320 PKOCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



LEICESTER LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 



We have always strongly advocated the importance of provincial 

 scientific associations, as means highly calculated to diffuse more 

 widely the advantages of knowledge, and also to bring to light and 

 develop many a flower that might otherwise " blush unseen." It is, 

 therefore, with the greatest pleasui'e that we record the establishment 

 of any such institutions and report their success. The proceedings 

 of the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, which has been 

 very recently originated, are now for the first time laid before our 

 readers, and the" spirit and liberality with which this institution has 

 hitherto been conducted we hope may stimulate other large towns to 

 follow so excellent an example. The environs of Leicester abound 

 in much that is interesting to the scientific inquirer. The insulated 

 granitic and trap rocks of Charnwood Forest, with the vast marine 

 and lacustrine deposits of the carboniferous series lying to the north 

 and west of its anteclinal line, and comprising the extensive coal- 

 fields of Coleorton, Snibson, and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, with the 

 limestones of Ticknall and Breedon, present to the geologist a wide 

 field, both for practical illustration and interesting conjectures. The 

 botanist, too, will find an ample storehouse in the numerous varieties 

 of flowers that adorn the broad meadows of the Soar, or bloom in 

 wild luxuriance on the bolder ridges of Charnwood. The antiquary 

 may find ground for extensive research in the many relics of times 

 gone by, and the spots commemorated for some mighty deed achieved. 



The Rev. A, Irvine, B.D., F.G.S., president of the Society, a 

 gentleman to whose zeal and exertions the institution is indebted for 

 much of its prosperity, delivered an Inaugural Address, the substance 

 of which we are happy in being able to submit to our readers, as also 

 some important information communicated by Mr. Lawrance, relative 

 to fossil-remains of the tertiary and secondary formations. During 

 the past session, several valuable papers have been read by Dr. Shaw, 

 and we regret that our space will not now permit their insertion. An 

 interesting lecture was also delivered by Mr. Wood, on Phrenology, 

 and many other useful communications upon general science were 

 furnished by different members of the institution. We hope fre- 

 quently to notice the proceedings of the Leicester Literary and 

 Philosophical Society and wish it evei-y success. 



Inaugural Address, delivered to the Literary and Philosophical 

 Society of Leicester, by the Rev. A Irvine, B.D., F.G.S., and Presi- 

 dent of the Society : — 



It is a trite remark that man is naturally formed for society. 

 Scarcely is it too much to say that all his powers, pleasures, and pur- 

 suits, are essentially connected with its intei'ests. Living by himself, . 

 a solitary individual upon earth's wide surface, he would necessarily 

 become ' a dumb and vile creature,' scarcely more intelligent than the 

 beast of the field. I speak not of the first father of mankind, who 



