457 



The President then addressed the Society as follows : - 

 GENTLEMEN, 



THE peculiar circumstances under which the Council thought fit to 

 propose me for re-election as President at the last Anniversary are, 

 I apprehend, sufficiently known to make it unnecessary for me to 

 trouble you with any observations on the subject. There was then 

 reason to believe that in a short time I should be in that state 

 which would enable me to resume all the duties of my office. Un- 

 fortunately those expectations were not realized ; and you will, I am 

 sure, easily conceive how deep was the disappointment to myself, 

 that I should have been prevented, during the whole of the last 

 session, from being present at our Meetings. The President of your 

 Society, however, has other duties besides that of presiding in this 

 Chair, and to these I hope that I have not been altogether inatten- 

 tive. Various subjects connected with the affairs of the Royal 

 Society have from time to time demanded the attention of myself 

 and the other Officers ; and the discussions to which these have led 

 have, I have reason to believe, not been unproductive of a good 

 result. 



Referring to the events of the last year, I feel that I may with 

 perfect confidence congratulate you on the position which we occupy. 

 We have not, indeed, had to record any of those grand and startling 

 discoveries by which some former epochs of our history have been 

 distinguished. There never, however, was a period at which so 

 many individuals, well qualified for the task, have been engaged in 

 scientific investigations ; and our published volumes bear ample 

 testimony to the fact, that it is not in one only, but in every depart- 

 ment of physical knowledge that a steady progress is being made. 

 The Fellowship of our Society has never been a greater object of 

 ambition than it is at present, nor do I believe that it has ever been 

 held in higher estimation by the public. Our weekly Meetings 

 as I am informed, have been often productive of great interest, and 

 sufficiently well attended : but on this last point I take this oppor- 

 tunity of making a few remarks, in order that I may correct what 

 appears to me to be a great misunderstanding under which some 

 have laboured on the subject. 



Probably not more than one third of our Fellows are permanently 



