xvi President's Address 



There are lines of scientific investigation in various direc- 

 tions which are at present in a similar state to the science of 

 physics in the days of Galileo or Galvani. To the keen 

 practical business man, who looks for immediate results 

 expressible in terms of pounds, shillings, and pence, they are 

 apt to bear the aspect of laborious trifling. A century hence^ 

 when we have passed off the scene, we know not but what 

 they may lead to results of incalculable value, and the names 

 of those who at present labour in obscurity be extolled as 

 the greatest benefactors the human race has ever known. 



Then, again, it is to be remembered that the various 

 sciences are mutually dependent — the well-being and 

 advancement of each requires that the other should not be 

 neglected. The astronomer is constantly indebted to the 

 mathematician, the chemist to the electrician, and vice versa. 

 Not only the results, but the words of inquiry adopted in one 

 direction throw new light upon apparently remote questions. 

 Hence the importance of all-round education, and the danger 

 of too close specialisation. Hence the desirability of bringing 

 scientists of various orders into contact, and the advantage 

 of having one general Society, such as our own, with its 

 necessary sections devoted to special studies, rather than 

 separate and independent societies, conducting their affairs 

 without reference to each other, and affording no opportunity 

 for that intellectual friction which ensues when men who 

 have been educated in different ways, and whose pursuits 

 tend to develop different mental qualities, come together. 



POSITION AND PKOSPECTS OF THE SOCIETY. 



The Royal Society of Victoria, now twenty-seven years 

 old, is in a fairly prosperous condition financially and other- 

 wise, though the meetings are not so numerously attended 

 as we might desire. The discussions depend too much upon 

 a few regular speakers, and thus lack the interest that 

 springs from variety. No doubt the numerous societies for 

 special purposes compete with the present body, and divert 

 in another direction much of our younger talent. Could our 



