Presentation to Mr. S. A. Stewart. 61 



Mrs. Fennell, amid applause, then presented Mr. Stewart with 

 a purse of sovereigns. 



Mr. Stewart, in responding, said it was with feelings of the 

 utmost gratification that he received that complimentary address 

 and its valuable gift. His sense of its value was enhanced by the 

 fact that it came from the officers and members of the two societies 

 which cultivated natural science in Belfast and the North of Ireland. 

 It was a red-letter day for him when he was elected an Associate 

 of the Linnean Society. That the premier natural history associ- 

 ation of the country should, without any solicitation on his part, 

 have conferred upon him that distinction came as a surprise, and 

 he could honestly say that it was the most prized of all the honours 

 possible to him. The climax came when the naturalists with 

 whom he had worked so long accorded him the present token of 

 their approbation. He felt that his work had to a great extent now 

 been done. Tate, Robinson, and many others who helped it 

 forward, and who were instrumental in establishing their field club, 

 had gone. They had followed Drummond, Patterson, Templeton, 

 Thompson, and many old-time worthies of the Natural History 

 Society. The associations which they founded, however, remained, 

 and new workers had come and were coming forward. He wished 

 those workers every success, and hoped that in nature studies they 

 would enjoy the same pleasures as had rewarded him. 



Mr. John Brown said, he was not a naturalist, but he had for 

 many years been associated with his friend Mr. Stewart in his 

 duties as an official of the Society. He could not allow that 

 occasion to pass without saying that a more sterling man and more 

 careful worker he had never found anywhere. 



Mr. Wm. Gray said, he had been associated with Mr. Samuel 

 Stewart since 1863, and could say that that gentleman had main- 

 tained the tradition of Belfast for knowledge of zoology, geology, 

 and botany. He was a perfect naturalist, and had always 

 attended to his work with persevering energy, and was in the fore- 

 front of anything connected with the literature of botany and the 

 other sciences. 



