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onerons than those which are so efficiently discharged by our one worthy 

 officer. And I will again take this opportunity of assuring you that, 

 seeing only the happy results as you do, you can scarcely estimate the 

 M'hole amount of work and responsibility involved in such an office. But 

 some one may say, " It was voluntarily assumed." Trae, most true. But 

 does not such willing service all the more deserve — nay, even demand 

 recognition ? Besides, I may remind you that when Mr. Ingpen assumed 

 office, the condition and status of the Club were not quite what they are 

 now, and that its business and influence have silently, yet onerously 

 increased. And I will assert, with no fear of contradiction, that if this 

 Society have increased in importance and estimation, if its usefulness have 

 been developed, if, in fine, it have prospei-ed, as it most assuredly has, 

 much, very much, of this advancement is greatly due to the untiring 

 energy, the acuteness, and, I will add, the technical as well as general 

 knowledge of our Secretary. When we come to consider, too, that all these 

 qualities have been exerted on our behalf under the grievous physical diffi- 

 culty of failing sight, it certainly raises wonder in my mind at the great 

 amount of self-sacrifice displayed under such serious and ever increasing 

 discouragement. But that is a subject which, if we touch on at all, must 

 be with light and tender hands. We may, however, be permitted to hope 

 that the cheering wish may be realised to the uttermost with him, " Post 

 terebras lux." It has never been the way of a body of Englishmen to 

 accept services such as those I have been speaking of in, I fear, very feeble 

 terms, after all that I have said, without, sooner or later, expressing their 

 thanks for them ; and I think I may say, without violating any confidence, 

 that if the thanks of the Club have not hitherto been openly accorded by 

 its members to Mr. Ingpen, such an expression has been prevented, or at 

 least delayed, by circnm stances which many present will readily under- 

 stand. To those who may not, I will only hint that they have arisen 

 chiefly, if not wholly, from the honoui'able and delicate scruples of our 

 friend, which have at length yielded only to the wishes and representations 

 of those of his sincere well-wishers, whose sense of justice would no 

 longer be denied nor postponed to other considerations. I will not delay 

 you much longer, except to remind you that an efficient Secretary has been 

 said to be the mainspring of a society — just as the President may be called 

 its regulator. The latter, like a Sovereign, reigns, but he does not govern, 

 for it is the Secretary who is largely, though not entirely, the motive 

 power. Like a mainspring, he may, being out of sight, be also out of mind, 

 yet his influence, for good or for evil, must needs be felt in every throb of 

 the machine. And if that influence be so subtle, so refined as not to 

 appear, so much the more is it to the credit of him who uses it so dis- 

 creetly. Do not mistake me, I pi'ay you, gentlemen ; the influence I speak 

 of is that of an amiable character, upright conduct, and unusual scientific 

 talents, as well as acquirements, influenced and regulated by a tact as rare 

 as it is enviable. In conclusion, I will only observe that if Mr. Ingpen have 

 not done so, he might well have adopted the famous speech of the French 



