30 
be able to make arrangements for a series of excursions to 
take the place of our ordinary meetings through the period of 
our recess this year, which shall be equally pleasant, and 
even more profitable from a scientific point of view. Our 
Soirée, on the 23rd of November last, was, as the Committee 
have reported to you, a great success, as showing what our 
Club could do for itself, and the sympathy it enjoyed of older 
Societies, and scientific friends in London. It met with 
universal commendation, and raised the Club greatly in 
public estimation. I have no doubt that if it be decided that 
the Exhibition shall be an annual one, the sale of tickets 
will, in future, nearly, if not quite, repay the expenses. 
The drain upon our resources by the cost of our first 
entertainment of this kind was so great as to hinder our 
carrying out a wish which I have entertained, that a few 
useful books on the microscope and the preparation of objects 
should be purchased out of the Club funds for the use of the 
members. The consideration of this subject is reserved for 
discussion by the more numerous Committee whom you will 
presently elect. I mentioned in my opening address that I 
intended, with the sanction of the Committee, to propose to 
the authorities of congenial provincial societies a reciprocity 
of visiting and other privileges between their members and 
our own. I have unofficially taken preliminary steps towards 
obtaining those advantages, but I have felt that I could make 
no formal proposals on the strength of what we expected to 
achieve, but that they must be accompanied by a statement 
of what we have already done. The report which you have 
ordered to be printed furnishes me with the necessary cre- 
dentials. The cultivation of friendly feelings and intercourse 
with other societies established for purposes similar to ours, 
especially in our town and neighbourhood, is a policy with 
which I distinctly identify myself and to which I shall. 
firmly adhere. Science, Literature, and Art, are natural 
allies, and although a doubt has been expressed on the 
point, I am sure that we cannot do wrong in giving all the 
help we consistently can to the School of Art, and to the 
Literary Institution under whose roof we both meet. And 
now I come to a point of great importance in its influence 
upon the usefulness of our studies to ourselves and others ; I 
refer to the systematizing of our work. Iam satisfied with 
what has been done during our first year, but it is time that 
each of us began, in conjunction with others of similar tastes 
to follow up with a distinct purpose some particular subject. 
The purpose should be the more complete knowledge of our 
local Natural History, and the subjects which I would espe- 
cially indicate to you, as not difficult, are entomology, botany, 
