An Address by the Rev. Leonard Jenyns, M.A., F.L.S., F.Ct.S,, 

 President of the Club. 



(Bead February 2nd, 1864 J 



Gentlemen, 



Having been requested to furnish some paper for to-day's 

 meeting of the Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club 

 {the first occasion of its meeting for the reading of papers) I 

 thought I could not do better, as the Founder of the Club, than 

 address you on the objects and advantages of such Institutions, 

 at the same time suggesting any points for your consideration 

 which it seems to me may add to the success of our own body, 

 and lead to fruit of real value in a scientific point of view. 



Field Clubs are now so numerous, there being one in almost 

 every county, — in some counties even more than one, — and they 

 are so well known to that part of the public who take any interest 

 in such gatherings, that it is quite unnecessary to particularize 

 them individually. Ours is one of the last that has sprung up. 

 The oldest of them, if I am not mistaken, and the one which has, 

 perhaps, most to show in the way of results, — having published 

 several volumes of Transactions, — and therefore, we may fairly 

 assume, one of the best regulated, and deservmg to be taken as a 

 guide for others, is the Berwickshu'e Naturalists' Club, instituted 

 in 1831, and which has been now threc-and-thirty years in the 

 field. Many years back I had the gratification of attending one 

 of its field days, and I was much impressed with the advantages 

 to be derived from such gatherings by naturalists and others who 

 interest themselves in scientific pursuits, or who value oppor- 



