Section G. 



ANTHROPOLOGY. 



Address by the President, 

 THE REV. LORRIMER FISON, M.A., 



Queen's College, University of Melbourne, 



To fill worthily the position which I have now the honour 

 to occupy requires a knowledge of Anthropology far beyond 

 that which I possess. I am only a specialist ; and, since the 

 work I have been able to do in ray own line has had to be 

 done in the intervals between pressing duties, I have been 

 compelled to turn resolutely away from many by-paths of 

 investigation which impinged upon ray own and tempted me 

 sorely to explore them. I shall therefore not presume to 

 say anything about Anthropology in general, further than to 

 commend the study of the science, in some one of its many 

 branches, to those who have leisure hours at their disposal. 



In these colonies, as we are sometimes reminded, we ure 

 business communities ; we have scarcely any " leisured " 

 class ; business in one form or another is the lifework of 

 nearly everybody, and very few have any time for other 

 pursuits. But no man should allow any one occupation to 

 fill his life and to shape his mind. It is because we are a 

 business community — for that very reason — we ought to do 

 something more and something other than our business, 

 whatever it may be. A man's special occupation is his 

 special duty, and has the first claim upon him, but it has no 

 right to claim the whole of him, and he is most unwise if he 

 admits the claim. To all men, and especially to young men, 

 I would say, " Take hold of some branch of art or science, 

 and make it the complement of your everyday work, and 

 you will live to bless the man who gave you so excellent a 

 piece of advice, and to be heartily glad that you had good 

 sense enough to follow it." For Science is her own exceeding 

 great reward, and all faithful work done for her earns in the 

 work itself an ample wage. 



