11. PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 



side, have combined in defence of the war-spirit, and the war- 

 principle as "an indispensable factor of culture" and as a 

 " necessary element in the life of nations." 



But if the theories put forward by the champions of the 

 opponent-in-chief of the Allies have astounded other nations, their 

 reduction to practice in Belgium and Northern France has 

 stirred the heart of the world, as it has never been stirred before; 

 and, for those responsible for it, has provided the materials for a 

 ruthless and inglorious chapter in the history of an otherwise 

 great nation. 



I recall, with some pleasure, at this stage, an item of the 

 Society's early history known to few of us. The Society was 

 bereft of everything it possessed, in the conflagration of the Garden 

 Palace, in September, 1882. At this time, it had not yet com- 

 pleted eight years of work; and the seventh volume of the Pro- 

 ceedings was in course of publication. Thereafter, the Society 

 received many letters of sympathy from far and near; and these, 

 in some cases, were accompanied by donations of Journals 

 towards the replacement of losses. The most notable of these, 

 because it was a collective gift, the outcome of co- operative effort, 

 in a sense even a national gift, was received on April 18th, 1884; 

 and is recorded in the donations for the month [Proceedings, Vol. 

 ix., p. 256] as "A very large and valuable collection of the pub- 

 lications of Belgian Scientific Societies. From M. Th. Lef^vre, 

 Secretary of the Royal Malacological Society of Belgium," at 

 Brussels. As a matter of fact, it comprised about 120 volumes 

 of the publications issued by eight Scientific or other Societies 

 in Belgium, selected so that the Society might ultimately have 

 complete sets of these publications as far as possible, or at least 

 for a period corresponding to the currency of the Society's Pro- 

 ceedings. In addition to these, there were numerous reprints of 

 papers, pamphlets, and scientific reports, some of the latter being 

 Government publications. Up to this time, the Society had 

 exchanged publications with three Belgian Societies, of one of 

 which M. Lefevre was Secretary. On receipt of a copy of the 

 circular explaining the difficulties in which the Society tem- 

 porarily found itself through the disaster, issued to its corres- 



