52 



During the last year we have had a series of papers of a very valuable 

 character read before the Society. I propose to mention them, that 

 you may see the class of subjects which come under our 

 attention. The first to which I will allude is one delivered last 

 year by our very eminent townsman, Mr. Davidson, F.R.S. He was 

 generous enough to make known, through our Society, his original 

 researches in geology, and he gave us the gist of his observations on 

 brachiopods, in a paper entitled "What is a Brachiopod?" Mr. 

 Dennet followed with a paper on "Vegetable Fibres," and Mr. F. E, 

 Sawyer read another on " The Birds and Mammals of Sussex." Our 

 good and untiring friend Mr. Wonfor discoursed " On the Brighton 

 Aquarium, and what it has done for Science." Then came Mr. B. 

 Lomax with a paper on " The Minor Diseases of Plants," and Mr. 

 Pankhurst with one on " The Ores of Iron." Next we had a paper 

 from Mr. Potter " On the so-called Forest Beds." Mr. Wonfor, who 

 always comes in when any of our friends fail us, gave a second paper 

 on " Manna ;" and we had a valuable paper read by Dr. Hallifax on 

 " The Nervous System and its functions." This was followed by Mr. 

 C. P. Smith's paper " On Bees," which proved very interesting, and 

 still another from Mr. B. Lomax on "The Branching of Trees." 



These papers have been so amply reported, that it would be un- 

 necessary and unwise to detain you further with them, except to 

 remark that the majority of these papers were considerably in advance 

 of ordinary merit, and, indeed, would have done credit to any of the 

 learned Societies of this country. Most of them evinced no inconsi- 

 derable amount of original research. I think that man has missed a 

 very important element of happiness in common every day life who 

 has not cultivated his mind and provided for himself an intelligent and 

 rational pursuit, such as the study of literature, science, or art. You 

 who are working hard in your profession or business, pause before you 

 allow your life to slip away without the study of some subject which will 

 elevate the taste and lead you out of yourself for the time being, and 

 provide you with a mental tonic which will brace your mind with fresh 

 energies for your ordinary pursuits (hear, hear). It is a matter of great 

 importance that young people should have a knowledge of natural 

 history or natural science generally. It is a matter for congratulation 

 that those estimable persons who have undertaken the charge of 

 educating the young are awaking to a knowledge of this fact. Messrs. 

 Macmillan have, I notice, recently issued an admirable series of science 



