greatest ease and convenience. When the president discovered 

 a village, it was not necessary for all the company to ride 

 thither, but the geographer alone was sent to enter it. If 

 some particular stone or fossil was found on the way, the 

 metallist was directed to alight ; at the sight of some curious 

 plant or insect, the botanist or zoologist did his duty ; they 

 took the respective objects with them, and prepared a descrip- 

 tion to be inserted at night in the Transactions, besides the 

 name of the place where they had been found. The above 

 regulations being thus uniformly observed, the president had 

 nothing to do upon the road, but remind his companions of 

 what they were to set down in the diary." 



" At night they all met together, the president then dictated 

 to the secretary the memoranda collected by each companion, 

 in a regular turn from the geographer to the steward; and if 

 he happened to forget any remark, the companion to whose 

 office that part of the service belonged refreshed his memory. 

 The president was quite surprised at the readiness and dili- 

 gence with which his attendants discharged the duties of their 

 respective offices. In the short space of a few weeks, they 

 appeared to him as if they had been accustomed to it for whole 

 years together."* 



Such is the account left us of what may be called the 

 Dalecarlian Field Naturahsc's Club in the days of Linnaeus. 

 I have given it in some detail from its being probably unknown 

 to most of my hearers. If our Club is not organized with the 

 same military precision, nor instituted for exactly the same 

 purpose, viz., that of exploring a new country in one continuous 

 tour, still the account may supply us with a few hints. At any 

 rate, it is not without interest to find this plan of enlisting a 

 number of men of congenial pursuits to co-operate in working 

 out the natural history, &c., of a particular district, carried out 

 no less than 130 years back, at a time when the natural sciences 

 were generally in little favour, and when the few who studied 

 them were left almost entirely to their own individual resources 

 — with little help from others, especially in the field. 



To confine ourselves now to our own body ; there are two 

 especial objects which a Club such as ours has, or ought to 

 have, in view. One is the thorough investigation of the 

 neighbourhood in which it carries on its researches, as regards 

 its natural history and antiquities ; the other the bringing 

 together men of the same pursuits, with the addition of those 

 who — without following up any particular branch of science 

 themselves — may yet enjoy the society and conversation of 

 those who do, — or who may like to join the Club for the sake 

 of its excursions, the health and exercise they afford ; the 

 * Stoever's Life of Sir Charles Linnwus ; by Trapp, p. 395. 



