The Irish Naturalist. January, 



IRISH SOCIETIES. 



BELFAST NATURAL HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHICAL 



SOCIETY. 



October 3i. — ^Ir. Henry Riddell, M.E., delivered his presidential 

 address to tiie members of the Society, in the old Museum, College Square 

 North. His subject was a review of the work and personnel of the Society 

 since its foundation just over loo years ago. The address, which was 

 listened to throughout with close attention, was illustrated by numerous 

 lantern slides. 



The President said that his information was derived from minutes 

 and proceedings of the Society, and for the greater part of the facts he 

 was indebted to the secretary, Mr. Deane, who had ransacked a century's 

 papers, and without whose labours it would have been practically impossible 

 to complete the centenary volume, a prospectus of which would shortly 

 be issued. It was on Tuesday, 8th June, 1821, that eight men, anxious 

 to promote the study of natural history, met in the house of Dr. Jas. 

 L. Drummond, at 5, Chichester Street, and formed the Society. These 

 were — Dr. Drummond (President), Jas. McAdam (Vice-President), Robert 

 Patterson, George C. Hyndman, James Grimshaw, Robert Simms, Wm. 

 McClure, and Francis Archer". They were all young and energetic, the 

 two youngest being nineteen and twenty, while the oldest was only thirty- 

 one. The Society steadily grew, and in 1827 the need of better accommo- 

 dation was felt, and it was determined to embark on a bold scheme and 

 build a home for themselves. Belfast at that time was a small town, 

 but the community was most enterprising, generous, and public spirited. 

 Ultimately, the building in which they met that night was erected, the 

 foundation-stone of the ^luseum being laid by the Marquis of Donegal 

 on 4th May, 1830. The President then showed on the screen specimens 

 from the Museum collections, with a view to drawing attention to the 

 value and unique interest of the ethnographical objects which, he said, 

 were at present inaccessible to students or to the general public. He 

 wished to emphasise this point very strongly, and hoped that the Corpora- 

 tion would be able to accommodate the collections in their new museum. 

 In modern times people were too busy to take the same active interest 

 in the .work of the Society as they did in the times with which he had 

 dealt. The Council of the Society had now in most cases to content 

 themselves with bringing before the members the latest thought or the 

 newest discovery, and in doing so they played a most important part 

 in the education and development of the instinct for science which was 

 seldom absent in their fellow-citizens. 



On the motion of Colonel Sinclair, C.B., a hearty vote of thanks was 

 passed to the President. 



