142 president's address. — section d. 



the opportunity of singing one's own swan song, I should like to 

 signalize my relinquishment of systematic work by a short review 

 of the work done at the Herbarium during the last fifteen years. 



During the period of ten years that followed the late Baron voai 

 Mueller's death, the Herbarium drifted intoi a serious conditioin. 

 Great damage was done by insects, many of the types became miss- 

 ing, much valuable material disappeared or could not be found, the 

 Library contained so- few complete sets of serial publications as to 

 be almost useless, and it was uncatalogued. The Australian por- 

 tion of the Herbariiun was catalogued and indexed fairly satis- 

 factorily, but very large accumulations of material in the rest of 

 the Herbarium being unarranged were inaccessible. One ol the 

 first official acts necessary was toi obtain permission toi take legal 

 proceedings against the trustees of the late Baron von Mueller for 

 the recovery of missing Government property. As a result, many 

 of the gaps in the Library and Herbarium were filled. The cata- 

 loguing of both was completed with the exception of the non-flower- 

 ing non- Australian plants, which have still tO' be done. The 

 Herbarium now contains abomt a million and a quarter sheets of 

 specimens in good preisei"^'aticn, including not only most of the type 

 specimens of the Australian flora, but also^ a large number from 

 South Africa, and general collectiorns from all parts of the world. 



The library has increased from 2,500 volumes to crver 8,000, and 

 most of the serials are complete or nearly so, and are bound. 

 Works published during the period include The Weeds of Victoria, 

 Plants Indlj/eiioiis to Victoria, and in conjunction with O. B. 

 Davieis, the Flora of the Xorthern Territory. Lists of vernacular 

 names of Victorian plants have been compiled in conjunction with 

 a representative botanical committee. Systematic investigations 

 have added 7 genera, 51 species, and 30 varieties to the known 

 Australian Flora. 



I submit this record as an indication of what still remains for a 

 Government Botanist to' do, and with a recollection of the assurance 

 received on my arrival in Victoria that I would not have any diffi- 

 culty with the work of the Herbarium because the flora was 

 thoroughly known, and there were only a few introduced weeds 

 which were all common, and would be familiar to' me. It' was a 

 curious ccmmentary on this assurance that among one of the first 

 lots of plants identified was a new genus and species and four new 

 weeds. I would, however, emphasize this point, namely, that 

 systematic botany forms the base on which economic botany rests, 

 and that noi good architect attempts to' raise the superstructure of 

 an important and valuable building on unsound, or incomplete 

 foundations. 



One beneficial result brought aboait by the great war was a 

 general scientific awakening and a public realization of the impor- 

 tant, and indeed essential, part which science and scientific activity 

 play in national security. Although this becomes more immediately 



