Document information

Physical location:

MS 11663 Royal Society of Victoria records, box 2/1, La Trobe Australian Manuscripts Collection, State Library of Victoria, Melbourne. 60.01.26

Preferred Citation:

Frederick McCoy to Ferdinand von Mueller, 1860-01-26. R.W. Home, Thomas A. Darragh, A.M. Lucas, Sara Maroske, D.M. Sinkora, J.H. Voigt and Monika Wells (eds), Correspondence of Ferdinand von Mueller, <https://vmcp.rbg.vic.gov.au/id//letters/1860-9/1860/60-01-26-final.odt>, accessed June 13, 2026

University
26th January 1860
My dear Dr Müller
The [present] of your genial Address as President of the Philosophical Institute induces me to make the offer through you of presenting to the Society (in case I obtain the sanction of the government to my suggestion) a series of such duplicate specimens of Natural History as may from time to time be spared from the National Museum of which I am Director.
1
McCoy had doubtless received a copy of the preliminary version of M’s address at the opening of the Philosophical Institute’s hall on 21 December 1859 (B60.01.05), in the course of which (p. 4) M looked forward to a time when ‘collections from every region of the globe shall to the searching eye unfold that harmony eternal which Isis’ works pervade’. M returned corrected proofs of his address, eventually published in the Institute's Transactions in June 1860, to the Institute’s secretary, J. Macadam, on the same day as he wrote to McCoy (see 60-01-26a in this edition).
I also take the opportunity of congratulating you on the title of Royal Society having been sanctioned by Her Majesty during your Presidency.
2
That permission had been granted to change the name of the Philosophical Institute to ‘Royal Society of Victoria’ was announced at a special meeting of the Institute on 23 January 1860.
Ever my dear Dr Müller
very truly yours
Frederick McCoy
Dr Müller
President of the Royal Society of Victoria
3
See also M to F. McCoy, 27 January 1860.