1881.] Presentations. 63 



will deny that, constituted as we are, our President should often be a 

 man known to the general public. A complete obstacle to this would be, 

 and has been, the innovation of an annual presidential discourse upon 

 science in some form, which performance is by no means worth the sacrifice. 

 The real credit of the Society and of its working members depends on the 

 amount of information to be found in its publications. I would, therefore, 

 ask those members to be content with this solid advantage afforded by the 

 Society, and to forego an ambition of flags and fireworks. 



I must not, however, allow it to be said, that I am making a virtue 

 of necessity — shielding my incapacity under the guise of renunciation. Of 

 actual incapacity I cannot speak : but I do confess myself unable, without 

 a great deal more leisure than I can command, to prepare what I should 

 care to offer as an address to a learned Soeiety. This touches, perhaps, 

 the most vital objection to the practice I wish to see held in abeyance 

 for special occasions. You can seldom find a suitable president of any 

 denomination who is not already an overworked official ; and very few 

 men thus placed so overflow with knowledge as to undertake so serious a 

 task without inadmissible interference with regular duties. Some of you 

 are aware how difficult it has been of late to find a president. More 

 than one member thoroughly competent to lead and to address the Society 

 have declined the post ; and though I cannot speak with certainty, I strong- 

 ly suspect that the obnoxious innovation had much to say to our disappoint- 

 ment. They have escaped by passive resistance ; it has fallen upon me to incur 

 the obloquy of overt rebellion, for which I must crave your indulgence. 



I have now the satisfaction of handing over office to a President under 

 whom the Society should flourish in all its branches. 



Mr. C. H. Tawnet, M. A., Vice-President, then took the Chair. 

 The minutes of the last general Meeting were read and confirmed. 

 The following presentations were laid upon the table — 



1. From the Californian Academy, — Early Discoveries of the Hawa'ian 

 Islands in the North Pacific Ocean, by H. A. Peirce. 



2. From the Eegistrar, Calcutta University, — Tagore Law Lectures, 

 1879, — The Law relating to the Hindu Widow, by Troilokyanath Mitra. 



3. From the Bengal Government, — The Wild Silks of India, princi- 

 pally Tusser, by T. Wardle. 



4. From the Madras Government, — (1) A Classified Index to the 

 Sanskrit MSS. in the Palace at Tanjore, by A. C. Burnell, (2) Photographs 

 of Humpi in the Bellary District, of Amravati, of Undapalli and of Konda- 

 palli in the Kistna District. 



5. From the Geographical Society of Lyons, — Rapport Annuel, Seance 

 Solennelle, 23rd December 1880. 



