THEIR OBJECTS AND ORGANIZATION. Ill 



neighbours to the west seem to be in a state of what Dr. Chalmers 

 would have called "brutal ignorance" in the matter of Natural 

 History : they have no such products of advanced civilization as 

 Field Clubs ! And why should their fields lie fallow when they 

 are within our reach ? There are many places of most tempting- 

 beauty and interest just over our borders : why should we not 

 visit them ? Think of Saltbum, Rokeby, Alston, Talkin Tarn, 

 Lanercost, Naworth, Tetholm, and many others. It seems to me 

 that it would be a wholesome innovation to allow each year one, 

 at least, of our meetings to be held beyond tbe limits of the two 

 counties. Though the pursuit of Natural History is avowedly the 

 chief end and object of the field meetings, they certainly answer 

 another and scarcely a less important purpose very admirably. 

 They offer a means of friendly intercourse between those who have 

 the same pursuits and who probably, under other circumstances, 

 might never shake hands together from one year's end to another. 

 There has been of late a good deal of difference of opinion amongst 

 us with respect to the Marsden meeting, which seems to be looked 

 upon as the natural wind-up of the summer's proceedings. The 

 great advantage of the Marsden gathering is the easy accessibility 

 of the place to most of our members : many find their way there 

 who get to none of the other meetings, their interest in the Club 

 is kept up, and though Natural History is generally at a discount, 

 so far as any very abstruse researches are concerned, I believe 

 tbat very important benefit results to the Club from this great 

 social gathering of its members. 



It may not be quite out of the province of a Naturalists' Field 

 Club to exert itself where it can for the promotion of our know- 

 ledge of the Natural History of regions far remote from our own, 

 and there is one mode of doing this which we might without 

 much difficulty put in practice. By encouraging the masters of 

 merchant vessels (of which so many sail from our north-eastern 

 ports to all parts of the world) to collect and preserve such objects 

 of Natural History as opportunity brings within their reach, we 

 should doubtless add largely both to our knowledge of the pro- 

 ductions of foreign seas, and to the treasures preserved in our 

 museums and private collections. The Literary and Philosophical 



