The Presidential Address.
11
children. His death followed a very short illness, occurring
at his house, Lord's Mead, Tottenham, on November 22nd,
in his seventy-sixth year. He was buried on the 28th, in
Tottenham Cemetery, in the presence of a large number of
relatives, friends, and representatives of the scientific societies
to which he belonged.
Mr. Howard always evinced considerable interest in this
Club, of which lie was an original member, occasionally
driving over to our Field Meetings from Tottenham. Though
we may hope that the advance of synthetic chemistry may
some day render us no longer dependent, for our supplies of that
invaluable medicine Quinine, upon the precarious cultivation
of a single genus, yet the life-work of John Eliot Howard in
the service of pharmaceutical science, and thus in the cause
of humanity, is likely to be long and gratefully remembered.
When the year opened, the Forest in which our Club is
so deeply interested was threatened with the encroachment
of a railway; but this scheme, which was supported by the
Corporation who should have been the protectors of the
Forest, was, I need hardly remind you, happily defeated, in
a great measure through the action of the Club. During
the contest we were given to understand that, if successful,
we should meet with abundant aid from the outside public
in defraying the necessary expenses of printing and postage
incurred ; but I am sorry to say that this has not to any con-
siderable extent been the case, so that nearly £30 from the
funds of the Club has had to be devoted to this purpose.
This has contributed to prevent the issue to members of
more than one Part of our 'Transactions' during the year;
but this is also largely due to the considerable number of
subscriptions for 1883, and even for 1882, which have not yet
been paid.
I am sorry to feel obliged to speak as to the thought-
lessness, not to say dishonourableness, of thus crippling the
resources of the Club. Thanks, however, to the generosity
of friends who have given us illustrations, I do not think we
have any occasion to be ashamed of Part 7 of our 'Trans-
actions,' the editing of which, a laborious though unnoticed