QUAETERLY JOURNAL 



OF THE 



FOLKESTONE 



NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 



DECEMBEE, 1868. 



ADDRESS. 



In tlie present glut of tlie literary market as regards periodi- 

 cal literature, an apology wiU be expected in bringing before 

 the world another scientific quarterly. It will then, perhaps, 

 be weU to state the grounds on which such a course of action 

 may best be defended. 



The days are happily long gone by, when scientific theories 

 were constantly being propounded regardless, or nearly so, 

 of experimental observation, and when each philosopher 

 thought it his duty to outbid all others by the wildness and 

 extravagance of his speculations. And with the expiration of 

 what may be called the theoretical period of science, and the 

 substitution for it of a more solid method of reasoning, the 

 -J- B 



