170 Annual Meeting. [May 1, 



a prescriptive right not to be questioned. Consequently, those who 

 are not accustomed to original inquiry entertain a hatred and a horror 

 of statistics. They cannot endure the idea of submitting their sacred 

 impressions to cold-blooded verification. But it is the triumph of 

 scientific men to rise superior to such superstitions, to devise tests by 

 which the value of beliefs may be ascertained, and to feel suf&ciently 

 masters of themselves to discard contemptuously whatever may be 

 found untrue. 



[F. G.] 



ANNUAL MEETING, 



Thursday, May 1, 1879. 



The Duke of Northumberland, D.C.L. LL.D. President, 

 in the Chair. 



The Annual Eeport of the Committee of Visitors for the year 

 1878, testifying to the continued prosperity and efficient management 

 of the Institution, was read and adopted. The Real and Funded 

 Property now amounts to nearly 85,000Z., entirely derived from the 

 Contributions and Donations of the Members. 



Sixty new Members paid their Admission Fees in 1878. 



Sixty-four Lectures and Nineteen Friday Evening Discourses were 

 delivered in 1878. 



The Books and Pamphlets presented in 1878 amounted to about 

 344 volumes, making, with 281 volumes purchased by the Managers, 

 a total of 562 volumes added to the Library in the year, exclusive of 

 periodicals. 



Thanks were voted to the President, Treasurer, and Secretary, to 

 the Committees of Managers and Visitors, and to the Professors, for 

 their services to the Institution during the past year. 



The most cordial thanks of the Members were given to His 

 Grace the President for his munificent gift of an Otto's Silent Gas- 

 engine and a De Meritens Magnet-Electric Machine, the principles 

 of which were explained and illustrated by Professor Tyndall. 



