ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 281 



In this connection I was greatly pleased with an account 

 of a natural history and observation expedition from 

 Berwickshire High School at Duns, up the Whitadder in 

 June last. I am sorry that I cannot read it at length, 

 but it seems to have been well designed, well carried 

 out, and worthy of imitation, with the view of educating 

 the scholars in one high sense of the term by teaching 

 them what to observe, and what important fields of 

 interest are opened out by simple * objects — such, for 

 instance, as a striated rock. I have observed also 

 with much satisfaction that head teachers of some 

 elementary schools have made etforts, and successful ones 

 too, to interest their pupils in the wild flowers of their 

 neighbourhood. Collections of dried wild plants by 

 children are by no means an uncommon feature in Flower 

 Shows. A taste for observing wild plants, whether in 

 adults or children, will add a fresh and fascinating inter- 

 est to life. 



It should be well known in Northumberland that the 

 Natural History Society offers, every year, a prize of £5 

 to be competed for by persims who are not members of 

 any learned profession nor have had systematic natural 

 science training. It is the Hancock Prize for the best 

 essay giving an account of the writer's own observations 

 in any department of Natural History, zoological, 

 botanical, or geological — such observations as an earnest 

 student might make when rambling by the seashore, in 

 the woods, or on the moors. Intending competitors 

 should apply for information on the subject to the 

 Curator of the Hancock Museum, Newcastle on Tyne. 

 It is of great advantage to everyone to have a hobby, 

 all the more so when that is selected from the subjects 

 in which our members are supposed to interest themselves. 

 To a botanist, or geologist, or student of church archi- 

 tecture, every Club excursion will assume a new and 

 increased interest, and so will every walk along the road, 

 by river, sea, and mountain side, or in secluded dene, 



