2 Aymiversary Address. 



imposcdj however unequal I knew myself to be to their 

 efficient cliscliarge. 



" Parous scienliarum ciiltor et infreqiiens," 



if I may be allowed so to paraphrase the confession of Horace^ 

 it is indeed with the greatest diffidence that I rise to deliver 

 the Inaugural Address expected from me on this occasion^ 

 and to treat of scientific questions in the presence of many so 

 much more conversant with their details than I can pretend 

 to be. 



Most especially am I sensible of my unfitness to succeed 

 one who has achieved so high a reputation in the scientific world 

 as my predecessor in the Presidential Chair — Ferdinand 

 Mueller — a man whose enthusiasm as a botanist is only sur- 

 passed by his industry as a writer^ evidenced,, despite the 

 official demands on his time^ by the publication, during his 

 presidency, of several most useful works, of which I need 

 only instance his '' Monographs of the Tropical Eucalypti, of 

 the Australian Acacias, and of the Genus Eremophila •/' his 

 " Enumeration of the Plants collected on the exploring expe- 

 ditions of Gregory and of Babbage ;" his invaluable " Frag- 

 menta Phytographise Austraiise,^^ containing already the 

 diagnoses of no less than GOO new or undescribed Australian 

 plants ; and above all his first sheets of the " Flora of Victoria,^^ 

 a Avork which, when completed, will redound equally to the 

 credit of the author, and of the Colony at whose expense it 

 has been given to the world. 



As through his zeal and perseverance, moreover, the 

 Philosophical Institute lias, during the past year, obtained a 

 '' local habitation,^^ as well as a change of name, and may 

 now, therefore, be considered an established institution of 

 the land, the present seems a fitting opportunity for me, 

 when thus addressing you, to examine Iiow far it has hitherto 

 accomplished the objects for which it was founded, and to 



