INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 3 



been with us, but he also was unavoidably prevented from 

 coming. He has, however, with great kindness, sent us a 

 very important paper on '' The Astronomical Explanation 

 of a Glacial Period," which I shall have great pleasure in 

 reading to the Astronomical Section. Then I have had a 

 most interesting letter from Sir Lyon Playfair, which I shall 

 read to this meeting later on ; and I can only express my 

 regret, in which, I am sure, you join, that these gentlemen 

 are not here present in person amongst us on this occasion. 



Having done what I could to bring men of science from 

 the Old Country into direct communication with this Asso- 

 ciation at this gathering, I had next to consider and deter- 

 mine what I should make the subject of my address to you 

 this evening, and it seemed to me that some account of the 

 rise and operations of the Scientific Societies of Australasia 

 would be interesting and useful to the Association. I soon 

 arrived at the conclusion, however, that I had set myself too 

 ambitious a task. Even had I been able — and this is very 

 doubtful — to have confined my account within the limits 

 which time imposes upon the length of an inaugural address, 

 I found that 1 could not have done justice to my subject, 

 notwithstanding the ready assistance I received on all sides, 

 without visiting each colony, not only for the purpose of 

 inspecting the various records, but also of gathering some 

 further knowledge of the lives and labours of their men of 

 science, past and present, than could be gained from a mere 

 perusal of volumes of proceedings. It was, of course, out of 

 my power to visit all the other Australasian Colonies, and 

 had I attempted to gain all the sort of information I wanted 

 from my kind informants, I should have, thrown quite an 

 unreasonable amount of work upon them, and, in fiact, the 

 work I set myself to do would have been theirs and not 

 mine. In these circumstances I felt compelled to abandon 

 the idea ; but I have got together a large amount of valuable 

 information, more or less of a statistical character, respecting 

 the various scientific societies of Australasia, which I have 

 handed over to our Honorary Secretary, Professor Liver- 

 sidge, and I hope that either he, or some other person equally 

 capable, may hereafter see their way to compile a history of 

 the rise and operations of the Scientific Societies of Austral- 

 asia. I then determined to restrict my paper to Tasmania, 

 which, I think, in its experiences in respect of its efibrts in 

 the cause of science, may be taken as more or less typical of 



