LINNEAN SOCIETY Of LONDOX. 27 



suggestion is more specious than convincing ; there are such 

 events in the lives of most Fello-ws who reside abroad as visits to 

 London. But we need not press this point ; it is sufficiently 

 disquieting to know that one seventh (13-6 per cent.) of our 

 Fellows, though resident in the British isles, tnke so little 

 interest in our common good that they remain unqualified to share 

 in our deliberations. Even among Fellows living in the London 

 area we find a few (3 per cent, of the Society) who are not in a 

 position to help in the management of our affairs. 



The attitude of these unadmitted local Fellows is our safest guide 

 to the significance of what is a disquieting hal)it. That attitude 

 supplies the satisfactory assurance tliat abstention rarely reflects 

 disx'espect towards the Society. Fellows not yet admitted attend 

 our ordinary meetings, take part in our discussions and at times 

 read papers in this room. If this help to mitigate our concern, it 

 at the same time increases our regret. The part such Fellows take 

 in our scientific work often leads us to wish that they could assist 

 us in managing our business. We cannot secure their aid because 

 they insist on remaining unqualified to render it. Sometimes 

 abstention is due to reserve ; sometimes to forgetfuluess of our 

 bye-laws ; at worst, to some want of consideration for the best 

 interests of the Society. It should be our business therefore to 

 encourage the diffident, to remind the oblivious, and to induce the 

 unthinking to take some account of the common good of the 

 corporation to which they belong. 



But we must do more than this. Tlie blame does not rest 

 exclusively on our unadmitted Fellows. Xothing can be more 

 hurtful to us than to place an order on our Statute-book and 

 allow it to remain a dead-letter. This we are doing. We must 

 take steps to enforce our order. We cannot excuse ourselves by 

 saying that our order is explicit and that the practice of ignoring 

 it is due to our Council having granted extensions of time that are 

 unduly long. We were responsible in 1904 for the approval of 

 the bye-law which contains that order. We deliberately omitted 

 to confer on our Council authority to inflict any iJenalty if the 

 order were disobeyed. By so doing, we compel Council, out of 

 regard for our reputation, to grant extensions of time that can 

 only end at the Greek Kalends. Our Council has, indeed, enabled 

 us to appreciate, by means of the ' List of the Society,' what the 

 effect of our action has been. During the past two years this 

 intimation has remained unheeded. No Fellow has thought fit to 

 allude to it or to make any representation on the subject. 



It is possible that we refrain from stating the ultimate penalty 

 for neglect to attend for admission because we make tliat penalty 

 clear in a bye-law which enjoins that if any person refuse to sub- 

 scribe the obligation we sign before we are admitted, the election 

 of that person shall be void. If so, our decision not to state the 

 penalty in both bye-laws was an unfortunate economy of words, 

 not so much because it nullifies our intention, as because it 

 exposes us to a vexatious imputation. We are fully entitled to 



