JOURNAL 



OF THE 



ROYAL MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 



APRIL, 1910. 



TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIRTY. 



IV. — The President's Address. 

 By Sir E. Ray Lankesteii. 



(Bead January 19, 1910.) 



At the close of my year of office, I desire to congratulate the 

 Society on its prosperity, on the increased number of its Fellows, 

 and on the settlement of the question as to the rights of women in 

 regard to the Society. We have lost one very distinguished Fellow, 

 a former President, for whose work I have always felt the greatest 

 respect and interest — the Rev. W. H. Dallinger. Full details of his 

 life and work have been given in the Journal of the Society. I 

 would only add to what is there said, that I consider his work to 

 have been typical of that fine and original investigation which we 

 get from the real lover of microscopic biology, the true amateur, the 

 true dilettante- — he who works because he loves the subject, and 

 not because it is a profession, or connected with business and 

 advancement. Such absolutely original observation and views as 

 we owe to Dallinger cannot come from the academic laboratory- — 

 they are born in the private study and workshop. The Society has 

 from time to time had such original and independent workers 

 amongst its leading Fellows, and it needs their presence and assist- 

 ance more than that of any other type of man. 



The Society has received some valuable communications during 

 the year, but they have not been so varied nor so numerous as might 

 be expected. There are many subjects upon which microscopical 

 examination throws a flood of light, which are not part of the 

 regular work of the colleges and schools : there are the old tra- 

 ditional fields of delight in which the Fellows of the Society are 

 famous — the pond-life of minutest animals and plants. I could 

 have wished to give you some account of what has been going on 



April 20th, 1910 L 



