Anniversary Address. 385 



Macgillicuddy's Reeks and Brandon Mountains in Ireland ; 

 and many of the mountains of Switzerland. 



I have been accustomed to take Botanical rambles more or 

 less for 50 years, and have never failed in mountain climb- 

 ing until recently. I fear, however, that you will consider 

 me as a Laudator temporis acti, and consider my details as 

 the indication of the approach of old age. The arrestment 

 of my walking trips indicates, no doubt, the approach of the 

 yellow leaf of autumn, and calls for patience and self-denial. 

 I still, however, hope to have quiet walks of moderate ex- 

 tent from time to time. Nothing, I assure you, would give 

 me greater pleasure than to renew my country visits with 

 the members of our Club. I feel a deep interest in our asso- 

 ciation, not merely on its own merits, but also from the fact 

 of its having been founded by my much loved though now 

 departed friend, Dr Johnston, whose memory I desire to keep 

 ever in remembrance. 



The Club is well fitted to call forth our energies in the 

 prosecution of science. It associates us together in the most 

 friendly relations, it brings us in contact with many friends 

 at our social meetings, and unites us by ties of a lasting aud 

 pleasing nature. I can assure you that if I am spared to 

 get my strength restored, the first association I would desire 

 to co-operate with is the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club. 



Rambles in the country add much to the interest which 

 we take in various departments of Natural History. "We 

 see the objects of Nature in situ, and with the pursuit of 

 scientific knowledge we combine that healthful and spirit- 

 stirring recreation, which tends materially to aid mental 

 effort. The various phases of character exhibited, the 

 pleasing incidents that diversified the walks, the jokes that 

 passed, and even the very mishaps or annoyances that oc- 

 curred — all become objects of interest, and unite the mem- 

 bers of the party by ties of no ordinary kind. The feelings 

 thus excited are by no means of an evanescent or fleeting 

 nature ; they last during life, and are always recalled by the 

 sight of the specimens which were collected. These, it may 



