PRESIDKNT S ADDRESS. 



and on some of the more obvious advantages of Natural History 

 studies. And my main object in tbis will be, tla-ougb you, 

 to address wbat I say cbiefly to tlie public outside tbese walls, 

 in the hope of conveying to them some idea of the advantages 

 which accrue to those who are members of this and similar 

 societies. 



Almost everyone who has had much to do with children 

 knows how inquisitive they are ; everything about them has in' 

 some degree the charm of novelty; even the most famihar objects 

 are only known to them casually and from the outside only, and 

 what meets their eye usually speaks to them so as to convey 

 little more than what is very obvious. If the incpiisitiveness of 

 the child be properly dealt with, and not rashly checked, a 

 habit of inquiry will be gradually acquired, and a power of 

 observation will be developed which will be yearly strengthened 

 until it becomes a valuable part of the child's nature. Some of 

 the objects which soonest arrest a child's attention are the 

 natural ones by which he is everywhere surrounded ; and, 

 though their simple beauties are what will at first most usually 

 interest him, it will not be long before their less striking 

 features will also have an interest for him too ; and this is 

 especially the case if he have wise parents or judicious teachers 

 who know the nnportance of encouraging their pupils to observe 

 and inquire. A child so happily placed, as I have supposed, will 

 add to its knowledge daily ; all it sees will at one time or other 

 be the subject of its never-tiring investigation, and bit by bit 

 large stores of observations will be accumulated. Now such a 

 child living among natural objects will almost certainly grow up 

 with an ever-increasing love of Nature, and, unless something 

 very adverse should prevent the healthy development of his 

 mind and body, it is not improbable that he will become a 

 Naturalist, and will make the living objects around him, or the 

 once living objects and the mighty forces of a former period, 

 subjects of study ; and thus he will in time become a Geologist, 

 a Botanist, or a student of some branch of Zoology. I look for 

 such results as these to follow as a matter of course on the 



