12 Presidential Address. 



to publish a list of all the members of our Society since its 

 foundation in 1862, and a catalogue of all the books, manu- 

 scripts, and specimens in the possession of the Society. 

 Possibly the inclusion of these in the index volume already 

 referred to ma>- be impracticable, on account of the great 

 space they will take up; but this is a matter which I would ask 

 you to leave in the hands of the sub-committee you appointed 

 last year. As regards the conduct of the fiftieth anniversary 

 meeting on November 20th, 1912, there are several details to be 

 considered, which I think it would be well to refer also to this 

 sub-committee. When we consider that among our past presi- 

 dents we can claim such illustrious men as the present Lord 

 Chancellor, Sir. Herbert E. Maxwell, Sir James Crichton-Browne, 

 and Professor Scott Elliot, it would certainly seem ideal could 

 we persuade them to be present on that occasion. We must, 

 however, remember that from their very attainments their services 

 are much in request, and for this reason they may be unable 

 to take the active part in our jubilee, which I trust will meet with 

 the co-operation of all the members of the Dumfriesshire and 

 Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society. j: is 

 indeed, something to be proud of that here, in the South-^^"est of 

 Scotland, a Society such as ours has flourished for close on fifty 

 years. In each address which I have had the honour of deliver- 

 ing to you as president, I have hitherto always tried to impress 

 upon you, that the welfare of our Society depends on the efforts 

 of each individual member. You will forgive my repeating a 

 truism as true to-day as when I first told it to you two years ago. 

 With these brief remarks, again thanking you for the honour you 

 have done me in re-electing me to this chair, and sincerely 

 hoping that the coming session will be as profitable as any of its 

 predecessors, I shall read a paper which I hope may be deemed 

 worthy of publication in our Transactions. 



