Address. 49 



anti- evolutionist ; and by his ability to absorb, harmonise, and 

 explain these facts satisfactorily, must his theories stand or fall. 

 There is no fear of a dearth of facts, nor of a fall in their value. 

 Even from Berwick, the cradle of the Club, the Proceedings are 

 every year enriched by interesting notes. We are not reduced 

 to the gleanings of the fields : the harvest is not yet half -reaped. 

 3. And as a last consideration, I urge that the Club should 

 give free scope to the instinct which has been guiding its wan- 

 derings of late years, and go farther afield. It is easier now, 

 thanks to railways, to travel in numbers a hundred miles, than 

 it was fifty years ago to gather a score of people to one point 

 :within a radius of twenty miles of Berwick. I do not see why 

 we should not claim as our territory the whole valley of the 

 Tweed from Berwick to that distant height beyond Tweedsmuir, 

 where 



" The Tweed, the Annan, and the Clyde 

 They a' rise in ae hill side." 

 Here, to say nothing of Northern Northumberland, and East 

 Lothian close at hand, there is scope enough for the exercise of 

 the Club's energies for generations, without a too frequent return 

 to favourite localities. 



Let us not then dream of exhaustion, but pledge ourselves to 

 work in a manner worthy of our fifty years' history. Then, with 

 no half-hearted wish but with a confident hope, may we say of 

 the Club, Floreat in sempiternum ; and let me add, in the pious 

 spirit of our founder and of successive presidents, in mqjorem 

 Dei gloriam. 



SELKIRK MEETING. 



The last meeting of the Club for the season was held at Sel- 

 kirk on Wednesday, October 1 1th. The good fortune in weather, 

 which we had enjoyed at the previous meetings of the year, now 

 forsook us. The day proved dull and gloomy throughout ; mists 

 trailed along the hill summits, and hid the distant views ; and in 

 the afternoon occasional drizzling showers marred the comfort of 

 the party. The unfavourable weather, however, did not inter- 

 fere with the accomplishment of the day's programme, nor hinder 

 the members present from enjoying this their second visit to 

 " Ettrick Forest." 



A considerable number appeared at breakfast at 9 o'clock in 

 the County Hotel, and were afterwards conducted by the Presi- 

 dent over the grounds of the Haining, which had been kindly 



G 



