June 23, 19 10] 



NATURE 



50. 



nker; (4) on the maritime geography of Australia, by 

 ain Philip Parker King, R.N. 



:er a period of inactivity the society was resuscitated 



>50 under the title of the "Australian Philosophical 



ty, " instead of Australasian, because, as the colony 



; asmania had been taken out of New South Wales in 



. the term Australasian was no longer applicable. In 



the name was again altered, this time to that of 



■ sophical Society of New South Wales, a further slice 



New South Wales having been cut off to form the 



■y of Victoria. In 1866, by permission of H.M. Queen 



ria, it assumed its present title of " Royal Society 



-w South Wales," and in 188 1 it was incorporated by 



Vet of the New South Wales Parliament. 



e principal reason for discarding the term " Philo- 



opnical " was because the object and work of the societA^ 



ould not be considered as coming under the head of 



»hilosophy, and as the ground covered by the Royal Society 



if London was so well known, the then members decided 



o apply to the Crown for permission to use the more 



tjmprehensive title of "Royal"; this title had already 



)een granted to the corresponding society in Tasmania. 



n later years the Philosophical Societies of Victoria, South 



Kustralia, and Queensland also changed their names in 



he same way. 



The society was not in a position to publish until 1862 ; 

 jrior to that date some of its papers were printed in the 

 laily newspapers, and others, up to 1859, appeared in the 

 Sydney Magazine of Science and Art ; several of these early 

 >apers are still of value, apart from the interest attached 

 :o the efforts of the authors to do what they could for the 

 arogress of science in a new country ; and all honour is 

 Jue to the early pioneers, for they worked under great 

 iifficulties, without the aid of libraries, collections, and 

 modern instruments and appliances, and at a time when 

 it took from six to nine months to get a reply from home, 

 and their work should not be forgotten. 



So early as 185: the society- endeavoured to encourage 

 the development of the natural resources of the colony by 

 offering gold medals for the growth and production of 

 madder, cotton, and sugar, and for the extraction of metals 

 from colonial ores. 



Later on, to stimulate and encourage scientific research, 

 the society for some years, viz. from 1882 to 1896, offered 

 a medal (and a grant of 25/. to help defray the expenses 

 '■f fhe investigations) for original researches and observa- 

 upon certain specified subjects, of which notice was 

 1 three years in advance, but after fourteen years' 

 experience it was decided to discontinue these competitions. 

 The following list gives an idea of the range of the 

 subjects : — the chemistry of the Australian gums and 

 resins ; the tin deposits of New South Wales ; the iron ore 

 deposits of New South Wales ; the marine fauna of Port 

 Jackson; the silver ore deposits of New South Wales; on 

 the origin and mode of occunence of gold-bearing veins 

 and of the associated minerals ; influence of the Australian 

 climate in producing modifications of diseases ; on the 

 Infusoria peculiar to -Australia ; anatomy and life-history 

 of the Platypus and Echidna ; anatomy and life-history 

 of Mollusca peculiar to Australia ; the chemical composition 

 of the products from the so-called kerosene shale of New 

 South Wales. 



The society now awards one medal only, viz. the medal 

 which was established, together with a lectureship, in 

 memory of the late Rev. W. B. Clarke, F.R.S. ; amongst 

 the non-resident recipients of this medal have been : — Sir 

 Richard Owen. F.R.S. , 1878: Prof. George Bentham, 

 F.R.S. , 1879; Prof. Huxlev, F.R.S.. 1880; Prof. James 

 Dwight Dana. 1882 ; Baron von Mueller, 1883 ; Alfred R. 

 Selwyn, F.R.S., 1884; Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, 1885. 



From 1866 to 1875 the papers read before it were pub- 

 lished under the title of "Transactions," but this was 

 considered rather pretentious, and in 1876 they were 

 Drought out as the " Journal and Proceedings " as an 

 annual volume ; later they were issued for a few years in 

 parts, and this method has been revived. 



The volumes, of which forty-three have been issued, 



vary in size, but those for the last thirty years run from 



300 to more than 600 pages. They are well printed in 



good type on good paper, and well illustrated. 



