i86 9 T. H. Huxley; G. H. Richards; F. A. Abel 399 



1869. At the Anniversary Meeting on 24th June 1869 

 there were twenty members present, and the President, 

 General Sabine, was in the chair. The statement of the 

 Treasurers of the financial position of the Club showed that 

 the expenses for the past year had amounted to 107 2s. 

 and there remained a balance in hand of 29 145. 8d. The 

 subscription for the following year was fixed at 2 2s. The 

 number of dinners during the past year was 21, attended 

 by 315 diners, of whom 64 were visitors, the average at 

 each dinner being 15 persons. 



General Sabine and Sir Henry Holland having both 

 attained the age of eighty were elected Honorary Members. 



The death of Joseph Hodgson was announced. The 

 resignations of Dr. Bence Jones and Dr. Charles Holland 

 were accepted. The transference of Sir Henry Holland to 

 the Honorary List made a vacancy in the ordinary member- 

 ship. There were thus four vacancies and nine candidates. 

 As the result of the voting the following gentlemen were 

 elected members : Thomas Henry Huxley, Captain George 

 Henry Richards, R.N., Frederick Augustus Abel, and 

 Lieut. -Colonel Alexander Strange. 



The dates of the dinners during the vacation were fixed 

 to be the second Thursday in July, the second Thursday in 

 August, and the third Thursday in October. 



Eighteen years had passed since Huxley first dined as 

 a visitor to the Club. In this interval he had firmly estab- 

 lished his reputation as one of the leading naturalists, one 

 of the most impressive lecturers, and one of the most incisive 

 writers of his day. In 1854 he succeeded Edward Forbes 

 at the Royal School of Mines and Geological Survey, and 

 drew students from far and near to listen to his admirable 

 expositions of biological facts and problems. He wrote 

 many papers on organisms recent and fossil, which appeared 

 in the Memoirs of the Survey and in publications of 

 scientific societies. Possessing an excellent literary style 

 he proved himself to be a controversialist of exceptional 

 power. His business capacity was not less marked than his 

 critical faculty in science. He was accordingly nominated 



