THE 
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS 
THE SECOND ANNUAL MEETING, 
MARCH 30, 1848. 
GeytLemen,—It falls to my lot, as President of this Society, 
and before resigning my not very arduous duties, to read to you 
the proceedings of the Club during our wanderings last year, 
which I shall preface by one or two observations, according to 
the example of my predecessor. 
Our Society has now existed two years, and I think we may 
fairly congratulate ourselves on its success ; we have been 
steadily adding to our numbers, and our body now consists of 
above a hundred members, but I observe with regret that the 
number of those who take the field does not increase in proportion. 
I was in hopes that as our force increased, so would the numbers 
at our meetings, and I will observe in passing that there would 
be one among the many advantages connected with a larger at- 
tendance of our members, which is, that we should be thus com- 
pelled, as it were, when the weather permitted, to dine “swb Jove,” 
which is, to my taste, and I believe to that of many of our body, 
far more agreeable than passing a large portion of the day in the 
close, damp atmosphere of a public-house, and especially as any 
long written contributions from members are now only read at 
the Meetings held in this town. 
It is hardly possible, I should imagine, to select any locality 
near Newcastle for our rambles which has not been thoroughly 
ransacked by our more experienced botanists and geologists, 
and it is to be feared that some do not attend our meetings be- 
cause they are so well acquainted with the ‘country that they 
