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ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, 



Henry Lee, Esq., F.L.S., F.G.S., &c. 



(Delivered at the Annual Meeting, July 26th, 1878.J 



Gentlemen, — At the termination of my period of office you will 

 expect that I shall offer to you a few valedictory remarks, to which 

 I shall venture to add some brief suggestions. In my address last 

 year I reviewed the progress of microscopical science, especially 

 during the previous thirty-six years ; more, I think, with reference 

 to the love of that science and a yearning for further knowledge 

 having led to the foundation of the Quekett Club, than to any especial 

 influence on the advancement of microscopy attributable to the club. 



I claim for the Quekett Club that its members have contributed 

 their full share towards microscopical researches, and to the inven- 

 tion of apparatus by which those researches are facilitated. But 

 there is one branch of investigation to which I think increased 

 attention may advantageously be given. We have had the micro- 

 scope before us during the periodical meetings of the club in almost 

 all its aspects except one, and that one has certainly not been 

 developed to its fullest capacity. I allude to that which may be 

 called " the commercial relations of the microscope." 



The practical application of the microscope to the things of every- 

 day life is something more than merely commercial microscopy. It 

 is just that phase of microscopy which commends itself to the 

 utilitarian, inasmuch as it furnishes a complete answer to the 

 question, " What is the use of it ? " As a rule, I have little 

 respect for the mere utilitarian standard ; but, as so good an answer 

 can be returned to the utilitarian questioner as to the utility of the 

 microscope in a money-getting and money-spending world, let us 

 be prepared to meet such an one on his own ground, and furnish a 

 reply of the requisite kind. There are so many phases of this side 

 of the subject that I shall not attempt to elaborate them. I beg you 

 to understand that in mentioning a few I am only endeavouring to 

 suggest a train of thought — not to compile a list of topics. 



1st. The microscope is, and may be still more than it is now, a 



