iO President's Address. 



raent of any business committed to his charge. No greater proof could 

 be given of his zeal and energy, in the conduct of business, than was 

 shown bv what he effected as the most active of the local Secretaries of 

 the recent meeting of the British Association in Glasgow. To his 

 exertions on that occasion no small share of the acknowledged success 

 of all the local arrangements was due, and it is too much to be feared 

 that his labours in this work tended, in some degree, to hasten the 

 attack of his fatal disease. 



" Mr. GourUe was an excellent practical botanist ; he possessed a large 

 collection of native and foreign plants in his dried herbarium. His 

 cabinet contained many interesting specimens of fossil plants, and his 

 collection of shells was also extensive and well arranged. 



" As a citizen and magistrate of Glasgow, Mr. Gourhe occupied a high 

 place. His exertions for the improvement of the people were dictated 

 by a truly philosophic spirit ; and there are many institutions in 

 Glasgow which owe much to his active and judicious co-operation." 



The President next referred to the death of one of the oldest mem- 

 bers of the Society, Mr. James Lumsden, senior, of Yoker, who had 

 been a member of the Society since 1815. For some years Mr. Lums- 

 den's declining health had prevented him from taking any part in 

 municipal affairs, but this would not make us forget how much in 

 former times Glasgow owed to his exertions as its chief magistrate, and 

 the respect which his public spirit, enlightened views, and great energy 

 had secured for him from his fellow-citizens. 



The President then took a rapid glance at the condition and prospects 

 of different branches of physical science at the present time, as bearing 

 upon the business of the Philosophical Society. As most encouraging 

 for the prospects of science, he referred to the continued success of the 

 meetings of the British Association — the extended usefulness of the 

 objects brought under the attention of the Royal Societies of London 

 and Edinburgh — the continuation, notwithstanding the exigencies of 

 the war, of the annual grant of £1,000 from Government to the Royal 

 Society for the encouragement of scientific objects — the Memorial to 

 Parliament, by the Committee of the British Association, on the means 

 of advancing science, and the introduction of scientific acquirement into 

 the qualifications for the Indian service. 



He referred next to the recent progress of various branches of science, 

 more especially to some of the most recent advances in theoretical 

 physics and practical mechanics, organic chemistry, microscopic re- 

 search as applied to animal and vegetable structure, and the knowledge 

 of the phenomena of life in the animal and vegetable kingdoms of nature. 



He concluded by offering some remarks on the condition and pros- 



