LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 25 



PEESIDENTIAL ADDEESS, 1917. 



The statement we have had presented to us this afternoon by 

 our Treasurer has shown us that the financial condition of our 

 Society is satisfactory. We all realize how much we stand 

 indebted to him for the wise judgment and foresight to which 

 this fortunate circumstance is due. 



We are able to see for ourselves in what excellent condition 

 our property and our possessions in these rooms at present are. 

 We realize also bow much we owe this to the untiring care and 

 vigilance of our General Secretary. 



We are now near the close of what has been a most successful 

 and a particularly instructive session. We all equally reahze 

 that this has been due to the unremitting zeal and energy of our 

 Zoological and Botanical Secretaries in thinking out the arrange- 

 ments for our ordinary meetings. 



We have had recounted to us the changes that have taken place 

 in the Society since our last Anniversary Meeting. During the 

 past year the hand of death has been heavy upon us. Three of 

 the younger of our Fellows — Capt. Geoffrey Watldn Smith, 

 Mr. Wilfrid Omer Cooper, and Mr. James Donald — have made 

 the great renunciation on our behalf. One Fellow, Sir Arniand 

 Eufi'er, who has been of our company for over a quarter of a 

 century, has, we have just learned, also laid down his life in the 

 service of his country. 



In Professor Daniel Oliver we have lost a Fellow who was 

 regarded vi'ith reverence by us all as a master of his science, as one 

 of our medallists, and as the father of our Society. In Sir Howard 

 Elphinstone we have lost the Fellow who succeeded Professor 

 Oliver as the senior on our list, which position he held for only 

 thirteen days. Among Fellows and Associates who were personal 

 friends and whose labours have shed lustre on our Society, we 

 have lost Mr. Eoland Trimen, Mr. Clement Eeid, and Mr. George 

 Edward Massee. In Professor Pearson we have lost a friend and 

 Fellow, all too untimely taken from us, whose past labours had led 

 us to expect him to do still more to promote natural knowledge. 



While our ballots remain open, you permit the occupant of 

 this chair to invite your attention to some matter of interest. 



Examples set us elsewhere suggest our giving some thought at 

 this Anniversary Meeting to the relationship between the pursuits 

 of our Society and the business of life. 



What are our pursuits ? The preamble to our charter of 1802 

 vsays : — " the cultivation of the science of natural history in all its 

 bi-anches." A bye-law tells us : — "to read and hear letters, reports, 

 and other papers on subjects of natural history ; and also, to view 

 such productions of nature as shall be exhibited." 



