22 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS. 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS, 



At the Inaugural' Meeting held November' loth, j8gi. 

 A. ALEXANDER. 



Biology — The Use of the Word — Horn it Came to be Used — Its 

 Scope, and a Few of the Advantages of Biological Study. 



Ladies and Gentlemen : 



I have to thank you for the great honor you have conferred 

 upon me by electing me to the position ot President of this Associa- 

 tion ; and while I feel that I can never fill the chair so efficiently 

 as my predecessor, Mr. Charlton, has done for the last two years^ 

 the kindly words he has spoken in introducing me, and the intense 

 interest I feel in the progress and work of the Association, encourage 

 me in che hope that I may be able to help, in some feeble measure,, 

 the work to which we have set ourselves. 



In looking about for a text around which I might cluster a few 

 things I should like to say to-night, I was helped to a decision by 

 remembering that there is an increasing number, of young people 

 especially, who are interested in the love and study of nature. This 

 is evidenced by the crowds that issue, in the spring and summer, 

 from the city to the woods and fields, to look at and gather and 

 study the flowers and insects and birds. I have been a keen obser- 

 ver of this daily exodus each year for at least twenty years, and I have 

 been much gratified with the marked increase in the numbers. 

 This, then, and the casual remark of a friend respecting the Biologi- 

 cal Section of our Association, are responsible for the choice of the 

 theme of my address to-night. 



Smce the re-organization of the Sections a few years ago, I 

 have had occasion to speak of the Biological Section in particular^ 

 and have often urged its claims upon individual members of the 

 Association, and asked them to attend its meetings. On more than 

 one occasion I have been told that the word Biological fright- 

 ened some, and that if we should call it the " Natural History "^ 

 Section more would attend it. 



