ABSTRACT OF ADDRESS 
AT THE OPENING OF THE SESSION 1886-7. 
BY SAMUEL CATER, 
President. 
Ladies and Gentlemen, — 
Amongst many geological changes of the past few 
millions of years, none have been of more importance to us 
locally, than those which have caused the Gulf Stream to make our 
Port of Plymouth, when other waters in the same latitude are 
frozen and inaccessible to ocean traffic, open at all seasons. Besides 
this great advantage, those changes have also made Plymouth, 
from its position on the edge of the great north temperate ocean, 
and at the entrance of a channel up which the greatest part of 
the world's traffic goes to and from the most commercially active 
nations of the globe, both in Europe and America and to the East 
and West, the best port for the arrival and departure of ships 
from and to all parts of the world. 
Nature having thus done so much for us, it is my intention to 
bring before you what Engineering Art and Science have done in 
aid. And, first, as to Engineering works in England and Scotland, 
rendering access easy from all parts of this island to this port. 
It has only been possible within the last few years, by modifica- 
cations in the manufacture of iron, for our engineers to construct 
such a gigantic bridge as that now being made over the Firth of 
Forth, near Edinburgh, to shorten the route from the large 
emporiums of Dundee and Aberdeen, and also the north-east of 
Scotland, to England. This bridge has clear spans of one-third of 
a mile in length, at 100 feet above high-water. Its only com- 
petitor in the world is the bridge from New York to Brooklyn, 
which has spans of about the same length ; but in other respects 
VOL. ix. 2 A 
