xliii 



b&st of them, instead of cultivating 

 science, d'eroted their energies to "'tiie 

 Cnisades/' the 'Teuda.! Wars/' and the 

 "Chase." As oivilisation progreased the 

 building of castles and o'nurches aftraot- 

 e.d the attention of the Msured classes. 

 Later on the cultivation of the arts found 

 an increasing number of patrtjns, but 

 Poets, Paintei's, and Sculptors cannot en- 

 joy the leisure necessary to pursue their 

 art unless Hhere pre-exists a class of men, 

 combining weath and leisure, prepared to 

 patron isie them. The evolution of the 

 power of leisure, traceaible in the social 

 history of England, is but a reproduction 

 of the same develop«ment of human op- 

 portunities in the pros'perous period of 

 ancient Greece and Kome, not to mention 

 tihe more ancient oivilisaticn of Egypt, 

 Assyria, India, and China. But the pur- 

 suit of pure science was rarely under- 

 taken in ancient times by men of leisure. 

 There is perhaps an exception in the 

 well-known work of "Euclid,"^ who ap- 

 pears to have been an Alexandrian Greek. 

 His work bears internal evidence that 

 it was compiled as a feat of intellectual 

 gymnastics rather than for any practical 

 purpose. Many serious thinkers in class- 

 ical times were distracted from giving at- 

 tention to natural sciences by a fasb^ 'En- 

 able craving for metaphysical speculations 

 and for philosophical discussions, Avhich 

 included abstract politics. "Under these 

 conditions the progress of the world was 

 slow and intermittent, but under modern 

 conditions, when leisure is so largely de- 

 voted to science, the progress of the world 

 has become rapid and continuous. And as 

 abstract politics have been mentioned, we 

 may pause to reflect that by politics the 

 Greeks meant the art of administering 

 municipal affairs. Cities, with a fringe 

 of country, were the political units of the 

 age, and they were occasionally federated 

 together. Politics, both theoretical and 

 practical, have always offered an opening 

 for the energy of the leisured classes, 

 this, to my mind, is quite as praise- 

 worthy as the pursuit of natural science, 

 but not so productive of material pros- 

 perity for the masses of the people. 

 Travel and exploration offered a splendid 

 held for the energy of men of leisure, 

 from the first journey of the Prodigal 

 Son to the present day; now, how^ever, it 

 may be said thcxt the discovery of the 

 tantalising North and South Poles barely 

 furnishes sufficient excitement for organ- 

 ised expeditions in this range of intellec- 

 tual adventure. But there still remains 

 an apparently inexhaustible field for the 

 reproductive employment of leisure — not- 

 withstanding all that has been heretofore 

 discovered therein, in the objects which 

 this Eoyal Society has in view, viz., the 

 study of nature ; this is before us as fresh 

 as ever, its vastness does not fade with 



familiarity, the more we learn of nature 

 the better we realivse our comparativt? 

 ignorance, and appreciate the number and 

 the importance of new ways to useful 

 knowledge that are still untrodden. Tas- 

 mania affords exceptional opportunitie* to 

 the geologist, and I here venture to ex- 

 press pleasurable astonishment at the 

 monumental work on the geology of Tas- 

 mania, compiled by Mr. Eobert Macken- 

 zie Johnston. When we realise that an 

 officer of this State, in his important 

 position, has found time — I can hardly 

 call it leisure — to cultivate the science of 

 geology with such original genius, and to^ 

 place practical results on record for the 

 benefit of others in an attractive form, 

 we verily have before us an eloquent ap- 

 peal to all men with brains and leisure 

 to rise up and try to do likewise. 



I may remind you that the work 

 done in 1904 by this Society in- 

 cluded the following papers: — "In- 

 sects and Diseases," bv Dr. ^ J. S. 

 C. Elkington; "Observations regarding 

 some Economic Aspects of the Eisenbaeh 

 Social Equalitv Programme," bv R. M. 

 Johnston, I.S.O., F.S.S.; "Eeservation of 

 Crown Lands at Schouten and Freycinet 

 Peninsula for the Preservation of Nativa^ 

 Fauna and Flora," by Mr. J. F. Mather ; 

 "Notes on Japan," by Dr. Hocken; "The 

 Establishment of a Federal Meteorologi- 

 cal Depariment," by H. C. Kingsmill, 

 M.A.; "Notes on Some Stone Knives of 

 the Tasmanian Aboriginals," by Colonel 

 Legge, E.A. ; "Notes on the Discovery of 

 Two Tasmanian Aboriginal Waddies at 

 the BroAvn March," by Alex. Morton ; 

 "Eisenbach Social Equality Theory," by 

 C. B. Target; "Notes on the Aboriginal 

 Dancing Boards in Western Australia," 

 by W. D. Campbell. One evening diir- 

 iiig the session Avas devoted to entertain- 

 ing His Eoyal Highness Due d' Abruzzi, 

 Commander of H.I. M.S. Liguria, and 

 officers. A large number of Tasmanian- 

 views were shown by Mr. J. W. Beattie. 

 Two or three evenings were taken up in 

 discussing Mr. E. M. Johnston's paper 

 and Mr. H. C. Kingsmill's paper. I h3-ve 

 been asked to suggest some line of 

 inquiry for which Tasmania appears to 

 offer exceptional opportunities. 



As far as I can gather, no generally ac- 

 cented theory has yet been formulated to- 

 exDlain mechanically how gold and other 

 precious metals came to be where they are 

 found, and as so many different metais 

 are found in Tasmania, it may be possible 

 to arrive inductively at their genesis, and 

 if a more satisfactory theory than that 

 these metals came from below as gas can 

 be propounded, it may be of practical 

 importance in following known indica- 

 tions of gold, or, so to speak, arguing 

 down, from surface. The re-opening ct 



