ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 229 



contributors, are well-recognised facts both in the book 

 market and by experts and students of natural historj^, 

 geology, and archaeology everywhere. It is not, however, 

 so much the past as the present condition and prospects 

 of our Club which touch us to-day ; and it appears to me 

 that I should be shrinking from my duties as retiring 

 President if I allowed a mistaken impression to prevail 

 on this point. I must, therefore, speak out plainly, and 

 declare that in my judgment, apart from actual numbers, 

 our present condition is anything but satisfactory, because 

 as a scientific and natural history association we are 

 living mainly on our prestige. How comes this to be ? 

 In the first place we are suffering seriously from a dearth 

 of experts. In the early history, and to some extent 

 in what may be called the Middle Ages of the Club, 

 everyone was more or less an expert, or at all events a 

 worker, though of course there were always some names 

 that stood out in bold relief; but the few that remained 

 after Dr Hardy's death have been since diminished by 

 the lamented and ill-spared disappearance of such names 

 as Ooodchild (geology), Bolam (ornithology), and Batters 

 (algje). It is true that we still have a very few experts 

 left, but with scarcely an exception such do not attend 

 meetings or contribute papers. Again, for years ])ast, 

 new members who have joined, however desirable from 

 other points of view, for the most part have shown no 

 aptitude for any of the subjects whose study and investig- 

 ation are our raison d'etre. Exhibits, communications, 

 papers, discussions, once the rule, have become the rare 

 exception. Papers for publication very seldom appear, 

 and are extremely difficult to get hold of. Our esteemed 

 Secretary, consequently, is at his wits' end to find material 

 for the Proceedings without relying almost entirely on 

 archneology, or having recourse to an amount of padding 

 which would seriously injure their value and reputation. 

 It is evident, therefore, that our famous Club, however 

 enjoyable or successful in some respects, has for some 



