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Address to tlie Members of the Berwiclshire Naturalists'' Club, after the 

 Sixth Anniversary Meeting, held at Norham, Sejjtember 20th, 1837. 

 By the Eev. Jouy Baird of Yetholm, President, 



Gentlemen, 



CiECTJMSTANCES, whicli formed only too sufficient an apology for my 

 absence, having denied me the pleasure of meeting you at the last 

 Anniversary of our Club, and of returning you thanks in person, not 

 only for the honour you formerly did me, in electing me to the chair of 

 President ; but for the forbearance also shewn me while I held that 

 office ; I have now only farther to solicit your indulgence, while I 

 endeavour, after the example of my predecessors (and, as I believe, is 

 still expected of me), to take a short retrospect of the doings and dis- 

 coveries of the Club during the last twelve months, ending the third 

 Wednesday of September last. Before doing so, however, I perceive 

 it has been customary to congratulate the Club on the prosperity which 

 continues to attend us, and I am happy to be able, after a Sixth Anni- 

 versary Meeting, to address you in the same cheering language. The 

 success of our experiment, indeed, has far exceeded, I believe, the 

 expectations of the most sanguine of our members. We were among 

 the first, and I believe the very first, in Scotland, to attempt the for- 

 mation of a society like the present, whose object should be, minutely 

 to examine and illustrate the Natural History and Antiquities of a 

 particidar district or locality ; to meet frequently together for this 

 purpose in different places within the appointed limits ; to spend the 

 day in a personal investigation of its various objects of interest; and 

 to record our observations and discoveries in papers read at our meet- 

 ings. The design was not more simple than admirable, and it has 

 prospered beyond our ho^Des. Many interesting discoveries have been 

 made, — much valuable information accumulated, — and several new and 

 important additions have been made to the Flora and Fauna of Great 

 Britain. Our hst of Members too, is not only numerous, but includes 

 several names of eminence ; and, what is not the least interesting 

 feature of our Club, we continue, after an existence of six long j'ears, 

 to meet with the same zeal, and with the same anticipations of enjoy- 

 ment, as we did at our first formation, when our Society possessed all 

 the freshness and interest of novelty, — and it was yet an untried experi- 

 ment. The harmony of our meetings has scarcely ever for one moment 

 been interrrupted ; and we have, at this moment, the same prospect of 

 pleasure and prosperity before us, as we had at the commencement of 

 our Institution. I cannot help thinking, that one of the principal 

 causes of our success, and of the harmony which pervades our meetings, 

 is the short and simple character of our laws and regulations ; if indeed 

 we can be said to have any laws at all : for, certainly, the rules by 

 which we are guided, are rather certain understood principles and feel- 



