THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 73 



dialect loses in accuracy, in proportion as it is diluted, everything 

 opposing the hypothesis is studiously suppressed, or misrepresented, 

 it may not be intentionally, but inevitably ; exaggeration supplies 

 the deficiency, and the climax is "sensationalism versus science." It 

 is no longer the simple truth which is sought, or such an audience 

 would not be appealed to, but simply the paltry gratification of a 

 polemic victory. Once carry a disputed subject out of the circle in 

 which it could be intelligibly discussed, and investigated, into a 

 new circle, in which prejudice takes the place of knowledge, and it 

 is condemned at once, by all sensible men, as a failure in search of 

 compensation for disappointed vanity. 



Fragmentary and imperfect as these observations may be, 

 written hurriedly under the pressure of numerous engagements, 

 they will, perhaps, serve as a caution to some of our younger mem- 

 bers, and at least convince them that an old microscopist of forty 

 years' experience believes it to be his duty to warn them of one of 

 the vices of the age, and to put them on their guard against exag- 

 geration. 



Journ. Q. M. C, Series II., No. 10. a 



