62 Tote of thanks to retiring President. [Apeil, 



Mr. Westland said that he trusted he would be allowed as one of 

 the retiring Vice-Presidents of the Society to propose a vote of thanks 

 to Mr. Medlicott, the out-going President. Mr. Medlicott had unusual qua- 

 lifications for the post both as a man of science, and as a man of business ; 

 other gentlemen could testify to Mr. Medlicott's services rendered to 

 the Society in the former capacity, he himself could say from his own 

 experience, how completely and efficiently Mr. Medlicott managed the 

 business of the Society. The Society was under great obligations to Mr. 

 Medlicott, for the labour he had so successfully and so willingly bestowed 

 on the management of its affairs. 



In resigning the President's chair, Mr. Medlicott spoke as follows : 



It is very gratifying to me to return thanks for the response this 

 meeting has accorded to the kindly words spoken by Mr. Westland. I shall 

 not cease to endeavour to be of service to the Society. 



The brief remarks I wish to make on retiring from the office of Pre- 

 sident would have been more appropriate had this event taken place at the 

 annual meeting, as is customary. As to the few observations I did make 

 on that occasion, in referring to the report for the preceding year, I was 

 surprised to find that they have been printed in our Proceedings for 

 February as " the President's address." It looks like a stroke of irony on 

 the part of our Secretary ; but I acquit him of the charge. I by no means 

 meant to make a mockery of the imposing undertaking known as a Presi- 

 dential Address. On the contrary, I had come prepared to take my leave of 

 office with a humble apology for what many may look upon as my spon- 

 taneous collapse. At the same time I wished to justify the step I had 

 taken in resisting what is an innovation, and as I believe a mistaken one, 

 in the practice of our Society. At the previous annual meeting I gave a 

 notice of motion to that effect ; and I think the matter of sufficient im- 

 portance to recur to it now. 



The tendency I would deprecate — that of following the practice of 

 learned bodies elsewhere — is superficially laudable ; but I may designate it 

 as unpractical and therefore unscientific. The essence of practical reason 

 is, the intelligent apprehension of conditions, and adaptation thereto ; in 

 view, no doubt, of a best conceivable standard, but the premature adoption 

 of that standard may be a fatal form of blunder. I do not allow that 

 my action arises from a defective estimate of what a scientific Society 

 should be : it is rather that the standard I look to is incompatible with 

 ourselves and our circumstances. Let us at all events avoid shams and 

 false pretension. We are by profession a scientific body ; but our body 

 has been and is to a large extent non-scientific, or even anti-scientific ; and 

 symptoms were not wanting that a marked prominence of the scientific 

 element in the administration would lead to atrophy of the body. Few 



