STATEMENT OF PEOCEEDINGS. 



The Treasurer's statement for the past year gives a favourable account 

 of the finances of the Society. The number of Members on the roll is 145, 

 and the number of Tickets issued for Ladies and young persons is 95. 



The list of Papers and Lectures delivered during the Session is as 

 follows : — • 



Subjects in Science :— "Geological Evidences of Man's Antiquity,'' 

 by Dr. David Page, F.R.S.E. ; " The Eye," by Dr. Wm. Scott Aitken ; 

 " British Sea Birds and their Haunts," by Mr Robert Gray ; " The Phy- 

 sical Geography of Palestine, with Notes on Recent Topographical 

 Explorations," by Dr. A. Keith Johnston, F.R.S.E. ; " Elasticity as an 

 EfPect of Motion," by Professor Sir William Thomson, LL.D., F.R.S. : 

 " An Examination of the Geological Arguments for the Antiquity of 

 Man," by Mr William Keddie, F.R.S.E. ; " Combustion, with reference 

 tc Recent Researches on the Properties of Flame," by Mr Robert R. 

 Tatlock,F.C.S. 



In Political Economy : — " The Incidence of Local Taxation," by Mr 

 David Murray. 



In Belles Lettres, History, and Art :— " The Life and Poetry of 

 Dante," by Professor Edward Caird, B.A. ; " The Imagination," by Dr. 

 W. J. Marshall; "Milton's Poetry," by Professor John Nichol, B.A. ; 

 " Gustavus Adolphus, and the Thirty Years' War," (Two Lectures), by 

 Rev. John Nelson, D.D. ; " Early Methods of Painting, including Fresco 

 Painting," by Mr Charles Heath Wilson. 



Dramatic Reading — " The Wits and Humorists of Shakspere," by 

 Mr G. W. Baynham. 



The Session was auspiciously opened with a lecture by Professor Edward 

 Caird, to whom, for his kind contribution, the Members now, as in a 

 former year, owe their cordial acknowledgments. 



Professor Sir William Thomson did the Society the honor to deliver 

 the Watt Anniversary Lecture for the current year, and presented, on 

 that occasion, some of the most interesting results of recent investigation 

 in Natural Philosophy. 



Our special thanks are due to Dr Marshall, Dr Aitken, Mr Murray, and 

 Dr. Nelson, Members of the Society, for instructive lectures delivered by 

 them. 



Mr Tatlock's elaborate and valuable lecture illustrated an important 

 subject, which had not previously been brought before the Society. 



By an undesigned coincidence, the Members had the advantage, this 

 year, of hearing both sides of the geological argument regarding the 

 " Antiquity of Man." Dr Page on the one hand, and Mr Keddie on the 

 other, were well qualified to discuss the opposite aspects of this, debated 

 subject. 



