xxix

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

LIVERPOOL

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

NINETIETH SESSION, 1900-1901.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, LIVERPOOL.

ANNUAL MEETING.

The Annual Meeting of the Society was held at the Royal Institution, on 1st October, 1900.

Mr. J. Maxwell McMaster, Vice-President, in the chair. The following Report of the retiring Council was read and adopted:

REPORT.

The Council has pleasure in presenting its Report for the Eighty-ninth Session of the Society.

Thirteen ordinary meetings were held during the Session, and papers of great interest were read before the Society, the discussions upon them being well sustained. The attendance at these meetings was above the average; this was largely due to the numerous company which assembled to hear Prof. Lodge's paper on "Modern Views of Matter" on 5th March. At the commencement of the Session a Conversazione was held, which was attended by many members and friends; the Council much appreciates

the efforts of those who contributed to make it a success. The Annual Dinner was held on 18th December, the Society entertaining as guests Mrs. Humphrey Ward, Sir Robert Ball, and others; eighty members and guests were present, and the Council has resolved to make the dinner an annual institution, subject to the approval of the Society. Several well-known members have been removed from the roll by death during the Session, viz., Mr. W. H. Picton, the Rev. Dr. Martineau, Dr. Adolphus Ernst, and Sir J. W. Dawson, Principal of McGill University; the last three of whom were honorary members. Of these the Rev. Dr. Martineau has been a special ornament to the Society from the notable services he rendered to it during his early life in Liverpool, and from the honour which his name has conferred upon it during his continued association with it until his death. Mr. W. H. Picton had proved himself an earnest working successor to his father, who had occupied so prominent a position in our Society for forty years, and the Society at large, as well as the Council, deeply regrets the premature termination of what promised to be so valuable a life amongst us. The Prize offered for competition among the students of University College for an English Essay was awarded to Miss Margaret Dickin; her essay on "Samuel Butler and his Hudibras" was read before the Society on 8th January, and is printed in the volume of Proceedings.

The Council again reminds the members that it is only by a continual influx of new members that the usefulness and efficiency of the Society can be maintained; a further decrease in the number of ordinary members would necessitate a curtailment of the annual volume of Proceedings, a step which the Council would be loath to have to take.

To the great regret of the Council, the Rev. E. N. Hoare, who was re-elected President at the end of the last

Session, has been obliged, through severe illness, to resign. The senior Vice-President was requested by the Council to take up the duties of the office until the Annual Meeting.

The Treasurer's Report was adopted.*

The Society then proceeded to elect a President in the place of Rev. E. N. Hoare, M.A., resigned. Dr. J. Murray Moore was unanimously elected.

The following were elected Vice-Presidents:-Mr. J. Hampden Jackson, F.R.G.S., Mr. A. Theodore Brown, Rev. E. A. Wesley, M.A.

Five new Members of Council in place of those retiring, and one in place of the late Mr. W. H. Picton, were then elected as follows;:-Mr. T. L. Dodds, Rev. W. E. Sims, Mr. W. W. Jones, Mr. James Mellor, Mr. Victor E. E. Nevins, Mr. J. Maxwell McMaster.

After the re-election of the Honorary Members of the Society, the President read his Address on "The Birth of New Nations in the Reign of Queen Victoria." +

I. 15th October, 1900. The President, Dr. J. Murray Moore, in the chair. Dr. J. Birkbeck Nevins read a communication on the Separation of the Leaf from the stalk. Rev. W. E. Sims read his paper on "Charles Lamb" Mr. W. W. Jones read an unpublished letter of Charles Lamb's, of great interest.

II. 29th October. Mr. J. Hampden Jackson, F.R.G.S., Vice-President, in the chair. The Hon. Treasurer shewed some curios from Ladysmith. The Hon. Secretary read a communication on Recent Excavations and Discoveries at Abydos. Mr. T. L. Dodds read a paper on "Casaubon, Huguenot and Scholar."

III. 12th November. The President, Dr. J. Murray Moore, in the chair. Dr. Newton shewed to the Society an interesting book on the Copernican System. Mr. R. C. Johnson, F.R.A.S., read a paper entitled "Notes on Observations of Total Solar Eclipses (1851 to 1900)."*

IV. 26th November. The President, Dr. J. Murray Moore, in the chair. Mr. G. H. Ball read a communication on certain Archæological Discoveries in Crete. Mr. William Wortley read a paper entitled Elfred the Great."

66

V. 10th December. Mr. A. Theodore Brown, VicePresident, in the chair. Rev. Canon Armour, D.D., read a paper on "The Theory of Determinism in its relation to Human Nature."

VI. 7th January, 1901. The President, Dr. J. Murray Moore, in the chair. Dr. J. Birkbeck Nevins exhibited to the Society a Grammar of the Ojibway Indians. Mr. R. F. Green read a paper entitled "The Problem of Consciousness."S

VII. 21st January. The President, Dr. J. Murray Moore, in the chair. The President spoke on the anxiety present in all minds with regard to the health of Her Majesty the Queen. Mr. J. L. Ratcliffe read an essay "On Plato's Communistic Theory," to which had been awarded the Prize offered by the Society to students of University College.

VIII. 4th February. The President, Dr. J. Murray Moore, in the chair. A Sub-Committee was formed to assist in drawing up an address of condolence, and an assurance of loyalty, to be presented to King Edward VII in conjunction with the Liverpool Philomathic Society. The paper which was to have been read was postponed. IX. 18th February. The President, Dr. J. Murray * See p. 103. See p. 79. See p. 65. § See p. 133. || See p. 115.

Moore, in the chair. The President read the text of the Address to be presented to King Edward VII. Mr. J. Hampden Jackson read a paper entitled "The Public Revenues of the Ancient World." This was illustrated by 150 lantern slides.

X. 4th March. The President, Dr. J. Murray Moore, in the chair. Mr. R. C. Johnson, F.R.A.S., read a communication on Nova Persei, with especial regard to its spectroscopic examination. Mr. R. H. Case read a paper on "Some Seventeenth Century Memoirs."

XI. 18th March. The President, Dr. J. Murray Moore, in the chair. Rev. E. A. Wesley read a note on the production of artistic books in France. Mr. John Lee read a paper on "The Ethics of Common Life."

XII. 1st April. The President, Dr. J. Murray Moore, in the chair. The President communicated to the Society the reply of His Majesty to the Address presented by the Society. Dr. J. Birkbeck Nevins read a communication on the tameness of South African animals. The chair was then taken by Mr. A. Theodore Brown, and the President read a paper on "Longevity and Centenarianism."

XIII. 15th April. The President, Dr. J. Murray Moore, in the chair. The election of President for the ensuing session took place, and Rev. E. A. Wesley, M.A., was unanimously chosen. A vote of thanks was passed to Dr. J. Murray Moore for his services. Dr. Newton read a paper on "The Woodcut Illustrations in Early Printed Books." A large number of interesting and valuable volumes were exhibited. Rev. W. E. Sims read a paper entitled "Concerning Books and Readers." Dr. J. B. Nevins read a paper on "The Shape and Weight of the Earth."

* See p. 51.