368 President's Address. [sess. liii. 



fill the vacancy on our list caused by the lamented death of 

 the founder of this Society, Professor John Hutton Balfour. 

 An obituary notice of this distinguished botanist is being 

 prepared by Dr Cleghorn, and in due time will be presented 

 to the Society, and will appear in the next fasciculus of our 

 Transactions. 



Of tlie twenty-five Foreign Honorary Fellows, we have 

 lost two dining the Session, but these two were among the 

 most distinguished on that honoured list. 



Ey the death of Professor Anton de Bary of Strassburg, 

 the Society lost one of its most eminent Foreign Honorary 

 Fellows, and botanical science one of its most distinguished 

 exponents. De Bary was eminent not only as a botanist, 

 but also as a physiologist and zoologist, and was cut down in 

 the very prime of his manhood. An obituary notice of 

 De Bary was presented to the Society last session by 

 Professor Bayley Balfour, and appears in the present fasciculus 

 of our Transactions. He was elected a Foreign Corresponding 

 Member 8th December 1870, and 11th January 1872 was 

 promoted to the list of Foreign Honorary Fellows. 



The Society has also to lament the death of Professor Asa 

 Gray, one of the most eminent of American botanists. 

 He died full of years and of honours, having been on our 

 list of Foreign Honorary Fellows for more than twenty 

 years. An obituary notice of Prcjfessor Asa Gray, by Mr 

 xVndrew Taylor, appears in the present fasciculus of our 

 Transactions. 



During the past Session we have also lost by death several 

 of our Ordinary Fellows, but amongst them tlie name of 

 Dr Alexander Dickson stands pre-eminent. I have now been 

 a member of this Society for more than twenty years, and I do 

 not rememljcr of any death producing sucli a sensation among 

 us. So unexpected and so terribly sudden, it produced a 

 profound impression u])oii us all, and completely paralysed 

 all our actions for the time. An oltituary notice of Professor 

 Dickson is being prepared for this Society by his friend and 

 colleague Professor T. 11. PVaser, and would have been ready 

 last Session, but for the lamented illness of the late Professor's 

 brother, Dr Archil^ald Dickson. Whilst unwilling toanticipate 

 Professor Fraser, I cannot, in taking a review of last Session, 

 omit to refer to the irreparable loss which this Society sus- 



