8 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



of Tasmania, and into the mineralogical character and fossil 

 contents of its rocks, and to obtain, so far as possible, faithful 

 and trustworthy records of the interesting forms and laws 

 under which mineral, plant, and vegetable existence exhibit 

 themselves in Tasmania. They thus hoped to prepare and 

 accumulate materials for future and more advanced inquirers 

 to operate upon. 



It is interesting to notice that the first list of corresponding 

 Members of this Society contained some very distinguished 

 names. Among them are to be found those of Captain James 

 C. Ross, of H.M.S. -Erehus, and Captain Francis R. M. 

 Crozier, of H.M.S. Terror. Both these ships, as you are no 

 doubt aware, visited Hobart on their outward voyage to the 

 Antarctic regions in 1840, and on their return from those 

 regions in 1841, after having ascertained the true position 

 of the south magnetic pole. The list also includes the names 

 of Mr. W. Macleay, of Sydney, a learned zoologist, and the 

 father of Sir William Macleay, whose recent death we so 

 deeply deplore, — no man in the present generation having 

 done so much for the advancement of science in Australia ; 

 of Count Strzelecki, of London, the eminent zoologist; and 

 of Mr. John Gould, of London, the great ornithologist, whose 

 magnificent work on Birds is not only of rare artistic merit, 

 but is still the standard work on the subject. All of these 

 are no longer living. But three of the original corresponding 

 Members of this Society still retain their health and vigour. 

 They are the Rev. W. Colenso, whose investigations in 

 botany and zoology, extending over a very lengthened period 

 in New Zealand, have been very important and extensive, 

 and who, moreover, is the greatest living authority on the 

 folk lore of the Maories ; Sir George Grey, whose brilliant 

 services in his riper years in the political world have a 

 tendency to somewhat cast in the shade services, scarcely less 

 brilliant, which, as a younger man, he rendered in the field of 

 exploration ; and last, and by no means least. Sir Joseph 

 Hooker, then the Assistant-Surgeon of H.M.S. Erebus; 

 and it is no small satisfaction to Tasmanians that a man of 

 the extraordinary powers and attainments of Sir Joseph 

 Hooker should have devoted so much of them as he has 

 done to the investigation and description of the nature, 

 distribution, and affinities of the Tasmanian Flora. 



As regards the resident Members of the Tasmanian Society 

 whose names appear in its first pubHshed list, in addition to 



