lxviii PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 1 895, 



balanced by the same average number of deaths, and thus the total 

 number has remained about 305. 



It was hinted in the Keport of the Council for 1893 that, in view 

 of the investments of the Society having reached the sum of .£10,729, 

 the time had arrived to ascertain whether the interests of the 

 Compounders were sufficiently secured, and on this question the 

 Council decided that the present investments were amply sufficient 

 to cover all liabilities in connexion with the present body of Com- 

 pounders, including those who were admitted on such generous 

 terms in the past, and, consequently, that for the interests of the 

 Compounders, it was not needful, at present, to add further to the 

 invested capital of the Society. 



"When the Composition-fee was below the actuarial value of the 

 annual subscriptions which it commuted, no money was invested ; 

 but during the ten years ending December 31st, 1893, over £2900 

 bas been added to the invested funds of the Society, and these funds 

 now are not only sufficient to guarantee the liabilities for the Com- 

 pounders, but would be probably sufficient, should it be deemed 

 desirable, to employ a certain amount for laying-in the electric light 

 into the rooms of the Society, in addition to the sum already appro- 

 priated by anticipation to the Index for the Fifty Volumes of the 

 Quarterly Journal now being prepared. 



That the present financial position of the Society is a sound one 

 is largely due to our retiring Treasurer, the Rev. Prof. Wiltshire, 

 who has carefully husbanded our Income during the thirteen years 

 of his Treasurership, from 1882 to 1895, and for that care of 

 our resources we owe him our hearty thanks. In our new Treasurer, 

 Dr. Blanford, we are not electing a stranger, but one who has 

 served the offices of President and Secretary, and has been on the 

 Council for some years. He is therefore well acquainted with 

 the affairs of the Society, and will, I feel sure, safeguard its finances 

 and at the same time aid in the advancement of its best interests. 



Permit me to detain you for a moment to refer to a subject which 

 has of late years largely affected all grades of society and vibrated 

 through all centres of intellectual life in this country — I allude to 

 the change of feeling which has taken place in relation to the 

 question of the ' Higher Education of Women' — [not to that of the 

 ' new cult ' miscalled the ' Emancipation of "Women,' — which none 

 of us here, I imagine, would care to discuss]. 



In 1860-61 (about 35 years ago) the President, Mr. Leonard 

 Horner, with the concurrence of Sir Charles Lyell, Sir Eoderick 



