INAUGUEAL ADDRESS. O 



municatedj and in our suspense for tlie tardy arrival of 

 the official publications of the societies we have to feed 

 our minds with science from periodical literature. But 

 even in this respect my own current education is very de- 

 fective, as I reside in a city which, though the capital of New 

 Zealand, has no college with a professional staff whose duty, 

 pleasure, and interest it would be to maintain themselves on 

 a level with the different branches of knowledge they repre- 

 sent. I therefore decided that, instead of endeavouring to 

 review what had been done in the way of scientific pro- 

 gress, even in Australasia, it would be better to confine my 

 remarks to New Zealand — the more so that this is the first 

 occasion that there has been a gathering of what must, to 

 some extent, be considered to be an outside audience for the 

 colony. 



To endeavour to describe, even briefly, the progress made 

 in the science of a new country is, however, almost like 

 writing its minute history. Every step in its reclamation 

 from a wild state of nature has depended on the ajiplication 

 of scientific knowledge, and the reason for the rapid ad- 

 vance made in these colonies is chiefly to be attributed to 

 their having had the advantage of all modern resources 

 ready to hand. 



As in most other matters in New Zealand, there is a 

 sharp line dividing the progress into two distinct periods : 

 the first before, and the second after, the foundation of the 

 colony in 1840. With reference to the former period it is 

 not requisite that much should be said on this occasion. 

 From the time of Captain Cook's voyages, owing to his 

 attractive narrative, New Zealand acquired intense interest 

 for naturalists. His descriptions of the country and its 

 productions, seeing that he only gathered them from a 

 few places where he landed on the coast, are singularly 

 accurate. But I think rather too much is sometimes en- 

 deavoured to be proved from the negative evidence of his 

 not having observed certain objects. As an instance, it 

 has been asserted that if any of the many forms of the 

 moa still survived Captain Cook must have been informed 

 of the fact. Yet we find that he lav for weeks in Queen 



