THE COMING OF AGE OF THE ESSEX 

 FIELD CLUB. A RECORD OF LOCAL 

 SCIENTIFIC WORK; 1880— 1901. 



By RAPHAEL MELDOLA, F.R.S., V.P.C.S., F.R.A.S., F.I.C., V.P.R, PHOTOG SOC, 

 Professor of Chemistry in the Finsbury Technical College, City and Guilds of London 

 Institute; Member of the Faculty of Science, University of London. President of the 

 Club, 1880-1882 & 1901-1902. 



[Being the Presidential x\ddress delivered at the 22nd Annual 

 General Meeting of the Club on March 22nd, 1902.] 



"Our Society, in- general terms, may be said to have for its scope the study 

 of Nature in the field 



" In forming a Society such as the present Field Club our primary object 

 is, of course, the furthering of Science — the annual addition of some- 

 thing, however humble, to the general stock of human knowledge. In 

 Epping Forest and the County of Essex we have a fine area to 

 work in. . 



*' Thus, in addition to the acquisition of new knowledge, field clubs are capa- 

 ble of doing good work in the way of education. The faculty of para- 

 mount importance to the scientist is that of observation, and no study is 

 better calculated to develop this faculty than that of Natural History." 

 [From the Presidential Inaugural Address, Feb. 28th, 1880.] 



Not often in the annals of a scientific society does it fall to 

 the lot of the same individual to be called upon to occupy the 

 presidential chair after an interval of twenty-one years. I 

 acceded to the wish of your Officers and Council that I should 

 again take office as President in celebration of our coming of age, 

 partly on the unsubstantial ground of sentiment and partly 

 because I may claim to have taken an active interest in the 

 welfare of the Club and to have kept in touch with its proceed- 

 ings from the time of the foundation meeting on January loth, 

 1880. Twenty-one years measure a serious gap in the lifetime 

 of an individual, and many whose names appeared in our first 

 list of members have passed away during that interval. But it 

 is satisfactory to be able to state that the hand of death has 

 dealt lightly with our officials. With the exception of Mr. E. 

 Durrant, every member of the Society who has ever held office — 

 either as President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, or 

 Librarian, is still with us in full vigour although in some few 



