1875.] President's Address. 77 



age at election and the average duration of life of the Fellows, have been 

 carefully considered by several Members of the Committee who are 

 specially qualified to form a judgment on such matters ; and their con- 

 clusion is that, under the present mode of election, the average number 

 of Fellows, exclusive of the Foreign Members, may be expected to be 

 about 430. 



" Considering that the Eoyal Society is no longer, as at the time of its 

 foundation, the only scientific corporation in the kingdom, but that 

 numerous Societies have arisen devoted to one or other of the sciences, it 

 appears to be thought generally desirable that the Eoyal Society should 

 be distinguished by consisting of those persons who may be regarded as 

 the representatives of, or the most active and successful workers in, the 

 different departments of science, in association with promoters of scien- 

 tific research and men of signal eminence in statesmanship, art, or letters. 



" The Committee have carefully considered whether the present limita- 

 tion of annual selection to fifteen entails any undue delay in the election 

 of persons who answer to the foregoing description into the Eoyal 

 Society. They find no ground for asserting that it does, and therefore 

 they have unanimously agreed to recommend that no change be made in 

 that number at present." 



I now pass on to review the part taken by the Society in furtherance 

 of various Government and other expeditions. 



The Polar Expedition. — Early in December last year a letter was re- 

 ceived from the Admiralty stating that Her Majesty's Government had 

 determined to despatch an expedition to endeavour to reach the North 

 Pole and to explore the coasts of Greenland and adjacent lands, asking at 

 the same time for suggestions on the part of the Society in regard to 

 carrying out the scientific conduct of the Expedition. 



The great importance of attaching Scientific Naturalists to such an 

 expedition having been represented to the Government, the Society was 

 informed in January last that the Lords Commissioners of the Ad- 

 miralty were prepared to appoint a Naturalist to each ship, and was asked 

 to recommend two candidates who should be selected for their acquaint- 

 ance with as many branches of Natural History as possible. 



In pursuance of this intimation, your Council recommended to the Ad- 

 miralty as Naturalists, Mr. Chichester Hart, M.A., of Trinity College, 

 Dublin, and Captain Feilden,E. A., gentlemen well recommended to us for 

 their acquirements, both as Naturalists and collectors, and having special 

 qualifications for so arduous an enterprise ; and, further, applied for a grant 

 of <£250 to meet the expenses of editing a scientific manual for the use of the 

 Naturalists and Officers generally. This application having been favour- 

 ably entertained, Professor Eupert Jones was requested to undertake the 

 compilation and editing of the Biological and Geological portions of the 



