214 1 he Irish Naturalist. Njvember, 



hall. The vote of thanks to the President was proposed by 

 the Lord Lieutenant (the Earl of Aberdeen) in a tasteful and 

 humorous speech, in which the "waking" action of sleep- 

 ing plants— even in the absence of any luminous stimulus — 

 at the habitual time, w^as held up as an example to the human 

 organism. Sir Archibald Geikie seconded the vote, in a few 

 admirable sentences, pointing out the likeness of the President 

 to his great father, in indicating so candidly the weaknesses of 

 the position that he himself held. 



No student of the history of evolutionary thought can help 

 being struck b}- the fact that the President of the British 

 Association for 190S — apart from the "mnemic" theory that 

 especially characterised his address — holds the doctrine of 

 natural selection as Charles Darwin held it, in conjunction 

 with a belief in use-inheritance. The naturalist son of Charles 

 Darwin is a Darwinian, and not a " Neo-Darwinian." 



THE EVENING LECTURES. 



The usual two evening discourses were delivered on Friday, 

 4th, and Monday, 7th September. The first, by Professor H. 

 H Turner, F.R.S., on " Hallej^'s Comet," held a large audience 

 deeply interested. The second, on "The Lessons of the 

 Colorado Canon," by Professor W. M. Davis, of Harvard 

 Universit}', was remarkable for its great lucidity and the com- 

 pleteness and beauty of its illustrations. The sequence of 

 sediments, upheavals, and denudations to which the great 

 physical feature described owes its formation, were brought 

 before the eyes and minds of the audience by a striking series 

 of lantern slides, several of which were repeatedly used as 

 occasion required. In proposing a vote of thanks to Professor 

 Davis, Professor Grenville Cole urged the claims of geography 

 as a subject of University study. 



The " Artizans' lecture " was given on Saturda}' evening, 

 5th vSeptember, by Dr. A. E. H. Tutton, F.R.S. His subject 

 was ' The Cr> stalisation of Water." 



