MEETINGS. 81 



no person can teach without learning, so no person can collect 

 facts for the Society without acquiring a store of information, 

 the benefit of which is strictly personal. In this class of 

 labour he who gives most gets most. I say, therefore, with 

 great earnestness to all who are united to the Society by the 

 bond of membership only, join a section and work, and you 

 will derive more pleasure and benefit than you can now realise 

 as possible. 



" The Society has, however, something to regret, for it 

 has suffered very severely at the hands of that remorseless 

 enemy, Death, who has removed from us this year no fewer 

 than three prominent members. 



" Sir Edgar MacCulloch, who was president of the 

 Society at the commencement, and remained in office three 

 years, being followed by the late Mr. Th. Guille. Mr. Z. 

 Robert, a useful member of the Geological Section, always 

 willing to help beginners and bring specimens for the members 

 to see. 



" In Mr. Guille we lose a member who has not only been 

 one who has taken a keen interest in our studies, but one who 

 has occupied the chair and stood at the head of the Society, 

 giving all, during the period of his presidential office, the 

 feeling that beneath his quiet and calm exterior there was an 

 under-current of strong will, — will to do his utmost to further 

 the ends of our Society, will to bestow benefits upon it, and 

 will to encourage effort, — but not will only, there was capacity 

 also, a capacity which made him appreciate and foster talent, 

 a capacity which enabled him to see the ultimate end and 

 value of this Society, a capacity which led him to connect 

 our seemingly dry and useless studies with the desired good 

 to our island and advancement of our people. I honestly 

 believe that Mr. Thomas Guille thought highly of the Society 

 and would have looked upon its failure to secure its natural 

 ends as a personal trouble and an insular loss. In Mr. Guille 

 the Society loses a friend ; also, in another sense, to his kind- 

 ness the Society owes the privilege of having possessed, ever 

 since the opening of this library, a home, for not only did he 

 grant it a meeting room free of expense, but placed it unre- 

 servedly in possession of the whole benefits of the institution, 

 the officers of the Society never having been refused the use 

 of both the Reference Library and the Museum for the pur- 

 poses of their work in connection with the Society. We 

 cannot, then, but feel that we have lost a friend indeed. 



" I think it right in this address to call the attention of 

 the members to the excellent work done during the year by 



