[Report of the Secretary and Treasurer of the Royal Society]

For many years it has been my duty as senior Secretary to read at each Anniversary the death-roll of the year.. The names this year are perhaps slightly fewer than usual, but many recall to us faces once familiar that we shall never see here again. Earliest among them comes Sir Frederick Evans, whose death took place only very shortly after our last Anniversary. In the course of the preceding summer he crossed the Atlantic to take part in that International Conference which assembled at Washington, to deliberate among other things on the choice of a common prime meridian for all civilised nations. On his return he was looking ill, and the illness increased until it carried him away. Yet even through his illness he kept on working at science, at a task he had undertaken, and which was almost completed when he died. To this I shall have occasion to refer again. In Mr. Busk we have lost one whose detailed knowledge of certain branches of natural history and comparative anatomy was almost unrivalled. He took an active part in the scientific business of the Society, and repeatedly served on our Council, and both then and subsequently gave us the benefit of his extensive knowledge and sound judgment in the important but laborious task of reporting on papers. In Lord Cardwell we have lost a statesman whose political duties did not prevent him from coming among us and serving on our Council. The public services and singular honesty and straightforwardness of Mr. Forster are appreciated by the nation at large. Quite recently, at no advanced age, we have lost Professor Guthrie, the occupant of a chair which a great many years ago I held for a time; a man whose genial character drew around him a close circle of friends. Still more recently we have lost the Earl of Enniskillen, whose fine palæontological collections are well known to geologists. Only the other day one passed away whom we seldom missed at our anniversary meeting, and who was frequently with us on other occasions: I allude to General Boileau, whose philanthropic labours will not soon be forgotten, and may, I trust, be recognised in a much needed form. The Fellows will have noticed with satisfaction a very considerable excess of income over expenditure in the balance sheet for the year. At first sight it might be supposed that as the ‘Transactions’ come out at irregular intervals there might have been fewer parts published than usual; but it will be found on examination that the past year has borne its proper share of printing expenses. The excess is really due to a substantial improvement in the. Society’s property, under the careful and judicious management of our Treasurer.