393 
of Edinburgh, Session 1868-69. 
1 can truthfully say I do not myself entertain. And nevertheless, 
having undertaken these duties, and possessing some knowledge of 
what they are, I must hope to discharge them to your satisfaction, 
with the help of a willing mind, a grateful heart, and your indul- 
gence. 
While pondering over these reflections, it occurred to me to 
inquire whether any mark had been left on the work of this Society 
by my several predecessors in office. It was, I confess, some com- 
fort to me to find that at all periods the work done in the Society 
depended more on the Vice-Presidents, the Secretaries, and the 
other members of Council, as well as the Fellows at large, than upon 
your President for the time being; who may have felt, perhaps, 
that, having generally done good work previously in an inferior 
capacity, he might be allowed to repose a little on his dignity, and 
transfer much of the arduous labour of literary and scientific 
research to those enjoying the inestimable advantages of greater 
vigour of life, and a younger enthusiasm. 
In the course of my searches into this matter, I had to go farther 
back than my personal recollections, even to the Presidency of 
Henry, Duke of Buccleuch, and thus was imperceptibly led into 
the midst of the earliest proceedings of the Soeiety, when it first 
started into existence in 1783 as the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 
under the leadership of that distinguished nobleman. The study 
of the Proceedings and Transactions of the Society during his 
Presidentship, which lasted for the long term of twenty-eight 
years till his death in 1811, seized upon me with a fascination 
which no one can thoroughly understand without following my 
example. But it has seemed to me that I might convey some por- 
tion of the pleasure of that retrospect were I to summarise and cull 
the interesting and very diverse materials thus presented to view, 
and offer you, as my Address on the present occasion, a history of 
some portion at least of the Life of the Royal Society of Edin- 
burgh. 
The History of our Society has never yet been written. But it 
is a duty owing to our predecessors, who earned for it a great 
reputation, that some time soon such a history should be written. 
The task, however, is one which will need the labour of several 
hands— the materials being, as already said, so very multifarious. 
