IXXX PROCEEDINGS. 



When the museum was revised in 1899 there were retained 

 10,099 of the old specimens. From then till December, 1911; 

 there were added 14,814 specimens, making a total of 24,913> 

 or about 25,000 at the present time. Since 1900 it has 

 received an average of 1 235 specimens each year. Allow- 

 ing for specimens that had been discarded in 1899 because 

 of lack of data, there can be little doubt that for the twelve 

 years since then, the number of accessions exceeds the 

 total number obtained from 1831 to 1899, a period of sixty- 

 eight years. 



In closing these ragged and brief annals of our society, we 

 find that, like those of Miss Mitford's Village, they are some- 

 what uneventful. I only regret that we have not had a 

 Mitford to lend to our simple story the charm with which 

 her genius invested the daily happenings of her little com 

 munity. 



Biographical Sketches. 



One of my chief aims in bringing together these notes, has 

 been, not only to give a few particulars and dates, but es- 

 pecially to present a little about the men, now gone from 

 among us, who laboured for the Institute, for science, and for 

 the country generally, to the very best of their abilities, 

 humble or otherwise, without pay and I fear with but scant 

 recognition of the value of their work. I distinctly feel that 

 at such a time as this, instead of singing too much the praises 

 of the society itself, of which we are more or less a part, we 

 should give a few retrospective glances at the men whose 

 shares first cut the virgin sod, and through whose success we 

 cannot selfishly add one cubit to our height. 



With this end in view I have prepared short biographical 

 notes on our deceased presidents and other prominent mem- 

 bers, which are appended hereto. 



