Tinling & Co. (Circulars)..

PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

LIVERPOOL

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.

ANNUAL MEETING.-SEVENTY-SECOND SESSION.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, 2nd October, 1882.

EDWARD DAVIES, F.C.S., F.I.C., PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

THE Minutes of the last Meeting of the previous Session were read and confirmed.

The Honorary Secretary read the following

REPORT.

The Council of the Literary and Philosophical Society, at the close of another year, have to report that the Society's affairs are in a satisfactory condition; the number of Ordinary Members has considerably increased, and the Honorary Treasurer is able to present a favourable Balancesheet.

The proceedings of the past Session were, throughout, of an interesting character, and attracted good attendances at each meeting.

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The Volume containing the record of these Proceedings will probably be ready for distribution at the end of October, its publication being delayed for the completion of a very valuable paper on the Lepidoptera of Brazil, contributing facts and information new to Natural Science, by our esteemed Corresponding Member, Mr. Dukinfield Jones.

During the Session, the Society lost nine Ordinary Members-seven by resignation and two by death. Its numerical strength was, however, augmented by the election. of thirty members. The roll has thus been extended from 237 at the beginning of the Session to 258 at its close.

The two Members deceased are Mr. GEORGE S. WOOD, who had been connected with the Society for twenty-one years, and had contributed to its Proceedings, and the Rev. Professor JACOB PRAG, whose reputation as a Hebrew scholar merits a record in this Report.

Professor Prag was born at Dantzig, in the year 1816. He studied at the Rabbinical school at Lebau, and after fulfilling various educational and and ministerial posts in Prussia, was appointed minister of the Old Hebrew Congregation in Liverpool. With this office he combined the Head Mastership of the Jewish schools, and after eleven years was elected Professor of Hebrew in Queen's College, where he numbered among his pupils some who have since adorned Christian pulpits. Professor Prag's knowledge of Talmudic literature was profound, and his acquaintance with Semitic languages extensive; and he was regarded as an authority on these subjects, not only in this Society, of which he had been a valued member for fifteen years, but throughout the kingdom also-questions on Talmudic subjects being frequently submitted to him for elucidation, from the Universities as well as from other inquirers. During the controversy which arose on the alleged discovery of a stone with Phoenician inscriptions, at Parahyba, in Brazil, in 1874,

he published a translation of the writing in the Academy of that year, and took part in the discussion; and this Society was indebted to him for one of the earliest translations of the inscription on the Moabite Stone. Professor Prag was further well known as an accomplished "sofer" or "scribe," and his beautifully written Scrolls of the Law are used in numerous Synagogues. He was an enthusiastic book collector, and his extensive library contained some manuscripts of great antiquity. He died at London, in December, 1881.

Among the Honorary Members the Society has lost Sir CHARLES WYVILLE THOMPSON, F.R.S., Professor of Natural History in Edinburgh University.

The election of hree gentlemen in the last Session, namely, H. J. CARTER, F.R.S., the Rev. THOMAS HINCKS, F.R.S., and the Rev. Professor DALLINGER, F.R.S., who have rendered valuable services to the Society, raises the number of these Members to 39. The list of Corresponding Members (17) remains unaltered, and one additional Associate has been elected. The Society, accordingly, now consists of 258 Ordinary Members, 39 Honorary Members, 17 Corresponding Members, and 19 Associates.

The Report was adopted on a motion from the Chair, seconded by the Rev. Dr. STERN. The Treasurer's Annual Statement was also approved of and passed.

The following Office-bearers and Members of Council were then duly elected :

Vice-Presidents.-Thos. J. Moore, Cor. Mem. Z.S.L., Thomas Higgin, F.L.S., Professor J. Campbell Brown, D.Sc., &c. Honorary Treasurer.-Richard C. Johnson, F.R.A.S. Honorary Secretary.-James Birchall. Honorary Librarian.-Richmond Leigh, M.R.C.S.E. Members of Council.-W. Carter, M.D., Richard Steel, Isaac Roberts,