26 History of the Society. 



Crichton-Browne, and Mr William Allan, constitute our oldest 

 members, and I am sure that it is the wish of all present here 

 to-night that they may long be spared to assist our Society 

 and to remind us of its olden days. " A Catalogue of Natural 

 History and Antiquarian Specimens, Books, Pamphlets, &c.," 

 belonging to the Society is appended to the volume ; and I 

 mig'ht point out that a catalogue of our present possessions, 

 now in manuscript, is a desirable publication, which should 

 be undertaken at an early opportunity. On October 4th, 

 1878, special thanks were given to Dr James Gilchrist for his 

 untiring endeavours to promote the interests of the Society. 

 On September 28th, 1879, ^.n offer was made to assist the 

 Observatory Committee, which culminated in the Society 

 depositing its " museum " in the Observatory on July 8th, 

 1880; and the minerals and shells collected respectivelv by 

 Patrick Dudgeon and Richard Rimmer still remain there, with 

 many other individual items. Mr James M'Andrew, another 

 valued and fruitful contributor to our Transactions, who joined 

 the Society on October 6th, 1879, sent his first paper in 

 1880. A paper read by Mr J. Rutherford on April 23rd, 

 entitled " Observations on the Salmon Disease," detailed for 

 the first time the true nature of this pest, and is therefore one 

 of the contributions to our Transactions of which we are 

 especially proud. 



Sessions 1880-1881, 1881-1882, 1882-1883. (No. 3.) 

 [Vol. IX.] 



During this period Mr J. Rutherford of Jardington acted 

 as Secretary, in place of Robert Service. The Transactions 

 of these three sessions were published in 1884, having been 

 prepared by a Committee. In this volume, consisting of one 

 hundred and fourteen pages, and comprising a list of Mem- 

 bers, the internal arrangement was adopted which, except in 

 some minor details, we have found most suitable to our 

 purpose ever since. The whole volume now assumed the 

 style of a journal, papers being given under the dates on 

 which they were read. Very few were printed in full in this 

 volume, but, on the other hand, there were few that were not 

 given in brief. In 1880 it was agreed that Life Membership 



