38 DUBLIN NATTJKAL HI8T0EY SOCIETY. 



see that Robert Ball's researclies in British Zoology very largely enriched 

 those works with materials. Besides work in the field, he had read much 

 on his favourite science. His zoological library was large, and he was 

 well acquainted with the contents of his books, which were equally at the 

 service of his friends and fellow-students as were the resources of his 

 own mind. In a word, he lived for others more than for himself. Had he 

 been as studious of fame as he was anxious to diffuse knowledge, his 

 name might have been more widely known to those who were personally 

 strangers to him ; but he could not have been more beloved or more 

 worthy of our love. I speak not of the esteem in which he was held 

 by the public ; the unsolicited cortege that followed his remains to the 

 grave renders such eulogy needless. 



It was moved by "W". Andrews, Esq., seconded by Dr. Ejnahait, 

 and unanimously resolved — 



*' That this Meeting fully concurring in these statements, the Presi- 

 sident be requested to allow the Address just read to be inserted on the 

 Minutes, and published in the Transactions of the Society." 



The question of adjournment having been put, was carried unani- 

 mously, and the Meeting adjourned to the 17th of April. 



ADJOURNED MEETING, APRIL 17, 1857. 



Peofessoe "W. H. Haevet, M.D., M.R.I. A., F.L.S., President, 

 in the Chair. 



The Minutes having been read and signed, — 



De. "William Feazee read the following — 



OK a disease in hyacinth EOOTS, CAirSED BY CEYPTOGAMIC GEOWTHS. 



Few subjects are more difficult to follow satisfactorily than the de- 

 velopment of the minuter forms of cryptogamic plants, and few, therefore, 

 are enveloped in greater obscurity ; unlike the sea- weed or the fern, 

 which, from their gracefulness and beauty, at once attract our attention, 

 the subject of my present remarks are by many considered to be pecu- 

 liarly repulsive, and are associated in the mind with ideas of disease 

 and decay ; and although I must in fairness claim for some of them as 

 full a share of beauty in external form as has, perhaps, been granted to 

 any class of plants, still I cannot deny their frequent connexion with 

 putrescent changes. 



The exact nature of this connexion has been made the subject of 

 many inquiries. Some have altogether denied that there was any real 

 sequence between the development of these fungi and the disintegration 

 of the organized tissues upon which they are found, considering their 

 presence merely accidental, or at best of secondary importance, perhaps 

 even useful in consuming the decaying particles ; whilst others have at- 

 tributed the changes which ensue in the rotting mass exclusively to 

 their agency. 