1 he papers naturally are, for the most part, devoted to 



NO. 2 12 I, VOL. 83] 



Australasian subjects ; those upon astronomy, meteorology, 

 geology, mineralogy, botany, ethnology, water supply and 

 irrigation, and siinilar matters bulk most largely; some 

 of the papers are, and will remain, of permanent interest. 

 The first eleven volumes are out of print and are difficult 

 to obtain, but, fortunately, the volumes have been widely 

 distributed to public institutions and societies in all pans 

 of the world, so that anyone really interested can generally 

 manage to refer to them. 



It is not proposed to give any specific account or review 

 of the recently published volumes, inasmuch as abstracts 

 of all the principal papers read have appeared in the 

 columns of Natlre month by month during recent years 

 under the head of " Societies and Academies." The 

 volume for 1909 has been issued in four parts instead of 

 the single annual volume, in the hope that its usefulness 

 may be increased, and the societj- is to be congratulated 

 upon having done so. 



In 1875 a series of sections was inaugurated in order 

 that the members might be able to meet together for the 

 discussion of matters of scientific interest with less 

 formality than at the ordinary meetings of the society ; 

 some of these were very successful, and they helped to 

 make the society more popular, and the number of members 

 rapidly increased to 494, the largest during its history ; 

 but of late years interest in the sections has decreased. 

 The medical section was a very active one for several years, 

 and did useful work until it was superseded by the forma- 

 tion of an outside independent professional society. 



The engineering section is at the present the only active 

 one, and it is doing extremely good work, as shown by 

 the papers and proceedings appearing in the society's 

 volumes ; it practically supplies all the advantages afforded 

 by an independent society, and, further, has the use of the 

 Royal Society's library, meeting rooms, printer, office 

 stair, &c.. without any extra subscription. 



Most of the other sections will probably re-awaken to 

 their former activity in due course. The sections are : — 



A, mathematics, physics, astronomy, meteorology, &c. ; 



B, chemistry and mineralogy, and their application to the 

 arts and agriculture ; C, geology and palaeontology ; D, 

 botanv and zoology ; E, microscopical science ; F, geo- 

 graphy and ethnology ; G, literature and the fine arts, 

 including architecture ; H, medical science ; I, sanitary 

 and social science and statistics; J, engineering science; 

 K, economical science. 



The society distributes its publications to about 400 

 similar societies, institutions, and public libraries, not only 

 to all parts of the British Empire, Europe, and .America, 

 but to China, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Straits 

 Settlements, Chili, Peru, Mauritius, Brazil, &c., and in 

 almost all cases receives publications from these places in 

 exchange. At one time the society undertook the collection 

 and delivery of scientific publications for other institutions 

 in New South Wales, but this is now done by the Govern- 

 ment Bureau for Scientific Exchanges. In addition to the 

 exchange of publications, the society endeavours to main- 

 tain touch with scientific workers in other parts of the 

 world by appointing a limited number of non-resident men 

 of science as honorary members ; the society has had 

 special pleasure in the acceptance of its honorary member- 

 itiip by such men as Darwin, Hooker, Wallace and others, 

 who have done scientific work in Australasia and Oceana. 



In addition to its ordinary meetings, the society arranges 

 for series of popular lectures, to which friends of the 

 members are freely invited, and short courses of lectures 

 are also given upon the geology of Australasia, known as 

 the Clarke lectures, founded in memory of the Rev. W. B. 

 Clarke, F.R.S., a former president of the society, who 

 gave a large part of a long life to geological research in 

 .Australia. 



It also gives an annual conversazione, which is held at 

 the University, on account of the extensive and suitable 

 accommodation afforded b)' it, as the conversazione is very 

 popular and largely attended ; all the scientific departments, 

 laboratories, the libraries, and lecture rooms are thrown 

 open for the occasion, and suitable exhibits of new 

 apparatus and specimens are shown in them, as well as 

 experiments and practical illustrations where possible. 

 Lecturcttes are given upon recent discoveries or matters of 

 interest. 



