1867.] Their Aims, Objects, and Work. 509 



The inquiry, " What are the objects of Naturalists' Field 

 Clubs," may best be answered in the words of some of their most 

 zealous promoters. 



Sir Win. Jardine, Bart., President of the Dumfriesshire and 

 Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society, thus states the 

 object of the Society : — " To secure a more frequent interchange of 

 thought and opinion among those who cultivate Natural History 

 and Antiquities ; to elicit and diffuse a taste for such studies where 

 it is yet unformed; and to afford means and opportunities for 

 promoting it." 



Gc. S. Brady, Esq., Secretary of the Tyneside Club, says : — " The 

 objects of Naturalists' Field Clubs may be said to be twofold. 

 First, the study of nature out of doors, and (as being inseparably 

 connected with this) the collection of specimens for more minute 

 examination at home. Secondly, the preservation of natural objects 

 from wanton useless destruction." 



The Kev. Leonard Jenyns, President of the Bath Natural 

 History and Antiquarian Field Club, says: — "There are two especial 

 objects which a Club such as ours has, or ought to have, in view. 

 One is the thorough investigation of the neighbourhood in which 

 it carries on its researches as regards its Natural History and 

 Antiquities; the other, the bringing together men of the same 

 pursuits, with the addition of those who, without following up any 

 particular branch of science themselves, may yet enjoy the society 

 of those who do, or who may like to join the Club for the sake of 

 its excursions, the health and exercise they afford, and the pleasure 

 of rambling over new ground." 



Leo. Grrindon, Esq., Secretary of the Manchester Field Natu- 

 ralists' Society, says : — " The great aim of the Society is to call 

 forth and encourage latent taste for Natural History." 



We are inclined to agree with the most liberal of these opinions, 

 and to think that too much solicitude is sometimes shown by the 

 managers of Field Clubs, to secure that no meeting should be with- 

 out a prominent share of speech making or paper reading. No 

 doubt the members of any voluntary association have a right to 

 make their own arrangements, but if the Field Club be the agency 

 to which we must look for the wide diffusion of a taste for Natural 

 History, the excursion programme should in every case be drawn up 

 with due consideration for the predilections of incipient naturalists. 



We remember attending Professor Sedgwick's lectures at Cam- 

 bridge, over thirty years ago : the class-room was not always crowded, 

 but on the occasions when the accomplished Professor took the field, 

 mounted on his well-known black steed, there was ever a goodly 

 attendance of equestrian pupils at the meet ; and if at the close of 

 his ride, taken at a dashing pace right across the country, there 

 were fewer students present at the concluding lecture, the falling 



