2 
president’s .address. 
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to be deplored, as it evidently jshows a lack of interest by the 
general public in the study of Natural Science. The meagre 
attendance was still more remarkable when we consider the 
fact that all members of this society had tickets forwarded to 
them, the cost of the same being covered by the annual sub¬ 
scription. The method of resuscitating the interest in 
Natural History must be by making our meetings more 
popular and attractive to the majority of members. I hope 
some plan will be devised whereby this can be attained. 
The innova cion of continuing the soiree on a second 
evening, when all the teachers of the elementary schools in 
the immediate neighbourhood were invited, was so eminently 
satisfactory that I hope to see the same arrangement adopted 
in the future. When I considered the fact that we had over 
one thousand visitors—all of them engaged in teaching—to 
view the various objects arranged for their inspection in the 
Town Hall, and when I heard the universal expressions of 
pleasure and delight, and beheld the considerable interest 
displayed by many in what they saw, I felt that the small 
additional expense entailed upon the society was both wisely 
and profitably incurred. 
I think we may take it for granted that out of so large a 
number some will carry away with them the desire for a more 
intimate knowledge of some of the wonders and mysteries of 
Creation, and perhaps the cursory inspection of that evening 
may be the means of causing many to take up Natural 
History as a study, so providing both healthful and intel¬ 
lectual employment for their leisure. But apart from Natural 
History pure and simple, the art student might with advan¬ 
tage study some of the beautiful forms as displayed by the 
microscope; take, for instance, some of the desmids, diatoms, 
etc., etc. What more beautiful forms can man’s device 
construct? If our workmen would only take natural objects 
for their models, how much more pleasing and artistic, in my 
mind, would their work be than the grotesque and unnatural 
monsters they often turn out, as much like what they arc 
intended to represent as, let me say, the manipulator himself. 
Only the other day an entomological friend told me that he 
often lent specimens from his cabinet for jewellers to work 
from, and that the results were so superior that the same 
course might be adopted in many other crafts. Some time 
ago I looked at a costly set of china plates painted to repre¬ 
sent our various native birds, the majority of which were 
simply abortions of what was intended to be illustrated ; the 
artist had evidently wasted his time by copying badly stuffed 
specimens in some museum. 
