What was the Royal Society?
The Royal Society of Victoria was a private association formed to encourage scientific research and the dissemination of new information. Some of its members were trained scientists, some self-educated enthusiasts, and many were simply educated professional men interested in the advancement of knowledge. Such a society seems inconceivable today, when the frontiers of science have passed far beyond the everyday view of most people, but in the middle of the 19th century, and in the midst of a still-new country like Australia, it was possible for amateurs to make important and useful discoveries in many branches of science.
