AXXIVERSA.RY ADDEESS OF THE PRESIDENT. 



45 



city for business had already manifested itself when, in 1861, he 

 fortunately attracted the attention of Professor T. Eupert Jones, 

 then our Assistant-Secretary and Editor ; and, upon his recommen- 

 dation, young Jenkins was appointed, in the first place a temporary 

 and afterwards a permanent assistant in the library and museum. 

 So diligently did he devote himself to the study of various branches 

 of science, by attending the classes at Kings College during his 

 leisure hours, and so rapidly did he acquire a knowledge of foreign 

 languages and skill in literary work, that, when Professor Eupert 

 Jones retired in 1862, Mr. Jenkins, though at that time only 21 

 years of age, was appointed by the Council to the responsible post 

 of Assistant- Secretary and Editor. Very admirably did he justify 

 the confidence thus placed in him, and for six years he served the 

 Society with conspicuous ability, not only editing the Journal, but, 

 during a part of the time, managing with great skill the financial 

 affairs of the Society. 



It was during this time that Mr. Jeukius began to devote his 

 attention to the study of the Tertiary and Eecent Mollusca, and he 

 contributed papers on this and other subjects to our Journal, to the 

 Quarterly Journal of Science/ to the ' Geological Magazine,' and to 

 other periodicals, many of these papers being of the highest promise. 

 With Professor P. M. Duncan, E.E.S., he was associated in the 

 study of the remarkable fossil known as Palcvocoryne, the description 

 of which was published by the two authors in the 1 Philosophical 

 Transactions' for 1869. 



So greatly did the energy and ability of Mr. Jenkins impress all 

 those with whom he came in contact, that at the end of 1868 he 

 was selected for the important and responsible post of Secretary to 

 the Eoyal Agricultural Society of England, and editor of that 

 Society's journal. Into the duties connected with this new sphere 

 of labour, where his great power of organization and literary facility 

 found such ample scope, he threw himself with characteristic energy ; 

 but to these new fields of labour we must not follow him. I cannot, 

 however, forbear quoting the appreciative remarks of one of our own 

 Eellows, Professor Eream, concerning the manner in which Mr. 

 Jenkins made his geological knowledge and experience of service to 

 him in his new career as an agriculturist : — 



"As might be expected, the fruits of his early scientific expe- 

 rience are discernible in many of his papers. Particularly is this 

 the case in his clear and accurate descriptions of the geological 

 features of the districts of the farms he reported upon in 1869, of 



