44 G. H. KNIBBS. 



we discharged our duty to the cause, which our Society has 

 espoused. 



The picture I have tried to give in merest outline of the pro- 

 gress of pure and applied mathematics and of chemistry, may be 

 taken as illustrative of what might be given in almost any great 

 branch of learning. The devoted labours and brilliant talents to 

 which the world owes so much, have, I am painfully conscious, 

 been inadequately represented. I can but hope that the earnest- 

 ness of your efforts to hold aloft the torch of science will a 

 thousandfold atone for my shortcoming. That the history of our 

 Society shall throughout, be that of strong intellectual stimulus to 

 those who live under Austral skies, that it shall be among those 

 bright influences which will make our people emulate the splendid 

 examples of the past, and nobly take their part in the progress of 

 civilization, is an aspiration, that will ever unite us in bonds of 

 sympathy, and will ever inflame our hearts with enthusiasm, in 

 the cause of Science. 



