228 THE ADDRESSES, LECTURES, ETC., OF 



behind ; and he thought that the Institute had proved its vitality 

 in having passed through such a crisis without suffering in any 

 way, and he might now boldly assert that during the last two years 

 its prosperity and influence had been steadily increasing. At the 

 time when, two years ago, he assumed the office of President, the 

 number of members appearing on their books was 946, and at 

 that moment the number did not exceed 941. It seemed thus to 

 follow that the Institute had been going back as far as numbers 

 were concerned ; but it must be remembered that two years ago 

 their list of members was not in a very satisfactory condition. 

 Names had been continued on the list which ought to have been 

 erased. Gentlemen had been elected almost without having been 

 sufficiently consulted, and had utterly neglected to pay their 

 subscriptions or to attend to the business of the Institute. The 

 Council thought that the time had arrived when such names 

 should be withdrawn from the register, and a considerable number 

 of names had been accordingly removed. That number had 

 been since recovered to within five, and they had that day 

 candidates on their register (including the newly elected members) 

 amounting to fifty, so that, if all the gentlemen were elected 

 whose names had been passed by the Council, their number would 

 conie up to 998, or within two of a thousand. It was a notable 

 fact that the Society had existed exactly ten years, and at the end 

 of that time it counted 1,000 members, thus showing ten years of 

 continued advance and prosperity. As regarded the papers read 

 during the last two years, he should not enlarge upon their merits, 

 but it was well known that they had been of a very interesting 

 character. Twenty-four papers in all had been read, and that day 

 there were presented to them eleven additional papers of more 

 than average interest. They had especially two subjects to discuss 

 which were of paramount interest to every one concerned with 

 steel namely its production, and its application. Therefore he 

 might say that the Institute had a large balance at its bankers ; 

 not its bankers in the ordinary sense of the word, but its 

 intellectual bankers, in the shape of papers to be discussed. The 

 two general autumn meetings which had occurred during his 

 tenure of office had also been of considerable interest. At the 

 Newcastle meeting the attendance had, perhaps, been the largest on 

 record, and the meeting at Paris was one of great interest to all 



