for the year 1868. 21 



contributions applied to the arts of life are among the most 

 valued means by which our civilization is advanced. In 

 -a new country the problem of the utilisation of its 

 resources opens the widest opportunities for the adaptations 

 of science to practical requirements. An example will illus- 

 trate this general assertion : let us for a moment consider 

 our relation with the older countries in reference to the 

 supply and demand of the one important item of animal 

 food. We have inexhaustible means of supply, while in 

 European countries flesh food is becoming yearly scarcer. 

 Any improved method of animal food preservation, assisting 

 its transport, would be a vast accession to our means of 

 wealth, and to this end the facts of chemistry in relation to 

 physiology appear as affording the proper key. The case of 

 food supply is by no means a solitary instance; the same 

 reasoning applies generally to the natural resources of a new 

 and extensive country like Australia. 



In these and like considerations let us hope that a suffi- 

 cient stimulus for our best efforts will be recognized, and 

 that our endeavours will be so far fruitful as to entitle 

 the Royal Society of Victoria to rank in due time with 

 similar older institutions in Europe and America. 



