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vessels, seems a natural as well as honourable termination to the 

 career of each. Professor Daniell's valuable life came to a close as 

 sudden, while he was engaged in performing his duty as a man of 

 science — his duty as one of our officers — in his attendance on one 

 of our Councils — an awful proof of the uncertainty of human life, 

 even while no danger seems to impend. We propose, in the room 

 of Mr. Daniell, Colonel Sabine as your Foreign Secretary ; a gen- 

 tleman not only ardently zealous for science in general, but also one 

 of those who have taken the most active share in those magnetical 

 inquiries to which I have already adverted, and which are so in- 

 teresting to the Royal Society from our part in them since their 

 commencement. These magnetical inquiries have occasioned much 

 necessary intercourse between Colonel Sabine and the scientific 

 men of the continent, and therefore form an additional recommen- 

 dation of that gentleman as our Foreign Secretary. 



In recommending an engineer so eminent as Mr. Rennie to the 

 office of Treasurer, I need hardly advert to the scientific acquire- 

 ments indispensable in his profession. Nor is it necessary for me 

 to remark, that it is an office that should be held by one that is a 

 man of business as well as a philosopher, an union of qualities not 

 found in all, though so happily united in a Baily and a Lubbock ; 

 but it is right in mentioning that profession for me to express my 

 regret that gentlemen should have been publicly advertised as Fel- 

 lows of this Society who do not possess that honour ; at the same 

 time it is but fair to say, that in all probability the misstatement 

 arose from mistake alone in the Secretaries of the advertising com- 

 panies, and I entertain no doubt that greater care will be taken for 

 the future to avoid similar errors. 



Your Assistant Secretary, in his capacity of Librarian, has com- 

 piled a Catalogue of the Maps, Charts and Surveys, in the possession 

 of the Society, which have been accumulating for many years. 

 These amount to several thousands, and they are now arranged in 

 such a manner as to be immediately accessible to the Fellows. Ca- 

 talogues have also been made of the miscellaneous drawings and en- 

 gravings of scientific subjects, and likewise of the valuable and in- 

 teresting collection of portraits of the distinguished deceased Fel- 

 lows of the Society. 



The Library has been enriched during the past Session by a very 

 perfect copy, on vellum, of the magnificent work, entitled ' Descrip- 

 tion de I'Egypte,' consisting of nine volumes of letter-press, and four- 

 teen imperial folio volumes containing 930 engravings, illustrative 

 of the antiquities and natural history of Egypt. It has also received 

 the valuable present of a considerable number of Chinese books 

 from Mr. Walker of Preston ; at present the Chinese language is so 

 little known that these are likely to be useful to very few of our Fel- 

 lows. The increased facilities, however, now existing for communi- 

 cation with the great kingdom of China, will probably lead to much 

 greater study of its difficult language, so that these works may be- 

 come a very valuable and interesting portion of our Library. 



