322 EEPOET OF THE COMMITTEE. 



Committee of the Natural History Society, and the Trustees of 

 the Natural History Society shall be the Trustees of the Fund. 



It seems fitting that the Medal should bear the name of John 

 Hancock, who, more than any other man, for more than half a 

 century imparted to the Tyneside a share of his own enthusiasm, 

 and gave our Society a prominent position among the Naturalist 

 Societies in England, and who lives still by his work in our 

 Museum. John Hancock was the typical field naturalist. Be- 

 hind the naturalist's eye he possessed the artist's soul, and this 

 enabled him to ennoble the art of taxidermy. Who could watch 

 him, as he described with an artless eloquence the feats and 

 actions of a falcon, every motion of his body and the glance of 

 his eagle eye almost reacting the scene he depicted, without 

 feeling that he was a master of bird life ? This indeed he was, 

 and Newcastle Museum attests that he was as true a poet as 

 ever wielded the sculptor's chisel or handled the artist's brush. 

 His sympathy was with nature, and his groups are vitalized by 

 one who felt the life of birds as something kindred with his own ; 

 and inspired with this sympathy and labouring to utter it, he 

 recreated life as it were within the grasp of death. 



It is sometimes thought that the days of field work are gone 

 by in a soil searched through and through for so many years ; 

 that the field-glass and the lens must be abandoned for the 

 microscope, and the studies of the laboratory supersede the 

 observations of the field. But there is still room for the worker 

 in every branch of natural science, from the study and observa- 

 tion of life habits, down to the investigation of muscles, and the 

 analysis of brain tissue. 



For the busy toilers of the great city, for the hard-worked 

 professional or business man, there is no relaxation or refresh- 

 ment that can rival this change of the gaze from the law-book 

 or the ledger to the gem-studded turf, or the path of the bird in 

 the air. But the enjoyment of nature must be an intelligent 

 enjoyment. We must learn the story and the lesson of plant, 

 bird, beetle, and butterfly, till we cease to took on any of nature's 

 gifts with an ignorant indifference or an unintelligent wonder." 



"The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them 

 that have pleasure therein." 



