44 THE WERNERIAN SOCIETY. 



importance to every one who had perceived and felt 

 the inconveniences resulting from the old system. 

 Professor Jameson (who maybe considered the found- 

 er of mineralogical science in Great Britain) had con- 

 templated the object of this sketch soon after his re- 

 turn from Germany; and as the public attention had 

 been strongly solicited, by his valuable works, to 

 one department of natural history, it was considered 

 a favourable opportunity to bring together, in an or- 

 ganized form, such individuals as were desirous of 

 extending the bounds of our natural knowledge in 

 general, without limiting the tendencies of its original 

 founders. Accordingly, on the 12th January 1808, 

 Professor Jameson, Doctors Wright, Macknight, 

 Barclay, and Thomson, Colonel Fullerton, Messrs 

 Anderson, Neill, and Walker (now Sir Patrick 

 Walker) held their first meeting, and " resolved to 

 associate themselves into a society for promoting the 

 study of natural history ; and in honour of the il- 

 lustrious Werner of Freyberg, to assume the name 

 of the Wernerian Natural History Society." Pro- 

 fessor Jameson was elected the first president ; Doc- 

 tors Wright, Macknight, Barclay, and Thomson, the 

 vice-presidents ; Mr Walker, the treasurer ; and Mr 

 (now Dr) Neill, the secretary. Honorary and other 

 members were elected and among the first of the 

 former, the society has the honour of enumerating 

 the illustrious names of Werner, Sir Joseph Banks, 

 Kirwan, and many other celebrated individuals. At 

 the same time, it was resolved that a charter should 



