ADDEESS OF THE PEESIDENT. 



July 26th, ISn. 



There is in these days such an insatiable desire to impress 

 upon the world the fact of general progress and improve- 

 ment, and the vast importance of certain kinds of human 

 knowledge, that there is no little danger of real work of the 

 unpretentious kind being lost in the froth and fuss and hub- 

 bub that are made about the tremendous consequences of the 

 mighty discoveries which are about to be made public. It 

 could hardly be otherwise than that our microscopic work 

 should seem unimportant, should suffer in popularity, and 

 should experience neglect at the hands of those who were oc- 

 cupied in researches of such tremendous significance as 

 the origin, formation, properties, and end of worlds. We 

 have, however, been patiently, and, I hope, unremittingly, 

 prosecuting our enquiries, — disturbed neither by the terrible 

 conjectures of the philosophers who have convinced them- 

 selves that they are strong, nor deterred by the professed in- 

 difference of the thinkers who have persuaded themselves 

 that the grand secret of all things is on the eve of being 

 evolved from the contents of a crucible, and about to be so 

 brightly illuminated that the doubts and fears of the patient 

 long expecting multitude are about to be set at' rest for 

 ever. 



