Proceedings of the Royal Society, ' 385 



mena of crystallization, there is a regular gradation, and a 

 series conformable to analogy; and, where crystallization 

 ends, another series, that of animated nature, begins, go- 

 verned by a distinct set of laws, but obedient to a principle, 

 the properties of which, independent of matter, can never be 

 submitted to human observation. The functions and opera- 

 tions of organized beings, however, offer an infinite variety 

 of beautiful and important objects of investigation. For in- 

 stance, in those refined chemical processes, by which the death 

 and decay of one species afford nourishment for another and 

 higher order ; by which the water and inert matter of the soil 

 and the atmosphere are converted into delicately organized 

 structures, filled with life and beauty. 



" In vegetable physiology, how many phsenomena still re- 

 main for investigation ; the motion of the sap, the functions 

 of the leaves, for instance, and the nature of the organs of 

 assimilation. 



" In animal physiology the subjects are still more varied, 

 more obscure, and of a higher character. May we not hope 

 that those philosophers of the schools of Grew and of Hunter, 

 who have already done so much for us, will not cease their 

 efforts for the improvement of those branches of science, which 

 are not merely important in their philosophical relations, but 

 of great utility, the one to agriculture, and the other to 

 medicine." 



s The President concluded by expressing his confidence, that 

 the Fellows of the Royal Society, in all their future researches, 

 would be guided " by that spirit of philosophy, awakened by our 

 great masters, Bacon and Newton ; that sober and cautious me- 

 thod of inductive reasoning, which is the germ of truth, and of 

 permanency in all the sciences. I trust," he said, " that those 

 amongst us who are so fortunate as to kindle the light of new 

 discoveries, will use them not for the purpose of dazzling the 

 organs of our intellectual vision, but rather to enlighten us by 

 shewing objects in their true forms and colours. 



** That our philosophers will attach no importance to hypo- 

 theses, except as leading to the research after facts, so as to be 



