335 



Adduess at the Annual Meeting or the Uoval Society of 

 South Austkalia, October 2, 19U6, by Dr. J. C. Verco, 

 President. 



Three years, have parsed siuce yuu j^laccd me iii the preti- 

 deutiai chair, and, with an indulgence which liab been highly 

 appreciated, you have twice excused nie from the customary 

 annual address. The honour of this responsible and digni- 

 fied position, conferred for the fourth time, demands in cour- 

 tesy and gratitude an effort on my part to discharge this diffi- 

 cult task. 



It is specially difficult to me, for two reasons. Medical 

 science, the basis of my profession, and the work of my life, 

 with which 1 am, of course, more intimately acquainted than 

 with anything else, is not represented among the subjects 

 which engage your attention. A medical association, com- 

 posed of medical practitioners only, furnishes the appropriate 

 opportunity for record of medical facts, exhibition of medical 

 cases, and the discussion of medical questions. They would 

 be out of place in a presidential address here, forbidden by 

 the ethics of the profession and the character of the audi- 

 ence. 



The department of natural history which has chiefly en- 

 listed my interest, malacology or conchology, is but a recrea- 

 tion, and can only receive the amount of attention which a 

 busy man can afford for play. This forbids my speaking T\ith 

 the well-grounded confidence of some esteemed and envied ex- 

 perts, and makes me diffident of launching out into those broad 

 generalizations which alone could be acceptable to other than 

 conchologists. The more minute and technical details of this 

 study are suitable rather for our ordinary or sectional gather- 

 ings. 



Instead, then, of dealing with any special branch of 

 science, which would interest only a few, let me speak in a 

 general way about our Society, review the work it has 

 done during my term of office, see what it has accomplished, 

 and in what way it may be improved and ourselves made 

 more efficient. 



During the past three years the Royal Society has dis- 

 played a healthy versatility. We have had quite a satisfac- 

 tory variety. Such institutions are always in danger of be- 

 coming, at least temporarily, lop-sided, from the overbal- 

 ancing influence of some able and industrious worker. He 

 not only supplies the s:reater part of the subject-matter for 

 the meeting himself, but is surrounded bv juniors whose acti- 

 vities are drawn into the same channel bv the attractin? power 



