246 ANNUAL REPORT.
progressed beyond the boy or girl stage of thought—if we can
call into action that instinctive inclination to ask why a thing
is, and to ask that question really intelligently—we shall have
educed the true scientific spirit, and we shall not have laboured
in vain.
I do not know that I need say more about the work of the
year, except to say that as we remember the past, and
look forward to the future, the good work of the past ought to
be a constant stimulant to us to emulate, and to surpass it, and
and to take care that in the future even more than in the past
the Essex Field Club should show itself worthy of its opportu-
nities—worthy of its charge of the study of natural history in
one of the most interesting counties in England.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE COUNCIL FOR
THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31st, 1897.
[Read and adopted at the 1Sth Annual Meeting held at Stratford, March 36th, 1898.]
AS it is understood that the President will take as the subject-matter of
his Address, the work of the Club during the past year, there is less
need for a greatly extended report from the Council.
Financial.—The General Account for the year 1897 shows that the debit
balance brought down has been reduced from 72l 7s. 5d. to 44l 2s. 1d. ; and,
in addition to this, it should be noted that, under a resolution of the Council
passed on October 16th, 1896, all the year's expenses are included in the
year's accounts.
The subscriptions in arrear on January 1st, 1898, amounted to about 25l.,
one-half of which has since been received. The apparent falling-off in the
total amount of the subscriptions, as compared with 1896, is due to a
circumstance noted in the last report, viz., that in that year's account a
large amount of old arrears was included.
The debit balances on the Special Memoirs and the Central Museum
Accounts have been reduced in each case by a few shillings; but the over-
draught in the case of the Forest Museum Account has been nearly doubled.
The Life Composition Account has experienced the benefit of the
measures foreshadowed in the last report, and will, it is anticipated, benefit
still further during the current year.
Many members have availed themselves of the facilities afforded by a
use of the Bank-order forms supplied by the Club, and it is thought that,
as time goes on, still more will find it desirable to adopt this eminently
simple and satisfactory method of paying their subscriptions.
During the year the Club has had cause to regret the loss, by death, of
two Life Members—Messrs. Griffiths Smith, and J, W. Dunning; and of
two Ordinary Members—Messrs. T. J. Mann and Thomas Jackson. The