Anniversary Address of the President. 14S 



that the remembrance of your sympathy with my affliction whilst it 

 continued, and of your warm congratulations upon my ha])py re- 

 covery, will ever tend to cement more closely the ties of affection 

 and friendship which subsist between me and the Fellows of the 

 Royal Society. 



My necessary absence from my duties amongst you will prevent 

 my entering in much detail upon the ordinary transactions of the 

 Council, and of our weekly meetings durinq- the last year ; for a parti- 

 cular statement of which i must refer to the Report of the Council, 

 which will be read to you by one of your Secretaries, Dr. Roget. 

 There are only two topics connected with them to which I feel my- 

 self particularly called upon to allude. 



The fii*st is the publication of the classed catalogue of our library ; 

 the second relates to the discussions which have been attempted to 

 be raised upon the Minutes of your proceedings on the ordinary 

 days of your assembling during the last year. 



It is well known to you, Gentlemen, that, after the transfer 

 of the Arundelian MSS. to the British Museum, and the great 

 additions which your library received from purchases and ex- 

 changes of books, necessarily consequent upon that transaction, Mr. 

 Panizzi was employed by the Council to draw up a classed cata- 

 logue of its contents. Such a compilation it was considered would 

 be of great value, not merely to the Fellows of the Society but to 

 men of science generally, by making known to them the treasures 

 of a library singularly rich and complete in journals, and works on 

 mathematical, physical, astronomical, and anatomical science, and 

 by presenting them in such a form that persons engaged in works 

 of research, or in any specific subject of scientific inquirj'^, might be 

 made at once acquainted with nearly all the sources from whence 

 they could derive information. This catalogue is now printed, or 

 more correctly speaking, composed^ and is undergoing such a revi- 

 sion from different Members of the Council, who have kindly un- 

 dertaken this task, as is calculated to make it as correct and complete 

 as the circumstances of the case will allow it to be. I have reason 

 to hope that this work will be shortly placed in the hands of the 

 Fellows, and that the example which it will present of what may be 

 accomplished by the exertions of a learned body wi^h very limited 

 funds at its command, will not be without its influence in hastening 

 the completion of a similar w ork with respect to our great national 

 library, upon a scale proportionate to its importance, and worthy of a 

 great and wealthy people, amongst whom literature, science, and 

 the arts are duly cultivated and pursued. 



The discussions that have at different times during the last year 

 been raised upon the Minutes of your proceedings, constitute the 

 second subject which I wish especially to notice. 



I am quite sure. Gentlemen, that you will agree with me in think- 

 ing, that no one circumstance has contributed so effectually to main- 

 tain the dignity of the Royal Society, as the prohibition of per- 

 sonal debate in the transaction of its ordinary business ; and if 

 I wished for any additional confirmation of this opinion, I would 



