|loj)al Sacxetg of CasmantiJ. 



ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS, MAY, 1900. 



A meeting of tke Royal Society of Tas- 

 mania was held in the Art Gallery on Thurs- 

 day, May 10, 1900, His Lordsiiip the 

 Bishop of Tasmania, Vice-President, pre- 

 siding. An apology was received for 

 the absence of the Hon. Sir James 

 Agnew, K.C.M.G., M.D. (Senior Vice- 

 President). This being the opening 

 meeting of the present session of the 

 Society, the Bishop gave a brief resume 

 of the 1899 session's work. 



At the commencement of a new ses- 

 sion it may be as well if I put before 

 the members of the society a few facts 

 regarding the Royal Society and the 

 Museum during the last 12 months, and 

 then pass on to speak of our .immediate 

 hopes and intentions. 



The Museum is constantly receiving 

 valuable additions. Only the other 

 day by the action of Mr. Morton a gift 

 was received of English birds, some 173 

 specimens, beautifully set up. 



We are met in the picture gallery, 

 and it will interest you to know tha: 

 one group of friends has given us pic- 

 tures in the last year valued at £1,200. 

 Others,, too, have been given, making 

 seven paintings in all. 



Even these few facts will indicate 

 how good a case we have when we ask 

 the Government to fulfil their old pro- 

 mise to give us additional accommoda- 

 tion in the new wing, which has become 

 absolutely necessary to us. The esti- 

 mate of £4,000 was passed by both 

 Houses in the year 1890, but m the time 

 of financial depression it was impos- 

 sible to claim it, and it lapsed. The 

 Government has expressed itself en- 

 tirely favourable, oflicially, to the 

 estimate being once more passed. It 

 will be fresh in your memories also that 

 the Antarctic expedition was welcomed 

 by an enthusiastic audience in the 

 Town Hall under the auspices of the 

 Royal Society. I think we may say 

 that evei-y thing that could be done was 

 done by our energetic secretary to re- 



ceive the expedition fittingly. We are 

 promised an Antarctic night by Mr. 

 Morton as soon as the history of the 

 expedition is made public, and I fancy 

 we shall have to adjourn to the Town 

 Hall if we are to find room for our audi- 

 ence. 



I now turn to the future. Two sections 

 will be at work, besides the central 

 meetings of the society, the medical 

 and historical sections, which, of course, 

 feed the more important meetings. 

 Who will take up the burning scientific 

 question of the day? Shall it be the 

 medical session or the whole society? 



The most important subject I have 

 kept to the last. It is known to most 

 members that last January it was 

 agreed in Melbourne that the next 

 meeting of the Australasian Science As- 

 sociation should be held in Hobai't. 

 Our reputation for making such gather- 

 ings' successful is, I regret to say, pain- 

 fully high. All we can hope to do is 

 to preserve our level. No effort wiil 

 be spared to do this. 



In the face of that coming meeting, 

 would it hot be possible to have the 

 new wing of the Museum ready, or 

 nearly ready. There is a work, too, 

 which we may hope to present by that 

 date. You are aware that we have 

 one distinguished botanist among our 

 members— Mr. Rodway— whose work is 

 held in the highest esteem among hif 

 brother workers. Mr. Rodway has at 

 length finished his great work on the 

 "Botanv of Tasmania," a work which 

 is far ahead of anything that has yet 

 appeared, and we are glad to be able 

 to state that the Government will pro- 

 bably agree to publish it. It will be 

 a noble gift to present to the associa- 

 tion at its Hobart meeting in 1902. We 

 have, however, another delightful pros- 

 nect It seems that the British Ant- 

 arctic Expedition, which will, of course, 

 be fitted out with the greatest care, 

 and be as complete as human skill can 

 make it, may be expected to visit Ho- 



