j88 7 -iS8S.J 43 



" May he find with his apostles, 

 That the land is full of fossils. 

 That the waters swarm with fishes, 

 Shaped according to his wishes, 

 New birds around him singing, 

 New insects, never stinging. 

 * * * * 



God bless the great Professor, 

 And the land his proud possessor, 

 Bless them now and evermore." 



In 1864 we find the Secretaryship devolving upon one of 

 your former Presidents, Mr. W. H. Patterson, with Mr. C. H. 

 Brett as his colleague, while the removal of Mr. Grainger to 

 Dublin, to pursue his theological studies, led to the appoint- 

 ment of Mr. George C. Hyndman, thus honouring, as far as we 

 could, one who had been so long actively engaged in scientific 

 work, and at the same time honouring ourselves by his 

 occupancy of that position. The following year again saw a 

 change in the Secretaryship, Messrs. William Hooker Ferguson 

 and William Gray assuming its duties, while Professor James 

 Thompson entered upon the Chairmanship, and at the close of 

 the Session our first conversazione was held. These meetings, 

 which have for so long formed a distinctive feature of our 

 organisation, were not long in finding imitators, and our 

 members have frequently been called upon to aid in the 

 arrangement and carrying out of similar meetings on behalf of 

 various local objects. The Club's report for 1866-67 shows a 

 considerable advance upon its predecessors, extending to some 

 56 pages as compared with the first issued — a mere pamphlet 

 of 12 pages, covering two years' work. Mr. Ferguson's 

 Secretaryship terminated in 1869, in which year I became Mr. 

 Gray's colleague. The Winter Session of 1869-70 inaugurated 

 an important change in the Club's method of working, as 

 during it the system of holding our meetings jointly with the 

 Natural History Society began. The similarity of object con- 

 templated by both Societies led those interested in their mutual 

 prosperity to suggest a combined action between the two associa- 

 tions. It was not proposed to merge the individual existence of 



