260 president's address. 



Our attention was incidentally drawn this year to the 

 dolmen on the beach on the west side of Herm. It is situated 

 between high and low water mark, so that it can always be 

 visited at low tide, and affords an additional proof that when 

 these structures were erected, the land was at a higher elevation 

 than at present. Owing to its position it has never been 

 thoroughly explored, but it has frequently been rifled of late 

 years, mostly by people living at Herm, who have unearthed 

 bones, fragments of vases, and several cylindrical lumps of 

 clay bearing the impress of the hand, similar to those which 

 were found during one of our excursions to Richmond. The 

 removal of a splendid chambered dolmen from Jersey to 

 General Conway's estate in Berkshire has been almost 

 universally condemned as an act of vandalism ; but I should 

 not consider it a desecration, but rather a laudable proceeding 

 to remove the stones of the Herm structure and re-erect 

 them exactly in some accessible place on the main island. 



As we are exhausting so many subiects of local research, 

 we might endeavour to commence investigations in new 

 directions. It would add to our knowledge of the history of 

 the island if some member would study and collate ancient 

 deeds and records relating to it, which are to be found here 

 and in Normandy and England, and which are now much 

 more readily consulted than formerly, and thus elucidate the 

 history of the island down to the fourteenth century. It 

 would increase the value of the records of this Society, too, 

 if we could insert a list of the fiefs which exist, for these 

 give an idea of the population, amount of cultivation, and 

 general condition of the island at the time they were created. 

 We might also embody a description of ancient buildings, as 

 Castle Cornet, Ivy Castle, Vale Castle, &c, not forgetting 

 the Castle of Jerbourg, and the history of these buildings as 

 far as it can be traced. We might have, too, an archseological 

 description of the ancient ecclesiastical buildings, with an 

 endeavour to arrive at the real dates of erection of the various 

 parts, and so leave no excuse for the continued quotation of 

 the ridiculous dates given in the " Dedicace des Eglises." 



There is also the possibility of giving more attention to 

 those branches of science which bear upon agriculture and 

 horticulture, by the preparation, reading, and discussion of 

 papers of a practical kind, such as the life history of plants 

 and animals injurious to cultivators. 



As one of those who were instrumental in the formation 

 of this Society, I cannot relinquish my present position 



