THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 193 



and interest to us, from the one condition, from the one state, of 

 passivity, into a most honourable activity, which has not been without 

 its fruits — the boundary — the neutral ground, I may call it, being so 

 narrow, that the space between was easily, perhaps unconsciously, 

 overpassed. Another of the axioms to which I wish particularly to 

 call your attention is that which affirms that "Art apprehends" — 

 " Science comprehends." Let me fairly state my meaning, thus — 

 the word " apprehend," by its etymology, seems to express that 

 kind of grasp of a subject which is more mechanical than mental, 

 i.e., manipulative — a grasp by the hand (a thief is " apprehended,") 

 and yet it cannot be so wholly. Now to " comprehend," equally by 

 its etymology, means to grasp mentally — and after all has been said, 

 the two are really convertible — interchangeable terms. And so, I 

 argue, is Microscopy regarded either as an Art or a Science. I do 

 not believe that it is possible for a man to possess and exercise 

 the Art of Microscopy in any intelligent degree, without also rising 

 into a more intelligent appreciation of its scientific relations than 

 that which at first animated him. The Science thus again has fairly 

 grown out of the Art. But, alas ! it must be admitted, that the 

 converse is not always equally true, since it must be confessed that 

 the Microscope is not used witli sufficient skill by those in whose 

 researches it is all-important — I mean by the members of my own 

 profession. I really think that these gentlemen ought to become 

 members of the Quekett Club ; for if- — pray remember I only say if- — 

 our Club possessed no other function than that of fostering — 

 may I say teaching — the Art of Microscopy, it has discharged 

 itself of that duty well, to my happy knowledge ! Plainly, we 

 may thus neglect Art in seeking to master Science. " Truly 

 there is a Science of Art, and there is an Art of Science, the 

 Art of Discovery — as by a wonderful instinct, enlarging human 

 knowledge. Some of the highest exercises of the human spirit 

 have been here. All primary discoverers are artists in the 

 sciences they work in. Newton's guess that the diamond was 

 inflammable, and many other which must occur to you, was of the 

 true artsman kind — he did it by a sort of hunting sense — knowing 

 somewhat and venturing more — coming events forecasting their 

 shadows — but shadows which the wise alone can interpret." 



There is thus a neutral ground between the Art of Microscopy 

 and its Science — a place, as in the Stereoscope, where the two images 

 are mentally or visually superimposed or concurrent. My conten- 

 tion then is, that this is the point of view from which we may, and 



