Animal Report of the Council. xlvii. 



" In one respect a change has taken place in the consti- 

 tution of the Society which is still in progress. I mean 

 the gradual effacement of what, without giving offence, 

 may be called the dilettante element, of men who carried 

 on science and literature not as a profession but as an 

 intellectual diversion, and the substitution of men who 

 cultivate science in a strictly professional spirit. This 

 may be regretted — I regret it — but considering the great 

 and ever increasing specialisation of science, and the 

 difficulties attending its cultivation, this tendency must 

 be ever on the increase. 



" Parting is always sad, especially when it may be pre- 

 sumed it is for ever ; but when it is accompanied, as I 

 hope it is in this case, by sentiments of mutual esteem, 

 some compensation for sorrow may be found. 



" You will please to convey to the Society my wish that 

 this my decision may be considered final and irrevocable, 

 and also that, in severing my official ties, I bid them an 

 affectionate farewell. 



" I am, dear Mr. Gwyther, 



" Yours very truly, 



" Edw. Schunck." 



The Council has passed the following resolution : — 



" The Council has received with great regret the letter 

 of Dr. Schunck, stating his inability to hold office any 

 longer ; and desires to place on record this expression of 

 its most grateful appreciation of Dr. Schunck's eminent 

 services to the Society — services rendered for more than 

 50 years — and not least during the present session. 



" Not only has Dr. Schunck undertaken arduous duties 

 as Secretary and President of the Society, in which 

 offices he has won the esteem and affection of all our 

 members by his uniform patience and courtesy, but he 

 has, by his original investigations in the domain of 



