for the year 1863. liii 



publication of the Society's Transactions. Unless this object 

 can be better secured, I am afraid the Royal Society of 

 Victoria will languish more and more ; and, even if it con- 

 tinue to exist, will scantily fulfil one of the chief purposes of 

 its foundation — the evoking and diffusing original informa- 

 tion on scientific subjects. 



Of the eleven papers read last session, some perhaps bore 

 so directly on the topics of the day, that the transient notice 

 they excited through the press may have sufficed ; but the 

 Rev. Dr. Bleasdale's suggestion as to the use of Chlorine as a 

 Solvent for Gold, Mr. Bosisto's account of his experiments in 

 the extraction of Volatile Oils from Native Plants, Dr. 

 Mueller's Essay on the Physiology of the Nardoo Seed, and 

 Mr. Watts's Catalogue of Fresh- water Algse, may be cited as 

 instances of contributions which cannot be locked up in our 

 repertoires without serious loss to science. 



It is not for me to enlarge, on an occasion like the present, 

 upon the best mode of surmounting the difficulty in question. 

 The council are in hopes of obtaining means to publish the 

 Transactions of 1861 and 1862 at an early date ; but in any 

 event, it will be their duty to bring the financial position of 

 the Society under the notice of a special meeting, with a 

 view to placing its operations on a permanent basis, and of 

 creating a fund for the publication of its Transactions, either 

 by a moderate payment in commutation for life membership, 

 as proposed by our late vice-president, Dr. Mueller, or in 

 such other way as may be determined. That the paucity of 

 contributions is not attributable to want of literary ability, 

 nor to neglect of scientific research amongst our members, a 

 few salient facts will prove. 



Amongst the most recent and highly-commended books 

 which have issued from the British press, is one, on the 

 title-page of which initials of membership in this society are 

 appended to the author's name. I allude to Geological 



