president's address — SECTION I. 179 



own memory, but the origin of these, if not noted, will in 

 time be lost. There are many other words Avhicli the strictest 

 cannot condemn as slang ; words, for instance, which have 

 come into the language from the Aborigines, such as 

 corroboree, waddy, and names of animals, shrubs, and 

 flowers. It might even be possible, with sufficient co-opera- 

 tion, to produce an Australian dictionary on the same lines as 

 the Neiv English Dictionary by way of supplement. Of 

 course we are all horribly busy, but organisation might make 

 the labour light, whilst for many it would from its very 

 nature jirove a pleasant task. 



To turn this Section into a meeting for the discussion of 

 educational questions has occurred to some as a happy 

 expedient. Having been engaged in the service of education 

 for a quarter of a century, I might be expected to welcome 

 this diversion. No dou])t it may be of great public value to 

 have such an intercolonial debate on educational matters, 

 nor do I wish to say aught against it but this : Education 

 is not Literature, nor is it Fine Art. The provinces of 

 education and of the section overlap, and no one would be 

 very strict about drawing a line of demarcation. On 

 education I will jiermit myself a few words, really few, for 

 education is a very wide subject, and fruitful Avithal, and it 

 would be quite easy to go off at score. Even if I confined 

 myself to recent educational developments, there would be 

 plenty to say. I might comment on the establishment of the 

 Victorian Institute of Schoolmasters as a sign that those who 

 are engaged in secondary education have at length recognised 

 that it is better to pull together than in diverse directions ; 

 and I might point out that the authorities of the Institute are 

 very anxious to establish intercolonial relations. I might 

 draw the attention of the Science Association to the Science 

 Scholarships that have been established by the Commissioners 

 for the London Exhibition of 1851. Of all Exhibitions, the 

 first, the Crystal Palace, was the most successful, and its 

 Commissioners are still handling a surplus. Happy men ! 

 These Science Scholarships, or some of them, are offered to 

 students of Colonial Universities to enable them to continue 

 science study either at their own universities or, if possible, 

 elsewhere. I might also claim some credit for Melbourne 

 University for the success of the scheme of extension lectures, 

 but though that success has already been very great, the 

 scheme is so new that we cannot say more than that it is full 

 of hope, and that we have fair reason to look for permanence, 



