INTRODUCTION. 



The Clifton College Scientific Society was founded on June 

 25, 1869. At its first meeting only about eighteen members 

 enrolled their names, and for some time afterwards the 

 Society met but seldom, the audiences were scant)', and 

 little general interest in its proceedings was excited through- 

 out the school. Nor, indeed, does it seem to have been at 

 first intended that the Society should be anything more than 

 a union of a few boys, who had a common interest in scientific 

 matters, and who wished occasionally to discuss such matters 

 together. But the existence of such an association was 

 essentially a precarious one, and. after a few months it began 

 to be felt that, to assure its permanence and general utility, 

 it would be necessary to place the Society on a wider basis. 

 The time seemed a good one for such a change, as the ex- 

 cellent and suggestive paper of Canon Kingsley had awakened 

 a considerable amount of energy in the way of collecting 

 for a Museum, and Natural History was then, for the first 

 time, to be introduced into the regular teaching of the 

 College. Besides, it had recently been proposed to found a 

 Botanic Garden by subscription, and the Head Master had 

 offered to give a ' local habitation ' to a school museum in 

 the handsome new Library which he had munificently pro- 

 mised to build. The Committee of the Society consequently 

 determined to hold meetings at regular intervals, and, mainly 

 by the praiseworthy efforts of several individual members, 

 an interest was stirred up which had been hitherto unknown. 

 The number of applicants for admission to membership 

 rapidly increased, the Chemical lecture room was soon found 



