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Science and the making of VictoriaRoyal Society of Victoria
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Inaugural and Anniversary Addresses of the Royal Society

Inaugural Address, delivered by Mr. Justice Barry, President of the Institute, at the Opening Converzazione, 22nd Sept., 1854

Inaugural Address of the President, Captain Clarke, R. E., Surveyor-General, &c., &c.

Anniversary Address of the President, the Honourable Andrew Clarke, Captain R. E., M.P., Surveyor-General of Victoria, &c., &c., &c.

Anniversary Address of the President, His Honor Sir William Foster Stawell, Knight, Chief Justice of Victoria, &c., &c. [Delivered to the Members of the Institute, 12th April, 1858]

Anniversary Address of the President, Ferdinand Mueller, Esq., Ph.D., M.D. F.R.G. and L.S., &c., &c. [Delivered to the Members of the Institute, 28th March, 1859]

Address of the President, Ferdinand Mueller, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.G. & L.S., &c., &c. [Delivered to the Members of the Institute at the Inauguration of the Hall, January 23rd, 1860.]

Inaugural Address of the President, His Excellency Sir Henry Barkly, K.C.B., &c., &c. [Delivered to the Members of the Royal Society, at the Anniversary Meeting held on the 10th April, 1860.]

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Address of the President, Ferdinand Mueller, M.D., Ph.D., F.R.G. & L.S., &c., &c.
[Delivered to the Members of the Institute at the Inauguration of the Hall, January 23rd, 1860.] (continued)


In countries stretching through a climatic zone almost alike to ours, arose the genius of poetry, of arts, and of philosophy; from thence we trace those masterpieces which, through thousands of years to our time, have been admired as the types of plastic art, of rhetorical composition, and of poetical sublimity; from thence it was that Orpheus' lyre sounded in passion-subduing, ever lovely harmony. Was it the influence of an eternal spring under a milder sky, or was it the command of the wealth of a rising country, or was it the lofty thoughts or the proud feeling of the southern ancients to stand pre-eminent ill power and civilisation, which called forth those early developments of the human mind? Was that the source from which that antique grandeur sprang—that touching language of the poet, recited to the present day—that irresistible power which, in the words of the orator and philosopher, have lasted to our period? And may we not reflect on this, when we see the sons of the North raising the standard of high intellgence in a country where also the sunny, transparent sky, the never fading-foliage, and nature's virgin beauty, leave on the mind those deep impressions which render it susceptible to the exaltations of a classic age, and which, to imitation of grandeur, excite the rising genius?

The field of science is unbounded, and it is fruitful everywhere. Still, at no distant period, we shall be envied for having lived in the era of Australian discoveries, for having enjoyed the opportunity of applying the sum of knowledge accumulated by lengthened experiments, and by the toilsome studies of the past, at once to our immediate advantage; and to have brought, first of all, to bear, that sum of knowledge in a country which, although the oldest in the scale of the Creation, remained the latest ill the development of human faculties and enterprise. The veil of morning dew, which involved Australia since the creation day, has been dispersed as yet but partially by the rays of the dawning civilisation. But its beams shall have burst forth soon every-where in brilliant light.

Where is a country to be found in which such novelty of nature, inexhaustible resources, ample space for occupation, and a salubrious clime are equally inviting industry to settled happy homes, activity to successful enterprises, and philosophy to the most promising research?

A universal system of the types of vegetable and animal life should—as the result of our inquiries—initiate with ease the student into nature's wonderful areana. Ascending from its lowest forms, which only the microscope reveals, through divisions of higher development of organic life, there is no branch devoid of novelty, and more than one not even drawn as yet within the circle of elucidation.


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