22 
President’s Address. 
The maps which are being executed by the Geodetic Survey, 
under the able supervision of the Honorary Secretary of our 
Society, Mr. Ellery, though on a rather small scale, will 
greatly facilitate the labours of the geologist, and in propor- 
tion to the physical and topographical details furnished, in 
the surveys executed for the Government, will be the 
minuteness of the geological features and information which 
the Staff of the Geological Survey will be enabled to supply, 
and I may add the rapidity with which the work can be 
executed. 
The publication of the general Geological Sketch-Map of 
Victoria, which Mr. Selwyn prepared at the request of the 
Royal Commission of Goldfields Inquiry, is so far advanced 
that it will probably be ready for issue during next month, 
and will no doubt prove a most interesting and useful 
index. 
Mr. Selwyn, as Director of the Geological Sui-vey, and 
myself, as Director of the National Museum, have on several 
occasions addressed joint representations to the Colonial 
Government, pointing out that it is impossible to determine 
many of the simple minerals and rock masses, occurring in 
the course of the Geological Survey, without a proper 
analysing room, in which all doubtful substances might be 
tested, before entering their names on the maps or depositing 
them in the cases of the National Museum. It was pointed 
out that the same provision was necessary for the determi- 
nation of the various foreign rocks and minerals in the 
general Geological and Mineralogical collections of the Na- 
tional Museum, and we suggested that one such room would 
suffice for both Departments, and would be most con- 
veniently and economically placed at the Museum. Our 
suggestion has been acted upon, and the Analytical branch 
of the Geological Survey is now conducted in rooms in the 
“ National Museum Offices,” where a chemical and metallur- 
gical laboratory has been fitted up with nearly every 
requisite for conducting mineral analysis or research, as well 
as to afford to miners, prospectors, and others, a ready and 
reliable means of ascertaining the value of any mineral 
discovery which they may make. Without such information 
much of value has been hitherto lost or neglected, while in 
other cases loss and disappointment have been occasioned by 
a mistaken idea of the value of such discoveries. 
For the public to take advantage of this arrangement, it 
