PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 391 



ADDRESS TO THE MEMBERS OE THE TYNESIDE 

 NATURALISTS' EIELD CLUB, 



READ BY THE PRESIDENT, JNO. PHILIPSON, ESQ., J.P., M.I.M.E., ETC., 

 AT THE FORTY-THIRD ANNIVERSARY MEETING, HELD IN THE COM- 

 MITTEE ROOM OF THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY, 

 NEWCASTLE, ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 15th, 1889. 



Ladles and Gentlemen, — It is once more my duty to acknow- 

 ledge most gratefully the special mark of favour you bestowed 

 in electing me President of your Society for the second consecu- 

 tive year, and in now resigning the position, which I have 

 very sincerely appreciated, I cannot refrain from expressing the 

 pleasure with which I have learnt that the Rev. Canon Tristram 

 has consented to undertake, for the third time, the duties of 

 your President. Dr. Tristram's name does honour to our So- 

 ciety, and his attainments make him one of the worthiest who 

 ever held the position. 



A retrospect of the past year reveals few remarkable events 

 or discoveries of importance to the naturalist, but I am pleased 

 that my term of office has been marked by the completion of an 

 admirable work by one of our members, and concerning which 

 we all may indulge in the pleasure of praise. 



Mr. Howse has supplied for the use of those who have, as 

 well as for those who have not, visited our Museum a permanent 

 record of the Eossil Plants of the local Coal Measures. It has 

 been said that ' ' a person who is not a botanist or a mineralogist 

 cannot admire because he cannot discern the advantages result- 

 ing from a scientific classification of plants or minerals ;" but 

 the mind is always pleased with order and classification, espe- 

 cially when their advantages are apparent. I have not cultivated 

 the science of Geology, but I can appreciate its application, and 

 I admire the skill, the labour, and care which Mr. Howse has 

 lavished upon the classification of the Hutton Collection, those 

 "Sermons in Stone," so full of meaning and suggestion, teaching 

 us that " a thousand years are but as one day." 



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