author, and also impressed with a very deep sense of the importance of those great problems which are presented here to the student, and the merchant, to the politician, and the philanthropist.
The establishment of such a journal in a young Colony, such as the Straits Settlements was in the year 1847, was a bold enterprise for a single individual to undertake. But Mr. Logan was very ably supported. It is surprising, and most encouraging, to find how much of local talent and information came to light, as soon as he had provided the opportunity for it to do so. It was evidently a time of great scientific power, and of much literary activity in the Siraits. Contributors from all classes came forward. There was the Governor of the Straits for the time being, and other Government officers. There were Ecclesiastics, including Clergymen of the Church of England, Roman Catholic Priests, and Ministers of various Protestant communions. There were Military men and Naval men. There were Lawyers and Doctors, Merchants and Planters. There were Frenchmen and Germans, Dutchmen and Swiss, and, I am pleased to add, as a promise for the future, one Chinaman. Of these only too many have passed away. Some are bringing their lives to a close elsewhere. Some remain among us, and have given the prestige of their names to this new undertaking, and will, we may hope, contribute to the publications of our Society some of the stores of knowledge and experience which they have been gathering since the old days. Some are represented by their descendants, as in the case of the leader and chief of them all, whose sou, Mr. D. Logan, you have elected to be the Vice-President of the Society in Penang.
And before bringing this reference to Mr. Logan's coadjutors to an end, I cannot help remarking with great pleasure, that in the list of them are to be found, not only the names of those whose connection with these countries was more or less temporary, but also of some, who, for generations, have made their family home here. When I come across such names as Baumgarten, and Neubronner, and Westerhout in connection with the advancement of science in the Straits, I cannot help hoping that some of those who bear those names, and other like names, in the present generation, may be stirred up by the example of those who have gone before them, to use the great advantages they have, such as their familiarity with the language of the place, and their inherited power of enduring its climate, in seeking knowledge for its own sake, not merely for the purpose of applying it to their own personal and material benefit, but in order to contribute something to the common stock.
