President's Address. 3 



of a so-called Tropical Forest ; and from Professor Williams 

 we had an interesting note on the Extirpation of the Kidney 

 of a Cat. From Mr Ferguson we had a well-illustrated 

 paper on some Eaised Beaches in the West of Scotland — a 

 communication I listened to with peculiar pleasure, as many 

 of the localities to which Mr Ferguson referred, and so 

 graphically described, are well known to me. From Dr 

 Traquair we had notes on the subject he treats so ably 

 — the Fossil Fishes; and Mr Etheridge as usual con- 

 tributed some valuable Geological Notes. From Mr Harvie- 

 Brown and Mr Scot-Skirving we had interesting notes on the 

 Snowy Owl and Wild Goose. Of chemistry notes I am very 

 sorry to say we had not many. Mr Hunter read a note on Uran- 

 ium Salts, with special reference to the new salt discovered 

 by Stillman ; and Dr Drinkwater submitted an analysis and 

 remarks on a sample of Phosphorite from Kichinev. From 

 Dr Lyon we had a paper giving us some curious results of 

 his observations of instances of Hereditary Transmission ; 

 and from Mr Gibson we had interesting papers on the Bear- 

 ing of the Emu in Scotland, and on the Skull of the Narwhal. 

 During the session which has just closed, the Society, I am 

 happy to be able to announce, has increased greatly, both as 

 regards membership and funds. During that period 37 new 

 members have joined, which makes the total membership at 

 present 224. We are also now, I am happy to say, passing 

 rich, being in the comfortable position of having a substantial 

 balance at our bankers. We have all, no doubt, contributed 

 a little to bring about this happy state of affairs, but beyond 

 all question our thanks are mainly due to our excellent Secre- 

 tary, whose untiring efforts to raise the Society to its proper 

 place have been productive of such admirable results. Such 

 rapid progress indeed has been made under his management, 

 that I almost begin to hope that my day-dream, in which I 

 have indulged so long, of seeing the Society comfortably 

 quartered in rooms of its own, with library, etc., all at hand, 

 is yet to be realised. I have of course no desire to anticipate 

 rashly, but I think I am quite justified in saying that if we 

 have one or two more years as successful as the last, we will, 

 at all events, require in some way to secure greater accommoda- 



