4 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



the other Australasian Colonies ; and although I fear my 

 address may not prove so generally interesting as I think it 

 would have done could I have carried out my original idea, 

 still I hope it may not be without some interest and value. 

 The subject I have chosen for it may, I think, be regarded 

 as fairly falling under the object of this Association which I 

 have already quoted, viz., " promoting the intercourse of those 

 who cultivate science in different parts of the Australasian 

 Colonies with one another." Of course, the first obvious 

 meaning of intercourse is communication or exchange of ideas 

 between living people. But surely, we, of all people — 

 we who are banded together for the advancement of science 

 in these colonies — are deeply interested in the efforts made 

 in this direction by those who have preceded us ; and if 

 for a time this evening I can bring you into contact with the 

 thoughts and work of those who have trod the same paths as 

 we are treading, even although many of them may be no 

 longer with us, I may claim to be promoting that intercourse 

 which it is one of the objects of the Association to secure 

 and advance. It is not, I think, unworthy of this great 

 meeting that they should turn their eyes back to the times 

 when the difficulties attending the prosecution of science 

 in these colonies were infinitely greater than they are at 

 present, — when there were scarcely any libraries and but few 

 books available ; when the distance from European centres of 

 thought was not bridged over, as it is now, by steam and 

 electricity ; when few men had leisure, and the population was 

 not a tithe of what it now is. Even in those days in these 

 colonies were to be found men, many of them in moments 

 snatched from avocations not unfrequently involving hard 

 manual toil, who devoted their best powers to scientific obser- 

 vation and investigation. All honour to these men, who did 

 so much and such good work in the cause of science amidst 

 surroundings often uncongenial ! 



"' In Tasmania we have but one scientific society — the Royal 

 Society of Tasmania. There is another society, started last 

 year in Launceston, called the Natural Science Society, of 

 which we have hopes, but it is yet in its infancy. The Royal 

 Society, or rather what was the forerunner of the Royal 

 Society, had its origin in the days of a very distinguished 

 predecessor of mine. Sir John Franklin. Sir John Franklin 

 was, in 1836, appointed Governor of Tasmania, a post which 

 he held till August of 1843. Born in 1786, he entered the 



