587 



and for several recent years he had the honour of being the 

 earliest member on our register. In consequence of Sir 

 Samuel's regretted death the distinction of doyen of the 

 Royal Society of South Australia now rests upon Mr. Walter 

 Butt. He was elected to the earlier society in 1869, ten 

 years after Sir Samuel Way. He was for many years our 

 Honorary Treasurer, and when he relinquished that respon- 

 sible office it was only to take up the heavier and more 

 onerous duties of Honorary Secretary, and every Fellow 

 and every Member of the Council will agree that a more 

 capable, reliable, methodical, and punctual officer could not 

 be desired. He well merited the distinction he holds as our 

 venerated doyen. Might he live to wear and enjoy it for 

 many years. Another of our earlier members who had passed 

 away merited more than a formal notice. Mr. Robert Barr 

 Smith was elected to the Adelaide Philosophical Society in 

 1871, and dying in 1915 held his membership for forty-four 

 years. He had justified his election, shown his practical and 

 sustained interest in our Society, and perpetuated his memory 

 by bequeathing to us the munificent sum of .£1,000. This, 

 added to two previous similar donations from other gentle- 

 men, raised our endowment fund to £3,000, thus providing 

 a yearly income sufficient to meet present modest clerical 

 expenses and to pay in part for the binding of the voluminous 

 yearly acquisitions to our valuable library. We felt grateful 

 to our departed Fellow for his timely and appropriate bene- 

 faction. The absence of his name from our register brought 

 next to Mr. Rutt's that of our honoured member, Mr. G. G. 

 Mayo. He also had proved himself a true friend to the 

 Society. For many years as Honorary Secretary he held 

 office prior to Mr. Rutt, and we all remember his geniality 

 and desire to oblige us in every possible way ; we congratulated 

 him, therefore, as proxime accessit. 



The President also referred to the distinction which had 

 been conferred on one of our Honorary Fellows (Professor 

 Bragg) and on his son. Since our last session they had 

 received the Nobel prize in recognition of their valuable 

 scientific researches and discoveries in connection with the 

 X rays and radio-activity. Nor could we overlook the 

 decoration of Sir Douglas Mawson with the Helen Culver 

 Medal of the Geographical Society of Chicago for his achieve- 

 ments as leader of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition. 

 We had hoped to see the scientific results of that visit to the 



