408 Worcestershire Natural History Society. 



Here was the secret of their strength. They sought talent, 

 observation, and intellect, from every class, secure of thus fix- 

 ing their structure upon an imperishable basis. They knew, 

 indeed, that in Britain no institution could advantageously 

 flourish without the countenance of her nobility, and hence 

 they had early sought and obtained the patronage of His Ma- 

 jesty's representative in this county, Lord Lyttelton ; a noble- 

 man who, in his private capacity, would have been no mean 

 support. They had also the efficient countenance of the 

 clergy; for, if these had been neglected, Science must have 

 condemned them, since she would have asked if any profession 

 had produced names more devoted to their cause than those 

 of Ray, Gilbert White, Conybeare, and Kirby, each unrivalled 

 in his respective department ; and he would never refuse to 

 the clergy the praise justly due to their descriptive skill, their 

 observant talents, their learning, and their active benevolence. 

 But he must confess, they had a tower of strength in the 

 medical profession. In every age, from Machaon to Sir Charles 

 Bell, from Dioscorides to Linnaeus and Sir James Smith, from 

 Hippocrates to Halford, the medical profession had distin- 

 guished themselves by acuteness of research, and an adapta- 

 tion of scientific inference to useful purposes, equalled perhaps 

 by no other men as a body ; and they all knew, that in Wor- 

 cester they had been aided by names ever to be honoured and 

 respected, and the kind help and wishes of many others in the 

 vicinity, their honoured visiters that day. But in thus pay- 

 ing due honour to medical skill, he knew the legal profession 

 ever had amongst its ranks ornaments alike to human nature 

 and to science, and they had members whose skill in drawing 

 up a case in natural history proved them alike ardent votaries 

 of the laws of God and man. He now approached the base 

 of the obelisk or column, that important part that ever bore 

 the inscription, and without which, the ornaments of the plinth 

 and capital would be useless, uninscribed, unacknowledged, 

 prostrated in the dust. But firm was their base, the stones of 

 which it was composed were of ample dimensions, its inscrip- 

 tion was fair and legible, its materials mounted up insensibly 

 into the plinth above it, and its lowest stones had coins and 

 medals worth searching for amongst them. Yes, they had 

 also the extensive assistance of the middle classes, and ex- 

 cluded none who had a love of Nature, and of Nature's God, 

 integrity, research, and talent. This, then, he would again 

 contend, was the secret of their success. Should the day ever 

 arrive, when an exclusive test was demanded for admission 

 among them, if the Society should be ever attempted to be 

 confined to any particular rank or profession, should any 



