KEPORT OP IHE COMMITTEE. 321 



their new building now in progress towards completion. The 

 use of the rooms has also been granted to the Mayor and Cor- 

 poration of Newcastle-upon-Tyne for a Conversazione during the 

 visit of the British Medical Association to Newcastle in August. 

 In the last Eeport it was mentioned that the Eev. Canon 

 Tristram had suggested the desirability of establishing a Han- 

 cock Prize Medal for original essays on local Natural History 

 subjects. Since that time the Rev. Canon has formulated his 

 scheme and issued a circular, a copy of which is included in this 

 Report. It is thought that about £200 would form a sufficient 

 fund, if carefully invested, to give annually, or as often as it is 

 fixed, to award a prize to successful competitors. About one- 

 half has been promised towards this sum. 



COPY OF CIRCULAE, 



JOHN HANCOCK MEMORIAL MEDAL. 



" It is proposed to establish, under the auspices of the Natural 

 History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-on- 

 Tyne, a Medal or Prize to be given annually for the encourage- 

 ment of Pield Observations in Natural History, whether Botany, 

 Ornithology, Entomology, MoUuscan or other invertebrate forms 

 of Life, or Geology. 



The object is not to foster a passion for collecting, but to 

 stimulate observation and consequent research. It is, therefore, 

 proposed that the Medal or a Prize of Books should be offered 

 for the best account of a ramble, with especial reference to the 

 common objects noticed in the fields or the woods, on the moors, 

 or by the sea shore. 



Competitors shall be residents in the counties of Northumber- 

 land or Durham, and the prize shall be awarded not for Techni- 

 cal Knowledge or Literary Research, but for observation such 

 as can be exercised by persons of ordinary education, without 

 special training, with a special view to the encouragement of the 

 study of Natural History among clerks, assistants in houses of 

 business, engineers, and apprentices. 



The Medal shall be awarded by Examiners nominated by the 



