President's Address. 105 



Feh'Tuary 22, 1865. — On the Natural History oi Euglena. 



Noveniber 27, 1867. — Opening Address : a general view of the Infusoria and 

 Rhizopoda. (Beautiful drawings, after nature, engraved by Dx Wright on the 

 glass slides, were exhibited by aid of the lime-light and lantern). 



November 25, 1868. — An Opening Address, with numerous illustrations of 

 the Lower Forms of Animal Life. In continuation of the Opening Address 

 of the previous year (illustrated by beautifully-detailed drawings by Dr Wright 

 on the slides of lantern, shown by the oxy-hydrogen light. 



These numerous papers show that good work was done in 

 those days in our Society by Dr Wright. His powers of ob- 

 servation were great, and great also was the care and skill 

 with which in his various small aquaria he watched the 

 development and progress from youth to age of many of these 

 marvellously beautiful, though minute denizens of the great 

 sea. The ease also with which he could bring them under 

 the examination of his powerful microscopes, and describe 

 what was to be seen, was to me always a matter of astonish- 

 ment and admiration, as was also the skilful way in which, 

 with some simple broken needles fixed in pens or pencils, or 

 other like tools of his own manufacture, he could engrave 

 delicately on the lithographic stone the beautiful and most 

 correct figures of these various wondrous creatures of such 

 marvellous beauty, and thus prepare the plates to be printed 

 for our Proceedings. The naturalist and the artist being one 

 person gave a correctness and beauty to the figures which 

 would otherwise have been quite unattainable. I may truly 

 say. Gentlemen, in regard to Dr Wright, that I fear we shall 

 not soon look upon his like again. 



The Society has also to mourn the death of another member, 

 who has been taken from us in his early manhood — Mr 

 Andrew Smith Melville, Lecturer on Botany, Geology, etc., to 

 the Watt Institution, and also to the Eoyal High School. 

 He was the son of an old Member of the Society — Professor 

 Melville, of Galway University. Mr Melville was apparently 

 entering on a long course of usefulness and promise. I pre- 

 sume, however, from the abundance of his public labours, he 

 had but little leisure to favour us with many communications 

 at our meetings. 



