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object should not l>e to exhibit learning but to gather it and impart it, reciprocally. 

 Each branch of the enquiry should have a fair if not an equal consideration ; 

 and the addresses given should be rather those of fellow-students assisting 

 each other, than set lectures ex cathedrd. Much will of course depend on the 

 points of interest existing in the place we visit ; but those who plan the day's 

 ramble should remember that all fehe members have not the same pursuit or 

 object, and that the wants of each branch should be provided for." 



I entirely agree with these plain and obvious remarks of my brother President, 

 and can confirm the value of his suggestions from the spontaneous remembrance 

 that occurs to me of the peculiar pleasure ot Field Club days and wanderings as 

 arising from the variety, and if I may so say, the flexibility of scientific topics 

 brought together ; a pleasure of extreme rarity at scientific meetings in Town 

 and Country ; where speciality of subject and treatment is so apt to drift into a 

 monotony and conventionalism of language, and laborious classification, and 

 worse than these, a referential and esoteric style understood only by a small knot 

 of devotees to particular branches of art or study. I merely allude to this 

 subject in passing, because I have in frequent instances found that those who 

 would become valued members of our Society have been deterred by the fear 

 that they were not sufficiently learned in particular Sciences to join us. 



Certainly our rambles of the past year would not have left upon the minds, 

 even of the most sensitive in that respect, any such impression. Our First Meeting 

 which took place on the 9th of June, at the Mitcheldean Road Station, near Ross, 

 and led us into the Forest of Dean, formed a most cheerful and agreeable opening 

 of the season. The day was fresh and fine, exactly suited for a long walk, and 

 that we had, passing through some good sections of the Carboniferous Limestone, 

 which were examined at its outcrop, and some of its characteristic fossils obtained. 

 Our walk, which was directed to Cinderford, led us by some newly erected mining 

 works, where Iron Ore has been obtained from the Limestone beds. The last 

 part of our walk, for a couple of miles before we reached Cinderford, was through 

 some very picturesque Forest Scenery, through the openings of the foliage of 

 which the smoke of the town and works of Cinderford " gracefully curled " in a 

 manner more pleasing than on nearer acquaintance. The members had walked 

 quite far enough to enjoy a very primitive luncheon at a small but by no means 

 quiet Inn, which, to misquote Goldsmith, 



" Did seem contrived a double debt to pay, 

 An Inn by night, a Butcher's shop by day," 

 and adapted rather to test the power of appetite than to satisfy it. On returning 

 past the town some curious sections were noticed of the disturbed Limestone beds 

 thrown into very nearly vertical Strata. On their return the members dmed 

 together at Ross. 



This little raid into the Forest was such as to make me feel very jealous of a 

 subsequent Forest tour undertaken by our valued Secretary elect, which I hope 

 will, together with a more detailed account of our Club day, form the subject of 

 a paper for this evening. 



