Rev. J. E. Jackson’s Address. 25 
The Rev. J. E. Jackson, Rector of Leigh-Delamere, proceeded 
to deliver the following address :— 
Wishing to assist, to the best of my power, in setting this Society 
on foot, I have thought that perhaps it might be useful to lay 
before you, a simple statement of the purpose for which it has been 
formed. 
Its object is to promote a taste for those pursuits which are 
included under the general names of Natural History and Arch- 
eology; and the principle by which the Society proposes to effect 
this is, by bringing together occasionally, for conference and 
mutual*information, both those who have already followed such 
pursuits, and the converts whom they hope to make. 
By Natural History is meant the history of the productions and 
contents of the earth—the works of nature, as they are called. 
hese, I need hardly say, are numerous beyond reckoning. They 
include all the varieties of animals—“ beasts and fowl, and creeping 
things and fishes;” all the varieties of trees and plants, “from the 
cedar of Lebanus to the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; 
and all the lifeless substances of which the solid earth itself is made. 
The common way of classing all these is, into the animal, vegetable, 
and mineral kingdoms. Together they form Natural History. 
But by the name of Archzeology, as it is used in the title of this 
Society, and of others like this, is meant something of a different 
kind. It means the history, not of any of the works of Nature, 
but of some of the works of mankind themselves: more particularly 
such as remain to us from former times, showing what was the 
taste, or skill, or way of life, of those who lived before us. 
If, then, there should be, as we hope there is, or soon will be, a 
number of persons who spend some of their time in the study of 
these things, each in his own way, and with such opportunities as 
they may privately have, which are sometimes not very great; does 
it not seem reasonable that some means should be contrived, for 
enabling them to meet together, to compare and communicate, 
“pro bono publico,” what they have learned? Mutual inquiries 
and explanations are very useful: we save one another trouble by 
them; we correct one another’s errors; we give information, and 
take it,—and such information, moreover, as is very often not to 
be got from books. Of course the difficulty is to bring people together 
from a distance, as inconvenience sometimes attends it. But they 
don’t mind distance for other things; some of which, without in 
any way setting up as censors of our neighbours’ ways and pursuits, 
we may fairly say, are, at any rate, not more rational, not more 
useful, than this. T/is is an effort to collect the intelligence and 
strength of the county, not for any political purpose, nor for mere 
pleasure, but with the view of seeing what may be done towards 
making better known what there is in Wiltshire, on its surface, 
B 
