i 
Or 
HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF NEW SOUTH WALES. BD 
IIL, Enquiries and Conclusions. 
The relations of our Society to the 1821 Society. 
The relations of our Society to the 1850 Society. 
The relations of the 1850 to the 1855 (1856) Society. 
Genealogical Table of Societies. 
The Royal Society of Tasmania older than the Royal 
Society of New South Wales. 
A notice in front of our Annual Volume has appeared 
in the following form since Vol. x, 1876:— 
“The Royal Society of New South Wales originated in 1821 as 
the ‘Philosophical Society of Australia,’ after an interval of 
inactivity, it was resuscitated in 1850, under the name of the 
‘Australian Philosophical Society,’ by which title it was known 
until 1856, when the name was changed to the ‘Philosophical 
Society of New South Wales,’ and finally, in May 1866, by the 
sanction of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen, it assumed its 
present title.” | 
We will proceed to examine the statement. The only 
three portions of it that may be disputed are— 
1. Our Society...... “originated in 1821 as the Philo- 
sophical Society of Australasia.”’ 
2. The 1821 Society...... ““was resuscitated in 1850 
under the name of the Australian Philosophical 
Society.”’ 
3. It was known by the title of ‘“‘Australian Philo- 
sophical Society”’ until 1856, ‘““when the name 
was changed.’’ 
Four Presidential Addresses take cognizance more or less 
of the history of our Society, viz., those of Rev. W. B. 
Clarke, 1867 (this is the most important of the four; tech- 
nically Mr. Clarke was a Vice-President, but he was really 
an Acting President), Charles Moore, 1880, Professor John 
Smith 1881 (second in importance to Mr. Clarke’s); the 
* Altered later to ‘ Australasia,’ which is correct. 
