1899-1900.] Chairman’s Opening Address. 3 
of Sir James Simpson, and was remarkable for his skill as a 
Physician. 
Mr G. F. Lyster, who was Engineer-in-chief to the Docks of 
the Mersey, and who designed a system of sluicing for them. 
Mr David Chalmers of Redhall, nephew of the great Dr 
Chalmers, who was deeply interested in this Society, and was also 
much occupied with antiquarian pursuits. 
Mr Robert Cox was Member of Parliament for South Edin- 
burgh, took a great interest in Astronomy, and presented several 
valuable gifts to the Town Observatory. 
Professor Blaikie, who has shown ability as a biographer, and 
who wrote a small work, entitled Better Days for the Working 
Classes, of which nearly 100,000 copies have been sold. 
Mr James Simpson Fleming, who held the responsible position 
of Cashier and Manager of the Royal Bank of Scotland. 
Professor Ewart has entered into an interesting line of research, 
and given us several remarkable papers on the effects of the 
crossing of animals, heredity and reversion, which promise con- 
currently to settle experimentally the vexed question of telegony. 
In Physiology, we have had papers on the metabolism due to 
Fever, by Dr Noel Paton; on the Organs of Ceratodus, by Dr 
Gregg Wilson ; on Changes in the Newt’s Stomach during Diges- 
tion, by Professor Carlier ; on the Life Histories of the Cod and 
the Whiting, by Dr Masterman ; on Duplicitas Anterior, by Dr 
Bryce; on the Development and Morphology of the Marsupial 
Shoulder Girdle, by Dr Robert Brown; and on the Restoration 
of Coordinated Movements after Nerve Section, by Dr Robert 
Kennedy. 
Sir John Murray has given papers on the Temperatures over 
the Floor and on the Surface of the Ocean, and has favoured us 
with the results of his Bathymetrical Survey of the Scottish 
Lakes. 
We have had from Dr Flett an exhaustive paper on the Trap 
Dykes of the Orkneys, in which he confirms the views of Sir 
Archibald Geikie on the same subject ; and from Mr A. C. Seward 
and Mr A. W. Hill, a paper on the Lepidodendron Stem from the 
Calciferous Sandstone of Dalmeny. 
