2 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
Monday, §th December 1875. 
DAVID MILNE HOME, Esq., of Wedderburn, LL.D., 
Senior Vice-President, in the Chair. 
The Chairman delivered the following opening Address: — 
Gentlemen, Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, — In 
compliance with a request of the Council, I have the honour to 
come before you this evening to give an address, on this the first 
night of our Winter Session, in pursuance of the custom prevalent 
in this and most other Societies. 
I need not say how much 1 regret, for your sakes as well as my 
own, that this duty is not to be discharged by our eminent Presi- 
dent. 
The first point which I will submit to your notice, is the nature 
and amount of the work we as a Society are doing, and our means 
of doing it. 
The second and concluding part of my Address will have 
reference to the present aspect and prospects of science generally 
ip the country. 
With regard to the work we are carrying on, it may be suffi- 
cient to refer to the proceedings of our last winter’s session. Our 
Secretary tells me that it was the longest session he remembers — 
it having been prolonged beyond mid-summer. 
You are aware that our Society was intended by its founders to 
embrace literature as well as science ; and that in regard to science, 
we encourage investigations in any of nature’s various fields. The 
following abstract, under different heads, of the papers read during 
last session, indicates the range and variety of the Society’s 
operations : — 
In Applied Mathematics or Physics, we had 11 papers read; in 
Pure Mathematics, 9 ; Notes from Professor Tait’s Physical Labo- 
ratory were read at five meetings ; of Geological papers, 4 were read ; 
of Chemical papers, 3 ; of Physiological papers, 3 ; of Anatomi- 
cal papers, 3 ; of Meteorological papers, 2 ; of Literary papers, 2 ; 
separate Biographical Memoirs of eleven deceased Members were 
