x Preface. 



objection to the policy we have maintained, but the 

 difficulty has been to inaugurate a more liberal 

 one. 



R. ANGUS SMITH. 

 MANCHESTER : May 9, 1882. 



NOTE. I have to thank my young assistant, 

 Mr. Frank Scudder, for making a complete list of 

 all the members and officers of the Society for the 

 whole period of its existence, also an Index. 



The Society is not in the smallest degree re- 

 sponsible for any opinion given in this volume. I 

 am told of some grave errors (I believe about the 

 Warrington and Manchester Academies) ; but as the 

 same gentleman who complains refuses to point 

 them out, I must leave them for others to correct, if 

 they are worth correcting. 



