344 the president's addkess. 



or with classifications, which multiply names, but scarcely 

 enlighten us by them. 



If I now review the past of the Quekett Club, to which I 

 have so long been connected, to think of what it was and what 

 it is, it is impossible not to be gratified by the obvious advance 

 in all directions. The earnestness of the workers, the work 

 going on in groups, studying the same organism as now in the 

 RotiferaB, which is such an advantage for the dissemination of 

 knowledge, as each one is necessarily critical on the other ; and I 

 have already alluded to the many workers, both past and present, 

 on the Diatomaceee, whose researches have produced such 

 eminent results. 



Bat one can scarcely look back on the past of the Club and not 

 remember the beginnings of what has resulted in the admirable 

 monograph on the blow-fly, by Mr. Lowne, which teaches us, 

 that to study truly one living object it is necessary to study all 

 that are cognate ; for nature is obedient to the law of develop- 

 ment, though the paths are devious, separating one from another. 



It is gratifying to observe the continuous and constant interest 

 shown in the Club, which can claim to be the parent of other 

 kindred societies. But the microscope is an instrument to 

 awaken our enthusiasm. By it we can realise the poet's dreani 

 that 



" The dust we tread upon was once alive." 



We know by it, that our chalk cliffs were formed in a deep 



sea,* its materials being composed of organisms still familiar to 



us as living under similar conditions. Its rows of flint, that 



geological problem, the name a synonym for that which is 



hard, we can prove must have been once soft, coagulating with 



decomposing sponges, zoophites, &c. Our London footpaving 



we can show, to have been once a sandy shore of an ancient sea, 



its component parts largely consisting of triturated quartz, one 



of the most beautiful of crystalline productions. Sections of 



our metamorphic rocks take us far back in time, but show us 



even here the eternal law, building up, decay, rebuilding. Thus, 



then, I may conclude, that by the microscope you may find, in our 



poet's words — 



" Sermons in stones and good in everything.' 1 f 



* The term " deep sea " may not be geologically correct if by that we 

 think of the Atlantic depths. 

 t As You Like II, Act ii., s^-. 1. 



