208 
JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
completed. It is a book of high scientific value, and will be the 
standard authority for a long time to come. 
Mr. Newton's edition of YarrelVs Birds, really a new work, is 
progressing very slowly. The author cannot keep pace with the 
mass of material he has accumulated, and as he said to me a few 
weeks since, if he could print all he could write he should soon 
have finished, but the difficulty is to compress and arrange. 
In conclusion, let me say a few words as to the main objects of 
this Society, as I understand them, and what should be the aims 
of the members, and of the Council which the members annually 
appoint. It is pretty well known, I think, what my opinions are. 
While I am by no means anxious that other subjects should be 
excluded, I think that special attention should be directed to the 
investigation of subjects which have relation to the History, the 
Literature, the Science, and the Art of the counties of Devon and 
Cornwall. There is still a very great deal to be done in this 
direction, and the primary work of the Institution should be local. 
During the years that have passed since this Society was founded, 
the needs, the belongings, and the characteristics, of the provincial 
town have altogether changed, and the opportunities for acquiring 
information as to progress generally, have increased to a remarkable 
degree. There are now so many channels by which communications 
of any kind, having a general interest, can be conveyed to the 
public, that it does not seem right to encroach upon the small 
funds of a Society such as this, for the purpose of giving them, 
however valuable they may be, to the world. Things are now 
vastly different from what they were even in 1830, when the first 
volume of our Proceedings was published, and yet it is very evident 
that the Council at that time was anxious to give prominence to 
papers, the main interest of which was in their local character. 
And the wisdom of such a course is now apparent. That volume 
contained nine articles. Three of these, relating exclusively to 
Devonshire, I do not hesitate to say were of the greatest im- 
portance, and have led to results which were little anticipated by 
either their authors, or the Society by the agency of which they 
were published. I refer, of course, to the papers by the late John 
Prideaux, Edward Moore, and Samuel Eowe — names always to be 
received within these walls with honour and respect. The papers 
were on the " Geology of the Neighbourhood of Plymouth," an 
