31 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



By Dr. W. H. Dallinger, F.R.S., F.L.S., etc. 



(Delivered March ISth, 1892.J 



My duty to-night is rather the congenial one of having a 

 pleasant half-hour of friendly communion with fellow members 

 and fellow microscopists and workers, than the formal one of a 

 laborious inaugural address. 



It is one of the distinctive features of this Club that the 

 element of friendliness and fellow-help runs through all its 

 work and all its workers, giving it its special place amongst all 

 kindred societies. It seeks the highest in its own department, 

 but knowing that the highest theoretical and practical efficiency 

 in the microscopist must begin in the simplest efforts, it aims 

 at the especial encouragement and aid of those who are 

 beginning; and, happily, this aid can be and is given, not 

 only in the genial spirit of fellowship, but with the efficiency 

 which is inevitable when, as in the case of this Club, some of 

 the most experienced and practical microscopists in the country 

 afford ready help. 



If, as a club, we were not — as we certainly are — promoting the 

 interests of optical science and research into the more hidden 

 details of Nature, we should yet be doing a good work in induc- 

 ing men, who would otherwise perhaps less wisely spend their 

 leisure, to devote it to the intelligent understanding and 

 employment of our favourite instrument. 



Hobbies and hobby-horses have come in for much serio- 

 comic reflection ; indeed, they constitute almost a perennial 

 theme. But after close observation of the men of my time, I 

 have no hesitation in affirming my belief that the men with 

 intelligent enthusiasm in reasonable hobbies constitute some of 

 the most enlightened and thoughtful men of a generation. 

 And, therefore, I believe that by increasing the membership of 

 our Club we are increasing the number of better citizens and 

 better men, as well as promoting the common scientific welfare. 



