linnea;n" society or londok. xv 



year's account in round numbers of £300 ; besides this, we pos- 

 sess £300 Consols, the amount of the two legacies of Mr. Brown 

 and Mr. Solly. 



Having now, Gentlemen, alluded to what is past, I must beg 

 your kind attention to some further remarks with regard to a 

 possible future. 



The object of the Linnean Society, as defined by the Charter, 

 which, I presume, must be considered as the indisputable authority 

 and exponent of its functions, is " the cultivation of the science 

 of Natural History, especially of the Natural History of Great 

 Britain and Ireland." I have already referred to its ordinary 

 means of effecting this and its more extended objects — namely, 

 the reading of papers and other contributions, and the publication 

 of the contents of such papers. But is this the only mode in which 

 its influence and prestige can be exerted in furtherance of this 

 great end ? May not the same means, legitimately and in perfect 

 consistency with its other duties, be employed in giving important 

 assistance to those local Associations which in various parts of the 

 country have become the centres of districts, as regards the collec- 

 tion and description of their natural products ? I took the oppor- 

 tunity afiibrded me at one of our former Anniversary meetings to 

 express an earnest wish that some of these local Associations could 

 be brought into connexion with the Linnean Society, and com- 

 municate to us the results of their labours ; selections from which 

 might be published, after careful consideration, in our Proceedings. 

 This suggestion has not hitherto been responded to, but I still 

 think that the plan may very safely be worked out, so as to ensure 

 a considerable accession to our knowledge of local botany and 

 zoology. The promotion of this kind of knowledge, by the intro- 

 duction of such topics into the usual course of popular education, 

 would be of immense advantage, not only as afibrding great oppor- 

 tunities of enlarging our knowledge of the natural history and 

 the geographical distribution of the plants and animals of the 

 country, but in fulfilling a far higher and more important end, 

 that of training the mind of the multitude in the pursuit of the 

 most humanizing, the most religious, the purest, and at the same 

 time the most available of all branches of luiman knowledge. 



It has appeared to me that in England and in Scotland this branch 

 of education has been too little attended to. The information 

 which I have been able to obtain on this subject is far from 

 satisfactory. It is true that in some provincial towns, where 



