12 Anniversary Meeting. [Dec. 1, 



I have mentioned might have been met in some degree by properly arranged 

 expenditure, if such had been legitimately in my power ; but another 

 cause now comes on which I fear cannot be met, a difficulty of hearing, 

 which unfits me for effective action as Chairman of Council. 



I respect the sentiment which has prompted the Society to seek for 

 its President a man of supposed scientific character, and, perhaps in pre- 

 ference, a man in official scientific position ; and I join in the unanimous 

 feeling of the Council that, this principle being admitted, its application 

 could never have been better made than in the selection of the Fellow 

 whom they recommend to you as successor to myself. But I still think 

 that, practically viewed, the principle is not the best that can be adopted 

 and that considerations on the leisure which the President can devote 

 to the concerns of the Society, on the proximity which enables him at 

 any moment to enter into its business, and on the personal vigour which 

 he may be expected to bring into all his transactions with it, ought to 

 hold a very important place. 



But, in retiring from the Presidency, and practically from the Council, 

 I do not, gentlemen, retire from the Society. There are other positions 

 in which I may hope to render service. I have frequently been re- 

 quested by the Council to report upon the character of papers communi- 

 cated to them ; and in this capacity my power of meeting the wishes of 

 the governing body is undiminished. Perhaps other occasions will arise 

 in which I can continue to prove my devotion to the interests of the 

 Society. 



On the motion of Sir Thomas Watson, seconded by Mr. J. M. Arnott, it 

 was resolved, " That the thanks of the Society be returned to the Presi- 

 dent for his Address, and that he be requested to allow it to be printed." 



The Statutes relating to the election of the Council and Officers having 

 been read, and Mr. David Forbes and Mr. Savory having been, with 

 the consent of the Society, nominated Scrutators, the votes of the Eellows 

 present were collected, and the following were declared duly elected as 

 Council and Officers for the ensuing year : 



President. Joseph Dalton Hooker, C.B., M.D., D.C.L., LL.D. 

 Treasurer. "William Spottiswoode, M.A., LL.D. 



Secretaries j Prof ' Geor g e Gabriel Stokes, M.A., D.C.L., LL.D. 

 i Prof. Thomas Henry Huxley, LL.D. 



Foreign Secretary. Prof. Alexander William Williamson, Ph.D. 



Other Members of the Council. Sir George Biddell Airy, K.C.B., M. A. ; 

 Sir B. C. Brodie, Bart., M.A., D.C.L. ; Professor Arthur Cayley, LL.D. ; 

 John Evans, Sec. G-.S., E.S.A. ; Daniel Hanbury, Treas. L.S. ; Nevil 

 Story Maskelyne, M.A. ; Prof. James Clerk Maxwell, M.A. ; C. Wat- 

 kins Merrifield, Hon. Sec. I.N.A.; Joseph Prestwich, Y.P.Gr.S.; Andrew 



