions of the Institute were moved to it. (63a) The Boyal 

 Society was thus the parent both of the Tasmanian 

 Museum and the Victoria Museum. 



The Museum and Library. 



The original Rules of the Society provided for a Museum 

 and a Librar^^; and as early as 1844 there is mention of 

 "some dried plants for our Museum." In the Report for 

 1845, the Council reported that Sir Eardley Wilmot had 

 given a valuable collection of specimens of natural history, 

 and had written to the Royal Society, the Linnaean So- 

 ciety, and the Antiquarian Society (of all of which he 

 was a member), and other societies, asking for books for 

 the librar}' ; and that it was intended to fit up the rooms 

 of the cottage lately occupied by the Secretary as a 

 Museum. 



In 1846 the first book for the Society's Library — Lou- 

 don's Encyclopaedia of Plants — was ordered; and in 1847 

 the University of Cambridge presented several bibles and 

 books on divinity. 



In June, 1848, Sir William Denison gave permission for 

 the use, free of charge, of "the large Committee Room at 

 "the Legislative Council Chamber'' as a Museum and 

 Library and meeting-room for the Society; and obtained 

 a grant of £100 a year towards the expenses of the 

 Museum. The Committee Room and an adjoining room 

 were occupied by the Society until 1852. 



The Rep'ort for 1848 records that a Library was now 



(63) Henry Button, Flotsam and Jetsam (Tasmania and London, 1910), p. 315. 



(63a) Flotsam and Jetsam, pp. 315-6. Ernest Whitfeld, History of the 



Launceston Mechanics' Institute and Public Library (Launceston, 1905), 



