OPENING ADDRESS. 
By Proressor J. G. MacGreGor, PRESIDENT, 
Gentlemen :—In the few remarks which I have to make by 
way of opening the first meeting of the present session, 
the first place must be given to a reference to the loss with 
which the Institute has met during the past year, through the 
deaths of two of its oldest members,—Mr. William Gossip and 
Rev. David Honeyman, D. C. L. 
Mr. WILLIAM Gossip was born at Plymouth, England, in 1809, 
and came to Halifax at the age of 13 years. In 1831 he went to 
Pictou, where for three years he published and partly edited the 
Pictow Observer. He returned to Halifax in 1834, and estab- 
lished a bookselling and publishing business, which be maintained 
until his death. For some years after his return to Halifax, he 
edited and published a newspaper called The Times. 
Mr. Gossip joined this Institute on the 2nd Feb., 1863, a few 
weeks after its formation. He was, therefore, practically an ori- 
ginal member. In 1864 he was appointed Secretary, and he con- 
tinued to discharge the duties of that office until 1871. From 1871 
till 1874, he was a member of Council without office; from 1874 
to 1878, Vice-President ; from 1878 to 1880, President; and from 
1880 to 1889, a member of Council, either without office or serv- 
ing as Vice-President. For twenty-six years, therefore, and 
practically from the time of the Institute’s foundation until his 
death, he had a hand in the management of its affairs. As a 
member of Council he was one of the willing few on whose 
shoulders the bulk of the work fell; and his special knowledge of 
printing and publishing enabled him to give specially valuable 
service in superintending the publication of our Transactions, 
with the editing of which he was for many years entrusted. 
