1884.] Treasurer s Address. 431 



possible extension of the Coal Measures beneath the south-eastern 

 part of England, read in 1855, his speculations in which as to the 

 western extension of the axis of Artois, all recent deep borings within 

 the Thames basin have so fully substantiated. 



In Dr. Wright we have lost an accomplished palaeontologist whose 

 knowledge of the fossil echinodermata and ammonitidse was almost 

 unrivalled. 



The Duke of Buccleuch had for fifty years been one of our Fellows, 

 and in 1867 occupied the position of President of the British Asso- 

 ciation ; while Sir Bartle Frere, although an ethnologist and geo- 

 grapher, will probably be better known as an able and energetic 

 public servant and administrator than as a man of science. 



In common with the nation at large, we have to deplore the un- 

 timely and unexpected decease of another distinguished statesman, 

 the late Postmaster- General, Mr. Fawcett. A man of rare mental 

 powers, the effect upon him of the greatest of all physical depri- 

 vations, the loss of sight, was only to make him rise superior to his 

 misfortune. As a student of political economy he attained a high 

 reputation, and he turned his mastery of the subject to good account 

 when he entered into the sphere of public life, towards which his 

 natural aspirations led him. His singleness and honesty of pur- 

 pose, the inborn justice of his well-balanced mind, his devotion to 

 the public good, and his invariable courtesy, endeared him alike to 

 political friends and opponents ; while to those who were brought 

 into more immediate contact with him, his truly sympathetic nature 

 and the marvellous memory, which preserved even minute details of 

 former conversations, gave a charm to his intercourse which none 

 who enjoyed it will ever forget. 



As I have already observed, our losses on the home list, including 

 one resignation of Fellowship and one removal from our list, are less 

 than in many former years, being altogether twenty-one in number ; 

 we have, on the other hand, elected sixteen Fellows, including one 

 Privy Councillor. It would, however, appear that our numbers are 

 gradually attaining to something like a state of equilibrium, and that 

 if our elections continue to be limited as at present, the roll of the 

 Society will remain at its present standard of about 470 Fellows. 

 Looking at the recognised longevity of scientific men and the age 

 at which many now achieve the distinction of being elected into the 

 Society, it seems to me not improbable that our numbers will ere long 

 show a tendency to increase rather than to diminish. 



Of the " Philosophical Transactions," three parts, and of the 

 " Proceedings," eleven numbers, have been published ; while the 

 number of papers received daring the past year was 100, as com- 

 pared with 103 in the previous year. Of these the most numerous 

 have been in the departments of electricity and magnetism, though 



