Inaugural Address. 3 
An enumeration of the items which supply our daily wants, 
and minister to our enjoyments, would at once show that the 
advantage which je thus possess, surround us so closely on 
every side, that, like the air we breathe, we direct to them the 
less attention on account of their invariable, presence. 
When we further note the amount of discovery and im- 
provement which each age in the history of man has con- 
tributed, it becomes apparent that the progress has partaken 
less of an arithmetical than a geometrical proportion. Hach 
discovery has opened a wider field for new discoveries; im= 
provement in one branch of knowledge has lent assistance to 
the development of every other, until the amelioration of the 
conditions of life, and the facilities of action have become 
such as to react, in no common degree, upon the available 
power of a single life devoted to the pursuit of truth. 
Thus while a knowledge of the nature and origin of disease 
has afforded the means of prolonging the average duration of 
life, the appliances of locomotive printing and other machinery 
have made that life of thrice its former duration, measuring it 
by the scale of the number of events for which it is available. 
But these extensive advances by no means show reason for 
relaxing our efforts, for while we are daily encouraged by 
important discoveries and a nearer approach to long desired 
truths, we are at the same time obtaining sight of a more 
widely extended horizon. 
With this stimulous to our efforts and mindful of the duty 
incurred by the acceptance of these bequests of exclusive 
knowledge, we must each endeavour to add his tribute to the 
common store. 
Reflecting that Australia is destined to fill no unim- 
portant part in the common history of a more advanced civili- 
sation, and remembering that Victoria in material wealth 
has made a century’s advance in the span of time which has 
elapsed since her foundation ; with this progress, the re- 
sult of one discovery, are we torest content? Should we not 
