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THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS 



Delivered at the Annual General Meeting, July 23rd, 1880. 

 By T. Spencer Cobbold, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. 



Gentlemen, — In selecting a subject on which to address you, I 

 must apologise for stepping out of the more or less well beaten 

 track of mj predecessors. Doubtless the great success of this Club 

 arises from the fact that its practical working rests upon the broadest 

 possible basis ; that basis being but an expression of the principle 

 of equal giving and receiving. As long as this principle of action is 

 retained, and as long as its office-bearers continue to be animated by 

 that unselfish spirit which formed so conspicuous a feature in the 

 career of John Quekett, so long will the Club that bears his respected 

 name continue to flourish. 



As I do not despise the humblest efforts in microscopic in- 

 vestigation, you will permit me to remind you that the ultimate 

 aims and profits of science do not solely rest either with the 

 power of appreciating the loveliness of the objects presented to 

 view, or even with the accuracies of description that may be made 

 to accompany specimens. We neither undervalue the beauties of 

 externa] form nor the mechanical adaptations shown by the com- 

 plexities of internal structure, when, taking all the characters of any 

 given organism into view, we draw what may be termed the higher 

 conclusions which their consideration legitimately yields. It is only 

 by the philosophical method of which I speak that the full value and 

 significance of Nature's teachings are arrived at ; and, moreover, in 

 this way only can the area of science become enlarged. To enlarge 

 the borders of science is the object of every scientific association, and 

 we think that the practical work, as embodied in our proceedings and 

 in the Journal of the Club shows that, however inconspicuous that 

 work may be, we have at least some clearly defined part and lot in this 

 matter. The Club does not unduly flatter itself by fearlessly asserting 

 that it contributes towards the "extension of the known." Viewed 



