LIVING GOD OF LIS'ING NATURE FROM THE SCIENCE SIDE. 291 



printing or reporting, there miglit l)e no difficulty, but I doubt much 

 if they would be of much use. 



The Chairman. — It is quite evident, ladies and gentlemen, this 

 is an indication of a forward movement. It is equally evident that 

 we are already allowing our Secretary to be overworked, so that we 

 cannot move forward, and it is quite evident that we must aim at 

 increasing our staff. It is equally evident that one way of doing 

 that is for the members and associates to aim at increasing our 

 numbers. It has long appeared to me that this Society is not nearly 

 as fully representative in our members as it ought to be for the 

 valuable work which it is doing, and for the prestige which it has. 

 I l)elieve that there are a large number of people who, with a very 

 little inducement, could be found to join this Society, so I am going 

 to make an impertinent remark which I only hope will produce 

 living matter, i.e., that you who are present should each of you try 

 if you cannot find some friend, scientific or otherwise, forthwith to 

 join the Institute, and thus you will try from this little cell to set 

 forth a new line of vital action which shall bring out still more good 

 from the most important work of the Victoria Institute. 



The Secretary. — I have only to say that if every member and 

 associate was as active in getting members and associates to join 

 as our Chairman, we should probably double our numbers in the 

 forthcoming vear. 



The Chairman. — Xow, thanking the Professor for this interesting 

 paper, we adjourn. 



Communication from Lord Grimthorpe, LL.D. : — 



I did not receive Dr. Beale's interesting paper in time to write 

 anything on it for the meeting on June 3rd. I had been thinking 

 on the subject occasionally in consequence of the discussion started 

 by Lord Kelvin, and continued until The Times found they had been 

 too much occupied with politics and hundred year old news, and 

 attempts to get relief from its encyclopaedic speculation. Indeed I 

 had, as you know from former papers of mine, asked the question, 

 " How did the world evolve itself and all the beauty of nature, and 

 how are all its laws maintained'"? Dr. Beale's difficulty about such 

 internal forces of vegetable matter had been in my mind aggravated 



