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programme of going by the ‘“‘ Wave” steamer down the Canal to 
Sharpness, and thence in the “‘ Eagle” steamer to visit the Cliffs of 
Pennarth (which exhibit at one view the upper beds of the New Red 
Sandstone, and the entire series of the lower lias beds), and the 
generally interesting shores of the Severn, including the Bone bed at 
Aust. Down the Canal we chatted merrily. Boarding the “‘ Eagle ” 
on we steamed, talking of Pennarth, of its interesting Cliffs, and of 
the friends from Bristol, who had promised to meet us there, and it 
was only as we neared the Holms, that the truth oozed out, that so 
deep a bank of mud, impassible to human foot, lay between the 
water and the Cliff that our landing was impossible, and our scien- 
tific examination of the Lias dwindled away to an hour or two 
strolling about the Holms. However, in misfortune, the only thing 
to be done is to make the best of it, and so interesting a lecture did 
we get from the eyer-ready Professor Buckman, that many of the 
less scientific of the party declared that they had gained more in- 
struction and pleasure on the Holms than they could have hoped for 
at Pennarth. 
On September 15 a meeting took place in the Forest of Dean. 
I myself was engaged with our Regiment of Yeomanry, at Chelten- 
ham, and therefore was not much more than half wet through. 
But in the Forest I can quite imagine that there was no half-and- 
half wetting. Mr. Jones, Dr. Watson, and Mr. Ford are recorded to 
have stood it, and walked it, and, despite of the air and the water, 
to have taken good note of the earth where the cuttings of the rail- 
ways and the mines displayed her heretofore hidden treasures. 
Honour be to the trio who braved the elements. Yet, had not 
other duties called him, I think that the trio would not have had it 
all to themselves, but would have been converted to a quartett by 
the presence of your President. And thus ended the Thirteenth 
year of our Club. 
And now, my kind friends, I am about to resign my office into 
your hands; but not as usual with the will to resume it, should you, 
as you have hitherto done, kindly ask me to do so. 
I have long felt that, for many reasons, I was unfit any longer 
to hold such a office. In good truth, I never was fitted for it; but 
I hoped that my good-will to the Club, my love (notwithstanding my 
want of knowledge) of the study of nature, and the time and atten- 
tion I was able to devote to it, atoned in some degree for my defi- 
ciency in science. 
But, of late years, another study has occupied me. One so 
engrossing that I have willingly given my heart and my health to 
the work. It has not, indeed, lessened my love for the glories of 
nature in any degree. It has not diminished my interest in the 
prosperity of the Club; but it has so absorbed my time and my 
strength, that frequently I am incapacitated from attending to any, 
but the one object of my thoughts. For a time I believed that the 
difficulty of organizing the system of Reformatories throughout 
England would soon be done. But as he who climbs a mountain, 
