for the year 1868. 17 



medicinal, and other properties of the Australian vege- 

 tation, and especially- as regards the amount of potash 

 in our trees, which he states has already afforded 

 highly satisfactory results. The question of the yield of 

 iodine and bromine in our large sea weeds is also occupying 

 the attention of this branch of the botanical department. 



Our National Museum, under the management of Pro- 

 fessor M"Coy, continues to increase in its usefulness. It was 

 highly praised by the naturalists and officers of the Italian 

 Scientific Expedition, who visited us in the Magenta, and who 

 were fresh from the study of the best zoological collections 

 in Europe. Our member, Mr. Ulrich, too, who has just re- 

 turned from an inspection of the principal mining schools of 

 Europe, finds them exceeded by the mining section of our 

 museum, prepared by Professor M'Coy with the object of 

 facilitating the establishment of a School of Mines in the 

 colony by taking advantage of the proximity of the National 

 Museum to the University, in which eight out of the ten 

 courses of lectures required are already given. The natural 

 history specimens moimted eight or ten years ago still 

 maintain their freshness aud state of preservation, 

 which is, no doubt, in a great measure attributable to the 

 fact that the Museum is surrounded by the well-planted 

 University grounds, where it is free from the destructive 

 influence of dust and smoke. Various classes of the Uni- 

 versity students make daily use of the different sections of 

 the Museum, while the number of the general public who 

 visited this institution during the year amounted to 68,000. 



Amongst the most interesting colonial specimens added 

 during the year is the great skeleton of a new species of 

 whalebone whale (Physalus Grayi, M'Coy), which is now 

 beautifully articulated, and placed outside the west wall of 

 the Museum. This specimen is 90 feet long. Next to this 

 in interest are the further donations of Mr. Carson, of 



c 



