(g) The Sectional Committees shall meet not later than the first day of the Session in the Rooms of their respective Sections, and prepare the programme for their Sections and forward the same to the General Secretaries for publication.

(h) The Council cannot guarantee the insertion of any Report, Paper, or Abstract in the Annual Volume, unless it be handed to the Secretary before the conclusion of the Session.

(i) The Sectional Committee shall report to the Council what Reports, Papers or Abstracts it is thought advisable to print, but the final decision shall rest with the Council.

XV. RESEARCH COMMITTEES.

(a) In recommending the appointment of Research Committees, all members of such Committees shall be named, and one of them, who has notified his willingness to accept the office, shall be appointed to act as Secretary. The number of Members appointed to serve on a Research Committee shall be as small as is consistent with its efficient working. Individuals may be recommended to make reports. (b) All recommendations adopted by Sectional Committees shall be forwarded without delay to the Council for consideration and decision.

XVI. ALTERATION OF RULES.

Any proposed alteration of the Rules

(a) Shall be intimated to the Council Six months before the next Session of the Association.

(b) Shall be duly considered by the Council,

(c) And, if approved, shall be communicated by Circular to the Members of the Association for their consideration.

(d) And dealt with at the said Session of the Association.

XVII. VOTING.

In voting for Members of Council, or on questions connected with Alterations to Rules, absent Members may record their vote in writing.

J. D. F. GILCHRIST, M.A., B.SC., PH.D., CAPETOWN.
WM. CULLEN, JOHANNESBURG.

Hon. General Treasurer:

HOWARD PIM, F.C.A.

Past Presidents:

SIR DAVID GILL, K.C.B., LL.D., D.Sc., F.R.S., HON. F.R.S.E.
SIR CHARLES METCALFE, BART., M.I.C.E.

THEO. REUNERT, M.I.C.E.

Past Hon. Gen. Treasurer:

W. WESTHOFEN.

Assistant General Secretaries :

E. H. JONES, P.O. Box 1497, CAPETOWN.
(For Cape Colony and Rhodesia.)

FRED. ROWLAND, F.C.I.S., P.O. Box 1183; 5, CORPORATION
BUILDINGS (2ND FLOOR), JOHANNESBURG.

(For Transvaal, Orange River Colony and Natal.)

ADDRESS

By

THEODORE REUNERT, M.Inst.C.E.,

PRESIDENT.

The founding of the South African Association for the Advancement of Science four years ago, in a time of great and almost universal despondency, was an act of faith which has been amply justified by events. A few of its more sanguine promoters ventured to predict that the new Association would supply a want which had long been felt of some means of bringing together men and women from all parts of the country who were keenly interested in its higher destinies in science, in education, in every kind of intellectual as distinct from merely material progress; that it would lead to friendships which would not otherwise have been formed; that it would serve as a useful channel of communication between Governments or Local Authorities on the one hand, and the various Scientific Societies, besides many disinterested, isolated workers in different branches of investigation and research on the other hand; that it would afford an opportunity for the discussion of many subjects of national importance before a wider audience than had hitherto been possible; and that it would gradually enlist the sympathies of the whole intelligence of South Africa.

Sanguine as these predictions were, they have proved to be not over-sanguine. They have been largely fulfilled already, and are in a fair way towards complete fulfilment. We have held three Annual General Meetings, each more successful than the last, each more largely attended, and more fruitful in the number and range of papers presented. We have published three volumes of respectable dimensions, each of some 500 or 600 pages, two of these containing the proceedings of our first two meetings, and an extra volume on "Science in South Africa," which was specially prepared this year for the use of our guests. It is gratifying in this connection to be able to acknowledge the encouragement and material assistance given us by the several South African Governments. When Sir David Gill, our first President, delivered his inaugural address in Capetown, in April, 1903, the Governor of the Cape Colony graced the meeting by his presence, and the Government of that Colony generously agreed to defray

the entire expense of publishing our first volume, a most pleasing sign of official recognition for so young an Association to receive, and one which the other Governments have acquiesced in following. Last year Lord Milner was with us when our second President, Sir Charles Metcalfe, delivered his address in Johannesburg; and the Transvaal Government not only granted the sum asked for towards publishing our second volume of proceedings, but took the initiative in approaching the other Governments, who jointly provided the funds for our special volume on the present state of science in South Africa. As you were informed by circular, His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal, the Hon. Sir Arthur Lawley, had kindly consented to be present this evening. It is a keen disappointment to us all that at the last moment he has been compelled to cancel his engagement, but this disappointment is entirely overshadowed by the grief we feel at permanently losing one whose eloquent advocacy on so many occasions of the cause of science and learning is not the least of the great services he has rendered this Colony.

In addition to the matters mentioned in the annual report, a number of projects have engaged the attention of your Council during the past year, several of which, no doubt, will be regarded as of more than local interest, and well worthy of being made the subject of a whole evening's discourse. Among these are: a Botanic Garden and Arboretum for the Transvaal, to be managed purely as a Government institution; a Forest School for South Africa, which would be the only one in the Eastern Hemisphere dealing with extra-tropical forestry and imparting its instruction in English; a Military College; a system of apprenticeships in connection with continuation and night-schools; the encouragement of nature study and science teaching in schools; a permanent museum for Johannesburg; an annual conference of public librarians and curators of museums, and larger public grants to all such educational institutions; the systematic collection or preservation of objects of scientific and historic interest; the investigation of freshwater fishes and other forms of aquatic life in the interior of the country; a series of memoirs on men of science and other South African worthies; a scheme of university extension lectures; and a Royal Society of South Africa. I mention these matters to show how wide a field is open for your future deliberations, and for all the energies at your disposal.

The year 1905 will always be memorable in the history of South Africa on account of the visit of the British Association. The whole story of the inception of the idea that such a visit was feasible, of the lengthy negotiations which led to its being finally entertained, and of the manner in which, by the co-operation of all classes of the community, that visit was carried out to a final successful issue, will be partly recorded in the next forthcoming annual volume of the British Association's proceedings, but is sure to be further told from many different points of view, in many different languages, in all the various forms of publication, from grave to gay, which the modern Press has devised. I cannot refrain, however, from reading