ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 57 



the Society, should be regarded by the Fellows in a spirit of generous 

 trust and not in one of captious criticism. The Members of your 

 Council are often compelled to arrive at decisions upon questions 

 of no little difficulty and delicacy, and the documentary or other 

 evidence upon which they found their judgment cannot possibly be 

 submitted to every individual Fellow of t?ie Society. The Council 

 do not lay any claim to be free from liability to error ; but they do 

 ask you to give them credit for acting to the best of their judgment 

 in striving to promote the best interests of the Society. 



Our Bye-Laws, drawn up at a time when the conditions, the 

 numbers, and the finances of the Society were very different from 

 what they are at present, doubtless need revision and amendment ; 

 and in this work it may be hoped that the Fellows not upon the 

 Council will cordially cooperate with those who have some experience 

 in the management of the Society's affairs. But bearing in mind 

 that an assembly which contains more than a hundred eminent 

 lawyers confesses itself unable to draw up acts through which the 

 proverbial coach-and-four cannot be driven, I should not put my 

 trust in any revised Bye-Laws, however excellent, but rather in that 

 good feeling between all sections of the Society which has in the 

 past made our history one of such continued peace and prosperity. 



In the remarks which at our last Anniversary I had the honour 

 of offering from this Chair, I congratulated the students of Geology 

 and Mineralogy upon the new and intimate relations which, to their 

 mutual advantage, are now growing up between those departments 

 of science. It has, however, been suggested that while Geologists 

 are thus being brought into closer alliance with Mineralogists, the 

 strong bonds of union which have so long united us with the 

 Biologists are becoming somewhat relaxed, and, indeed, stand in no 

 small danger of actual dissolution. 



Highly as I estimate the value of the rapprochement between the 

 Geological and Mineralogical sciences, I for one should regard such 

 a result as far too dearly purchased if it necessarily involved any 

 interruption of the close relations which have so long subsisted 

 between Geology and Biology. But I cannot for one moment 

 believe that such a grievous misfortune seriously threatens the cul- 

 tivators of the two great departments of Natural Science. 



Notwithstanding certain divergences of opinion which have made 

 themselves heard within an ancient university, and have awakened 

 a faint echo in the halls of our National Museum, I cannot doubt 



VOL. XLIV. / 



