THE TASK AHEAD. 
Tye, Task Ahead. 
A Wide Field of 
How Science can 
Assist. 
Endeavour. 
Now sit we close about the taper here, 
And call in question our necessities. 
Jutius Caesar. 
By F. M. GELLATLY, LL.D. 
OW that the Institute is seeking statutory recognition, it 
may not be out of place to survey the field of scientific 
endeavour that lies before it. This field is continent-wide. 
embracing eyery clime from the torrid zone of the Gulf of 
Jarpentaria to the cool tablelands of the Monaro. Tt covers 
the dust-swept deserts of the centre of Australia, as well as 
the fertile. and well-watered lands of Tasmania. It does not stop at 
the surrounding ocean with its wealth of fish, its sponges, its pearls: 
nor is it confined to the surface of the Commonwealth to the exclusion 
of what lies underground—rich in metals, in gems, and plastic clays; nor 
are the secrets of the air beyond the limits of its inquiry, what with its 
bird and insect life, and its more modern human flyers. Tt has regard 
to the infinitely great and the infinitely small. No! here is scarce a 
phase of human endeavour in which it is not interested, and which. 
sooner or later, will not come within the scope of its untiring research. 
The work to be done is great, but the rewards of success are still greater. 
These rewards will not be the mere sordid ones measured by salaries 
paid or fees earned, but will be that more solid satisfaction which is 
the invariable accompaniment of a national duty well done. | 
Let us, at this juncture, eschew generalities and proceed more to 
detail. There are some most, important problems facing Australia 
to-day which can only be solved by patient scientific research. | Take 
some trite instances, for the bigger things have been much discussed. 
though little that is practical has been done. There stands in the 
forefront the prickly pear menace, one that threatens to drive the 
inhabitants of Queensland, and the northern portions of New South 
Wales, into the sea. It has already enveloped 20,000,000 acres, and is 
estimated to be extending at the rate of 1,000,000 acres a year, or, say 
> per cent. Consider what this means! Those mathematically inclined 
may exert their ingenuity and tell us precisely how long the prickly 
pear, at its present rate of progress, will take to infest the whole conti- 
nent at 5 per cent. increase per annum compounded: Remember the 
story of the grain of wheat on the chessboard doubled at each square. 
The Persian potentate had no mind for figures. He did not realize 
that his consent to rewarding his victorious general by doubling a grain 
at each square represented more than the whole of the wealth of his 
Oriental domain. So with prickly pear. If nothing be done to stem 
its fateful advance, the 20,000,000 acres to-day given over to this pest 
will, in 14 years be 40,000,000; in 28 years, 80,000,000; in 42 years, 
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