Vice-President' s Address. 31)7 



Young, have M.D. added to their names ; the other sixteen, 

 Thomas Melville, Thomas Smith, James French, James 

 Wood, Robert Stewart, Alexander Muir, James Dick, Henry 

 W. Tytler, Malcolm Macqueen, Arthur Taafe, Daniel Gibb, 

 Thomas Thorburn, James Webster, George Home, William 

 Manuel, and William Keir, have no designation. The times 

 were stirring in science, and their influences were bearing 

 in on the minds of the young. In 1788, the Society assumed 

 the title " Eoyal " under charter granted by the Crown. The 

 membership had meanwhile increased, and was bulking 

 out in the eyes of students. Thus between 1771 and 1788 

 we find such names among its Fellows as Benjamin Bell, 

 Alexander Monro, J. Hope, Joseph Black, Frances Home, 

 James Gregory, etc. Ever since its foundation it has, as it 

 does now, stood in close relations to the University. Thus 

 many of the University Professors have occupied its chair, 

 and through them and under other influences many students 

 were enrolled as Fellows, who having completed their curri- 

 culum removed to other localities, or left Britain for positions 

 of influence abroad. Out of sight out of mind. Their names 

 gradually dropped from the list of Fellows, and the funds 

 of the Society suffered in consequence. It is not alleged 

 that the fact referred to here is the only cause, though a true 

 one, of the difficulties into which as a Society we have 

 periodically fallen. In other departments than those w^ith 

 which we specially concern ourselves corresponding ex- 

 periences have a place. Revivals often come apparently 

 unasked for, and are succeeded by periods of reaction earnestly 

 unwished for. What the principles are that underlie these, 

 and the forces which determine them, are far from plain. 

 They can only be obscurely guessed at. But, waving all 

 speculation as to this, I am anxious to give prominence to 

 the origin and cause of one tendency which has been in- 

 fluential throughout the long period of our history, and which 

 operates still, and is still as in the past apt periodically to 

 become acute. Is there a remedy ? When Mr Gray became 

 Secretary he set himself to neutralise the tendency and to 

 provide a remedy. This he saw could only be done in one 

 way, so long as there was no reserve fund to draw on till 



