ADDRESS 



PRESIDEITT, after the AIIJIYERSART DOTER, 

 on FEBRUART 18tli, 1869. 



Gentlemen, — 



In a short Address I read to you at our last Anniversary 

 Dinner, I spoke of the large number of existing Field Clubs 

 devoted to the study of the Natural History and Antiquities 

 of the districts they respectively belong to. These, however 

 alone considered, give us but a very imperfect idea of the 

 extent to which science is cultivated at the present day, and 

 the immense amount of work it is doing, even confining 

 our attention to what are called the Natural Sciences, and 

 which are those we ourselves profess more particularly to follow 

 up. I have thought, therefore, it might be interesting to the 

 Members of our Club to hear something more on this subject, 

 though, of course, the very few minutes we can devote to it 

 on this occasion, will only allow of its being handled in 

 the most comprehensive way. 



Before, however, proceeding to this matter, I would observe 

 that there are two respects in which, I believe, our Club 

 differs from most other Field Clubs, and which are decidedly 

 advantageous to it, if they can continue to be kept up. One 

 is that of the weekly walks which our Members take — such, 

 at, least, as choose to join in them — in addition to the more 



