THE JOURNAL 
OF 
THE ROYAL SOCIETY 
OF 
WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 
VOL. II. 
SOME PROBLEMS 
OF 
WESTERN AUSTRALIAN GEOLOGY. 
Presidential Address to the Royal Society of 
Wester n Au st r a l i a . 
By 
A. Gihb Mattlaxi), F.G.S. 
(Delivered on the 11th July, 1916.) 
"The greatest and noblest pleasure zvhich mcji can have in this 
zvorld is to discoz’er nezv truths, and the next foUozving this is to 
shake off old prejudices^ 
Usage jirescribcs that the work of the Royal Society shall be 
brought to a close l)y an address from the Presidental Chair, 
though the choice of a fitting subject is oftimes a source of con- 
siderable anxiety to its occu])ant. 
In this year 191(). it is almost impossible to forget, that 
European nations have for well nigh two years ])ast, been utilising 
the coml)incd resources of science for the ])ur])osc of carrying on 
the most gigantic struggle of which there is any historical record. 
This fact suggests that the ])rcsent and future relationships 
between war and science, i.e., its present use as "aids to the 
"lightening the burdens of humanity by the mastery of naturar’ 
"forces — the transformation of inanimate i)o\ver to relieve mankind” 
‘‘from arduous work, the conquest of pain and disease, and by no” 
"means least the enlargement of the human mind,” as a fitting 
subject with which to conclude my allotted term as your presiding 
officer. 
