SALIENT FEATURES IN THE HISTORY 
OF THE 
YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS' UNION 
BEING THE 
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 
Delivered at Sheffield, 2gth January, igo^^ 
By W. DENISON ROEBUCK, F.L.S. 
Mr. Chairman, Ladies, and Gentlemen, 
My first duty in addressing you is to thank my friends 
and fellow-members for the very high honour they have done me 
in asking me to occupy the chair of the Union with which I 
have been officially connected as Secretary for more than a 
quarter of a century ; and although I was most reluctant to 
accept, I nevertheless very gratefully appreciate the compliment 
you have paid me. 
The subject on which I am to discourse is one which has 
been laid down for me by the concurrent voice of many friends. 
The history of our Union, its rise and progress, involving 
the consideration of many ramifications, would require for its 
adequate treatment a knowledge of the progress of all branches 
of the natural sciences in our county, and would be sufficient 
to fill a small volume, and far beyond the limits of a spoken 
address. 
Consequently it will be desirable to limit our attention to the 
main or salient features, the statement rather than discussion 
of the leading principles involved, and a brief and inadequate 
reference to the results we have achieved. 
The early history of the natural sciences in Yorkshire 
scarcely concerns our immediate subject, but I may, perhaps, be 
allowed to refer briefly to the fact that of the immortal trio of 
English naturalists, who in the reign of Charles II. laid the 
foundations of the modern study of the natural sciences and 
ante-dated Linnaeus by about a century, one was a Yorkshire- 
man, Dr. Martin Lister, and that Yorkshire was the principal 
field of his scientific labours. His Historia Animalium 
