10 Presidential Address. 



Mr S. Arnott moved that the capital sum of o£172 lis 5d 

 which stood to the credit of the Society should be invested. This 

 was agreed to, the President, Secretary, and Treasurer being 

 appointed ex olificio to administer the fund. 



Presidential Address. By H. S. Gladstone, M.A., F.Z.S., 

 F.R.S.K., M.B.O.f. 



I have to thank _\ou for re-electing me your President for 

 another session. Believe me, it is an honour which I much 

 appreciate, and I only wish that I had had more leisure during 

 the past vear to be a more regular attendant at your meet- 

 ings. I am not going to promise that 1 will be more regular in 

 my attendance in the session before us, for I well know that such 

 a promise would be like " pie-crust, made to be broken. " It was 

 formerlv the custom for the President of this Society in his 

 annual address to minutely review the work undertaken by its 

 members during the preceding session. Xow-a-days, when our 

 Transactions and Journal of Proceedhigs deal so fully with our 

 work, such a review is, I venture to think, unnecessary; but I 

 should like, with vour permission, to draw your attention to one 

 or two points, which I may call outstanding features. 



It would l)e invidious to mention any particular paper read 

 to us, when all show praiseworthy care and thoughtful study. 

 The ver\ diversitv of the subjects dealt with indicates the latent 

 talent of our members. But I should like to take this opportunity 

 of reminding you that the (|uality and (|uantity of our published 

 transactions depend on ourselves, and that we ought not to keep 

 to ourselves the talents which I have described as latent, if by 

 making them known in .some paper or discussion, we can utilise 

 our talents for the benefit of others. The self-opinionative, out- 

 spoken person may l)e a bore, but honestly, I believe he does 

 more good, by calling forth corrective abuse on his head, than the 

 shv retiring personage who, rather than hear himself speak or see 

 his thoughts in print, prefers to take with him to his gra^'e the 

 results of his education and observations. 



Perhaps the most notable event during the past year has been 

 the taking under our wing of the Dumfries and Maxwelltown 

 Photographic Association. Photography now plays such an im- 

 portant part in scientific research that we are very glad to 



