786 The Und of the Second Series of the Journal. 
Of these tliirteeu gentlemen, eight have died whilst holding 
office iinder the Society, two have retired, and only three- Earl 
Cathcart, Sir Thomas Acland, and Sir Archibald Macdonald 
— now remain on the Council. Earl Cathcart — who holds with 
so much advantage to the Society the office of Chairman of the 
Journal Committee — is the only Member of the Council who 
has been directly associated with the Journal during the whole 
period covered by the Series. 
Mr. Thompson's intimate connection with the Journal lasted 
for eighteen years, and did not finally cease until December 1873, 
when he resigned his position on the Committee on the ground 
of ill-health. At a Council meeting held on December 10, 1873, 
Earl Cathcart in the chair, the following resolution was unani- 
mously passed, on the motion of Viscount Bridport, seconded 
by Mr. Eandell : 
" The Council cannot accept the resignation of Mr. Thompson as a 
memher of their committees without expressing their sincere appreciation 
of the valuable assistance he has rendered, not only to this Society, but to 
Agriculture in general. The regret which the Council feel at the loss of his 
valuable services is deepened by the cause of his retirement ; and, in accept- 
ing his resignation, the Council beg to assure him of their sympathy with 
him in his illness, and of the grateful recollection which those who have 
worked with him will always entertain of his earnest and eminent labours 
in the service of the Royal Agricultural Society." 
At the next meeting of the J ournal Committee, Mr. John Dent 
Dent, who had since November 1872 been acting as Chairman 
of the Committee during Mr. Thompson's illness, was appointed 
Chairman, and held this office until his year of Presidency in 
1881-2, when Earl Cathcart was elected to the position. 
It has been well and truly said that the Society has been 
fortunate in many things, and most fortunate of all in having 
been able to command at all times the aid of able men who 
have devoted their thoughts, time, and energies to its service, 
without hope or expectation of any other reward than the know- 
ledge that they were fostering the general advancement of Eng- 
lish agriculture, which is the express Charter-object of the 
Society. That since the very commencement of the Journal in 
1839 there should have been only four changes in the Chairman- 
ship of the Journal Committee is a sufficiently eloquent testi- 
mony to the value of the services which Mr. Pusey, Sir Harry 
Thompson, Mr. John Dent Dent, and Earl Cathcart have rendered 
to the Journal and to the Society at large. 
In 1868, when only four volumes of the Series had appeared, 
the Society lost by death its Editor, Mr. Frere, and during the 
interregnum which occurred before the appointment of the new 
Editor, two numbers of the Journal were brought out by Mr. 
