44 
again cities and the hum of men are restored to our favour. In 
the good days past 
‘* Health wandered on the breezy down 
And Science on the silent plain ;” 
but now the gaslit room must for a few months be the scene of 
our most useful operations. 
Whether in the long days now gone by any of us has dis- 
covered aught, has made an original observation, has conducted 
a laborious investigation, or has created an hypothesis which may 
string together and explain the observations of others—all these 
questions will be solved as the winter passes and our transactions 
develope themselves. Few men are discoverers or can ever be 
so, and still fewer can hope to find acceptance as theorists. All 
are not investigators or observers, nor can men take up in middle 
life habits of accurate observation which were not encouraged in 
youth. Nevertheless “ They also serve who only stand and wait,” 
and it is with sincere welcome that I again greet ladies and gentle- 
men whose presence here may show no more than an earnestness 
for knowledge of God’s creatures and the works of man, or who 
are brought here simply by the praiseworthy desire to raise the 
tone of Bath society, and to support those associations which aim 
to leaven the mass of it with a taste for sciences and literature. 
A short Augustan age has illuminated in succession several 
English cities. Warrington, Lichfield, Exeter, Norwich and two 
or three more still look westward to catch a little gilding from 
a set sun. Who can doubt that Bath shall have her day, or that 
this is the spot where we must watch for the dawn ? 
The Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club is 
professedly a mixed body, one made by the mutual agreement 
of members who cultivate the knowledge of the local peculiarities 
which natural objects present, and who have attained to some 
general knowledge of natural history in order accurately to 
observe Nature in the pleasant aspect which she here presents ; 
together with other members who give attention to the minuter 
