tet 
_— 
> 
eens 
TRANSACTIONS. 173 
Weir, may be mentioned as particularly interesting without de- 
tracting from the merits of the other contributors. 
The thanks of the Society are due to the painstaking scientific 
investigations of Messrs Andson, Hastings, M‘Andrew, and Corrie. 
The President is desirous of obtaining help from members in col- 
lecting specimens of the shells of the district. It should be the 
aim of all the members to obtain the support and assistance of 
their scientific friends in carrying out the objects for which the 
Society exists. 
Of the Field Meetings those to Whithorn and Gretna were 
particularly interesting and successful. It is a pity, however, that 
in these excursions, while archeology has been well represented, 
the natural history subjects have been somewhat neglected. 
The museum has been enriched by our undertaking the 
custody of the geological and other specimens, as well as a collec- 
tion of coins, bequeathed by the late Mr William Baxter to the Town 
Council. The resolution of our Council to hold an exhibition of 
these in November will give the public an opportunity of inspect- 
ing this valuable collection. 
In connection with the British Association the Rev. Mr 
Andson has undertaken to keep a register of the temperature, &c., 
of the River Nith, and under his direction, and with the consent 
of the Town Council, a gauge has been fixed on one of the piers 
of the New Bridge for taking the depth of the water. 
During the session we have lost our two most distinguished 
members, the one an antiquarian, the other a scientist. They 
were both natives of the burgh and men of whom Dumfries does 
well to be proud, and whose memory we should delight to honour. 
Mr William M‘Dowall, in his books relating to his native town 
and Lincluden, could have said with the poet “ Zxeg? monumentum 
aere perennius.” In regard to our venerable friend and ex-Presi- 
dent, Dr Thomas Boyle Grierson, it is difficult to say whether his 
attainments as a scientist and a philosopher or his unaffected sim- 
plicity of character as a man was more to be admired. His mind 
was stored with knowledge of the most varied kind, and yet he 
was as free as a child from assumption of superiority over those 
less richly gifted. He spent the best part of his life in imparting 
to others what he had acquired, and he seemed to carry out the 
view of Epictetus, whose works he greatly admired : “God has 
introduced man into the world to be a spectator of Himself and of 
His works ; and not only to be a spectator but an intrepreter.” 
