his lecture Mr. Woodward thanked the people for the generous support they
had given to these fortnightly addresses. He was pleased to say that this
year’s venture had been even more successful than last seeing that the
average attendance had risen from 100 to 180. The lectures did not compete
with the Perth Technical School or the University course, but were
intended to call attention to the most interesting developments of science
and art on the lines of the parent institution in London. After giving
some notes on the Wallace-Darwin jubilee, of July last, the lecturer said
that it was to these men that we owed most of our knowledge of the origin
of the development of organisms and the theory of cell construction, which
was established in the year 1838. The animal kingdom was divided into two
parts, the protozoa or one-celled, and the metozoa [sic] or many-celled.
He then traced the gradual growth of coral formations from floating bodies
to the time when these became fixed and grew up into massive rocks, such
as were to be seen in the Gascoyne districts. The Abrolhos Islands was the
most southern point on our coast, where coral was to be found, but strange
to say the coast opposite these islands contained no indication of such
growth. This was attributable to the fact that there was a cold current of
water running up the coast, which was deflected inshore just at this point
by a warm current coming from the north, thus keeping the island coasts
warm, but leaving the main coast cold. In calling for a vote of thanks to
Mr. Woodward the chairman said that the great success which had attended
this series of Museum lectures was due both to the greatly-increased
attendances and to the better accommodation which had been provided for
them. Taken as a whole, he believed that the quality and interest of the
lectures were infinitely superior to anything that they had had in the
past. Arrangements had been made to continue the lectures next year when
there would be a full course of 11, instead of a short one like this year
of eight. Great credit was due to the efforts of Mr. Woodward that so much
had been done up to the present. Thanks were also due to Dr. Cleland, Mr.
Hillson Beasley, and Dr. Morrison for their absorbingly interesting
lectures, not to mention such names as Mr. Battye, Dr. Pitt Morrison, Mr.
Timperley, and others, for whose self-imposed tasks he was sure their
audiences were most grateful. The proceedings closed with hearty votes of
thanks to the lecturer and to Dr. Hackett for presiding.