9 
honour to the Club and a compliment to themselves; and it would 
be a gratification to me to give place to them, and to assist them in 
their endeayours to carry the Club toa higher standard of excellence 
and a greater success even than that to which it has already 
attained. You will remember that, last year, I laid before the com- 
mittee my views on this subject; but finding it was the wish of my 
fellow members that I should hold my position for another year, I 
readily consented to do so. (Hear, hear.) Now that period has 
elapsed, and the time has come for me to divest myself of authority, 
and ask you to elect my successor. Time flies so quickly that I 
ean hardly realise the fact that seven years, almost, have passed 
_ since I was made President of this Club: but so it is: and although 
I have the happy consciousness that I have not held that office 
longer than you have wished, and that if I desired to retain it I 
should have the unanimous vote of all the members of the Club— 
(loud applause)—you must, I am sure, feel that I am acting rightly 
and justly in retiring, that I may enable other members to come 
forward into a prominent position, and share with me the honour of 
having occupied the Presidential chair of the Croydon Microscopical 
Club. Believe me, I have not taken this step lightly, nor without 
full appreciation of the honour I am resigning. But the honour and 
the gratification will always remain to me, that I have had the 
___ happiness and high privilege of enjoying, throughout the long term 
of my presidency, your full and unbroken confidence, your cordial, 
‘loyal, and unanimous support; that I have made many friendships 
which I trust will never cease; and that whilst from you I have 
received unsullied kindness, I am able to say that, in my official 
career as President of this Club, I have neither done nor spoken 
_- anything which I would wish to alter or recall. (Loud applause), 
I thank you gratefully for all your goodness to me, and ask you 
kindly to accept my resignation. 
VOTES OF THANKS TO OFFICE-BEARERS. 
: The Rev. R. R. Surrrenp, in proposing a vote of thanks to 
- the late President, said he had a painful duty to perform. Mr. Lee 
- might be designated as the real founder of the Society, for it sprang 
into existence at his own house. Those who prognosticated failure, 
and they were many, had proved to be false prophets, for instead of 
‘failure the Club had turned out to be a great success, and that 
success was in a less degree due to themselves as members than to 
their late President. It was difficult to speak of Mr. Lee in his 
___ presence, but there was one special feature which had made his 
_ presidency conspicuous—he had had no selfish object in view, but 
_ had simply worked for the benefit of science and in the interests of 
___ the Club, ever since the first advertisement appeared in the Croydon 
papers enlisting the little incipient movement which was afterwards 
* 
