The President's Address. 125 



but on having it so excellently and correctly arranged. For this the 

 thanks of the Society were eminently clue to Mr. Cunnington* 

 There w ere three rooms in the Museum, each of which contained the 

 germ of a perfect collection. The first was devoted to ethnography, 

 and contained a collection of " savagery " with other illustrations of 

 that study, each one correctly described, and the localities mentioned. 

 Then they had a place for the ct Palaeolithic/"' or old-stone, period, con- 

 taining some of the earliest implements they were acquainted with; 

 and also the " Neolithic " — the new or rubbed stone — period. In the 

 next room was a fair series to illustrate the bronze and the iron 

 periods. The British pottery, too, was a good representative col- 

 lection, and altogether the objects themselves and the arrangement 

 were such as to make this a very valuable Museum and of great 

 interest to the county. 



Mr. Mekewethee, Q.C., proposed, and Mr. Meek seconded, the 

 re-election of the Secretaries, the Committee, and the other officers 

 of the Society. 



The President then addressed the meeting. He said he was now 

 called upon to take his part in the day's proceedings, but he did so 

 with great diffidence after the able and eloquent speech of Mr. 

 Bouverie. Although Mr. Bouverie had expressed himself as wanting 

 in knowledge as regards archaeology, he had nevertheless shewn that 

 he was conversant with those subjects in which all Wiltshiremen 

 must feel a special interest. He (Mr. Goldnej^) had just returned 

 from Scotland, where similar meetings to this had lately been held, 

 and he was pleased to say that at those gatherings the same anxiety 

 had been manifested with regard to the preservation of the records 

 of the country. He feared he should prove a very inefficient 

 President as compared with those who had preceded him in the office, 

 but he was thankful to have such aid as would be afforded by Canon 

 Jackson, by the able Secretaries, Mr. Smith and Mr. Cunnington, 

 and other gentlemen connected with the Society. 



At a time when science was making such rapid strides in every di- 

 rection, it was especially incumbent upon them to cherish a regard for 

 the history of the past, as Mr. Bouverie had told them ; to preserve 

 some record of old institutions, the habits and customs, and laws of 



