PKESIDENT's address. — SECTION D. 141 



origin, the second is one of a series dealing with the assimilation 

 of carbon dioxide, and the production of sugar by plants. The 

 latter paper leads tO' the conclusion that not formaldehyde but a 

 simple biose sugar is the first product in photo-synthesis, and that 

 the traces of formaldehyde which have been detected in greexi 

 plants are the result of the destructive photo'-oxidation of chlo- 

 rophyll, and are formed equally well in the entire absence of carbon 

 dioxide when extracted chlorophyll is exposed to light. In the 

 paper in question it is shown that in the polymerization of solid 

 formaldehyde by alkalies, although heat is required to start the 

 reaction, it is an exothermic and not an endothermic one, that the 

 sugars formed are mainly pentoses and not hexoses, or sucroses, 

 that magnesium, the only metallic constituent of chlorophyll, is 

 less eifective in polymerizing fonnaldehyde than any other alkali 

 metal, and that the action is not an enzymatic but a direct chemi- 

 cal one involving a large production of methyl alcohol and metallic 

 formates. In other words, there is no' analogy between the pro- 

 duction of sugar from formaldehyde outside the plant and the 

 conditions under which sugar is formed within the plant. 



In concluding this brief summary of the botanical work carried 

 out in Australia during the past seven years, attention may be 

 directed to the preponderance of systematic and ecooiomic work, 

 and toi the deficiency of scientific work on somei ot" the deeper 

 aspects of the subject, many of wihch have also' great economic 

 importance, as, for instance, in thei application of the facts of . 

 cytology to plant-breeding. Apart from the fungi and bacteria, 

 which have received much attention, the rest of the Thallophyta 

 have been greatly neglected except lor purely systematic work. 



In the anatomy and reproduction of Vascular Cryptogams there 

 is little work to record, although a detailed investigation of many 

 Australian forms would certainly reveal points of great interest 

 and scientific value. 



In the ©cologfy of the Australian flora little has been done in 

 comparison with the vast field which awaits thei trained investi- 

 gator. 



Coming now to a different matter, it is possible that some of you 

 may already know that after having held the office of Government 

 Botanist of Victoria for fifteen years, I am. giving up that office 

 in order to devote mvseif wliollv to University duties. So far the 

 Victorian Government has not shown any intention of appointing 

 a successor to that position, but I can hardly conceive it as credible 

 that an office of this importance would be left unfilled, or that an 

 institution of the scientific importance and economic utility of the 

 National Herbarium could be left without proper guidance and 

 control. However, that is a matter in which the future will afford 

 guidance.* In the meantime, as it rarely happens that one has 



* Mr. Laidlaw, B.Sc, has since been appointed Government. Botanist. 



