look backwards and review the work that the Society has 

 already accomplished ; or I might risk a more veiitm-esome task, 

 and (bearing in mind what the past year has directed our 

 attention to) might refer to any special subject which it seems 

 likely Avill engage more attention in the future than it has done 

 at any previous time. I hope 1 shall not seem presumptuous 

 for having decided upon the latter course. 



In his presidential address last year, my esteemed friend, 

 Mr. Bailey, gave the Society a concise history of Australian 

 botany. No other of our members could have handled the 

 subject more ably, and none are entitled to speak upon it with 

 so much authority as he ; and the special value of the address 

 he then delivered lies in the fact that a large number of our 

 members interest themselves in the colleetion, study, culture, 

 and nomenclature of plants. Many of the papers which are 

 read at our monthly meetings are connected with this subject 

 and they are listened to with profit and appreciation. Promi- 

 nence has also been given to other subjects during the last 

 twelve months, and it is most gratifying to know that the 

 influence of the Society is certainly not decreasing as time goes 

 by. The number of our members continues to increase and 

 additional contributors of papers lielp to augment our store of 

 knowledge. 



Having made special reference to the subject of botany, I 

 propose now to invite attention to a new and special branch of 

 this subject — one which has within the last few years most 

 deeply impressed the learned as well as the unlearned, and, 

 because of its intimate connection with our everyday life and 

 the important part it plays for good and for evil, has become a 

 science in itself. 



Before proceeding further, let me explain that I shall 

 carefully avoid saying anything which might give offence to the 

 most fastidious or the timid. Let me also, as an apology for 

 seeming to intrude upon a domain which specialists are disposed 

 to claim as their own, point out that others as well as myself 

 have been induced to read up the subject of bacteriology because 

 our interests have been endangered by the writings of irre- 

 sponsible persons whose information has not always been 



