PKOCEEDINGS, APRIL. V 



gentleman like Mr, Johnston, who took such an active and energetic 

 interest in its proceedings. He was very glad this subject had been 

 brought so prominently before them. For several years he had taken 

 up some work relating to the general health of the town, following ia 

 the steps of Dr. Hall, a gentleman who was well known as the officer of 

 health in Hobart, and he had been considerably alarmed the first year 

 he made up his returns to find the death-rate of Hobart was n& less 

 than 23 or 24 per thousand of the population. He had sought to find 

 out if there was any fallacy to swell this large death-rate, as Hobart, 

 and Tasmania, had always been looked upon as a very healthy place. 

 Afterwards he discovered that a large proportion cf the paupers and 

 invalids were aggregated at Hobart, and that the steamers calling at 

 Hobart registered these, the deaths occurring on the voyage. Added 

 to this there were the lunatic hospital and general hospital in which 

 were collected numbers of cases from the country districts, which tended 

 to increase the death-rate considerably. Still, after eliminating 

 all these, the death-rate of Hobart was only reduced to about 18 per 

 1,000, a very high rate, because the death-rate of the country districts 

 of the whole island was only 15 per 1,000. He thought Mr. Johnston 

 had pointed out the cause, when a few years ago he drew attention to 

 the large proportion of deaths over the age of 60, and had shown how 

 fallacious it was to attempt any comparison of the total death-rate of 

 Tasmania with the other colonies. He did not intend to allude to the 

 great question of the cosmical influences which Mr, Johnston had 

 referred to, which was a matter out of his depth, though probably there 

 were others who would deal with this portion of the paper. 



The Hon. Dr, Agnew said they had been listening to a very important 

 paper, and one of those papers which required a considerable amount of 

 thought before it was discussed, so it appeared to him that the better 

 way by far would be to postpone its discussion till next meeting. (Hear, 

 hear,) They would be much more likely to get a ripe expression of 

 opinion upon the various points in the paper if it were quietly read 

 and considered previous to discussion. There was a great deal in what 

 Mr. Johnston had said about the origin of typhoid fever, which he at 

 the first blush accorded with. It was common to consider it a filth 

 fever, or dirt fever, but he believed it was due to something not yet 

 fathomed. It was certainly a curious matter for consideration that at 

 certain seasons of the year, and over large areas of country, and in 

 difi^erent colonies, these simultaneous waves should take place. Whether 

 they were due to the suns spots was a point that could only be 

 ascertained by observations carried out over a long period of time. The 

 Fellows weie to be congratulated upon living in a colony where there 

 was the greatest possibility of living to reach the age of 100 years. 

 (Laughter.) It would also be a matter of considerable satisfaction to 

 His Excellency and his friends that his first Governorship should be in 

 such a colony, and if he only remained here long enough he might hope 

 to arrive at the good old age of 100 years. 



The suggestion was adopted, and the further discussion of the paper 

 adjourned. 



In the absence of the authors, a paper entitled " Description of new 

 species of Tasmanian Hepaticse," by B. Carrington, M.D,, and W, H. 

 Pearson, of England, corresponding members of the society, was read by 

 the secretary, Mr, A. Morton. The paper, which was accompanied by 

 eight plates, described eight new species of the Hepaticfe, collected by 

 Mr. R. A. Bastow, F.L.S., and forwarded to England for examination 

 by the above gentlemen. 



A third paper entitled " Description of two new species of Tasmanian 

 fresh water shells," by Mr, W. F. Petterd. One of the species Ancylus 

 Irvmce, n.sp,, the author states was found at the Great Lake, and is a 



