INAUGURAL ADDRESS 



Hon. a. C. Gregory, C'.M.G., F.R.G.S,, M.h.C. 



It is in accordance with the usual practice of kindred 

 associations that an address should be delivered hy the President 

 of the Society at its annual meetings, adverting to its progress, 

 and also to the general advancement of science in the division to 

 which its labors are more especially directed. 



As regards the past history of the Royal Society of Queens- 

 land there is little to say, as our previous meetings have been 

 devoted to the arrangement of details of construction ; and of 

 the Philosophical Society, with which the new Society has been 

 incorporated, it is sufficient to observe that it has had existence 

 from the time Queensland became a separate province, and that 

 as regards the result of its labors it can point to the Queensland 

 Museum as having taken an important part in the inauguration of 

 that successful and popular institution. 



Thus it may be said of our joint concern that it is only to-day 

 that our new vessel has been finally launched on the ocean, where 

 it is to be hoped that we shall enjoy a full proportion of favor- 

 able breezes, and that the unavoida])lc head winds will be only 

 sufficient to keep the crew in training ready for emergencies. 



As to the future, the Society has selected Natural Science and 

 its practical application, as the field of investigation — one which 

 cannot be deemed a narrow one, as the limits have not yet been 

 approached, so that there is still ample room for all to extend their 

 researches, each in the direction which may be most congenial, 

 as one of the important functions of societies such as ours is to 

 bring together the results of the speculations of individuals, so as 

 to render them available for the use of the community. The time 

 is not so remote but that it comes within the scope of my own 

 obseiTation v/hen speculative science adopted such an elevated 

 platform that it was almost inaccessable to the practical man, and 

 when theory and practice were viewed as though separated by so 

 wide, a chnsu) jis to be scarcely compatible. There wore few 



