

1888.] President's Address. 49 



Fellows, who, while not a man of science, was eminent in literature 

 and jurisprudence. While our ranks are mainly recruited from men 

 of science, we gladly welcome among us men who, like Sir Henry 

 Sumner Maine, have proved their ability and earned their distinction 

 in other branches of knowledge, whose connexion with us we look on 

 as honourable to the Society, while, as the very fact of their joining 

 us shows, they regard the Fellowship as honourable to themselves. 

 Admiral Sir Cooper Key, who was highly distinguished as a naval 

 officer, and was at one time Director of the Royal Naval College at 

 Greenwich, was another who served on the Council. Philip Henry 

 Gosse, who died at an advanced age, is well known for his char ra ing 

 popular works on natural history. These are some of the Fellows on 

 the home list who died since the last anniversary; but, besides these, 

 we have lost no less than three of our foreign members. Professor 

 Anton de Bary, so well known for his researches on the cryptogams, 

 and the eminent naturalist, Professor Asa Gray, who not very long 

 ago was over in this country, both died in January. Comparatively 

 recently we have lost Professor Clausius, so eminent as a physicist, 

 especially in the department of thermodynamics. 



The year of the Society, which terminates to-day, has shown no 

 flagging in scientific activity. Since the last anniversary, thirty- three 

 memoirs have been published in the ' Philosophical Transactions,' con- 

 taining a total of 1,010 pages and 91 plates. Of the ' Proceedings,' 

 nineteen numbers have been issued, containing 1,008 pages and 17 

 plates. In addition to this, a Monograph of the Horny Sponges, 

 by Dr. R. von Lendenfeld, which was accepted for publication by the 

 Council, and which when completed will extend to about 1,000 pages, 

 is now nearly through the press. 



A large amount of work connected with the Library has been done 

 since the last anniversary. A special effort has been made to com- 

 plete imperfect series of scientific periodicals, and by means of 

 exchange, or by the generosity of our corresponding Societies, some 

 hundreds of deficient numbers have been obtained. The Lists of 

 Institutions entitled to receive gratis the ' Philosophical Transactions ' 

 and 'Proceedings' have also been carefully revised by the Library 

 Committee. 



In December last, Mr. Arthur Soper was engaged as a special 

 Assistant to continue the formation of the Shelf-Catalogue, and the 

 revision of the Catalogue of MSS., and for other work. The Shelf- 

 Catalogue of the Upper Library is DOW completed a work involving 

 the re- arrangement or removal to the lower storeys of several thou- 

 sands of volumes. Considerable progress has been made in collating 

 and cataloguing the Archives and other manuscripts belonging to the 

 Society, and an instalment of slips have been written towards a 

 Catalogue of the Miscellaneous Literature in the Library. 



