president's address. 231 



ADDRESS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE TYNESIDE 

 NATURALISTS' FIELD CLTJB, 



KEAD BY THE PRESIDENT, THE REV. G. ROME HALL, F.S.A., AT THE 

 THIRTIETH ANNIVERSARY MEETING, HELD IN THE MUSEUM OF 

 THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE, ON 

 TUESDAY, APRIL 11th, 1876. 



Gentlemen, — On the 25th of April, 1846, the Tyneslde Natu- 

 ralists' Field Club was established, and it has for nearly a 

 generation past served the cause of science with considerable and 

 often-acknowledged success. As my immediate predecessor, Mr. 

 Carr-Ellison, to whose initiative its formation was so greatly ow- 

 ing, was its first President, I may be permitted to remind you of 

 this, before thanking you, as I now desire to do, for the honour 

 which you very unexpectedly conferred upon me in electing me 

 his successor. "When I considered the scientific eminence of so 

 many of those who have previously occupied this position, and 

 that my own line of research has gone out rather into the histo- 

 rical and the antiquarian, I felt much diffidence in accepting it. 

 I also feared that from living at a distance I should be unable 

 to serve as I would desire the interests of the Society, by attend- 

 ing all its Field and other meetings. Your courtesy, however, 

 overlooked these drawbacks ; and I was glad to find, on referring 

 to our primary rules, that Natural History and Antiquities were 

 conjoined in the original intention; that a special saving clause 

 existed to this effect, that "the Antiquarians of the district be 

 invited to unite with the Club for the promotion of their pur- 

 suits." 



By a coincidence fortunate at least for myself, the places fixed 

 upon for the various Field Meetings of the past season have been 

 distinguished quite as much for their historic and archaeological 

 interest as for their special attractions to the votaries of natural 

 science. Nor, inasmuch as scenic beauty had also a voice in 

 their selection, have our meetings been less favoured than usual 

 by a large attendance of members. The anniversary address 

 being expected to afford a retrospect of these Field excursions, 

 especially, I may now proceed to give my notes upon them — 



