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ANNIYERSAEY ADDRESS 



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Mr. R. L. J. Ellery, F.R.S., F.R.A.S., Government 

 Astronomer. 



(Delivered to the Members of the Royal Society of Victoria, at their 

 Annual Conversazione, held 14th September, 1883.) 



Gentlemen of the Royal Society, 



We meet to-night to commemorate another session of the 

 Royal Society of Victoria under somewhat new conditions. 

 Hitherto our annual meeting has always been held in our 

 own house, but the growth of the Society and the conse- 

 quent increasing demands for admission to our yearly 

 gathering has resulted in uncomfortably crowded rooms in 

 the Royal Society building. The Council decided therefore 

 to hold the meeting this year in more spacious premises, and 

 chose this, the Melbourne Athenasum, for the purpose. 



Since the annual gathering in September last our Society 

 has entered on its twenty-fifth session. It has increased its 

 member-roll considerably, and, aided by the annual grant 

 from Parliament to help in printing our Transactions, the 

 Society is also, financially speaking, in a satisfactory condi- 

 tion. Our meetings have been fully occupied with papers 

 and discussions on scientific and technical subjects, and, on 

 the whole, I believe I am justified in congratulating you 

 upon a vigorous and healthy progress, and upon the useful 

 work it has done. Beyond some addition to our library 



