ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. xli 



effect. The present Museum of Natural History in Edinburgh is 

 the result of Jameson's unceasing industry and efforts. The col- 

 lections which existed before his time were almost entirely removed 

 by the Trustees of his predecessor Dr. Walker ; and the nucleus of 

 the present magnificent collection was Professor Jameson's private 

 property, when he was called to fill the chair of Natural History. 

 He laboured incessantly to render it worthy of the place ; but the 

 means placed at his disposal, both by the Town Council and the 

 Government, were inadequate to the task, and it was not without great 

 private outlay that Professor Jameson raised it to its present state. 

 In fact it may be said that the present Museum was founded, 

 created, arranged, and exposed for public exhibition by the head and 

 the industrious hands of Jameson alone. Professor Jameson died in 

 Edinburgh, at the age of eighty, on the 19th of April, 1854. 



The name of Arthur Aikin is associated with the earliest days 

 of the existence of our Society. In that Charter which forms the 

 basis of our constitution, his name occurs as one of the founders of 

 this Society. He was born at Warrington, in Lancashire, on the 

 19th May, 1/73. The grandson of John Aikin, D.D., eminent for 

 his learning and abilities, he evinced at an earl}^ age a decided love 

 for literature and science, and from his father derived a taste for 

 Zoology, for Chemistry, and for English Botany. An early ac- 

 quaintance with Dr. Priestley, of whom he subsequently became a 

 favourite pupil, and whom he assisted in the arrangement of a new 

 laboratory, confirmed him in his predilection for Chemistry. In 

 1797 he published an account of a tour in North Wales, made in the 

 previous year in company with his brother Charles and another 

 friend, under the title of ' Journal of a Tour in North Wales and 

 part of Shropshire, with observations in Mineralogy and other 

 branches of Natural History.' At a subsequent period, in con- 

 junction with his brother, he delivered lectures on Chemistry and 

 Chemical Manufactures, of which a syllabus appeared in 1799. In 

 1807 he published * A Dictionary of Chemistry and Mineralogy,' 

 2 vols. 4to ; and in 1814, 'An account of the most recent dis- 

 coveries in Chemistry and Mineralogy.' 



But before this time Arthur Aikin had become conspicuous as one 

 of that distinguished band of scientific men who contributed to the 

 formation of the Geological Society of London, and founded it in 

 1807; soon afterwards his knowledge of mineralogy and chemistry 

 must have contributed to his being appointed one of the Secretaries 

 of the Society. In the first volume of the first series of our Trans- 

 actions, published in 1811, his name appears as one of the Members 

 of Council. In the second volume, published in 1814, he appears 

 as one of the Secretaries, as well as in the third volume, pub- 

 lished in 1816 ; but there is reason to believe that he became 

 one of the Secretaries at a still earlier period. In the first volume 

 of the first series there is an interesting paper by him, entitled 

 " Observations on the Wrekin and on the Great Coal Field of 

 Shropshire ;" and in the third volume is another with the title of 



