XXX PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
yet, however, had the idea arisen of actually building a place for our¬ 
selves, and all attempts to obtain more suitable rooms failed— 
fortunately, since the failure only led to greater success. In this 
year, too, the Society was in a great degree instrumental in founding 
another scientific association—the Cryptogamic Society of Scotland, 
whose first meeting and great fungus show was held in Perth. 
Another event of the year, and a more important one, both for Perth 
and for the Society, was the meeting of the Society at which the sub¬ 
ject of the water supply of the town was discussed, and which resulted 
in a great extension of the supply. Some people were very angry at 
the Society’s taking up such a subject, and said that we had no busi¬ 
ness to interfere with anything but bugs and beetles ! 
In the tenth year—which, in respect to the meetings, excursions, 
&c., was not a very successful one—the germs of the scheme which 
resulted in the acquisition of the present building were first sown. In 
his Presidential Address, on ist March, 1877, Sir Thomas Moncreiffe, 
after pointing out that the Council of the Society, after consideration 
of several schemes which would have given us better accommodation, 
had “come to the conclusion that they were all selfishly small and 
unprogressible,” boldly advocated the scheme by which not only did 
the Society get this building, but Perth got its New Public Hall. It 
is unnecessary to trace just now the steps by which Sir Thomas’ plan 
was eventually carried out, but, to show how wide and far-seeing his 
views were, let me give a short extract from the address in question. 
“ We want to help to educate the masses, and also to give them 
opportunities of educating themselves during their leisure hours in 
those subjects which would be of use to them in their different pro¬ 
fessions, as well as the subjects of natural interest to those who live 
in a beautiful world like this—subjects that would elevate and refresh 
their minds after their daily toil.Were such a building 
provided, a good museum and a series of interesting and instructive 
lectures would soon be forthcoming.” 
The ideas thus suggested were subsequently enlarged and devel¬ 
oped, not only by Sir Thomas Moncreiffe himself, but, after his 
lamented death, by Professor Geikie and others of his successors in 
the presidential chair, the gist of the argument being that the Society 
was no longer to confine itself entirely to its original programme, but 
to promote scientific and other higher branches of education, not 
only by its own work in the Lecture-Room and Museum, but by 
encouraging and giving facilities to other educational movements. 
This brings us to the second part of this address—the considera¬ 
tion of our present position, a position which I want you to consider 
from the point of view just indicated. Have we been successful in 
fulfilling Sir Thomas Moncreiffe’s educational scheme ? to which may 
be joined another question, Has the Society had any influence in 
stimulating the mental activity of Perth ? The latter is perhaps a 
difficult question to answer, because we cannot tell what would have 
happened had the Society never existed. At the same time, looking 
at the movements with which the Society has been connected, the 
courses of lectures which have been given under its auspices, and 
more especially to the much greater mental activity displayed in 
