520 Proceedings. 
probably called wealth by most. Again, it did not clearly appear in what sense Mr. 
Carruthers used the words “ wealth of the world” as different from simply wealth. Mr. 
Carruthers spoke also of “ capital” and “ capital of the country.” Mr. Chapman wished 
to know the difference between capital of the country and wealth of the country. 
Mr. Carruthers, in reply, said it was not necessary to go into metaphysical nicety in 
definitions of political economy; that it certainly was impossible, as remarked by Mr 
Maxwell, to strictly define the boundary between implements and wealth which is useful 
for its own sake. Bread might be said to be an implement for satisfying hunger, and the 
satisfaction of hunger an implement for procuring happiness. But the division which he 
had suggested of wealth was useful, and quite accurate enough for the purposes of the 
science. He said, in reply to Mr. Chapman, that by man he meant any one man, and 
that the stone which pleased a lunatic was wealth as fully as the diamond which pleased 
people who were not lunatics. A torpedo was wealth, because it was useful to the user ; 
he did not recognize any algebraical minus sign which would make the discomfort which 
the torpedo caused to the person against whom it was used neutralize the advantage 
which it gave to the user; The wealth of the world meant the sum total of useful things 
at any time in existence. He said he did not use the word capital as meaning wealth at all; 
he considered it a word which should be altogether given up by the political economist, 
as being too likely to suggest meanings different from the definition. 
The Chairman proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Carruthers, not only for his present 
paper, but for the great assistance he had always rendered to the society. He regretted 
that the society should lose such a valuable member, and he had hoped to see Mr. 
Carruthers one day president, as he had no doubt he would have been had he remained in 
Wellington. 
The vote of thanks was carried by acclamation, and Mr. Carruthers briefly returned 
thanks for the good wishes of the society towards him. 
Second Mrzrmo. 8rd August, 1878. 
T. Kirk, F.L.S., President, in the chair. 
New Members.—Rev. Father Sauzeau of Blenheim, A. P. Stuart, J. G. Fox. 
In opening the proceedings, the President remarked that the Society had entered 
upon the second decade of its existence as a society affiliated to the New Zealand Insti- 
tute. Looking back to the close of the first volume of Transactions, he found that the 
number of members had increased from 102 to 225, and that the total of affiliated 
societies had increased from four to seven, numbering considerably over 1,100 members, a 
fact which was exceedingly gratifying, as showing that the taste for scientific pursuits 
was widely diffused through the colony. The ten volumes of Transactions had been con- 
tributed by about 200 workers, and contained a vast amount of information of great value 
on the zoology, botany, and geology of the country, but not in a shape fully available for 
the general public. It was therefore advisable that a united effort should be made by the 
various societies to provide funds for the publication of a Fauna of New Zealand as 
complete as the present miaka our knowledge would allow. He referred to the recently 
rcu parts of Mr. Buch: 's work on the indigenous grasses of New Zealand as a 
in this direction, and characterized the plates as creditable alike to the author, the 
edid Survey Department, and the colony, and expressed his regret that the plan of 
the work had not been so extended as to admit of its being brought fully abreast of the 
botanical knowledge of the day. 
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