ADDRESS 



BT 



SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., M.P., 



r.B.S., D.C.L., LL.D., Pres. Linn. Soc, 



PRESIDENT. 



In the name of the British. Association, which for the time I very un- 

 ■worthily represent, I beg to tender to you, my Lord Mayor, and through 

 you to the City of York, our cordial thanks for your hospitable invitation 

 and hearty welcome. 



We feel, indeed, that in coming to York we are coming home. 

 Gratefully as we acknowledge and much as we appreciate the kindness 

 we have experienced elsewhere, and the friendly relations which exist 

 between this Association and most — I might even say, all — our great 

 cities, yet Sir R. Murchison truly observed at the close of our first meet- 

 ing in 1831, that to York, ' as the cradle of the Association, we shall 

 ever look back with gratitude ; and whether we meet hereafter on the 

 banks of the Isis, the Cam, or the Forth, to this spot we shall still fondly 

 revert.' Indeed, it would have been a matter of much regret to all of us, 

 if we had not been able on this, our fiftieth anniversary, to hold our 

 meeting in our mother city. 



My Lord Mayor, before going farther, I must express my i-egrct, 

 especially when I call to mind the illustrious men who have preceded me 

 in this chair, that it has not fallen to one of my eminent friends around 

 me, to preside on this auspicious occasion. Conscious, howcvei-, as I am 

 of my own deficiencies, I feel that I must not waste time in dwelling on 

 them, more especially as in doing so I should but give them greater 

 prominence. I will, therefore, only make one earnest appeal to your 

 kind indulgence. 



The connection of the British Association with the City of York does 

 not depend merely on the fact that our first meeting was held here. It 

 originated in a letter addressed by Sir D. Brewster to Professor Phillips, 

 as Secretai-y to your Yoi-k Philosophical Society, by whom the idea 

 was warmly taken up. Tho first meeting was held on September 26, 



1881. B 



