THE ANNUAL MEETING 
105 
He not only tricked Caliban, but even philosophers have 
fallen victims. It is easier to overlook than to look. Indeed, 
so much is this the case, that, in ordinary language, ‘ to 
overlook ’ does not mean to see, but not to see. Moreo\er, 
observation requires great care. Nature is kindly, but full of 
humour. 
“ As regards the work of the Society during the past year, 
full particulars are given in the Report, and unfortunately, also 
clear evidence how necessary the work of the Society is. The 
so-called ‘ospreys,’ for instance, continue to be w’orn, in spite of 
all the evidence of the barbarity they involve. They have been 
discarded in the Army, thanks to Lord Wolseley ; but, though 
our officers shrunk from the cruelty of wearing them, ladies 
continue to do so ! One would have thought that the fact that 
every ‘ osprey ’ involves the starvation of several young would 
have appealed to them. I would suggest that every one seeing 
a lady wearing one of these worse than barbaric appendages — 
for I cannot call it an ornament — should send the name to our 
Council, if they on their part would send one of our leaflets to 
tlie delinquent, for this is one of the cases where cruelty is the 
result of ignorance — in most, at least, it is want of thought 
more than want of heart. 
“ Professor Boulger continues, I am glad to say, to 
edit Nature Notes, and we are much indebted to him for 
doing so. Mr. Wattson has found it necessary to resign the 
Secretaryship, which he held for four years to the great advan- 
tage of the Society. The Council have been fortunate in 
inducing Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb to undertake the post. 
Under his energetic management we may feel every con- 
fidence that the prosperity and usefulness of the Society will 
be maintained.” 
In proposing a vote of thanks to Lord Avebury, Sir James 
Crichton-Browne alluded to the work of the Society as an 
important branch of mental hygiene. If there was more com- 
munion with Nature there would be, perhaps, less nervous 
disease in these days. Man does not live by bread alone, nor 
can he nourish his spirit exclusively on bricks and mortar. Sir 
William Huggins has said truly, at the banquet of the Royal 
.\cademy, that “ life is not measured by passages of the suns, 
but by the sum of our activities, not by the falling sands in the 
hour-glass, but by the stirring of our minds within.” Printing, 
steam, gas, electricity, radium, petrol, and the thousand modern 
applications of machinery, crowd into one year of our lives as 
many impressions and experiences, as much agitation as would 
have sufficed our great-grandfathers for half a century. This 
high pressure and over-crowded existence, this hurry-scurry and 
incessant struggle, involve the strain and wear and tear of the 
higher nerve centres, which are apt to give way, unless they 
are recuperated from time to time ; and there is no kind of 
recuperation better, or more restorative, than that which is 
