Ixxxix* 



interested in natural history. It is to be regretted that he 

 should not have lived a short time longer to see the distinction 

 of F.R.S. conferred upon his son, Mr. Henry Nicholas Ridley, 

 director of the Botanic Gardens, Singapore, of whose talents he 

 was justly proud. Last year it was my painful duty to chronicle 

 the loss of two distinguished Dorset astronomers, and I have 

 again to record the loss of two of our Members who have been 

 specially interested in that branch of science, Rev. Thomas 

 Perkins and Dr. Griffin, who, before he became incapacitated 

 during the last few years through illness, was interested in this 

 and various other scientific matters. Mr. Perkins was seventeenth 

 Wrangler, and a man of great and varied attainments, and he is 

 a great loss to our Club as well as to his friends. He was a 

 good antiquary and an excellent photographer, and is perhaps 

 best known to us in the latter capacity, as is evidenced by our 

 volumes of Proceedings and by those of the Photographic 

 Survey in the Dorset Museum, in which he greatly assisted the 

 Rev. W. Miles Barnes. Many of those present will remember 

 Mr. William Mate, who has been a Member since 1885, and gave 

 us some interesting information about Poole at our meeting 

 there in 1905. Lastly and quite lately I have heard with regret 

 of the death of Dr. Comyns Leach, who held several important 

 medical posts, and whose genial presence will be missed from our 

 summer meetings. 



Science is always advancing, and I will now mention some of 

 the chief discoveries and what I may call scientific events of the 

 past twelve months. 



ZOOLOGY. 



In all the animal kingdom man's greatest foes are the smallest 

 and apparently the most unimportant members of it. For one 

 who is slain by a lion, thousands fall before the trypanosome of, 

 say, sleeping sickness, so that these lowly organisms have 

 deservedly merited the great attention they have received in 

 recent years. The smallest object visible is an ordinary 

 microscope would have a diameter of about 1-147,000 inch, 



