PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



By A. LlVERSIDGE, LL.D., F.R.S., Hon. f.r.s., Edin. 

 Professor of Chemistry in the University of Sydney. 



[Delivered to the Royal Society of N. 8. Wales, May 1, 1901.~] 



Before resigning the honourable position to which you elected 

 me a year ago, it is according to our custom, my duty to address 

 you upon the affairs of the Society and such other matters as 

 may appear fitting upon the occasion of this our Seventy-ninth 

 Anniversary. 



The most important event which has happened since we last 

 met is the death of our venerated and deeply beloved Sovereign,. 

 Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria ; as the Society was 

 in recess at the time, I, as your representative, forwarded through 

 the kind offices of His Excellency the Governor-General, a tele- 

 graphic message of condolence to His Majesty the King and 

 Royal Family ; to this an appreciative reply has been received 

 from His Majesty. In confirmation of that telegram I may,, 

 perhaps, be permitted to say, on behalf of the members of the 

 Society, at this our first meeting since the sad event, that while 

 mourning the loss of our great and good Queen we wish to 

 respectfully offer to His Majesty, our loyal congratulations upon 

 his accession to the Throne and our cordial wishes that his reign 

 may be long, happy and prosperous, also that it may be charac- 

 terized, like that of Her late Majesty, by marked progress in the 

 advancement of science, literature and art, and in the amelioration 

 of the condition of the people. 



I had intended to address you almost exclusively upon chemical 

 subjects, but after further consideration decided that it might, 

 perhaps, be better to refer to other matters instead, matters 

 which may be of more general interest to our members ; some of 

 them are connected with what may be termed the domestic affairs 



A— May. 1, 1901. 



