Inaugural Address, 3 



An enumeration of the items which supply our daily wants, 

 and minister to our enjoyments, would at once shew that the 

 advantage which we thus possess, surround us so closely on 

 every side, that, like the air we breathe, we direct to them the 

 less attention on account of their invariable presence. 



When we further note the amount of discovery and im- 

 provement which each age in the history of man has con- 

 tributed, it becomes apparent that the progress has partaken 

 less of an arithmetical than a geometrical proportion. Each 

 discovery has opened a wider field for new discoveries ; im- 

 provement in one branch of knowledge has lent assistance to 

 the development of every other, until the amelioration of the 

 conditions of life, and the facilities of action have become 

 such as to react, in no common degree, upon the available 

 power of a single life devoted to the pursuit of truth. 



Thus while a knowledge of the nature and origin of disease 

 has afforded the means of prolonging the average duration of 

 life, the appliances of locomotive printing and other machinery 

 have made that life of thrice its former duration, measuring it 

 by the scale of the number of events for which it is available. 



But these extensive advances by no means shew reason for 

 relaxing our efforts, for while we are daily encouraged by 

 important discoveries and a nearer approach to long desired 

 truths, we are at the same time obtaining sight of a more 

 widely extended horizon. 



With this stimulous to our efforts and mindful of the duty 

 incurred by the acceptance of these bequests of exclusive 

 knowledge, we must each endeavour to add his tribute to the 

 common store. 



Reflecting that Australia is destined to fill no unim- 

 portant part in the coming history of a more advanced civili- 

 sation, and remembering that Victoria in material wealth 

 has made a century's advance in the span of time which has 

 elapsed since her foundation; with this progress, the re- 

 sult of one disovery, are we to rest content ? Should we not 



