PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE, liii 
The following Office-bearers were elected :— 
President —Henry Coates, F.R.S.E. 
Vice-Presidents —W. Ellison, D. M. Barker, Col. Campbell, Ex-Dean 
of Guild M‘Arthur. 
Secretary —S. T. Ellison. 
Treasurer —John Stewart. 
Curator —Col. H. M. Drummond Hay, C.M.Z.S. 
Librarian —James Coates. 
Editor —William Barclay. 
Councillors —Lieut.-Col. Duthie, J. Ritchie, LL.B., W. A. Patterson, 
C.E., Dr. Carruthers. 
The President delivered the following Address :— 
Gentlemen, —From the Reports which have just been read it 
will be seen that the Society, in all its departments, is in a very satis¬ 
factory condition. The membership, if not increasing, is at least not 
diminishing, and interest in the Meetings and Excursions is well 
maintained. There are, however, two classes of the community 
whose interest and co-operation in our work I should like to secure 
to a larger extent than at present, namely, the industrial class and the 
young. There is, I fear, a feeling amongst some working men that 
they would not be welcomed in our midst. I think, however, that I 
speak the mind of all the Members of Council, as well as of myself 
when I say that this feeling is entirely groundless. There is no one 
whom we should welcome more gladly to our ranks than the man 
who, after a day of hard and honourable toil, turns for recreation to 
the study of God’s creatures. I need hardly remind you that from 
this class have come some of our very ablest naturalists, such as 
Hugh Miller, amongst geologists, and Thomas Edwards, amongst bi¬ 
ologists. If the question of expense is a consideration, as I have no 
doubt it frequently is, I would point out that special provision has 
been made to meet the case of those to whom the annual subscrip¬ 
tion and entrance fee might be burdensome, namely, by allowing such 
to join as Associate Members. These are entitled to all the privileges 
of the Society, including free copies of the Transactions and Proceed¬ 
ings , and instead of 5/6 they only require to pay 2/6 a year, with no 
entrance fee. As the object of the Council is not so much to increase 
the bank balance of the Society as to diffuse its influence for good 
throughout the community, they would be very pleased to see a large 
addition to this particular class of its membership. 
With regard to the other class of the community to which I have 
referred, namely, the young, it was with very great pleasure that I 
learned that Mr. Thomson, of Kinnoull School, had quite recently 
taken some of his classes to the Museum, in order to give them an 
object lesson in Natural History. Other teachers in town have, I 
understand, expressed their intention of doing the same, as soon as 
the new Museum is ready for inspection. This, it seems to me, is 
