40 Annual Meeting. 



was sure a matter of surprise to no one who knew him — to discover 

 that during those years it had not only held its ground, but had 

 increased in prosperity and usefulness. He only hoped the 

 president would be s xceeded by another who would maintain 

 the traditions of the society as honourably as he had done, or it 

 would be still better if for a third year he could be prevailed upon 

 to succeed himself. The Natural History Society occupied in his 

 opinion a very useful place in Belfast. It would be a pity if 

 they had no such organisation to be a rallying place for those who 

 were interested in the subjects which that Society sought to look 

 after, and it would be a still greater pity if the scientific worthies 

 whose portraits hung on the walls of that building, who were the 

 pioneers of their local scientific research — -men like William* 

 Thompson and Robert Patterson — had no successors in these 

 days when Belfast had reached a height of prosperity of which 

 they in their day little dreamed. Even if the Society did almost 

 no work it would be a good thing to have it there for these reasons, 

 and at the same time for this additional reason — to hold up the 

 torch of science before the inhabitants of their City, and to keep 

 them in continual mind that men had something else to live for 

 than the making of money. 



During the past winter many useful papers have been read, and 

 many important discussions had been held, and he had no doubt 

 a great deal of valuable information had been diffused. The 

 Society's collections in zoology, geology, palaeontology, and archae- 

 ology were an honour to Belfast, and ought to be more generally 

 availed of than unfortunately they were. They were exceedingly 

 valuable, and they would be poorer without them. They had a 

 small balance to carry forward, and he hoped the public would not 

 forget the appeal Mr. Horner had made for additional help. The 

 only thing they required was a little more money. The Society 

 was pursuing the even tenour of its way successfully and creditably, 

 and he hoped it would long continue in Belfast, maintaining the 

 honourable traditions of bye-gone days. 



Mr. William Gray, in seconding the motion, said he had a great 



