



PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY. 365 



GLASGOW SOCIETIES. 



Society. Representatives. 



Royal Philosophical, - - - Dr. Freeland Fergus. 



~ . . . f J. Barclay Murdoch, F.R. Ph. S.E. 



Geological, | Matthew Blair. 



( Walter Brown. 

 Andersonian Naturalists', - - < Robert Brown. 



[R. B. Johnstone. 



fDr. Jas. Rankin, President. 

 Microscopical, - - - - -J R. L. Greig. 



(John Hyslop. 

 Medico-Chirurgical, of Glasgow /John Muir, B.Sc, President. 

 University, .... \R. T. Leiper, Hon. Secretary. 



Marine Biological Association of j^ Jas F>GemmiU ,M.A., President. 



the West of Scotland, - - J 

 School Board of Glasgow, - - G. W. Alexander, Clerk to the Board. 



H Schools aJeSty ' S _ InSpeCtOTS ° f }A. E. Scougal, Chief Inspector. 

 His Majesty's Science Inspectors, F. W. Young, B. Sc. 



On a recent occasion there was held in Glasgow a dinner to 

 all who had been at any time members of Council of the now 

 Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, to celebrate the fact 

 that His Majesty had graciously given to the Society the name 

 of " Royal." I was honoured on that occasion with the request 

 to reply to the toast of " The Kindred Societies." On looking 

 into the matter, I found that I personally represented the oldest 

 of the Societies, viz., the Natural History Society of Glasgow, 

 and also the youngest — the Marine Biological Association of 

 the West of Scotland. It is very remarkable that there should 

 have been a gap of no fewer than fifty years between the origin 

 of the Philosophical Society and the institution of our own. 



It is not my intention to-night to inflict upon you a presi- 

 dential address. We have a number of friends who have come 

 to be with us this evening, and to encourage us in the work 

 we are doing. Still, it is expected that I should refer to a 

 few names in connection with our Society. On the 2nd of 

 July, 1851, there met in Glasgow nine gentlemen, who, with 

 other two who joined them a week later, originated the Natural 

 Histoiy Society. Of these eleven there are still three spared 

 to us. The most prominent is the well-known Aberdeenshire 

 proprietor, Dr. William Ferguson, of Kinmundy. He took an 

 active part in the Society, and did much to foster it by reading 



