xxviii Proceedings, <kc. 



his country, and contrasted it with that of the people in this 

 country. In Rhineland, in Germany, beer and wine are the general 

 beverages. Drunkenness is seldom seen, and is, when seen, con- 

 sidered a social disgrace. The writer then glanced at the hospitals 

 and gaols of Victoria, filled with the unhappy beings who have been 

 morally and physically the victims of drunkenness. He pointed to the 

 Lunatic Asylum — large enough to contain all the madmen of Rhine- 

 land, but scarcely large enough for the self-made lunatics of 

 Victoria, who have drowned their reason in alcohol. A chief remedy 

 for these evils was stated to be native wine. The writer wished to see 

 encouraged the growth of native wine, for which Australia is pre- 

 eminently fitted. Here, in many localities, where neither corn nor 

 grass will grow, the vine will flourish, and the vinegrowers motto 

 should be — 



" Where no plough can go, 

 The vine will grow." 



To promote vinegrowing, it was recommended that a number of men 

 should be introduced into the colony acquainted with the mode of 

 vine-cultivation. A number of propositions were then submitted to 

 the Philosophical Institute for the diminution of a great national 

 evil, which, like unsafe ship-building, involved a great amount of 

 human life. Amongst others, that the import duty on foreign wines, 

 spirits, and beers should be increased, and that it should be 

 diminished on Australian wine imported from the neighbouring 

 colonies, and that the Philosophical Institute of Victoria should offer 

 a prize for the best efforts in vine-growing, &c. The paper concluded 

 with a general appeal on the subject to the energy of the Institute. 



The Rev. Messrs. Jarrett and Bleasdale, with others, commented 

 on the views advanced by Dr. Becker. 



The President intimated that the annual general meeting of the 

 Institute would be held early in December. 



After which the Institute separated. 



8t7i Bee, 1858. 



Annual General Meeting. 



Sir W. F. Stawell, President, in the Chair. 



Several newly-elected members were introduced to the Institute, by 

 the President. 



The Secretary read the name of one candidate for membership, to 

 be balloted for at the first ordinary meeting of session 1859. 



The Secretary laid upon the table the following contributions to 

 the Library and Museum of the Institute, viz. : — twenty volumes of 

 scientific transactions and publications, and a collection of petrifac- 

 tions from the Miocene formation at Vienna, by the F. R. Geological 

 Institution of Austria. The letter accompanying them was read to 

 the members. 



