Vol. 54.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT, Ixiii 



mainly indebted for the convenience of Parliamentary trains at a 

 minimum rate of one penny per mile. Mr. Laing entered Parlia- 

 ment for the first time in 1852, being returned for the Wick 

 district in the Liberal interest. He represented Wick until 1857, 

 and was re-elected in 1859, but resigned in 1860 in order to go to 

 India as Finance Minister. From June 1859 till October 1860 

 he vras Financial Secretary to the Treasury. On returning from 

 India he again represented Wick in Parliament from 1865 until 

 November 1868. In 1873 he successfully contested Orkney and 

 Shetland, and sat in the House of Commons until 1885. 



Late in life, when his official career had closed and his Parlia- 

 mentary duties were no longer demanding his energies, Mr. Laing 

 turned his attention to literature. He had in 1863 written a book 

 on India and China, embodying some of his personal observations 

 and experiences, and had also published the results of a study of 

 the prehistoric remains of Caithness. But his later works were of 

 a different character. In 1885, the year of his retirement from the 

 House of Commons, there appeared ' Modern Science and Modern 

 Thought,' a volume which was at the time very widely read. 

 Written in an easy and interesting style, it expressed what was 

 in the minds of many people who had given their attention to the 

 great modern developments of scientific investigation without going 

 into them very deeply or pursuing any line of original research for 

 themselves. The book aimed at being popular rather than technical, 

 and had a decided success. ' Problems of the Future,' published 

 four 5'ears later, was a natural sequel, dealing as it did with the 

 developments which might be expected to follow upon the achieve- 

 ments of the recent past ; while ^ Human Origins,' Mr. Laing's last 

 book, issued some 5 years ago, put into a readable form the fruits 

 of discovery and speculation about the early days of the world's 

 history. 



He died on August 6th, 1897. 



Lt.-Col. Anthony 0. Tabfteatj, who was elected a Fellow of this 

 Society in 1875, died at Batheaston, near Bath, on August 18th, 

 1897, at the age of 62. Col. Tabuteau served with the 93rd High- 

 landers in the Crimea, receiving the British and Turkish Medals. 

 He retired in 1879. 



A. Graeme Ogilvie, B.A., was elected a Fellow of this Society in 

 1877. He was born on January 31st, 1851, and died on July 29th, 

 1897. 



