405 



mars, and works on general Philology, are among the recent addi- 

 tions to the library. 



Another important subject to which the attention of the Council 

 has been directed, is the finance of the Society. Several circum- 

 stances have shown it to be desirable that the amount both of ad- 

 mission and annual payments should be diminished ; and the state- 

 ments drawn out by our very intelligent and zealous Treasurer, show 

 that such diminution may be made without incapacitating the 

 Society from carrying out any of its legitimate purposes. As the 

 rate of fees is fixed by a law of the Society, the sanction of a general 

 meeting will be necessary to the alteration ; and a motion to that 

 purpose will, I believe, be made this evening. 



In recounting the duties of the Society, I ought to remind you that 

 we are trustees of three funds devoted to the promotion of science ; 

 and are the judges appointed to select among competing candidates 

 those most deserving of the prizes afforded from the interest of these 

 funds. The first of these prizes is the Keith Gold Medal and 

 Prize, given biennially to the author of that paper read before the 

 Society which the Council considers as the most valuable contribution 

 to science, made through the Society, during the two preceding ses- 

 sions. The second is the Brisbane Prize, the special application of 

 which was left by the learned and liberal donov entirely to the judg- 

 ment of the Council. They have decided that this prize shall be 

 awarded, at biennial periods alternating with the Keith Prize, and 

 that for the first biennium it shall be awarded to the author of the 

 best Biographical Memoir of some deceased Scotchman, distinguished 

 by his scientific attainments. Thirdly, we have the Neill Bequest, 

 which, in conformity with the well-known pursuits of the founder, 

 will be devoted to the encouragement of natural history in its various 

 branches. We are thus empowered to invite and stimulate and re- 

 ward exertion — 1st, In the great field of physical and experimental 

 science ; 2d, In mathematics and astronomy ; 3c?, In the investiga- 

 tion of the forms, properties, and relations of the various families of 

 the organized creation. The destination of the Brisbane Prize ap- 

 pears to have this peculiar merit, that it gives scope for the exhibi- 

 tion of literary as well as of scientific merit ; and I hope that those 

 who may be induced to compete for it will remember that each of 

 the heroes of science was not an abstract intellect, but a man, with 

 human affections and passions acting for good or for evil — with moral 



