208 PEOCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



summer holidays to marine excursions, they offer one of the most at- 

 tractive objects of study — if beauty of form, delicacy of structure, and 

 singular transmutations can arrest his notice. If they be naked and 

 naked-eyed, there is nothing repulsive in their nakedness. It is 

 " nature's dress," which (as the poet tells us) is "loveliness." Their 

 movements, too, whether they proceed by muscular contractions and ex- 

 pansions of the disc, or by the aid of minute paddles, are singularly 

 graceful. It is a pleasure peculiarly adapted for a sultry day's enjoy- 

 ment merely to sit and watch them pulsating through the water. Nor 

 is the interest confined to daylight, for many are highly luminous, and 

 much of the luminosity of the sea is caused by creatures of this kind; 

 so that, though among the least complex and humblest of nature's pro- 

 ductions, they still have a history which is worth knowing. 



But what is there of nature's workmanship that is not worth know- 

 ing ? We may begin with Diatoms and Desmids, intending to proceed 

 further when we have mastered these. But, if we once get into that 

 subject thoroughly, even this small branch of natural history will afford 

 pleasant occupation for years, or for a lifetime, as the case may be. I 

 do not wish to advocate such exclusive studies. It is much more pro- 

 fitable to mind and body to affect variety in Natural History pursuits, 

 so as to have an equal acquaintance with as many groups as possible. 

 Too much devotion to any one class of objects, to the exclusion of others, 

 is to be discouraged, especially in a young naturalist. Yet it is also 

 well to have a definite object for study, one which may be taken up 

 from time to time, and be kept constantly before the mind, but not 

 allowed to absorb more than a due proportion of time and attention. 

 It is very difiicult, however, to preserve a happy mean in such cases. 

 Thus we have botanists divided into phaenogamists and cryptogamists ; 

 and the latter subdivided into filicologists, muscologists, fungists, licheno- 

 logists, algologists, and we may add desmidiologists and diatomists. 

 Zoology is equally split up into minor sects, each assuming more or less 

 the characters of a distinct science, and with a distinct nomenclature. 

 So that it is rare, in modern times, to find a general naturalist whose 

 studies comprehend those of all his fellow-students, and who can turn 

 with equal zest from a Desmid and Diatom to an eagle or an elephant ; 

 and be prepared to answer a question addressed to him by a student in 

 any department of Natural History. Such a naturalist was Edward 

 Forbes, — and such, to a great extent, was the late President of this As- 

 sociation, whose loss is still fresh in all our minds. 'If there were 

 branches of Natural History which he had not himself studied, he yet 

 knew who had studied them, and where the best information was to be 

 obtained respecting them. And in this way he often assisted the re- 

 searches of men working at a particular group, and who were not as 

 familiar as he was with the literature of their subjects. Few men were 

 better qualified than Dr. Ball to have the direction of the studies of 

 others, and it is a thousand pities that his talents were, in this respect, 

 so little employed. For, though his influence in furthering Natural His- 

 tory studies in Ireland was great, and the work which he thus effected, 



