XIV PROCEEDINGS OF THE 
that of any other institution of the kind. The average of the age 
of our deceased fellows during this period is nearly 70 years, and 
of the term of fellowship not far from 34 years; and amongst 
those of whom we have been deprived are some who stand pro- 
minently forward in both these respects, more than one having 
numbered between ninety and a hundred yearsof life,and upwards of 
sixty of membership. Still the mortality goes on, and, year after 
year, those who, like myself, have grown old in connexion with the 
Society, see one after another of our old companions in the field 
of scientific labour and enjoyment, falling off from our side and 
beckoning to us to follow. In the brief space of eight years what 
a company of our old friends and associates have been removed 
from us! It is a brilliant but a sad array: Jameson, Newport, 
Stokes, Wallich, De la Beche, Edward Forbes, Greenough, George 
Sowerby, Dillwyn, John Reeves, Swainson, Buckland, Pepys, Yar- 
rell, Royle, Broderip, Robert Brown, Richard Taylor, Dawson 
Turner, Henfrey, Horsfield and Spence, Bracy Clark, Hamilton 
Smith, and now, within a fortnight, Fitton and Henslow. From 
our foreign list we miss the honoured names of Adrien de Jussieu, 
of Charles Bonaparte, of Lichtenstein and Miller, Nees von Hsen- 
beck, Bonpland, Temminck, Humboldt, Agardh, and the veteran 
Duméril. 
Turning from the mournful impression which this enumeration 
must leave upon our minds, let us dwell for one moment on the 
other side of the subject, and whilst we gratefully acknowledge 
the accession of many younger members who have already at- 
tained deserved eminence, or who are advancing in the same 
road to honourable fame and distinction, let us look around 
amongst the fast-increasing numbers of the students of natural 
science who have not yet joined our ranks, and enlist them under 
our banner, to fill the places of those whose honoured names I 
have recited, that not only in numbers but in scientific status the 
Linnean Society may still maintain its high character. 
The changes which have recently taken place with reference to 
the promotion of the study of Natural Science in the University 
of Oxford are so important, that I must be allowed to occupy a 
few moments of your time in a passing allusion to them. 
In the year 1855 I took occasion to refer to the transition state 
which these studies were then undergoing at that great school of 
learning. The sum of £30,000 was to be set apart for the build- 
ing of a Museum. Collections of great importance were either 
