PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 6 



tained and rendered available to those who are competent to 

 make use of it, under similar regulations to those which are in 

 force in the British Museum Library. 



The foundation stone of the Mitchell wing was laid by the 

 Premier of the State, with appropriate ceremony on October 

 11th, 1906; and the edifice is now approaching completion. 

 Meanwhile tenders for the erection of the main building have 

 been accepted, so that in about three years hence, the Mother 

 State of the Commonwealth may look forward to possessing a 

 State Library which, to speak without boasting, will be a very 

 marked advance upon the state of things existing hitherto. 



Mr. Mitchell was a very reticent man upon the subject of the 

 Mitchell Library, because he was an extremely modest man. 

 His aim was not to be talked about for doing something; but to 

 do something great because it was a fruitful thing to do. But we 

 may hope that his modesty did not lead him to withhold the 

 history of the accumulation of his unique collection, his know- 

 ledge of its special features, and the subjects of exceptional 

 interest upon which its utilisation might be expected to throw 

 light, or, in other words, the more important results of his own 

 extensive knowledge of his unrivalled collection. 



Mr. Mitchell did not add the pursuit of science to his accom- 

 plishments, so that we may reasonably attribute his sustained 

 interest in this Society to that of the bibliophile in an Australian 

 publishing organisation which began auspiciously, and showed 

 promise of lasting. Be that as it may, the Society is honoured 

 in having had among its Foundation Members, in the person of 

 Mr. Mitchell, another brilliant example of the private individual 

 possessed of wealth, who made it his very special care to start 

 a prolific enterprise and to provide for its maintenance, for the 

 benefit of those who came after him. 



Dr. R. Greig-Smith, Macleay Bacteriologist to the Society, 

 who departed for Europe, on leave, at the end of December, 1906, 

 rejoined us again in October last. At the Society's Meeting on 

 -30th October, Dr. Greig-Smith gave us an interesting summary 

 of his impressions and experiences on visiting a number of the 



