X PROCEEDINGS, APRIL, 



remarks of the Premier it was very desirable to strike while the 

 iron was hot. 



The motion was then put and carried. 



Mr. J. Barnard said : I rise, Your Excellency, to express my 

 sincere gratification (which I am sure is shared in by the Council and 

 all the Fellows present) at seeing Your Excellency in the exercise of 

 your functions as President of the Royal Society ; and on their behalf, 

 as well as on my own, I tender to you a cordial welcome and hearty 

 congratulations on the auspicious occasion of your assuming the 

 position of our President, which indeed by our constitution is inherent 

 in your Excellency's exalted office as Governor of the Colony. Speaking 

 for myself as one of the vice-presidents, I feel peculiar satisfaction, 

 as I am led to believe that my office in the Society will henceforth 

 become a " sinecure ;" and that the interest which your Excellency 

 has shown in the Society by your presence this evening will continue 

 unabated, and will rather increase than diminish with your Excellency's 

 more full acquaintance with the work doing by the Royal Society. 

 Wfc have all listened with deep interest to the highly interesting 

 address with which you have favoured us this evening on the opening of 

 the Session ; and I trust that its weighty and eloquent words will be 

 duly recorded in our volume of Papers and Proceedings. Some of 

 your Excellency's distinguished predecessors— notably Sir William 

 Denison, Sir Frederick Weld, and Sir Henry Lefroy — did nob content 

 themselves with simply occupying the President's chair, but have 

 also enriched our Transactions by their various contributions to 

 science ; and I presume to express the hope that, in due time, your 

 Excellency may also be disposed to aid the Royal Society by reading 

 papers at its meetings not less valuable and instructive. (Applause.) 

 I beg to move, — "That the Council and Fellows of the Royal Society 

 desire to congratulate His Excellency Sir Robert G. C. Hamilton, 

 K.C.B., upon his assuming the office of President, and have much 

 pleasure in tendering him a cordial welcome upon the occasion," 



Dr. Agnew seconded the motion, which was put to the meeting by 

 the Chief Justice, Sir Lambert Dobson, and carried with enthusiasm. 



Hi,3 Excellency : I thank you very much. I can only regret it 

 if my attendance at these meetings should have the effect of putting 

 Mr. Barnard out of the seat he has occupied so worthily. I do mean to 

 attend all the meetings I can. (Applause). I think it almost too 

 much to hope that every meeting will be as interesting as this one. I 

 desire befo.'e sitting down, to move a vote of thanks to the authors of 

 the papers, and I cannot pass over this occasion without saying how 

 very deeply I was struck with Mr. Johnston's paper. I think it showed 

 marked ability and was extremely suggestive, and it was wise to defer 

 its consideration to a future day. There were one or two points 

 in connection with it that occurred to me, and which might be discussed 

 at next meeting. One was as to the making of an analysis of those 

 curious waves of disease which occasionally rise and fall, and seem to 

 come across large portions of country. It would be very interesting, 

 if material existed, to have an analysis of that sort. Then there is 

 another point that struck me. Of course with the Colonies, where 

 there has been so large an immigration in recent years, that point 

 which Mr. Johnston made about the number of people of different ages 

 is very striking. I fancy that in an old and more settled country 

 Mr. Johnston would hardly say the point was of such great importance. 

 You might there, with tolerable certainty, assume that the proportions 

 of people of different ages would approach to m.uch about the same, 

 especially in the case of a large population. There is one other point, 

 and that is the difiference between urban and rural conditions. I 



