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of the Annual General Meeting, Mr. Mainland and Mr Buffham being 

 nominated by the President as scrutineers of the ballot. 



The Secretary read the 20th Annual Eeport, and the Treasurer his 

 statement of accounts. 



Mr. Charters White proposed that the reports just read be adopted. This 

 was seconded by Mr. Waller, and carried unanimously. 



The President said while the scrutiny of the ballot was going on, he 

 would wish to express his very great regret at his unavoidable failure to 

 perform the duties of a President on several occasions. When it was first 

 proposed to him to undertake this duty, he rather demurred, on the ground 

 of the uncertainty of his health for the last two or three years. He was, 

 however, assured that the Club would be very glad to have him among 

 them when he was able to come, and at the same time would not grumble 

 if he felt that his own health was a primary consideration with him, and he 

 abstained from coming when he thought it might be a risk to do so. They 

 might remember that on the very first evening he appeared among them he 

 was suffering from a very severe cold, but that was nothing more than a cold 

 and hoarseness, and he took upon himself the risk, but for some three months 

 past nearly, he had unfortunately been the subject of a very depressing 

 complaint, beginning with neuralgia of the head, which left behind it a very 

 considerable depression of nervous power, so that he was obliged to pass a 

 good deal of every day on the sofa, and to take to a course of novel reading 

 instead of anything more instructive. He found that any continuous sus- 

 tained attention, either in writing or reading, was a very severe trial to him, 

 and that any little over-exertion was sure to be followed by a severe 

 depression. Mr. Karop was kind enough to come and talk over the business 

 of the Society with him a few evenings before. He had seen one or two 

 other friends during the day, and went to bed after Mr. Karop's kind visit 

 very tired, and it was against the wishes of the home-rulers that he had come 

 down that night, but he did feel that it was due to the Club to make a 

 little effort, even though he might be a little more depressed the following 

 day in consequence. He thanked them for their kind reception of him when 

 he had been present, and their indulgence when he had been necessarily 

 absent. He hoped, in fact he felt sure, that the business of the Club had 

 not suffered by his absence, for every member of the Committee, especially 

 the Vice-Presidents and officers, knew the business a great deal better 

 than he did, and he had been in their hands when he had been present. 

 The Club had such an efficient staff that he felt sure the absence 

 of the President could not be in any way seriously felt, and that he had 

 been rather ornamental than useful when he had been present. He would just 

 say, with regard to the contributions of objects for the cabinets, he had 

 hoped to have been able to prepare a set of the typical forms of Orbitolites, 

 with sections and preparations of the animal, but had felt utterly unable to 

 take up the microscope for use during the last three months, and therefore 

 must defer the final arrangements of them until after the vacation, when he 

 hoped to be more set up and prepared for that little effort. He would have 

 a few words to say presently in the way of a short address. This much 



