rarities which but for his intervention would have been lost, 

 not only to our State, but to our nation. 



As recently as 1911 he wrote a lengthy paper entitled 

 "Preliminary Report on the Discovery of Native Eemains 

 at Swanport, River Murray, with an Enquiry into the Alleged 

 Occurrence of a Pandemic among the Australian Aboriginals." 

 He intended to discuss later his anthropological findings from 

 examination of the bones and skulls of more than 160 natives 

 obtained from the Swanport burial place, but "art is long, and 

 life is short," and this work is left for some other hand. 



He was also a lover of the Australian flora and fauna — 

 an enthusiast in Natural History. The Field Naturalist 

 Section found him ready to assist, as is witnessed by his 

 evening lecture, in 1886, "On the Borderland of the Animal 

 and Vegetable Kingdoms"; also in the appeals of its Flora 

 and Fauna Protection Committee, made time and again to 

 consecutive Governments of the day, for reservation of more 

 or less of the western end of Kangaroo Island, under the 

 name of Flinders Chase, as an asylum or sanctuary for our 

 fast disappearing indigenous animals and plants. Dr. 

 Stirling several times supported its petition by cogent argu- 

 ments urged in its favour, rendered the more forcible by 

 his well-known scientific standing. 



As so recent and for so long a Fellow of the Royal Society 

 of South Australia, we are in duty bound, as we are also glad, 

 to pay a sincere and grateful tribute to his memory for the 

 work he has done and the help he has given. Others than 

 ourselves have during his lifetime been ready to recognize 

 the value of his contributions. The Queen of the Netherlands 

 conferred upon him a gold medal "for science and art" after 

 the National Muesum of Natural History in Leyden, Holland, 

 had been enriched by him. He was made a Fellow of the 

 Royal Geographical Society and a Corresponding Member 

 of the Zoological Society, and above all else, and valued by 

 him beyond bronze or silver or gold decorations, was his title 

 of "Fellow of the Royal Society of London." which stamped 

 his published work with the hall-mark of excellence, and gave 

 him an accredited place among the scientists of the world. 



Jos. C. Verco, President. 

 Evening Meeting, April 10, 1919. 



