PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

LIVERPOOL

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

ANNUAL MEETING.-SIXTY-SEVENTH SESSION.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, October 1st, 1877.

JOHN J. DRYSDALE, M.D., M.R.C.S., PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

The Minutes of the last Meeting of the preceding Session were read and confirmed, after which the following

REPORT

was read by the Honorary Secretary.

The sixty-sixth Session of the Literary and Philosophical Society has been equal to its predecessors both in the interest attaching to its proceedings and in the material prosperity of its affairs. The papers and communications which have been. read have brought under the notice of the members the most prominent topics in literature, science, and philosophy; large donations of books and volumes of transactions have continued to be received from kindred societies both at home and abroad, and the exhibition of natural history specimens collected by the members and associates, most of which are preserved in the Free Public Museum, has formed an instructive part of the business of nearly every meeting. The d

appreciation of these advantages is shown by the large attendances at the meetings, and by an increase in the Society's muster roll.

In the last Report the number of Ordinary Members was estimated at 224. At the present time the number is 236; twenty-two new members having been elected during the Session, two having died, and eight having resigned. The list of Honorary Members, according to the last Report, contained thirty-seven names. One of these, of whom the Council can obtain no information, namely, the Rev. Thomas Corser of Stand, Bury, elected in 1848, has been removed from the list, together with the names of three others, deceased, namely, Sir Charles Lemon, Bart., of Penrhyn, Cornwall, elected in 1844; Sir William Fairbairn, Bart., elected in 1861; and Dr. Reynolds, of Mossley Hill, elected in 1852. In the place of these four members, only one gentleman was elected during the last Session-Professor F. V. Hayden, M.D., Director of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, to whom the Society is indebted for some valuable donations, descriptive of the work in which he is engaged. The number of Honorary Members has thus become reduced to thirty-four, the maximum allowed by the Laws being fifty. In order, therefore, to recruit the strength of the Society in this department, the Council have to recommend the election of eight gentlemen, the first of whom, Mr. Alfred Higginson, one of the Vice-Presidents, merits the highest honour which the Society can confer. He has been an Ordinary Member for the space of forty years, and during this period has been most assiduous in promoting the welfare of the Society. Rarely has a meeting been held, whether of the Council or of the members generally, at which he has not been present. His removal, therefore, from Liverpool will be a loss to the Society; but the Council feel that while the

members will regret the absence from their meetings of his familiar and venerable figure, they will also be gratified at the opportunity of rendering honour to one whose name has stood the longest on their roll. The other gentlemen proposed by the Council for Honorary Membership are-Lord Lindsay, F.R.A.S., whose services to Astronomical Science with regard to the observations of the transit of Venus are well known, and who has presented to the Society the Dun Echt Observatory Publications: Dr. Günther, of the British Museum, whose term of election as a Corresponding Member having expired, presents a suitable opportunity for removing his name to the class of Honorary Members; Dr. Adolphus Ernst, Principal of the Department of Science, Philosophy and Medicine, Caraccas; Dr. Leidy, of the Academy of Science, Philadelphia; Dr. Franz Steindachner, of the Royal and Imperial Museum of Vienna; the Rev. Dr. Tristram, and Count Pourtalés, Keeper of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Amongst the Corresponding Members, the terms of Mr. J. Yate Johnson, of London, and Mr. W. B. N. Walker, of Gaboon, West Africa, have expired, and the Council recommend them for re-election. They also propose the following, as new Corresponding Members-Mr. Edward Dukinfield Jones, Civil Engineer, Sao Paulo, Brazil; Miss Horatia T. Gatty, Ecclesfield Vicarage, Wakefield; Dr. Allen, of Jamaica; Dr. George Bennett, Sydney; Dr. David Walker, and Mr. Andrew Murray. Nearly all of these have done good work by which the Society has benefited, either directly or through the medium of the Free Public Museum, and the Council feel assured that the members will have great pleasure in thus acknowledging their services. During the Session the term of the Presidential office was abridged from three to two years. This change, which was suggested by

the President, will render the dignity less onerous for the future, and give the Society more frequent opportunities of conferring honour upon its meritorious members. The Council are, accordingly, of opinion that the change was wisely made, and that its operation will prove to be beneficial. The Volume of Proceedings for the last Session has almost passed through the press, and will be ready for distribution in the course of a few weeks. It will contain an Appendix, giving a list of the Mollusca, collected in the Argo Expedition, with a coloured plate of two of the new shells. For this valuable addition to the Proceedings the Society is indebted to the Rev. Henry H. Higgins, M.A.

The Council conclude their Report with recommending the following members for election on the Council for the ensuing Session:-Mr. Isaac Roberts, F.G.S., Mr. G. F. Chantrell, Mr. Mason, F.C.S., Mr. Malcolm Guthrie, and Mr. Thos. Ward.

The Report was approved and adopted on the motion of Mr. J. C. Redish, seconded by Mr. Unwin.

The Honorary Treasurer then read his Annual Statement of Accounts, which was passed on the motion of Mr. E. W. Yates, seconded by Mr. D. E. Yates.

The election of Officers followed, and the following gentlemen were duly elected: Vice-Presidents-Thos. J. Moore, Cor. Mem. Z.S.L., Edward R. Russell, Thomas Higgin, F.L.S.; Honorary Treasurer-Richard C. Johnson, F.R.A.S.; Honorary Secretary-James Birchall; Honorary Librarian-Alfred Morgan; Members of CouncilJ. Campbell Brown, D.Sc. &c., Alfred E. Fletcher, F.C.S., W. Carter, M.B., Edward Davies, F.C.S., C. H. Stearn, George H. Morton, F.G.S., Josiah Marples, John W. Hayward, M.D., Sibley Hicks, F.R.C.S., Isaac Roberts, F.G.S., G. F. Chantrell, A. H. Mason, F.C.S., Malcolm Guthrie, Thomas Ward.