2G Address of the President. 



modern times. There the structures, somewhat analogous, had 

 been placed either in a lake supported by piles, or on a shah/ 

 quagmire island, surrounded by water. The time to examine 

 the structure carefully was too short ; but upon the transverse 

 beams we found the same layer of (rice) brushwood, birch 

 and hazel, covered again, in this instance chiefly with heather, 

 but mixed with fern. Metal tools had also been employed to 

 form and mortise ; and a fire-place or kitchen-midden had 

 been discovered where the remains of animals, sea-shells, etc., 

 abounded. 



The transition from the 3Ioss Dwelling to the old Sped- 

 lings Castle was but a step for the party ; but how long 

 was the interval between the two works? In the latter 

 we come to the substantiality of more modern building 

 in nine feet thick walls, and the massive iron barricades of 

 the windows, built in when they were built. Sometimes we 

 have the old superiority claimed, whether for right or wrong, 

 of imprisonment in the keep or dungeon — a structure which, 

 if once got into, could not be escaped from, being formed 

 narrow at top and widened at bottom ; and from its position 

 to the stair (turnpike), illustrating the traiJ, so graphically 

 described as closing the fate of Amy Eobsart. 



From the season of the year, no plants of any interest 

 were picked. Andromeda folifolia was found common in the 

 mosses, but was now out of flower. The same cause acted 

 upon the entomology, which, at an earlier season, would 

 have been found attractive. The evening was spent, I trust, 

 agreeably, and giving fresh inducement for excursions in 

 prospect. 



I shall have occasion to bring before you that Societies 

 have their rising and falling, and their vicissitudes ; so also 

 is it among our members. Even in this our first short year, 

 we have lost of those that originally joined us. One of our 

 members has passed away, and we have to lament the loss of 

 William Bell Macdonald of Eammerscales. He combined the 



