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I may be excused if I trespass upon the province of that Report; if 

 with the natural partiality of an affectionate brother and a loyal 

 subject, I venture to record the gracious expressions of His Majesty 

 when he inscribed his Royal Name in our Charter-book as the Patron 

 of the Royal Society, in the presence of the Council. His Majesty 

 then declared his gracious intention of continuing the same protection 

 to this Society which had been extended to it by his royal prede- 

 cessors; that His Majesty had learnt from the professional pursuits 

 of his early life to estimate the immense benefits which science had 

 conferred upon this country in particular, and upon the world in 

 general, by perfecting the art of navigation; that it had produced 

 similar effects upon all the arts of life, however apparently remote 

 from the source from which they flowed ; that the progress of civi- 

 lization amongst nations was generally coextensive with the improve- 

 ments in science and the extent of its practical application; and that 

 His Majesty should feel it to be his duty, as the Sovereign of these 

 Kingdoms, to aid by his encouragement the exertions of the Royal 

 Society to fulfil the great objects of its foundation. His Majesty 

 concluded by recommending us in strong terms to cultivate friendly 

 relations with the great scientific establishments of other countries, 

 with a view to the free and liberal interchange of knowledge and 

 discoveries. And here allow me, Gentlemen, to pause for a moment, 

 with a view to remark that our Gracious Sovereign, in giving us this 

 wholesome admonition relative to foreign scientific bodies, meant in 

 a most delicate and dignified way, silently to convey to us his royal 

 and paternal pleasure and advice as to the harmony and friendly 

 intercourse which he wished us to maintain with all our national 

 institutions, and more particularly amongst ourselves. Such senti- 

 ments, Gentlemen, are worthy of a King of England : and permit me 

 further to observe, that it affords me additional pride and satisfac- 

 tion that circumstances should have combined together so fortunately 

 as to have made me the organ of such gracious communications be- 

 tween our Royal Patron and the Royal Society. 



The Council, upon the same occasion, had the honour of presenting, 

 in the name of the Society, a dutiful and loyal Address to Her Ma- 

 jesty the Queen, who most condescendingly received them, and most 

 graciously declared her intention of extending her support and pro- 

 tection to the Royal Society. 



The list of Fellows whom the Society has lost during the last 

 year is more extensive than usual, and the time will not allow me 

 more than to take a brief and passing notice of some of them, whose 

 labours have brought them into a more immediate connection with 

 this Society and the great objects which it proposes to pursue. 



Mr. Abernethy w r as one of those pupils of John Hunter who ap- 

 pears the most completely to have caught the bold and philosophical 

 spirit of investigation of his great master. He was the author of 

 various works and memoirs upon physiological and anatomical or 

 surgical subjects, including three papers, which have appeared in 

 our Transactions. Few persons have contributed more abundantly 



