i879-i88o.] 411 



unmoved, the slightest hiss was sufficient to cause its instantan- 

 taneous subsidence. The various objects and works of art were 

 continued on view at a small charge during Saturday, when the 

 President and several other members of the club were in attend- 

 ance to exhibit microscopes, show the sensitive flame, and ex- 

 plain the other objects. A considerable number of visitors 

 availed themselves of the opportunity thus afforded. 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 

 Mr. Gray commenced by tracing the history of the establish- 

 ment of scientific societies and the origin of field clubs, organised 

 mainly for the practical study of natural phenomena in the fields. 

 The hills, and rocks, plants and trees being their books, and their 

 class-room the open country. Probably, the first field club estab- 

 lished in Great Britain was "The Berwickshire Naturalists' Club," 

 formed in 183 1. The first in Ireland was the Belfast Naturalists' 

 Field Club, established in 1863 ; the next and only other field 

 club in Ireland being the Ballymena Naturalists' Field Club. 

 There are very few places that have such a variety of natural 

 phenomena so readily accessible as we have about Belfast. The 

 physical geography of the surrounding district is diversified in an 

 unusual manner. Mountains and hills of varying heights, glens 

 and valleys of surpassing beauty, a magnificent coast line, and a 

 rare combination of land and water, including one of the largest 

 freshwater lakes in Europe. The geological features pf the. country 

 include some of the most remarkable of our British rocks, both 

 sedimentary and plutonic — the columnar and other varieties of the 

 trap series ; the varions granites of the Mouine range, an extensive 

 variety of fossiliferous strata — and all associated with dykes and 

 fissures, dislocations, disturbances, and every phase of metamor- 

 phic action, so interesting and instructive to the geological student. 



c 



