As the Chairman for this evening, I have been asked by the Council to lay before you a brief summary of the events of the session, which will conclude the public business of the session.

In this retrospective view the most interesting point is the number and variety of the papers which have been read. Of these there were in all 74 papers, of which 19 were in the department of Natural Philosophy, 16 in Mathematics, 11 in Chemistry, 1 in Geology, 9 in Zoology, 1 in Botany, 6 in Physiology, 2 in Anatomy, 5 in Meteorology, 2 in Physical Geography, and 2 in Philology.