March, 1902. 5^ 



RKCKNT PROGRESS IN IRISH NATURAI, 



HISTORY 



BY W. F. T>n V. KANK, M.A , D.I,. 



(Presidential Address to the Dublin Naturalists' Field Club, 



January 14, 1902.) 



In addressing 3'ou this evening as President of the Club, I 

 desire in the first place to thank j^ou for the honour you have 

 paid me. It is always a great gratification to me to take part 

 in your meetings from time to time, and to find that an old 

 member is still welcome ; and the kind, but I think injudicious, 

 compliment you have now paid me proves that 3^ou reciprocate 

 my feelings not wisely but too well. 



When I look back a few years and remember the scant 

 interest shown generally throughout Ireland in Natural 

 History pursuits, I feel that a great advance has been made 

 since the founding of this Society to popularise these studies ; 

 and though we have much lee-way to make up, I feel confident 

 that Irish genius will assert itself ere long in this branch of 

 science, and that numerous adepts will carry on the labours 

 of Praeger, Colgan, Barrett-Hamilton, Ussher, and other well- 

 known names in '' fresh woods and pastures new." 



We have, however, to regret the loss of Professor Haddon, 



who was so largely instrumental in founding this Club, and 



whose zoological enthusiasm infected all with whom he came 



into contact. We wish him a very successful and distinguished 



career in his new sphere of work, as well as Dr. Patten, whose 



appointment to the Chair of Anatomy at Sheffield deprives us 



of one of our most promising members. We cannot but 



deplore the drain of so many of our talented young men to 



the sister island, which offers so much better careers than are 



available at home. Though, doubtless, w^e reap many great 



advantages from its proximity, yet the thought often arises 



that the flourishing country so close to us acts as the fabled 



Magnetic Rock island, which drew out the iron fastenings of 



any ship which too nearly approached, and left its timbers 



disunited, and incapable of weathering a storm. Adsz^ omgnf 



Several noteworthy and valuable papers have appeared in the 



pages of the I^zsh Naturalist for 1901, such as Dr. Patten's 



A 



