ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 19 



The New South Wales branch of the British Medical Society 

 is also doing good work. The President in his late annual 

 address, amongst other subjects, refers to the alarming spread of 

 rabbits over the western portion of the colony. It is a matter of 

 grave importance and one which may well engage the attention 

 of scientific men. Over a large area of country such as ours, it is 

 manifestly useless to attempt to eradicate or even to stay the 

 progress of the rabbit pest by artificial methods, for the rabbits 

 under favourable circumstances, multiply faster than it is possible 

 to kill them by ordinary means : it is said that the progeny of a 

 pair of rabbits in the course of three years amount to over three 

 millions. I have recently travelled through the Barrier Ranges 

 and have seen them so swarming with rabbits as to lead one to 

 believe that unless some effective remedy be employed, a large 

 portion of the country will have to be abandoned by the 

 pastoralists, which means immense pecuniary loss to the colony 

 at large. The Government recognising the importance of this 

 matter offered a reward of £25,000 for a satisfactory method of 

 destroying the pest. This induced much attention being given to 

 the subject both in Australia and in Europe, with the result that 

 several natural methods have been proposed which have been 

 deemed worthy of trial, viz., the chicken cholera disease by the 

 eminent M. Pasteur, and another disease remedy by Messrs. 

 Butcher and Ellis of Tintinallogy. M. Pasteur has deputed 

 three savants who are accustomed to micro-biological researches, 

 Dr. Hinds, Dr. Loir and Dr. Germont, to demonstrate his process 

 in this colony. It will be remembered that M. Pasteur was 

 elected an Honorary Member of this Society at its annual 

 meeting in May, 1883. Referring to this in a letter which 

 I received a few days ago from M. Pasteur, he says : — - 

 "Dans la deliberation que la savante Societe a prise a cette 

 occasion, elle a bien voulu designer mes recherches sur la part que 

 les organisimes microscopiques prennent au developpement de 

 diverses maladies. J'etais loin de penser alors qu' un jour 

 viendrait ou j'aurais a m'occuper d'un fleau qui desole vos 



