BIRMINGHAM NATURAL HISTORY AND MICROSCOPICAL 
SOCIETY.* 
BY J. F. GOODE. 
The time lias arrived for the delivery of the address, which 
custom demands, on retiring from the honourable office of President, 
to which last year you were kind enough to elect me. 
I must confess that it is not without considerable misgivings 
that I enter upon the discharge of the only remaining, but to me 
most difficult, of all the functions connected with the acceptance of 
the important post which I have filled with so much pleasure to 
myself, and I trust with satisfaction to you. 
I was very reluctant to accept the office, but could not grace¬ 
fully refuse when the invitation was conveyed in so kind and 
unanimous a manner ; and, although I felt gratified by this expres¬ 
sion of your esteem, and appreciated the high honour you conferred 
upon me by electing me to that office, which has hitherto been 
filled by distinguished students and workers in one or other depart¬ 
ment of Natural History, I was conscious of my own defects and 
unsuitableness for the post. 
Not being a specialist, and much inferior to many of you in 
general scientific knowledge, I was afraid that when I came to be 
compared with my predecessors, I should be found very much 
wanting, but I trusted to that indulgence which you have always 
been ready to show to those who try to do their best; and so far 
my confidence has been justified. How far I have succeeded it is 
for you to decide, and I am sure you will judge me with that kind 
consideration which you are always so ready to accord, and if I 
have been deficient in any way you will attribute it to lack of 
experience, and not to any want of effort on my part. 
With the kind assistance of the council and members, and 
especially with the advice and experience of my kind friend, our 
genial honorary secretary, Mr. W. P. Marshall, whose services I 
cannot too highly appreciate, my year of office has passed very 
*Read before tbe Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society, 
April 11th, 1893. 
June, 1893. 
