40 



expert workers in the Club is small compared with the 

 number of members who are merely interested, but 

 this is, and always will be, the case in Associations 

 such as ours. All 'honour to those who have attained, 

 or are endeavouring- to attain, to some degree of pro- 

 ficiency in a branch of natural history or in 

 archaeology! But, fortunately, the enjoyment of 

 Nature does not mainly depend upon technical know- 

 ledge, though the acquirement of technical knowledge 

 is well worth while : we can take pleasure in the moun- 

 tains without being able to name their constituent 

 rocks, and in the verdant fields without knowing the 

 botanical names of the flowers and plants they nourish. 



The province of the Club, as I see it, is to foster a 

 love of Nature in men and women who are immersed 

 in the cares and responsibilities of the ordinary avoca- 

 tions of the workaday world. In this way, the Club 

 has been and is a great source of mental stimulus and 

 refreshment. It welcomes to its ranks representatives 

 of all classes, all creeds, all shades of political opinion, 

 and unites them in a common brotherhood. So long as 

 it affords to such people a common meeting-place 

 where, in the study of Nature and of the records of 

 Man, they can cultivate a spirit of mutual helpfulness 

 and forbearance and good fellowship, so long will the 

 Club flourish. 



The blocks for the illustrations have been kindly lent by 

 the lielfast Municipal Museum and Art Gallery. 



