416 THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE LINNEAN "SOCIETY 



I should like also to see move attention paid to the Sciences of 

 Geology and Paloeontology. But there are some branches of 

 Biological Science which have never yet occupied the attention of 

 any of our contributors, and which are of more importance to 

 mankind, and of more real interest to the man of science, than 

 the study or contemplation of the most gorgeous birds, or the 

 most perfect and beautiful flowers. I mean the study of the 

 history, metamorphoses, and conditions of existence of those low 

 forms of animal and vegetable life which are really the most 

 formidable enemies of man, both in his person and property, and 

 which are, I believe, only formidable because of our ignorance of 

 their history. I do not allude now to the Infusorial forms 

 which seem to have an active agency in the processes of fermenta- 

 tion and putrefaction. The study of these very minute organisms 

 has excited of late years so much attention among the Physiolo- 

 gists of Europe, that we here, with inferior appliances, less leisure, 

 and perhaps less skill, may very properly leave that description 

 of investigation for the present in other and better hands. Of its 

 importance, however, there cannot be a question, and now that 

 the spontaneous generation of Bacteria, &c, has been proved to 

 be a fallacy, there seems to be no limit to the important results 

 that may accrue to humanity from a perfect acquaintance with the 

 life cycle of these minute organisms. It may even lead, as 

 Pasteur confidently affirms it will, to the complete removal of 

 parasitic diseases from the earth. But there are many other 

 living organisms from which man himself is constantly suffering, 

 both directly and indirectly, whose history might, I think, with 

 diligence and application be wc:kecl out. These are, in the Animal 

 Kingdom, the Entozoa and the Acaridae, and perhaps other 

 simpler and less known forms ; and in the Vegetable Kingdom 

 the obscure fungoid growths which seem to be the cause of nearly 

 all the most fatal maladies to which human beings, and the 

 Animal Kingdom generally, are subject. In the investigation of 

 the animal parasites much has been done of late years, particu- 



