PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. Cxlvii 
The President then delivered the following Address :— 
THE MUSEUM. 
Ladies and Gentlemen,— You have heard from the Report of 
the Council that the Museum which we, as a Society, have been 
organising during the past quarter of a century, has been finally 
handed over to the custody of the Municipal Authority, in trust for 
the citizens, in all time coming. It must, I am sure, be a matter of 
rejoicing to know that the future prosperity of an Institution, which 
is so dear to all of us, is assured, and that when its present supporters 
shall have passed away, it will not suffer loss. I think also that we 
have given sufficient evidence of the unselfishness of our aims in 
volunteering to bear the whole burden of its maintenance during the 
first five years of its municipal career. 
I should like to take this opportunity of pointing out very 
emphatically that the Society has in no sense relieved itself of a 
financial burden in handing over the Museum. In the past, the 
whole amount required for the Museum, amounting to about ^300 
a year, has been specially raised for that purpose, while the whole 
of the ordinary income of the Society, amounting to about ^100 
a year, has been devoted to the ordinary requirements of the 
Society, apart from the maintenance of the Museum. In future 
the same will hold good, so I trust no one will think that his 
or her support will be less welcomed now than it was formerly. 
Indeed, if we are to carry on our educational and scientific work 
as actively as ever, I hope that we may see a large accession to our 
membership. 
Our interest in the Museum, however, must not be confined to 
its financial prosperity. We must bear in mind that it is the Perth¬ 
shire Natural History Museum, and its new governing authority will 
look to us for assistance in maintaining the high scientific and 
educational reputation which it has acquired. Even our own credit, 
as its founders, demands that we should not relax our efforts to make 
its collections as complete, as attractive, and as educational as they 
can be made. There is still much to be done in the way of 
thoroughly investigating all departments of animate and inanimate 
nature;in the Basin of the Tay, and it is our function to bring the 
fruit of these investigations, laborious and long continued as they 
may be, to the Museum. The Town Council has paid us the com¬ 
pliment of electing seven of our number to act as the Joint Committee 
of Management, and they have expressed the hope, which I know 
will not be a vain one, that the members of this Society will continue 
to assist the Management and the Curator in the technical branches 
of the work. 
I have dwelt on this phase of the changed order of things at 
some length, because I have been apprehensive that some of our 
Members might imagine that the raison d'etre of our Society had 
been somewhat impaired when the Museum passed out of its pos¬ 
session. I trust, however, I have made it clear that this is very far 
from being the case, and that there is as abundant scope for the 
