X¢eVil 
The PRESIDENT, on retiring from the Chair, in favour of Mr. 
St. Aubyn, the President-Elect, said, he desired to offer in public, 
as he had done in private, his warmest acknowledgments to the 
Officers and Council with whom he had had the pleasure of acting, 
for the invaluable advice and assistance with which they had 
kindly favoured him; without which, indeed, he should have been 
quite unequal to the duties which it had been the pleasure of the 
members of this Institution to assign to him. And to the ladies 
and gentlemen who, at these meetings, had borne so patiently 
his many short-comings, and had looked rather to that which 
he wished, than to that only which he had been able, to perform, 
he presumed to offer his sincere and grateful thanks. To the end 
of his life he should remember that the highest honour he had 
ever received, had been in his native neighbourhood, and from 
friends who had known him from his youth. 
Mr. St. AUBYN said, when their Secretary communicated with 
him on the subject of the business of the day, he said something 
about the kind wish of the Council that he should undertake the 
duty of President; but he replied that it was his opinion that the 
duties of President would be much better filled by somebody pos- 
sessing greater scientific attamments than he possessed, and he was 
in hopes they would have found some gentleman possessing those 
qualifications, and who would fill the office. He had added that 
if no better man could be found, and he was afraid from what 
had passed they had failed in that, he could only say that if it 
was their wish that he should accept the office, he should be most 
happy to do so. He could not be insensible of the great dis- 
advantage that any person must labour under in succeeding Mr. 
Henwood, a man of European reputation, and who had reflected 
credit on that Institution by being its President for the last two 
years. For this it owed him a deep debt of gratitude, as well 
as for the services rendered. 
At the close of the meeting, thanks were cordially voted to 
Mr. Henwood for the ability with which he had presided; and 
the Ex-PRESIDENT in returning his warmest thanks for the 
courteous vote they had accorded him, said their approval was, to 
him, the highest of all possible rewards. 
In the evening, a Conversazione was held in the new Lecture 
Room, and it was very numerously attended, especially by Ladies. 
Among the gentlemen present were:—Mr. J. St. Aubyn, M.P., 
President ; Mr. W. J. Henwood, F.R.S., F.G.S., Ex-President ; 
‘Dr. Jago, F.R.S., a Vice-President; Dr. Barham, Rev. J. R, 
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