Gentlemen,—For the high honour you have done me in electing me to the Presidency of this, the premier scientific Society of Scotland, I offer you my grateful thanks. I am proud indeed that you should have deemed me not unworthy to succeed the eminent men who have heretofore occupied this chair. My complacency, however, is tempered, if not subdued, by the consciousness of my own limitations. But if I cannot, like my predecessors, add lustre to the office I hold, I can at least endeavour to devote all my energies to the performance of its duties.