The President's Address, 



2. Pharmaceutical. — Distilled Waters of the Pharma- 

 copoeia (1845) ; Alcohol as a Test for the Purity of Croton 

 Oil (1855) ; Spii'it of Nitrous Ether and Nitrite of Soda 

 (1865). 



3. Microscopical. — New Media for Mounting Crystals and 

 Organic Substances (1844-48) ; Portable Microscope (1856- 

 58-59). 



4. Natural History. — The Balance between Animal and 

 Vegetable Life in Fresh and Sea Water (1850-58); Natural 

 History of Water-Snails and Fish (1852); Habits of Common 

 Prawn (1855) ; Habits of Stickleback (1855) ; besides various 

 other lesser memoranda. 



I would now direct your attention to the state of our 

 Library, and this will be best done by quoting the report of 

 the Library Committee, as follows : 



" That upon examining the books of the Society, with a 

 vieAv to their guidance in making purchases, in conformity 

 with the orders of the Council, they found that the number 

 of distinct works, exclusive of tracts and short papers, was 

 about 240. A large portion of these works, though valuable 

 for tracing the history of microscopical science, would be of 

 little use in answering the inquiries of practical workers at 

 the present day. Another considerable portion of the Library 

 consists of works which would be rarely required, either for 

 study or reference, on account of their relating to objects not 

 often seen by English observers, or to subjects which seldom 

 engage their attention. Deducting these two portions from 

 the general mass, and also deducting a few works of inferior 

 merit, there remained only a few dozen volumes adapted to 

 the ordinary reqvdrements of students and observers. There 

 was a great want of text-books on subjects of Natural His- 

 tory, Botany, Anatomy, Physiology, Geology, Mineralogy, 

 Chemistry, and Physics. There was also an absence of 

 Dictionaries, so that, with the exception of an occasional 

 Glossary attached to a particular work, the Library could 

 afford no assistance in ascertaining the meaning or derivation 

 of technical terms. 



" With a few exceptions, the purchases made by the 

 Library Committee may be described as text-books of recent 

 date, by acknoAvledged authorities, on various branches of the 

 subjects enumerated above. In the selection of works — 

 other things being equal — the Committee gave jDreference to 

 such as were supplied with reliable illustrations, and in a 

 few instances, where they have procured more than one work 



