24 Address of the President. 



amusement, change of work, necessary ujider all circumstances. 

 This is one of the reasons given for bringing out the quantity 

 of fiction so constantly streaming on. The true one is, that, 

 like gin palaces, it has been found profitable ; but, like them, 

 it is a stimulating waste of mind and time. Its low-class 

 quality debases the mind, and induces carelessness of reading 

 and study, by skimming over page after page in search of 

 sensation passages. It has been said that the language of the 

 old novels and stories often precluded them from being put 

 into the hands of young persons or females ; but we question 

 if the outspoken expressions of Fielding, or Smollett, or 

 Laurence Sterne, were more injurious and unchaste than 

 the tales (sometimes written by females) of seduction, 

 adultery, and bigamy, of the sensation novels of the present 

 day. 



I trust it will not be taking too much upon ourselves if 

 we venture to express a hope that the objects and pursuits of 

 this Society, as well as its meetings, may tend to direct the 

 minds of its members into sounder channels, and that our 

 "sensations" will be the discovery of nciv species — new 

 facts — and new uses to which we can apply the various 

 productions that Providence has placed around ns. 



The law of treasure-trove is of great importance to some 

 of our pursuits. Several good letters on the subject have 

 appeared in the " Times" during the past year. There is one 

 by Mr. Godfrey Taussett, in which he defines the law as 

 laid down by Coke ; and, if he is correct, it is very simple 

 and intelligible. 



" Treasure-trove is where any gold or silver, in coin, 

 plate, or bullion, hath been of ancient time hidden, where- 

 soever it be found, whereof no person can prove any property, 

 it doth belong to the King, or some Lord or other ly the 

 King's grant or preseription." And he explains the words 

 gold and silver thus : — " For if it be of any other metal it 

 is no treasure, and if it be no treasure it belongeth not to the 



